Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Being a Maestro of Ceremonies
I have been Maestro
of Ceremonies scores of times and I have, always, loved the challenge, the
exposure and the opportunity to enthral, educate and entertain large audiences.
Here are quick tips on how to go about doing this job well. For deeper
learning, of course I’d recommend investing in my book, the HeART of public
Speaking, available on Amazon and in stores in the Philippines.
#1 Relax when you get assigned to be the MOC. Trust
in “This Too Shall Pass!” Breathe normally.I~^{P
#2 Just like you choose happiness plan to choose
being charming and engaging for the event.
#3 Read up, internalize, and get all the details
right at least a day before. Know all names of speakers, presenter, etc; and memorize
them if you can. Breathe, nice & cool!
#4 Divide the work,
the time and the spotlight properly between you and your lovely co- host, if
any. Build rapport with co-host even before the event.
#5 Print ONLY that you MUST read and in really
big, bold font. Number your note-pages BOLDLY. Memorize the ad-Lib and “improv”
the rest of the material.
#6 On the
night before the event and the event day...rest a lot, eat right and light.
Drink no liquor and smoke no tobacco before the event.
#7 Test the stage sounds by ALSO letting someone
else speak from the lectern while you listen for clarity from the farthest end
of the event hall.
#8 Many will recommend start with a bang. I
say start cool. Real slow, suave and cool! Build up a crescendo. Breathe nice & cool
throughout the process.
#9 “Emceeing” or Compère-ing requires more listening
and orchestrating than speaking. It is gracious facilitation of a dialogue
between the speakers and the audience.
#10 Stay aware. Watch people. Listen to people.
Give other speakers, presenters and the audience a 101% attention. Continue to focus
on your breathing. Breathe cool.
#11 Use selected words and humor expressed by one
presenter to link & connect the introduction and topic of another presenter.
Weave in “Theme of the Day.” Flow with ease through your adlibs and improvisation.
#12 Depending on size of the room and the size
of the audience speak 10% to 20% louder than normal. Smile inwardly and outwardly
as you talk. It’ll be felt and sensed by all the people present.
#13 If you stumble, mumble or fumble make
light of it quickly; forgive yourself quickly and move on. Smile and Let the
Show Go On. People understand and are usually kind. If your co-host stumbles, mumbles
or fumbles make do as if it was your error and you will be liked by all.
#14 While speaking make eye contact, pause
often, and project voice as if you were speaking to the last person in the
hall.
#15 Build up
other speakers/presenters before they speak and thank them after they speak.
(the book, the HeART of Public Speaking, has the protocol on Introducing
Speakers)
#16 Every once in a while, sparingly and
carefully, engage an audience member through a rhetoric question or a light
conversation recall you might have had with them earlier. This is an effort on
inclusion and engagement. It, usually, engages a lot more people than just the
ones you may have had spoken to.
#17 Sustain
your stamina, stay enthused. Drink warm water every now and then and have light
snacks throughout the event. Focus on your breathing and on staying relaxed.
#18 Summarize, together with your co-host, the
activities and in your summary include words and points made by all Presenters
and Speakers.
#19 Have a
pre-planned, pre-practiced simple quote relevant to the event and use it before
you bid adieu and thank everyone profusely.
#20 Relax
& celebrate. This Too Has Passed. Watch this Video. This, though, I must confess was a large event and very tightly scripted.
#21 For the next time invest in a book and an audio
book called, the HeART of Public Speaking because Public Speaking, like
Leadership, is not just about Looking Good or Speaking Good but really and
truly about Doing Good!
Raju Mandhyan
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Monday, October 8, 2012
An Entrepreneurial Stretch
A little over a month ago, a bunch of colleagues and I were flying back from an event in Cebu, Philippines. At the airport, in a nice little sandwich shop I asked if my peppered chicken sandwich would have a few chips on the side. The waitress said she was sorry their outlet did not carry any chips. A sandwich without chips on the side did not make sense to me. “Do you think I could pop by a neighbouring shop and buy my own bag of Salt & Vinegar flavoured chips?” I asked. She gently paused, placed her note-taking pencil on her lips, “Let me see what I can do,” she said and left. And, she was gone for a while. “Oh, Sir, they only have a bag of regular chips, will those do?” she asked upon coming back. “That’ll be okay, I guess,” I replied.
She disappeared again and took quite as much time as she’d done before. When she came back I offered to pay and asked why going to the store next door took so long. She didn’t accept the cash saying she’d include it in the whole tab and mentioned that the chips came not from the store next door but from one outside the airport.
From outside the airport? I was amazed and touched by her efforts. This was quality service and of the kind that Filipinos are known for and take pride in. Upon further probing, I also discovered that she was not the manager of the sandwich shop and there was also no manager there as of that time and day. She’d take this decision to serve and satisfy customer needs in consensus with another colleague at the shop.
What we need to do is:
1. Get clear about what our business goals and values are.
2. Make these goals and values clear to all those that help and support our work.
3. Nurture an atmosphere of support and service to all, customers and team members alike.
4. Write down the policies and yet create room for experimenting and risk-taking.
5. Applaud and reward outstanding acts (such as walking a mile to buy chips for a customer) of service, ingenuity, dedication, honesty and loyalty by individuals.
I am, at this stage, so tempted to share the name of that girl and the sandwich shop at Cebu airport but I guess it’d be improper to do so without getting an approval from those concerned. But, I can tell you this...their peppered chicken sandwiches go really well with salty chips and a Coke.
Saturday, September 22, 2012
the meek shall inherit the earth
It is also said that the meek shall inherit the earth. By meek they don’t mean small and scared but someone who is kind, forgiving and most of all humble. I respect this value and one incident in my life has made it a permanent part of my life.
It was 1969 and I was in my shorts. Yes please, you may take a moment to visualize me in my shorts. Spider legs!
I used to study in a Zoroastrian school, in India, called the Sardar Dastur Hoshang Boy’s High School. In those days, hardly twenty years after the British rule, it still carried the Khaki culture. Kids wore Khaki uniforms and several teachers would dress in starched suits with safari-type, hard hats to go. The school campus was the size of ten football fields, had wooden buildings like military barracks. In summer the winds blew strong and dusty while in winter the skies were misty till noon.
Several teachers were of the Zoroastrian faith, some Hindus and only one of them was a Christian. Mr. Arpootharaj was stout, dark-skinned with Dravidian features. He used to pat his curly, black hair down with pomade and his most outstanding feature was a smile that could be seen a mile away. He taught us Science, English and Maths. He was kind, funny and always forgiving. And because of his nature, he was always at the receiving end of jokes and pranks.
Being a Christian teacher who taught Science, he’d often be seen marching the corridors of the school with the Bible, Darwin’s “The Origin of Species”, a blackboard eraser and a box of chalks by his side. The moment he’d enter a class, he’d demand the windows be thrown open to let in fresh air. He used to pronounce fresh air with flair…fresh aaiyr! And, because of this the boys nicknamed him “Sir, Fresh Aiyr!”
One summer day, Sir, Fresh Air, walked into class sans his brilliant smile but with a look that was distant and pensive. With the eraser, he wiped the big blackboard clean once, twice and until it was black, shiny. With his chalk, he then placed a dot, plumb in the center of the blackboard. Slowly, he turned to the class and stated that we’d be studying Astronomy today and eased himself silently in a chair and stared straight ahead, still pensive and distant.
The boys went wild. “What’s that, Sir?”, “Is that Astronomy, Sir?”, “Is that fresh air, Sir?” He did not react nor respond. The boys continued heckling but he stayed silent and distant. The boys didn’t know how to carry on. You cannot continue teasing a person who does not respond. The room turned silent and the silence grew such that a pin, if dropped, would be heard miles away.
After what seemed like a millennium, Sir Fresh Air stood up and began to speak.
"Imagine!" he said.
"Imagine that the blackboard and all the space beyond is the universe. Recognize that the universe has thousands of galaxies and that little dot in the centre is the galaxy that we live in, our Milky Way."
"Imagine,” he continued ”that within that dot, which is our galaxy, lays our Solar System and within that Solar System is our Sun, the Planets with their moons and our Earth. Within our planet Earth is our country, our hometown and this school room with all of us inside it.” “All of that,” he went on “is within the dot and more. Yet, we live a life that is filled with pride, distrust and hate."
With a long sigh and still pensive, Sir Fresh Air, slowly sat down. The silence in the room took over again. Outside the wind still howled and the dust still blew. The boys in the class didn’t know what struck them. A while ago they were top of the heap and now they felt puny and negligible in their own minds. With a stroke of his chalk, the Bible-toting, funny little brown man with a dazzling smile shattered our worlds and left us with a lesson in humility that would last us a lifetime
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Gibran's Self Same Source
“Humor and pain, like comedy and tragedy, have subtle similarities.
At the basic level, they are essentially the same. A person who has suffered great pain and tragedy in life also has the ability to transcend it and convert it into comedy.
If you look at the history of those who have made the world laugh, you will note that they did, indeed, suffer great sorrow and pain before discovering laughter.
Shakespeare created immortal masterpieces of literature but lived a personal life wrought with longing and loneliness. His every work is a constant dance between the tragic and the comic.
The legendary Doctor Patch Adams, who proved to the world that, indeed, laughter is the best medicine, lived a life of hardship and struggle. His patients loved his humor because they knew that behind the façade, he understood and deeply shared their pain.
A few years ago, NBC held a primetime talent contest called Last Comic Standing, where Dat Phan, a young Vietnamese-American became the champion and attained instant stardom. Today, he lives his dream of making a living while making others laugh.
As a kid, he and his mother lived on the streets of San Diego and slept on bus stop benches. Growing up, he worked as a waiter, a busboy, and a doorman at a casino and a comedy club.
Phan is not hampered by his past experiences. His hardships have become an integral part of his humor, as has his upbringing in a poor cross-cultural family.
"I do whatever it takes to do stand-up," Phan said in an interview. "There is an abundance of material in struggling and poverty and trying to make it. There is so much humor in that, it's unlimited. You have to be able to see it. You have to be very creative.
In the beginning, I didn't do real well, I bombed dozens of times. Something sick inside told me to keep on trying because I had nothing to lose. I kept exposing myself to different audiences. I kept bombing and failing and being disappointed until I got just one laugh. And that laugh gave me encouragement to continue and pursue a career and a skill that makes others happy.
The pain of my past has been my driving force and I believe that no matter how hopeless it seems there is always something to look forward to. In life, you can get to the next level if you're willing to give up everything and give everything you have in your heart to make it!” says Dat Phan.
Kahlil Gibran rightly said: “The selfsame source from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.”
Very often when we are laughing uncontrollably, we find tears streaming down our faces. And, quite as often, after we’ve expressed our pain through crying, we find ourselves laughing joyfully. Both laughing and crying provide cathartic cleansing. Our facial expressions also mirror this kinship. That’s why, at times, it’s hard to determine if one is crying or laughing. Somewhere in the depths of our souls and somewhere in the recesses of our limbic brains, laughing and crying are separated by a very thin line, just as comedy and tragedy are.” The HeART of Humor.
When speakers, trainers and other facilitators play hopscotch over this fine line that divides comedy and tragedy using personal anecdotes and situational humor they create rapid rapport with their audiences and transfer new learning deeply and powerfully.
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