Public speaking tip: Shock ’em

When I was planning for my recent all day presentation I was considering the post lunch sleepiness that most audiences experience. I wanted to do something totally different that I knew would shock them out of their afternoon low.

So I bought a muskrat trap. I was talking about the "traps" AKA deep trouble you could get into by spam email marketing.

I set the trap with great care. Then I put a pencil into the trap to set it off. The pencil snapped showing the trap to be real . . . This got their attention.

I then reset the trap and talked about how learning what I was going to teach them in the next section would keep them from getting hurt in the email spam trap.Then, with lots of suspense building as I approached the trap, I set it off with my bare hand, I let out a fake Karate-like scream, the trap slammed on my hand and I held it up hanging from my fingers. . . . Believe me this got their attention!

DO NOT TRY THIS! DO NOT TRY THIS! DO NOT TRY THIS! I know how to do this without getting hurt. I am not responsible if you break your finger or get hurt in any way !!!

There are many other ways to shock people. You could put a needle through a balloon, you could stick a knife through one of their coats. Stop by any magic or gag shop for tons of ideas. Just don't get too outrageous and scare people unnecessarily.

 

From Tom Antion  Photo by Ben White on Unsplash