handout speaklikeachamp

7/26/2019 HANDOUT SpeakLikeAChamp

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SPEAKLike a

Champion

A u d i o L e a r n i n g P r o g r a m

Darren LaCroix

World Championof Public Speaking

4 CDs

Get your workbook: www.humorinst.com/handout

Stage time, stage time, stage time!- Darren LaCroix 2001 World Champion of Public Speaking

4 CDs6060606060min. each

2001 The Humor Institute, Inc.

What are the three steps to becoming a great speaker?

The Journey-From Chump to Champ What is really important? What habits are necessary?

Speech Creation-The Triangle of Effectiveness How do you start? What is the process? How do you evaluate?

Lessons from my Coach-A Mentors Guidance How my speaking coach helped me win? Where can you find one?

Free to Fee-Becoming a Professional Speaker How do you start? What are the expectations?

43 Page Workbookincludes articles by The World Champion and his Speaking Coach


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SPEAKLike a Champion

2

2001 Darren LaCroix www.DarrenLaCroix.com

Contents

Disc 1: The Journey............................................... 3Disc 2: Speech Creation ....................................... 9Disc 3: Lessons from My Coach ........................ 15

Disc 4: From Free to Fee .................................... 17

Final Notes to yourself: ........................................ 28

APPENDIX: ........................................................ 29Resources: ............................................................. 29

EARLY DRAFT of Championship speech:Dont Chop Down Your Cherry Tree .... 30

FINAL DRAFT of Championship speech:OUCH!...................................................... 33

Articles:

OUCH! How I fell on my face... all the way to the top................... 35

Coaching A Champion by David McIlhenny ...................................... 40

Thank You Dan, Thank You Toastmasters ............ 43


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Get another workbook on-line: www.HUMORinst.com/handout

Disc 1:The JourneyTracks: Your Notes:

1- Welcome

2- From chump to champ

-Congratulations - You made the decision...

-Remember: Its a _____________________

-One thing that helped Darren to understand this was seeing _______________________

proving comedy & speaking are LEARNED skills

-What were you thoughts after hearing Darrens second time on stage?

_________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

3- Be a Farmer!

-Have the attitude of the farmer

-How can you take on the farmers attitude?

_________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

4- Stage time, stage time, stage time

-From a comedians view point: How can you be funny until you are ____________________

-From a speakers view point: How can you communicate until you are _____________________

-YOU MUST NEVER TURN DOWN ________________________-What if I bomb?


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-You looked so natural. Its be cause of all of my stage time.

-If I offer you stage time and you EVER refuse it I will __________________________.

-Darrens opinion _____% of your growth comes from being in front of an audience

5- The Spotlight Principle(handling anxiety)

-Spotlight in you : Concern- What will they think of me?

-Spotlight on the audience : Concern- What will they ___________________?

-Have something to say, and have a _____________________. - Lou Holtz

6- Pre-contest jitters

-Dealing with concerns and anxiety

-Get yourself excited about potential issues - How can you find the positive in them?

-Keep asking yourself... over and over until you get a helpful answer

-Nervous energy can make delivery distraction

7- Quirky confidence

-Remove all of your excuses!

-What weird things could you do to gain confidence?

1_____________________________________________________________2_____________________________________________________________3_____________________________________________________________


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-When will you do it?

8- Focusing

-We are built on out habits. Are your habits aligned with those of great speakers?

-Champions focus their efforts on a _________________________________

-Tough Question: If you did this would your speech be better?

-Most wont!

9-It is the same in the comedy world

-Word for word... in front of different audiences

-Where else could you practice your speeches in front of a live audience before the big day?

-Prepare for your speech like you are going to give it on national T.V.

10- What is the best thing you can do to improve besides stage time?

-First time you watch yourself: That was pretty good

-The Second time you watch yourself:

-The third time you watch yourself:

-Keep listening... over and over

-Capture those brilliant moments so you can reproduce them


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-Speech improvement - Listening in a comfortable setting & now you will get better ideas

-Now ask questions to yourself about the speech and the stories you are telling

11-More on video taping

-Why did Darren tape evaluations too? So he could watch them in a ________________ setting

-How do you tell what people are really thinking? Watch their _______________

12-The Connection

-Do you connect like a champion?

-How can you connect every time?

-What is stopping you?

13-Three Common Factors in a Championship Speech

(Special note: These ALL relate to delivery!)

1) The _______________

2) Its OK to _____________________

3) Confidence

-You can tell within _________________ who was going to win

-We can learn from __________________ as well

- Build confidence by understanding your ______________________

-Before the audience arrives go up on stage or platform ahead of time to get comfortable with beingthere. Own the stage.


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14- The Triangle of Effectiveness

-Material - ___________________________________________

-Every word either _____________________________

-Delivery -___________________________________________

-You words must match your __________________________

-Setting - ____________________________________________

-Setting is not only the room, but what is happening in the _________________ of the audience

-Your goal is to _____________________________ at every presentation

-The Lull is because of the comedian losing _______________________

-We must consider and address all of these factors for every presentation.

Questions to consider for setting:

-Is the audience hot? cold? tired?

-How long before their next break? Meal?

-How long have they been sitting?

-How large is the audience?

-Are there more men than women?

-Are there more women than men?

-How large is the room?

-Is there a stage?

-Is there a microphone?

-What kind of microphone?

-What is the back-up plan if it doesnt work?


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Disc 2 :Speech Creation

Tracks: Your Notes:

1- The opening

2- The championship speechOuch!

3- Your first step

-One of the greatest pearls of wisdom I have heard came from an award winning writer.What is the essence of a great film or story?

_________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Stanley Ralph Ross

-Who were darrens two appealing protagonists?

________________________________________________

________________________________________________

-What were the worthwhile goals?________________________________________________

________________________________________________

-What were the seemingly unsurmountable obstacles?________________________________________________

________________________________________________

-Youve got a blank piece of paper, now what?

-Your message has to be __________

-What is your experience?

-What have you learned from it?

-What have you gained?


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-How did you get there?

-If I could tell people just one thing that I could just _________________________

-Darrens original message for his speech OUCH! was Willing to _____________________

4-Step 2

-What _____________________ do I have from my life that could make that point?

-Start making a list of all of them! Dont judge at this point, just get them all down on paper!

-Then start cutting them down to the best and most appropriate

5- The Practice speech

-Its a process! (you may get sick of hearing this, but I cant emphasize it enough!)

-Be a great observer

-Good coaches and mentors dont hand you all of the answers... they guide you to asking betterquestions and learning on your own. These lessons will sink in deeper because you had to figure it outfor yourself. No right or wrong answers here. Its your opinion.

-What do you notice that was different from the championship speech?

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

6- How can you compete with speakers that are better than you?


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Let no one _____________________________ -David Brooks 1990 World Champion

7-Preparation

-World champion speech was practices in front of _____ audiences

-________ written evaluations of the speech

-Studied _____ years of World Championship Contests (9 speeches each year)

-Get a video tape of the World Championship contest to studyContact: Bill Stephens Productions (2001 contest) (775) 322-6292

8-Feedback

-Carving it

-Writing & improving based on it

-Three times I was ready to quit & three times ____________________________________

9-Scientifically Speaking

-FIRST: Gave the speech with all of the stories I wanted to give (my block of wood)

-SECOND: Evaluation forms:

What grabbed you attention?

A)

B)

C)

What inspired you?

A)

B)

C)

-Tallied the totals

-What was important to me, was not necessarily important to the audience

10- What is the point? Honing your stories


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-We have to put our stories through a distiller

-What is relevant to your main point?

-What isnt?

-You need to kill your babies! (favorite lines if they are not backing up main point)

11-Finding 11s

-How champions think. What would most people do? How can I do it ___________________?

-Im firm believer you cant have an 11 on a scale of 1 -> 10. UNLESS ___________________

-My first 11 was falling down and _________________________

-My second 11 was my use of _____________________

-Darrens idea of use of the stage was originally meant to help with ______________________

-A weakness turned into an asset

12-Talking from the floor

-Was used by Darren in intentionally create ______________________ in the room

13-1500 people changes everything

-unexpected laughs

-emergency ending: Comedians need to stick to their time on stage especially while on national TV.If something unexpected happens they must edit while on stage. They all know exactly how long each oftheir bits are. Speakers must be aware that there is an ending time, and it is our duty, no matter howwell it is going, to end at the right time. EVEN IF WE DONT get to start at our scheduled time.

Professionals get meetings back on track. In order to do that we must be aware of time anyhow longeach or our stories are.

14-The winning moment & where it came from (down too long)

-From the film Jerry McQuire... You had me at hello.

-If EVERYONE is thinking something at the same time it is an

_____________________________________


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-Asking the question over and over until you get an answer

15- Quick tips from my coach

____________________________________________________

____________________________________________________

____________________________________________________

16- The IMPORTANT elements of a speech

-Opening & closing

-Storiesare most important & most memorable

-Sadly, people wont remember much else

-Word pictures

-Example: When Darren was selling he would use create the pictureof________________________________

-Authoritative statements

-Transitions(keep asking yourself How can I get from this story to the next?) Ask until you get ananswer. Ask friends or fellow speakers for help if you get stuck.

-The Rule of 3 The list is three

______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________


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-Play it again sam!

-To improve your speech, ask the questions:

It that important?

What could I add in here?

What makes me feel uncomfortable that I could change?

How can I make it better?

17-R.M.T. What can you pick out?

-Opening & closing

-Stories______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

-Word pictures

-Transitions

-The Rule of 3


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Disc 3 :Lessons from My Coach

Tracks: Your Notes:

1- Introduction

2- Why would someone who is a good speaker need a coach?

3-Whats the basis for the speaker-coach relationship?

4- What are the roles of the coach?

Mirror

Filter

Reinforcer

Confidant

Cheerleader

5- How do you find a coach that is right for you?

6- What if you cant afford a coach?

7-Darren, what was the process like for you?

8- When does the coach have to get out of the way?

9- How did you cut your speech down?


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10- What was Mark Browns role?

11- How does a speaker create their ownDarrenisms ?

12- How did you decide where to put theDarrenisms ?

13-How important is it to find a coach with different talents than you have?

14- What does the coach get out of it?

15- What did you do right in the coaching relationship? What would you do differently?

16- Dave, what was Darrens evolution as a speaker?

17- Should sales people and executives get coaching?

18- Any final thoughts?


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Disc 4 :::::From Free to Fee

Tracks: Your Notes:

1- Introduction

2- Where do you start?

-Three tough questions:

-1-______________________________________________________________________________________

-2-______________________________________________________________________________________

-3-______________________________________________________________________________________

-We have to change our thinking ourselves as speakers and look at ourselves as an

___________________________________

-What is your background? What areas have your careers/jobs covered?

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________


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-What are some of your unique accomplishments?

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

-What areas do you have a passion for? What subjects are you willing to do some research on?(Keepingin mind- other people would be willing to pay for?)

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

3-How Darren started

-Darrens trip from free to fee started in a ____________________ room

-The question that changed Darrens way of thinking was

_________________________________________?


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-Passion and enthusiasm will get you _______________________________

-If you dont have those you must have ___________________________

4- You need to do your own stuff

-Start a ______________________________

-These will become what we call in the world of professional speaking your

________________________ stories

5- Shhhh The Secret....

-Speak ________________________________ for _________ !

-Start with local _________________________________________________

-Invest in ______________________________ software

-After each presentation make it a habit to enter names and addresses you collect

6-Material, Delivery, and Setting(now that you are in breaking new ground)

-Material:

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________


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-You will be recommended or not recommended based on _____________________________

-Delivery:

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

-Setting:

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

-Bring a printed ____________________ with you

-It should be 14 point font because ______________________________

-Your introduction should answer the question: _______________________?

7- Find a mentor

-You think your time is valuable? What if you are working really hard in the

__________________________?

-You must respect their ______________


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-Use the internet: type in: professional speaker ___________________________

-Contact the National Speakers Association and find out where the closest chapter meets

(see reference section of workbook)

8- Steal my stuff Tools you need to start

-Your business card

front of mine ----->

Darrens contact information

is printed on the other side

-Come up with a name for your company

Darren with his friends Rick & Dave startedThe Humor Institute to let potential clientsknow they were serious about teaching humor.

tztztztztz soundsoundsoundsoundsoundspritzer

seltzer

Howitzer

klutz

end withend withend withend withend witha vowela vowela vowela vowela vowelsalami

mortadella

origami

buffalo

swami

svengali

macaroni

ziti

rigatoni

buttinsky

atari

twofers &twofers &twofers &twofers &twofers &threefersthreefersthreefersthreefersthreefersKickapoo

klutz

kibbutz

kibitz

crack

khakimacaroni

kick

kiwi

kleptomaniac

nick knack

cackle

crackle

hardhardhardhardhard KKKKKsoundsoundsoundsoundsoundkumquat

whack

snack

jack

snicker

slicker

persnickety

perpendicular

kibbutz

kibitz

rickshaw

kielbasa

capicolla

kilobyte

kilowatt

kimono

kippers

knack

knockwurst

knickers

knish

conniption

kabob

pickle

sickle

knuckleheckle

Onomato-Onomato-Onomato-Onomato-Onomato-poeiapoeiapoeiapoeiapoeiacuckoo

crack

splash

WORDSFFFFFUUUUUNNNNNNNNNNYYYYY

BOOK MARK

Institute

The HUMOR The Humor Institute, Inc.The Humor Institute, Inc.The Humor Institute, Inc.The Humor Institute, Inc.The Humor Institute, Inc.

PO Box 557

Auburn, MA 01501

Humor, Its not just for fun anymore!


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-Your Biography(keeping in mind - Why you?)

Darrens Bio:Darrens Bio:Darrens Bio:Darrens Bio:Darrens Bio:

As well as keynote speaking for clients such asIBM, Sheraton, and Fidelity Investments, DarrenLaCroix, is also a founder of The Humor Institute, Inc. He also performs stand-up comedy, and can be

seen in many TV Commercials. He has been hired to bring humor to corporate training videos by such

companies as Dunkin Donuts, Motorola, EMC2 Corporation, and CVS.

His new bookLaugh & Grow RICH, How to Profit from Humor inAnyBusiness, contains interviewswith corporate executives like Barry & Elliot who run the # 1 Jordans Furniture Store in the country &

believe infatically in this philosophy.... and is due to be released nationally next year.

Darren also is the co-creator ofThe Humor Boot Camp a seminar to help other presenters learn tolighten up their presentations. This full day program is currently given at client sites. It is now being

made into a book and audio learning program. Humor IS a learned skillbelieve it or not. Darren is

living proof.

(this was prior to winning the championship)

What ideas does this give you for your Bio?

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

-Your one sheet

-If someone asks you to fax over your information this is what you send. It should have a flavor of your

personality or your subject. Notice, mine includes the line Darrens great. Darrens mom. If Im

talking about humor there had better be something light-hearted on it!

-Have a professional photo taken (used on your one sheet possibly on your business card as well)

-Call Color for Real Estate for a free catalog from some creative

ideas for business cards or one page brochures 800-221-1220

-Your Program Agreement


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PROGRAM AGREEMENT

Contact Phone #:__________________________

Between: Darren J. La Croix

and Client: __________________________

Todays Date: __________________________

Program Date(s):__________________________

Starting/Ending Time(s): __________________________

Program Topic(s) and Title(s): __________________________

Program Time: __________________________

Estimated Audience Size: __________________________

Location: __________________________

Materials Required: - a lavaliere microphone (preferably wireless)

- lectern

- table to display books and learning materials

Program Fee: __________________________

check due: $_______.00 (deposit to hold date) please return w/agreement

$______.00 Balance will be due on the date of the presentation

(you may pay all in advance if you prefer)

Check are payable to: The Humor Institute, Inc.

To ensure the programs success, and the humor works best for the audience

* Full attention is required during the program for mutual benefit of client & speaker. Waitersand waitresses will not be permitted to serve meals or clear tables during the program.

* Darren will attend conference meal

* Darren will have his educational products available for your group. He will not spend more than

two minutes talking about them. Please provide a table in the back of the room.

* Client does have permission to tape or film. If done so the client will provide Darren with the

master tape once dubs are made.

* Please complete, sign, and date this agreement. Keep one copy for your records and

mail the other with deposit to: The Humor Institute, Inc. PO Box 557 Auburn, MA 01501* All travel expenses, including food during travel time (dont worry FYI Darren doesnt eat much) will

be reimbursed by client.

Accepted by _____________________________________ Date ____/____/____

Darren J. La Croix

Client Signature __________________________________ Date ____/____/____


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-Your Program Check List

Darrens Program Check List

Contact-

Organization -

Date-

Time-

Location-

Conference Theme?-

Check---ITEM

___ Add to E-MAIL client list!!

___ Add to client list!!

___ introduction

___ handouts?

___ Book marks

___ permission from helpers

___ suit & tie

___ polish shoes

___ masking tape - to rope off chairs

___ back ground notes___ audience member to participate & back-up

___ should this be video taped? audio?

___ mini disc & blank

___ recharge mini disc batter

___ mints

___ speech

___ note cards for up-to-the-minute stuff

___ say prayer___ custom props -visuals

___ WHO should I meet before the program:

______________________

______________________

______________________

______________________

Post Program

___ Thank You follow up

___ Report to bureau?

___ Send invoice?

___ Expense reimbusement?

The Product table

___ coverings for table

___ collapseable box

___ business card holder

___ stapler

___ MC/visa sign

___ extra order forms

___ foam core displays

___ stand-up simple pricing

___ chocolates & dishes

___ order collection envelopes

___ extra pens

___ books, audios, videos for sale

Product at event:


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-Ideas for your checklist

(Yours will start smaller and eventaully grow as mine did)

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

-For more examples of forms to help getting set up Behind the Scenes... The Paper Trail(forms to

help get a speaking business started on the right foot) & Best Practices Book(tips from Speaking Pros)

from New England Speakers Association 800-747-8100 or 617-566-6372

9-Advanced tools

-Your website- your on-line one page!

-Try getting your own name dot com (ie: www.DarrenLaCroix.com) Especially if you would like to

someday be considered an expert in your field.

-Darren also has: www.HUMOR411.com

-He uses this for radio interviews because it is easy to remember

-You dont need anything fancy to start, just take the first step

-If you dont know any designers I use 3000K they handle website for the Red Cross and an art museum

near my home town. Darren started with something very simple, like an on-line brochure and then

kept growing from their. If you wait until it is perfect it may never get up!

-Demo Videos

-They dont have to be longer than __________ minutes

-As your fee goes up, so should the quality of your _______________________ &

_______________________


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-Newsletter

-The purpose of a newsletter is to _______________________________

-Possible ideas for your newsletter:

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

10- Fees! Getting paid

-Darrens first fee was $ ________

-The basic fee ranges levels are:

_________-__________

_________-__________

_________-__________

_________-__________

_________-__________

_________-__________

_________-__________

_________-__________

Celebrity Status.... Expert in your field

-In the beginning your first fee could be a __________________________________________


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-You have to battle that little __________________________

-Each level you may find it tough to ask for a higher fee (congratulations youre normal!)

-What are your fee goals?

_______________________________________

_______________________________________

-One of Darrens first goals was to get his

__________________________________________________________

-What was his first step? Asking

______________________________________________________________

-Be creative!

-Darrens friend Jeanne

___________________________________________________________________

-Go to the library and take a look at the

_______________________________________________________

-Questions to ask:

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

11- Other advice for going from free to fee

-Speakers Bureaus


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-They generally get ___________-___________%

-Bill Cosby started by

____________________________________________________________________

-Another idea to start marketing on a small budget is

__________________________________________________________________________

Final Notes to yourself:

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________


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APPENDIX:

Resources:

Money TalksMoney TalksMoney TalksMoney TalksMoney TalksBook by Alan Weiss

If you are more advanced or want to get THE BOOK

www.summitconsulting.com

Bill Stephens ProductionsBill Stephens ProductionsBill Stephens ProductionsBill Stephens ProductionsBill Stephens Productions775-322-6292-If you wish to get a copy of the Speech Contest Video

-You can learn a great deal from 9 of the best in the world

-Darren studied from 1990-2000 to help me win the championship in 2001

National Speakers AssociationNational Speakers AssociationNational Speakers AssociationNational Speakers AssociationNational Speakers Association480-968-2552www.nsaspeaker.org

Color for Real EstateColor for Real EstateColor for Real EstateColor for Real EstateColor for Real Estate(800) 221-1220-for printing your promotional material

-call them and have them send you a catalog (its free!)

www.colorforrealestate.com

New England Speakers AssociationNew England Speakers AssociationNew England Speakers AssociationNew England Speakers AssociationNew England Speakers Association800-747-8100 or 617-566-6372-Examples of forms to help getting set up Behind the Scenes... The Paper Trail(forms to help get a

speaking business started on the right foot)

-Best Practices Book(tips from Speaking Pros)

www.nsanewengland.com

The Encyclopedia of AssociationsThe Encyclopedia of AssociationsThe Encyclopedia of AssociationsThe Encyclopedia of AssociationsThe Encyclopedia of Associations-You can find this at your local library

If 80% of speeches come as referral...If 80% of speeches come as referral...If 80% of speeches come as referral...If 80% of speeches come as referral...If 80% of speeches come as referral...

doesnt make sense to then to get professional guidance?doesnt make sense to then to get professional guidance?doesnt make sense to then to get professional guidance?doesnt make sense to then to get professional guidance?doesnt make sense to then to get professional guidance?

Not JUST the guidance... but what YOU do with it!Not JUST the guidance... but what YOU do with it!Not JUST the guidance... but what YOU do with it!Not JUST the guidance... but what YOU do with it!Not JUST the guidance... but what YOU do with it!


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An early draft of Darrens Championship speech:

Dont Chop Down Your Cherry Tree

can you remember a moment where a thought or an idea jump into your brain. Youcould feel the enthusiasm reach your eyes. You thought this would be great. tHis

would be cool.

and then all of a sudden this tiny little thought forced its way to the front and turned

into a little voice and that little voice said, but what if you.... (fall fall on your face.

What do you do when you fall on your face? do you try to get up quickly so no one

will notice. Do you decide maybe its not worth the risk, I dont want to face them so

maybe Ill just stay here. Are you more concerned with what other people will think

than what you can learn from it? Madam toastmaster, fellow toastmaster & guests.

Are you willing to fail?

Valuable Negative information - thats what Dr Robert H Goddard thought of failure.

Thats what his assistants said he referred to it all of the time.

Ill never forget in elementary school when the teacher brought us across the street

to sit at the face of the monument where he launched the first liquid fueled rocket in

history. She told us of this man who continued to fail.

Ill never forget the story of the cherry tree. as a 17 year old boy he climbed the

cherry tree in his families yard. His task was to prune the top of the tree, but insteadhe daydreamed. He looked out over the meadow and looked up to the moon and

thought how wonderful it would be to build a device to take off from this meadow andreach the planets.

Dr Goddard said that when he climbed down from that cherry tree, he was not the

same person who climbed up. He tried experiment after experiment. He released a

paper about the possibility of space flight. The NY times said in an editorial the next

day. Dr Goddard lacks the knowledge labeled out daily in high schools.... ouch

He went to the US army with some of his ideas. He thought that this could be used as

a weapon of war. The army said thank you for your time and walked away.

One of his experiments blew up and caused such a ruckus that the police showed up.

And not far behind them was the press. They found out about his experiments and


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about his plans to build a rocket to go to the moon. The next morning the papers

said:. Moon rocket misses target by 238,799 1/2 miles. ouch

1926 Dr Goddard launched the first liquid fueled rocket in history from a frozen

cabbage field at his aunts farm. HISTORY!

It still wasnt enough. WWII came around The V2 missile. one of the most powerfulweapons in WWII. A German scientist was captured and was asked how this missile

was developed. The Germans response was, why dont you ask your own DrGoddard. They opened up the missile and it was his ideas. Our own army wouldnt

even listen to him.

When you have a thought , when you have an idea you are filled with fun and

enthusiasm, but there are people out there that I call the funsuckers.

These people suck the FUN out of everything. The only way they can brighten a room

is by leaving . Its a law of congress that every company, every family and everytoastmaster group must have a funsucker. and you all know exactly who that person

is (should be you are all thinking of that person right now) and if you dont know who

that person is... look in the mirror.The cherry tree was his dream we all know the rest of the story. But the most

important story what is your dream.

I remember my cherry tree I was driving down the road a friend had insisted that I

listen to this motivational tape. As I drove down the road I listened and I thought yeah

yeah whatever and then this speaker Brian Tracy asked a question... A question that

changed the course of my life. The question ...What would you dare to dream if youknew you wouldnt fail?

I shuttered, I shook, I had to pull over to the side of the road, all of a sudden I had a

thought bing! Id be a comedian, but you have to understand my back ground I wasnot a class clown, I was never considered funny. In fact. The first time my brother

ever laughed at me was when I told him I was going to be a comedian.

That was my cherry tree. I had to try it. That saturday nite I went to a comedy club in

worcester Ma I walked up to a comedian after the show Hi my name is Darren I wantto be a comedian, what do I need to do? He asked me a question, He said are you

funny? I said NO! I found out later thats important, but then he asked me anotherquestion. Are you willing to fail? Sure... I went through highschool dating. Ive been

rejected before.

Come to find out he told me that was more important than being funny. Really?

I had done stand-up comedy for a while and I failed again & again. Dr Goddards flight


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was only 2.5 seconds long... not a big ice breaker, but it was a whole new science.

oddly enough 2.5 seconds was the sum total of all the laughs I got in my first year &

1/2 in comedy. whoooo

but what it was... it was a night I was new to corporate .. board of directors for credit

unions I was thinking theres some funsuckers.

but I was all excited I was filled with hope. Corporate world - Im here now Well 400

people in attendance I was pretty pumped the room only held 300 people I wasspeaking to the meeting planner asking what are we going to do about this. They said

dont worry we have another room right next door, and well put them in there and

well put in a speaker theyll hear you. WHAT?

Before my introduction I went out to the other room and noticed well it was 9:30 the

speech was supposed to start at 8:00 it took a little longer. these were elderly people

they needed to go to bed. So I tried to turn lemons into laughter if you will and I triedto get all of these people to go into the other room as I asked someone to go in heard

someone introducing me... ladies and gentleman please welcome darren Lacroix! SO I

turned in a panic to run up and I knocked over this metal tank. it was an oxygen tank

but I thought I would pull out my sure fire bit.I would bring up an audience member -audience involvement! It was a woman from the audience and she was to stand behind

me and use her hands to tell the story. she stands behind me and they do gestures

and usually the more animated the better it works. Well this woman was mT

Rushmore. she stood there strong I was dying even worse it was so painful. and then I

turned in desperation and I begged...please do something with your hands.. and shetook her hands and... covered my mouth CHOP CHOP CHOP -

there are so many people around us who want to steal your dreams, your uneducated

CHOP youre not funny CHOP you dont have the education CHOP you dont have thebackground CHOP youve never done this before Robert Goddard was confronted by

the NY times the associated press asked him if he had any response and he said

visions are just a joke until one man makes it happen... Im here to tell you, you canlearn anything if you are willing to fail. Im living proof anything is possible my jokes

were just a vision once I was willing to fall on my face.


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FINAL DRAFT The Championship Speech: OUCH!

OUCH!

Can you remember a moment when a brilliant idea flashed into your head... it was

perfect for you,... then all of a sudden from the depths of your brain another thought

forced its way through the enthusiasm until finally it shouted, YEAH great idea, but

what if you...(fall fallon your face? What do you do when you fall on your face? doyou try to jump right up & hope no one noticed? Are you more concerned with what

other people will think, than what you can learn from this? Mr Contest Chair, friends,

and people way in the back!. OUCH!

Do you feel I stayed down to long? Have YOU ever... stayed down... too long?

after 4 years of business school I went for the american dream I bought.. a subwaysandwich shop... youre all impressed I can tell... I dont want to brag but I took a

$60,000 debt and in six short months.... I doubled that debt... I turned my subway

sandwich shop into a non-profit organization...(Goddard)

I financially... fell on my face... but I realized I was not the only person from my home

town of Auburn to fall on his face... 100 years ago my first hero, Dr. Robert Goddard

had a ridiculous idea of building a device that could take off from the earth and reach

the stars!! His failures were the reason we landed on the moon.

(Brain Tracy)

I remember my ridiculous idea. I was listening to a tape of Brian Tracy, a greatspeaker. He asked the question... What would you dare to dream if you knew you

wouldnt fail? I struggled for an answer...... then... BING!! I would be a comedian! Butyou have to understand my background... I was not funny, I was not a class clown, in

fact the first time my brother ever laughed at me, was when I told him I was going to

be a comedian. (...)ouch!

(first step)

Who do you want to be? What changes would you like to make in your life?... SO

many of us can see clearly where we want to go... and yet we go back and forth,... If I

just had more time... If I just had a little more money... or If the kids were little older.But we never take...

that first step.....

Dr Goddards first flight took off in Auburn... and landed... in Auburn. It only went up41 feet... the first step can be small..

(strangers Strangerswill mock your first step... When the press found out about hisshort flight in an effort to reach the moon. The headline read: Moonrocket misses

target by 238,799 1/2 miles... OUCH!! Its part of the process...


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(mom & dad)

We also have friends and family that love us and dont want to see us fall. Imagine my

parents reaction after stretching their budget to help through college. Seeing me fall

on my face and then I came home (hands in pocket) mom... dad... I want to be a

comedian... I was met by silence... (mouth OUCH) Its part of the process...

(Gestures)

After a year of trying comedy I remember a nite... Id been bombing for 20 minutes.So I went for my sure fire bit I brought a woman up from the audience.... she stood

directly behind me and put her arms forward in place of mine and I would tell the storyverbally as she told it in gestures. It always works best the more animated the hands

are. Well this woman stood there like an ancient statue... I turned to her in

desperation... please do something with your hands.... she did... she....

OuuuuuuuCH! I called my mentor Rick. I bombed!... they hated me!... Rick said... SO??

.... what do you mean so? Rick said Darren, every comedian, every speaker, anyone

who has accomplished anything, has fallen on their face.

Then... I remembered SUBWAY.... I fell on my face, but I never took the next step. the

step AFTER the ouch is the most difficult. Take it. It will be hard, youll be unsure, butwhen that foot lands... oh youre going like that feeling........... We learn from the

ouch.Ever watch your own presentations on video? OUCH!

Did you learn anything?

(VNI)

Dr Goddard always referred to failure as valuable negative information. Information

essential for each step... towards landing on the moon.He was an.... ouchmasterHe was an.... ouchmasterHe was an.... ouchmasterHe was an.... ouchmasterHe was an.... ouchmaster. We need to be ouchmasters.. We need to be ouchmasters.. We need to be ouchmasters.. We need to be ouchmasters.. We need to be ouchmasters.

If you are willing to fail you can learn anything. I still have my day job,.. but itsbecause I took the step after the ouch... now my picture hangs in a comedy club in

my home town.I was not given the gift of making people laugh, I was given the opportunity to take a

next step... so were you...

What is your next step? Take it!

I didnt want to look back on my life and say. I never did try stand-up, but instead IPAID ALL MY BILLS!

(stuck)We will find our feet get stuck... and we are so afraid of the ouch we forget when we

take a risk.... & fall on our face. We still... make... progress... Fall Forward


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OUCH!

How I fell on my face... all the way to the toparticle by Darren LaCroix

As I waited my turn to take the stage every fiber of my body started to vibrate. My name was called, Istepped in front of the audience, my world shifted into slow motion. I could see nothing past theblinding lights, and I visibly started to shake. Two months of grueling practice was being put to the test.Have you ever felt like that? This wasnt the World Championship of Public Speaking, but it might aswell have been. This was my unofficial icebreaker, April 25th 1992, an open mic night at a Bostoncomedy club. Sure, I was an overnight success if you dont count the time between that night and August25th 2001. Whether you dream of being a World Champion or just want to be a better speaker you canall learn from those who have succeeded before us as I did.

How did I even end up at the comedy club that night? After suffering from a financial failure of a smallbusiness and reevaluating my life a friend gave me a motivational tape by Brian Tracy. The question thatchanged the direction of my life, What would you dare to dream if you knew you wouldnt fail? Myanswer, Id be a comedian, but it was a fantasy for me. I was not funny, I was not a class clown, in fact

the first time my brother ever laughed at me was when I told him I wanted to be a comedian. Funny, buttrue. Im living proof if you stick to it you can learn anything. Especially how to be an effective speaker!

My speech OUCH! won the championship, unbeknownst to me my preparation for the WorldChampionship of Public Speaking started on that night in 1992. Being good at anything is a processand there are many ouches along the way. Dont let falling on your face stop you. Understand fallingis an inevitable part of the process. In the speech the emphasis was on Dr. Robert Goddard, Americasfirst rocket scientist, and how he referred to failure as valuable negative information. What did I doright? What were the Ouches along the way?

OUCH # 1 BE A FARMER?When my friends and family learned of my ridiculous dream, knowing who I was they all tried to saveme from falling on my face. I had learned a valuable lesson from my business failure. After that fall Itook a hard look back at what I could learn from it. After my emotions were out of it I realized thereason for my sandwich shop failing was looking at me in the mirror. It was not the franchises fault, itwas my own.

I thought I knew it all. I was 22 years old and fresh out of business school a dangerous combination. Oneof the pearls of wisdom I took was from the franchise itself. They had told me the most successfulfranchisees were farmers. Farmers? The worst franchisees? Business graduates. Franchisees are provensuccess systems. Farmers understood that they had bought into a different type of business and followedthe system to the letter. Being right out of business school and a little over confident I felt I knew betterand tried to change the system. Boy, was that an ouch!

That was a lesson that will never be forgotten. All of these well meaning people who felt I had no

potential to be a comedian had never been comedians. Did you know most comedians off stage arepretty quiet? They did not know what it really took to be successful. That Saturday night following myvision I went to my first comedy show and asked one of the comedians what I should do to get started.He asked me if I was funny. I said, NO! That did not seem to be what was most important in his eyes.He told me about books about stand-up comedy. Books? Yes, then he told me to go to watch an openmic nite and watch other people who were just starting out. My friends had been comparing myabilities to Seinfeld, Cosby, and Williams not to others who were just starting. The same applies tospeaking.

What an eye opener. At these amateur nights I saw other people just starting out. They were horrible. I


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felt I can at least be that bad! Have you ever been intimidated by an incredible speaker? They didntstart out that way. No one does. Watch other people at your level and get advice from people who areahead of you. After winning the first few contests I got serious about winning my district, I asked forcoaching from Dave McIlhenny someone in my district who had won it before. My style of writing aspeech was always from outline form. I had never written a speech out word for word. I just did not likewriting it out. When Dave told me I needed to write out my speech I never questioned it. He had been

there and knew what it took. I followed his success plan. After winning the Region VII contest Daveintroduced me to Mark Brown the 1995 World Champion who had offered to give me some guidance.Whatever Mark said I took to heart and never questioned. I completely trusted his judgement. I becamea better student. I asked better questions. I drove two and a half hours (one way) to work with him,twice. Yes, Im glad he never told me to jump off a bridge. I would have.

OUCH #2 STAGE TIME, STAGE TIME, STAGE TIMEIt must be nice to have the ability to speak in front of people, that is a gift. This was a commentEmilie, from my home club heard in response to a coworkers hearing about my win. I laugh when I hearthat because most people think speaking just comes naturally good speakers. It took me nine years tolook natural. I can show you videotapes of early speeches that would have you shaking your head. Mostdont realize it can be a learned skill.

The best advice I ever received was from my comedy mentors. They all concurred that the three mostimportant things to becoming a good comedian is stage time, stage time, stage time. Not necessarily inthat order. One explained it to me, Darren, how can you be funny on stage until you are comfortable?For Toastmasters I ask, How can you communicate effectively until you are comfortable? Getcomfortable first, then worry about the little things! There are no short cuts. In my opinion 95% of yourgrowth as a speaker comes from being in front of the audience.

It is easier to see the growth in others than in ourselves. Who seems to grow the most? People who speakmore. Compare anyones tenth speech to their icebreaker. Their first table topic to their twentieth. Arethey a better speaker? Yes! Are they more comfortable? Yes! What tends to be the most comfortablemoment at a Toastmasters meeting? When the person scheduling speakers for the next meeting... and wesee someone volunteer. Whew. I d like to speak more, but I dont have time to prepare, Im too busy.

Have you ever seen anyone get a table topic that they are passionate about? You cant get them to sitdown! Have an outline ready to go.

So, why dont we speak more? Are you afraid of looking unprepared? Just to clarify, I calledToastmasters International Headquarters and found out in the history of the organization, as a result oflack of preparation there is no recorded cases of spontaneous combustion! Get up and speak. That iswhere your growth will come from. Challenge yourself. I originally joined Toastmasters as a place to getmore stage time because comedy clubs are only open at night. Then I joined four clubs to fall on my facemore often to learn. I disciplined myself to get in front of every audience I could. I was more concernedwith my long term growth than looking foolish giving a five minute speech. One of my speech coachessaid I had remarkable instincts on stage. Like any skill instincts come from experience, in this case agreat deal of stage time.

Ouch # 3- PREPARATIONWhen I asked David Brooks, the 1990 World Champion what helped him the most he replied, Let noone out prepare you. I knew I was probably not the most talented speaker, nor the best speech writer.What I did have going for me was my resilience to get stage time. One of my comedy mentors, DaveFitzgerald, prepared for each of his national TV spots by getting on stage every chance he could topractice the same five minutes over and over. He would run from one Boston comedy club to another fora week. Thats what it takes to deliver with confidence and precision and to be able to deal with theunexpected when its show time.

What did I do after winning the Region VII contest? I watched so many I started squinting like Clint


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Eastwood. Go ahead, make me a Champ. Well, let me give you the hard numbers. I watched 90 WorldChampionship contest speeches on video(10 contests), presented my speech to 22 Toastmaster clubs,received 151 written evaluations, video taped 6 hours 46 minutes 43 seconds of my practice speeches &verbal evaluations to make the most of Seven minutes in Anaheim. Thats what it took to deliver it withconfidence and precision and be able to deal with the unexpected. Some days I would go to aToastmaster club in the morning, go to work for a few hours, hit another club on my lunch break, back

to work, and finally another club in the evening.

One of my final live practice runs was at a Toastmaster cookout. I had practiced earlier that evening ata club thirty minutes away. By the time I reached the party it was dark and the mosquitoes were biting.There were too many Toastmasters there to fit in one room, and I needed a large area to use as my stage.What would you do in this situation? The only solution was to practice the speech outside in the backyard, under a flood light, while standing in the wet grass. I didnt think twice about it and I got a lot ofgreat feedback to go along with my grass stains.

Some people may be envious of my award, but few are envious of that much preparation. I am willing tobet, the few people that will work that hard will be on the stage next year in San Antonio. I didnt lovelugging the video camera with me everywhere I went. The most difficult part is wading through it all. Itis part of the process.

What would that much effort and study do for your talents? Would you be a better speaker?

Ouch #4 - KILL YOUR FAVORITE LINESWhen searching for topic ideas for the Championship, I came across a quote by Dr. Robert Goddard,Visions are just a joke, until one man accomplishes it. It was perfect for what I was trying to do! Iwould take that quote and then relate it to my quest for becoming a comedian and mirror it with, Myjokes were just a vision until I was willing to fall on my face. It was perfect! It was the basis for tyingall my ideas together! It was the perfect summation of what I wanted to say! It, however, was not in thefinal version of my speech. OUCH!

I had taken a comedy writing course by a sitcom writer, Stanley Ralph Ross. He taught me to Kill my

babies, those lines that we cant wait to deliver. They may help us write the whole speech, but as we tryto advance our stories and have one clear message they tend to get in the way. I had two other lines likethat. They had to go as well, since feedback from practice speeches lead people away fromunderstanding my message. They sent listeners out on tangents and confused them. I knew to win theChampionship and be true to my audience I had to let go of the lines that I felt were so precious. Makeno mistake every word of your speeches either makes your message clearer or dilutes it. There is nomiddle ground.

Ouch # 5 - FINDING AN 11Knowing I would be compared to eight of the best speakers in the world, I searched for an eleven. Iknew that my fellow contestants would rate as ten in most of the categories on the judges forms.Many people will say that you cant be an eleven out of a scale of one to ten. You can if it has neverbeen done before in a contest.

To my knowledge David Brooks was the first person to wear blue jeans and get the audience involved inhis speech. Know yourself. I understood that my strength was my gestures and my weakness was mywriting. I had to bring my writing up to a ten and tried to make some of my gestures better thaneveryone elses. I kept looking, and asking myself what can I do to rate an eleven and stand out. Theconstant asking of a good question usually results in a good answer. I came up with two of my own.

First was my gesture of falling on my face. Many people had dramatically gone down to one knee ordescribed falling, but no one had ever gone down completely. I asked myself, How would most peoplefall on their face if they were to do the same thing? In my opinion most people would fall down, then


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get up immediately and brush themselves off. I believed that you cant win the contest by being likemost people. I decided dusting yourself off was too overused. Jumping right up was too easy. I chose tostay down and deliver the thoughts we have when we fall from the floor. It seemed to make the mostsense, and be more dramatic. Though I knew it was risky, I also felt that since falling on my face wasthe essence of my speech the judges would reward the risk rather than take points away. It was a gesturethat allow me to stand out and made my point even clearer. If I didnt win at least the audience would

remember the message.

Second was the use of the stage. While reviewing World Champion contest speeches, I noticed the hugesize of the stage, and that many contestants went back & forth to make full use of it. Some would go toone side make a point and go to the other side make another point and back. No one, from what I saw,actually used the stage itself as a prop. Meaning it was not used to actually help deliver the message. Myspeech was about failing on your way to achieving your objective. Though many people may never havenoticed I used the stage itself as a linear metaphor. After my opening I went to the left of the stage usedthat as a starting point towards my goal of getting to the right side of the stage. As I progressed thoughthe speech and my journey I made progress from left to right with each story segment I told. Manypeople may not have even noticed, but I was betting the judges would be watching every move carefully.And for those who did not pick up on it, it was not a distraction. Either way it kept my moves purposefuland not erratic. It was part of my message. It is a process.

What elevens can you develop?

Ouch # 6 -EVALUATIONSThree times I thought I was done and thought I had the perfect speech. Three times it was ripped apartby an advanced Toastmasters club. Three times I went to bed ready to quit. Three times I woke up with abetter speech. Being evaluated by advanced clubs was difficult. I stood there and took my slashes andasked for more. It was like college hazing, Thank you sir, may I have another.

I knew that if my message was not clear to advanced Toastmasters how would it be clear to 2000 peoplein Anaheim, some who English is not even their first language. Other winners messages seemed to besimple, clear, and entertaining. My favorite bit of wisdom on this topic from Mark was, Remember

evaluation is just what other people would do if they were you. People give feedback based on theirown experiences. You must be true to yourself and look at what their background is.

The biggest problem I found with the flood of feedback was what to listen to and what to throw out.Since I was speaking about Americas first rocket scientist I had a brain flash of taking a scientificapproach to the feedback. I developed my own evaluation form. I asked only two questions. Whatinspired you? What grabbed you? After each question I gave evaluators an A, B, and C encouragingthree responses to each. I told my rough draft speech containing all of the stories I wanted to tell. It wasten minutes long. I took the evaluations and started a list of the points mentioned and put hash marksnext the ones already mentioned. I was surprised the results I got. It effectively helped me narrow thespeech down to my most powerful stories and points.

Ouch # 7 - SELF EVALUATION

Another one of my favorite lines that I had to cut from my speech was, Did you ever watch your ownpresentation on video? OUCH! Did you learn anything? Another lesson from the comedy world waslearning about the little black box that all new comics carried. It was a cassette recorder. You can learnso much from listening to your own speeches. When you are relaxed and away from the situation youcan think clearer and evaluate yourself better. New comedians recognize the delivery is just as importantas the words. So they can capture the best way to deliver a punch line. Sometimes its a pause,sometimes it is inflection on a certain syllable that makes all of the difference in the world. Yes, it can bepainful, however, I guarantee you will learn from it. There are many lessons in that ouch. Unfortunatelymany people learn they dont like watching themselves and never do it again. This is an ouch we need tolearn to love.


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My mini disc recorder broke when I started practicing my speeches. It was a blessing in disguise. Itreminded me the best learning comes from watching your body movements as well as listening to yourvoice. Your body speaks to the audience louder than your words. Know what your body is saying. Turndown the volume on your TV when you watch it. Is your message coming through? I didnt like luggingthe video camera around from speech to speech, but I know the value of watching yourself. It was an

ouch that I was willing to endure so that I could touch the 2000 Toastmasters in Anaheim.

Why do all this? Its all about your impact on the individuals in the audience. When I wanted to rest Iremembered my responsibility to 2000 individuals that would make up the audience. The only road tothe trophy is through the hearts of the audience. In my opinion, the trophies are not as much a symbol ofsuccess, as it is a symbol of a willingness to fail and learn from it. Every World Champion got therewith a different approach. Your approach must fit you! Be authentic, be an ouchmaster. I was not giventhe gift of being a great speaker, I was given the process to learn by doing. So were you. Like greatjokes, the best speeches are not written they are rewritten. Above all, if you want to be more of aspeaker... speak more.


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Coaching A ChampionArticle by Dave McIlhenny

Darren LaCroixs recounts his journey to the 2001 World Championship of Public speaking inAnaheim. Since I was his principal coach, Darren and I thought it would be instructive to

document the process from the coachs standpointthe coachs standpointthe coachs standpointthe coachs standpointthe coachs standpoint

In April Darren called to ask if I would coach him. He had won his area contest and wantedto win the division. Why did he call me? Because I was a friend whose opinion he respected,because he knew I coach corporate executives professionally, but mostly because I had won theDistrict 31 speech contest twice. To Darren I was someone who had been there and done it.

He also recognized that our strengths reinforced each other. Darrens strengths aredelivery,movement, comedy and a stage presence gained from hours of stage time at comedy clubs. Mineare message, word smithing, transitions, and coaching. It made for a great marriage.

In all three contest speeches, the main ideas were Darrens, all the main speech elements andstories were Darrens, and the delivery was Darrens. No ethical speaker or coach would haveit any other way. So what does a coach contribute? Tuning, focus, structure, filtering,discipline of a sort, and most important consistent high-quality feedback. I believe agood coach can improve a speech anywhere from 5% to 25%, sometimes more.

In preparing his District speech, Darren came to my house once with his friend, Tanya, whohas excellent instincts. We made six run-throughs and did major tuning, focusing ontransitions, pauses, phrasing, and streamlining stories. The next time I saw Darren was atthe contest itself. He won with a marvelous job of delivery of a fairly good speech built onhis comedy routines. But the close (always the most difficult part of a speech) wascontrived. When he asked I said I didnt think he would win Regional with that level speech.Thats when we both got serious about the coaching relationship.

Darren built his Regional speech, RMT around another story he used in his comedy routineand added a heartwarming vignette about his mothers scare with a heart attack. Darren andTanya came to my house twice for major run-throughs, and I attended two practice speeches hegave at local clubs. We talked on the phone almost daily.

I recall some of my contributions to the Regional speech. I insisted that Darren (kickingand squirming) write his script out. To win at world-class levels this is must. I suggestedadding energetic movement to a vignette where he described the fear of your first speech. Iidentified two imbedded lines (His happiness was connected to my heart, and You see, whenyou humorize you humanize.) as gems that could become Darrenisms, and suggested he putmajor pauses before and after them to make them stand out. We reluctantly concluded thattime would not allow a story about a mentor who had died of cancer. Finally I suggested thatthe audience needed to see the relationship between him and his mother and that he turnsideways to the audience and tenderly look down at his mother in her hospital bed almost apantomime. In my opinion thats where he won the speech. Note that theoperative work here is suggested.

Now Darren was headed for the big shootout in Anaheim. You need all the help you can get forworld-class speaking, so at Regional I introduced Darren to Mark Brown, 1995 World Champion,and asked Mark if he would help coach Darren. It was to prove a second great marriage.

About this time Darren experienced his first serious panic. He had used up all but one shortstory (the Subway sandwich shop) from his comedy-routine material. His well was dry. Whatin the world was he going to talk about in his Anaheim speech?

A week later he called on his car phone and said Coach! I have a great idea. What if Icome out and fall flat on my face? Thats where what turned into a magnificent speechstarted with Darrens simple idea for a gesture. If youve heard or read his final speech


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youll recognize how thoroughly the falling-down metaphor expanded into the whole speech.But it didnt happen overnight.

Pieces of the speech started cobbling themselves together in Darrens head and we talked byphone every day. At this point the speech was a collection of segments that had little todo with each other: (a) the initial fall, (b) a lumpy, long-winded story about rocket

scientist Robert Goddard, (c) another long-winded story about Darrens first professionalspeech bomb, and (d) a hilarious but unfinished skit on funsuckers. No script, littlestructure, and no close.

Darren came to my house and we went to work. At this point we were concerned with structureand it came hard if you dont know what segments youre going to use, its difficult tobuild a speech. So we sifted. Painfully. Like any parent, Darren was most reluctant togive up his babies, his precious material. When we drove to New York for a three-hoursession with Mark Brown the next week, there was still a lot of work to do. We sortedthrough the segments and homed in on the stronger ones. Also we leaned on Darren to quitexplaining in his stories and get to the point. The speech bomb story, which at this pointwas taking three minutes, took only forty seconds in Darrens world championship speech.

Were two coaches a problem? On the contrary. When either Mark or I suggested something, the

other almost always saw its value right away and agreed. There are times when one and onemakes ten.

Back in Massachusetts, Darren started giving the speech at clubs even though it was still inpieces and each club got a different speech. I didnt think this was a good idea, but Darrenlikes audiences and insisted he works best this way. Sometimes a coach needs to know when toget out of the way.

Back to my house for more tuning. The speech was stuck at well over ten minutes, partly dueto Darrens habit of throwing in ad-libs. We made a second trip to New York ten days beforethe final contest, hoping to focus on delivery, but the speech was still too long. Darrenwas in a near panic. In three intense hours Mark, Darren and I managed to tighten andtighten again. How? By cutting half the Goddard story, reluctantly tossing out the wholefunsucker segment, and pouncing on Darren when he ad libbed. One problem was that what

the script said and what Darren was saying on stage were very different. And each run-through was different. However, as Darren would say, each time we fell forward. Finally hedid one run-through at 7:22. We were videotaping and from that videotape came a script wecould work on.

We made another breakthrough on that trip. I had been quietly unhappy with the closebecause I felt it was out of step with the message. Darren didnt see anything wrong withthe close he had. When we huddled with Mark I mentioned the close and he agreed it was weak.Because there was a second opinion we got Darrens attention. In five minutes of three-wayconversation the answer suddenly popped out take the second fall, which was halfway intothe speech, and move it to the end as the close. Eureka! Whose idea was it? I dont thinkany of the three of us know. Nor do we care.

Over the next few days Darren gave the speech once or twice a day to local clubs. He would

tape each one, transcribe it, and e-mail the script to me. In the afternoon I might get a960-word script and be halfway through marking it up when another e-mail would arrive with a900-word script.

We got to Anaheim with five days to work. We ran through the speech at least thirty times.To deal with the avalanche of suggestions from practice audiences, many of them good and allof them well meaning, Darren finally asked people to give their suggestions directly to me; Iwould relay to him the ones I thought would improve the speech. On the next to last day wehad a half-hour session with Mark. He suggested adding energy to the opening andwe fixed a weakness in the close by simply adding the two words, Go ahead.

Darren never lets up. On the day of the contest, which started at 9:00 AM, he came looking


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for me at 8:30 and we did one last run through. My role was to tune his mental attitude,Thats MY stage youre on. When we went back to the auditorium, Darren didnt have hisbadge and I had to intercede with the door monitor to get Darren in to his own contest.

The rest is history an epic winning speech, a deserving world champion. My thoughts aboutcoaching and the coach/speaker relationship follow.

Whats in it for the coach? One answer is, Who cares; its a fun ride. A second is,Its your duty I believe that when anyone is given a talent they also inherit aresponsibility to share it for the overall good. A practical answer is that no matter howexperienced the coach, I guarantee he or she will learn as much about speaking as thespeaker.

Whats the basis of the relationship? Reinforcing capabilities, reinforcing experience,commitment and above all, mutual respect and trust. This is not idealistic; a coach-coacheerelationship cant last long without respect and trust. Nowhere does this say the coachmust be a world-class performer. When I was in college and captain of the swim team, afterour first winning meet we heaved the coach into the deep end of the pool. Only when hesurfaced, gasping and thrashing, did we find out he couldnt swim.

What does the coach do? He or she is, variously, a mirror, a filter, a reinforcer, aconfidant, and a nudger. And the coach provides much needed continuity.

A mirror Most of us have a hard time telling if something we do is good or not. We needsomeone else to hold up a mirror and show us what it looks like. A trusted coach is thefirst line of feedback. But ... if something keeps gnawing insistently at the speaker, he orshe must listen to it, coach or no.

A filter Any speaker who presents to a large number of people will get conflictingopinions, some negative. Most of us tend to dwell on negative feedback even when we knowbetter. A good coach helps the coachee deal with suggestions and sort out whats useful.Many suggestions would work for the suggestor but not for the suggestee.

A reinforcer One of the main contributions of a mentor/coach is to say, You did good.

Everyone, particularly a speaker gearing up for a major contest, needs to hear that and hearit frequently. It sounds best coming from someone you trust.

A confidant There are days a speaker just doesnt think its going to work. And has tovent. If the speaker can get their frustration off his or her chest, he or she can get backto the task at hand. A good coach doesnt comment negatively on these confidences but justlistens. Being there for the venting is part of coaching.

A nudger All of us have things we avoid and all of us procrastinate. Darren didnt liketo write scripts out or stick to them. He discovered as we went along that using a written-out script is essential for a world-class speech. All I did was nudge him. Sometimesfirmly.

So, whose speech is it, anyway? The speech is always the speakers. If the coach attempts

to take ownership of the speech, the relationship is doomed to fail. And a coach should beleery about taking credit for anything that winds up in the final winning speech, even if heor she suggested it. The speaker might have reached the same conclusion later, or someoneelse might have eventually made the same suggestion. In the give and take of working ona speech its often hard to figure out who made a specific suggestion that worked.

The worm can turn Speaking is unlike an Olympic sport where the coach is usually past hisor her performing prime. A speaking coach one year can be a coachee the next. Next year Iwill be competing and Darren has agreed to coach me.


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Thank You Dan, Thank You Toastmastersby Darren LaCroix

Green,eager, and willing to fail in the world of stand-up comedy was what lead me tobecoming a professional speaker. Comedy mentor, Dave Fitzgerald, told me the key

to comedy is: stage time, stage time, stage time! Dick Doherty had told me to, Just

keep doing it. I also learned never to turn down a chance to perform (great advicefor professional speakers too!) In heeding this advice of my comedy mentors I had

joined a Toastmasters group for the extremely selfish reason of Stage time.

It was 1993. I will never forget the day I stood over a photocopier talking with DanJones, DTM. He had suggested I get more involved with the leading the club. He

obviously did not understand were I was coming from. I was there test jokes. Therewas nothing in my contract about giving. How could I help the club? Why would Iwant to?

Then he slapped me across the face with a question,Do you realize what you have to

give? It totally caught me off guard. Giving? I am here to get, not to give! I am

new, what could I possibly give? He passionately convinced me that others could

learn from me. After all I had learned it the best way(some call it the hard way) on

stage bomb after bomb. Life is about giving, not getting. The more I became

outwardly focused with helping others, the more educated I became.

Next my pygmaleon challenged me to lead a workshop at a Toastmaster conference.

Someone in the audience that day hired me for my first paid keynote, which leaddirectly to speaking for the BPCS Users group. I spoke for BPCS again this past

summer and have already received a deposit check for next years conference.

When I reflect back on how fortunate I am to do what I love, I always try to

remember, it stemmed from Dans encouragement. The real day my speaking career

started. Many who inspire others may never know the full impact of their efforts.

Much of what we say is never truly heard, but words of encouragement seldomwords of encouragement seldomwords of encouragement seldomwords of encouragement seldomwords of encouragement seldomfall on deaf earsfal l on deaf earsfal l on deaf earsfal l on deaf earsfa ll on deaf ea rs. What do you have to give?


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