How Useful Could An After Dinner Speaker Be?
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by: Dirik Hameed
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Word Count: 533
Date: Sat, 14 Jan 2012 Time: 10:19 PM
Anyone organizing a large formal dinner will consider asking after dinner speakers to entertain when guests have enjoyed a few courses at least. With the edge taken off hunger guests may be ready for a break from talking politely to the persons on either side of them. They may sit back when the speaker is introduced, glad for a break and expecting some jokes and wit.
Invited after dinner speakers are most effective if they encourage the mood of relaxation and enable guests to digest their dinner with a few chuckles. Every orator should understand his function well. It may be to inspire, persuade or console. After dining the function is first and foremost to entertain, though some light hearted instruction might be acceptable under certain circumstances.
When an event organizer needs a speaker to top off an evening of entertainment he usually tries to find a current celebrity. This is because people like to be associated with famous people and are interested in them. However, celebrities are not necessarily accomplished speakers.
It might be safer to search for a tried and trusted specialist who can be relied upon to perform commendably. Most guests would would prefer not to lean forward and sit on the edge of their chairs urging a celebrity speaker on as lets himself down in public.
Celebrity status comes to most people at least once in a lifetime, even if very briefly in most cases. Even a small promotion within an organization can lead to an invitation to speak at a farewell dinner but a newly promoted person may not have any experience or expertise. He could be at risk of making a fool of himself at the outset of a new career phase.
Some speakers need no training because they are natural raconteurs. They can take the most banal joke and have an audience rolling in laughter simply by the way that they tell it. Others might try the same joke and harvest only a polite simper from a friend in the audience. Since almost everyone is likely to approach some sort of celebrity status at least once in a lifetime, it follows that everyone should reflect even if only briefly on what to do about fame, should it suddenly alight.
Faced with a moment of truth when silence will fall and all faces turn expectantly towards a trembling celebrity some preparation is in order. Entertainment might seem a tall order so one might start with a few serious points that suit the situation. These may not be the stuff of entertainment but if all other jokes, ploys and conceits fail to raise a chuckle then at least one could take refuge behind having had some sort of purpose in speaking.
The difficult part is the delivery. This is when talent will tell, but for those without aptitude there are some tried and trusted techniques that work consistently. Hyperbole, incongruity, understatement, irony, climax and anti-climax may all be carefully planned, applied like cosmetics to serious points, and delivered with a dead pan expression. The chances are that the speech will be interrupted with howls of laughter and followed by many more invitations to be an after dinner speaker.
About the Author
Picking your speakers for an evening event can be a hard decision. Speakers Associates have a variety of professional presenters that will make sure your after dinner speaker deliver
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