Nailing the Punchline
Opportunity knocked again one recent Sunday afternoon. Well, actually it called my cell. My family had already left for Tennessee to visit family and enjoy Thanksgiving. I had stayed behind due to plans on Monday evening, with a flight out set for Tuesday morning. Sunday afternoon, then, found me home alone with no real plans, until my phone rang. “Joe, I’m glad I caught you!” said my friend Christian. “Are you working tonight?” “No – why?” “Well, I’ve got a situation…” Christian is a local comedy magician who was scheduled to play Atlanta’s Punchline Comedy Club that evening. Due to some miscommunication between himself and the club manager, each thought the other had booked the rest of the talent for the evening’s show. That is, they had a headliner but no emcee and no feature act. Would I be interested in taking one of those spots? The emcee spot runs about ten minutes, then you introduce the other acts. The feature spot is a 25-minute spot, then you’re done for the evening. I had never worked a comedy club before. Sure, I use humor in my act, but I don’t bill myself as a “comedy magician.” My friend assured me that I would be great and that the crowd that night was expecting strong magic. Back in April I wrote about the importance of being willing to jump into unexpected opportunities. I thought about that post as I considered this offer for a few seconds. “If I can do the feature spot, I’m in.” “Done. See you at the club.” Next thing I know, I’m headed into town to work the Punchline. On the way, I considered how I would start. I had a routine that I knew would fit comfortably into the time slot. I knew the effects would work well together, involve the audience, and generate some laughs from their intrinsic humor. My main concern was precisely how to open for an audience largely primed for stand-up comedy. I decided to take part of a humorous speech I had written for another performance and adapt it to this new venue. Basically, I set out to establish that I was on the show for contrast, to make the funny acts seem funnier. However, in positioning myself that way, I was also getting some laughs. The combination worked well, and I had the audience laughing at my ‘predicament’ before I even started the magic. As it turns out, I had a great time. Excellent comments after the show, including “You were our favorite” from a couple who didn’t know any of the performers, and “You changed our whole outlook on magic” from another couple who had actually come to see the headliner and didn’t expect to see other performers. Some of my takeaways from the experience: Take advantage of unexpected opportunities to grow. I could have stayed home and told myself, “That’s not my venue.” Instead, I now have a new venue. Are your skills or services applicable to a market you haven’t explored? Think about your opening. Find a way to position yourself for success by turning your presumed weaknesses into strengths. They’re not bugs – they’re features! Is there something about what you offer – or about what you don’t offer – that you can use as a point of contrast to others in your field? Nail the punch line. In comedy, you won’t be successful if you don’t nail your punch line. All the build up requires that you deliver the goods at the end. How do your clients know when it’s time to laugh and applaud? Are you nailing your punch line? Here we are at the end of 2011, a year that has been both amazingly challenging and amazingly fruitful. You have just enough time left to nail your punch line.
Atlanta Speaker Joe M. Turner featured in NSA SPEAKER Magazine
The National Speakers Association publishes a monthly magazine, SPEAKER, that focuses on the ins and outs of the professional speaking industry. I contributed an article to the current (May 2011) issue describing an episode that took place at a corporate event a few years ago. The article appears in the “Turning Points” section (on page 34 in this issue). You can read the full article by clicking on the cover image at right. In summary, though, the thrust of my anecdote and article is twofold: Great speakers and performers can create moments that are both unforeseeable and unforgettable by exploring unexpected detours in some presentations, so long as… The speaker/performer has well-developed presentation skills, a knack for keeping cool under fire, and a deep knowledge of “outs” sufficient to bring practically any challenging situation to a successful conclusion. In the article, I briefly mention the concept of “outs” as it exists in the performance of theatrical magic and mentalism. An “out” in a magical context is an answer to the question “How am I going to get out of this?” The performer asks “what if?” and supposes a variety of challenges or changes that could affect the outcome of a routine, then devises responses to each of those situations that will still allow for a successful and entertaining conclusion to the presentation. This is not a new concept, of course. Contingency planning has existed since the first time a human being had to solve the same problem twice. Every day, millions of executives, managers, team leaders, and individuals ask themselves the same kinds of “what if” questions as they plan their own projects. What if these key personnel are unavailable? What if those shipments are delayed? What if we don’t get approval for that part of the project? An interesting paradigm shift happens, though, when you expand the thought process beyond reactive “contingency planning” to proactive “risk management.” In this context, certain risks are considered acceptable based on the knowledge and skill of the decision-maker. Investors and portfolio managers are well acquainted with the idea that some risks are easily worth taking because the potential benefits are large and the downsides can be minimized when approached with expert-level skill. The idea, of course, is to tilt the risk versus reward equation in your favor by using deep skills to devise the outs that minimize the downsides of risk. Mastering the concept of “outs” gives leaders, managers, and even speakers and performers the freedom to explore alternate paths with a vastly reduced risk of failure. That freedom, in turn, sparks creativity — by exploring alternate paths, you may find successful approaches that you otherwise wouldn’t have known about. Sometimes, as in the article, those paths may lead to serendipitous finales that cannot be repeated. Often, though, those paths can lead to observations, offhand comments, and new insights that can add texture and value to the presentation, and which can be permanently incorporated into the script. Anyone can be spontaneous, but the person who has done some advanced planning can be spontaneous with a higher degree of success, and can leverage that success repeatedly in the future. By the way, if it weren’t for Mandi Stanley then I wouldn’t have appeared in the magazine at all. Mandi is a good friend and an excellent speaker and trainer with a mountain of achievements to her credit. Her new book, The No-Panic Plan for Presenters, included my story and she recommended it for inclusion in the magazine. Thanks, Mandi! If you find yourself in front of a group of people who expect you to make a coherent, understandable presentation – whether daily, frequently or just occasionally – then you owe it to yourself and your audience to get a copy of Mandi’s book. Besides being an informative and helpful work, it’s also a fun read. Reap the insights and benefits of lessons learned by Mandi and many other speakers who have been down these paths before. Let me know what you think about the article and the book by leaving a comment here. Thanks again for your support and readership!
