The F15 Icebreaker

Do you struggle with fear, doubt, and worry in your public speaking? Do you find it difficult to connect with your audience and deliver presentations that leave a lasting, positive, unforgettable impact? If yes, then let's dive in the world of public speaking and presentation skills with your host, Eric Edmeads.

Welcome to the unforgettable podcast we call the F15. That you use an icebreaker that is clinically funny, something that you've tested, that you've tried before, and by using that same clinically funny joke, you're going to trigger laughter in the audience. Now, this creates a number of wonderful side effects. The first thing is, is that releases humor endorphins into the audience. It primes them for more laughter, it gives them permission to laugh, and it gets them ready for more. The other thing that it does, and this is incredibly important, is it makes you more brave. You see, humor requires a risk. It does, right? So once you know that the audience can laugh, you'll be more prepared to take risks. Suddenly, an idea pops in your head. You'll be more prepared to play with it. So using humor in your talks is really valuable. But starting your talks with a nice, cute, irreverent, funny joke can often set you on the path and really make things better. I also highly recommend practicing humor by joining improv clubs, where you can go out and practice humor. Practice what you do when something crazy happens in the room. Here's an example. I'm speaking in front of a room of, say, 80 people, and somebody's phone rings. When I'm in a humorous mood, what I do is ask the person to tell the person I'm busy. Their phone rings. I go, could you answer that and tell them I'm busy right now? I do this because it gets a little giggle. It also makes the person whose phone rang feel a lot less guilty, and it changes the tone of the room. So here's what I want to suggest to you. If you can start with a little humor and you can practice a little improv, you'll be able to pepper so much more humor into your talks. You will have more fun, and they, too, will have more fun. Use humor to anchor in a sense of good enjoyment of your talks, and you will make your talks a whole lot more memorable. There's a measurement for this, by the way, that we use at Speaker Nation. It's called impacts per minute. Impacts per minute. Impacts are any emotional response that the audience has to your presentation. An up response, like humor, a down response, like a deep emotional moment, or a very powerful cognitive response like you shared something that they were deeply curious about. But the truth is, humor is the one they love the most. And this is why we pay comedians as much as we do. This is why they can become multi gazillionaires because they evoke the emotions that we love the most.

So that's it for today's episode of Unforgettable. Head on over to itunes or wherever you listen and subscribe to the show. One lucky listener every single week who posts a review on itunes will win a chance in the grand prize drawing to win a private $25,000 VIP day with Eric Edneads himself. Be sure to head on over to Unforgettable show and pick up a free copy of Eric's gift and join us on the next episod.