Presentations and Stand-up Comedy. It's all in the timing!

Last night I was performing stand-up in the Funhouse Comedy Champions Gong in Derby. If you're not familiar with the terminology, a 'Gong' show is where a number of audience members are given the opportunity to vote you off, by the showing of a number of cards. The Champions' Gong Final saw nine previous Gong Show winners compete against each other.

In the initial gong shows ( which took place pre pandemic), each comedian had to survive for five minutes to go through, and if they survived they were brought back to do no more than a further sixty seconds before an audience 'clap off' decided the winner. Five audience members were given a green and a red card each, and at given times during that five minutes ( at minutes 3 and 5), the cardholders were invited to vote. If three red cards went up simultaneously, your time was up, and you were out.

For the Champions' Final, audience votes were invited at three, five and seven minutes, with survivors being called back for a further sixty seconds.

The standard was high. Seven comedians survived through to the 60 seconds and clap off stage.

In the end, it came down to two comedians. Myself and a Doctor from London. They couldn't separate us despite an additional clap off and even a show of hands. The promoter called it as a tie, and we were both declared the winners.

I couldn't have been happier, but success like that doesn't happen by accident, and this is where the similarities with your presentations come in.

I knew in advance exactly how much time I was going to have. I knew at what points during that time audience members would be asked to make a choice. I knew that if I survived, I would be given an extra sixty seconds which might conceivably make the difference between success and failure, and I knew where in the running order I was going to be and how that might affect the audience and their reaction to my delivery. Armed with all of that knowledge, I prepared.

I chose very carefully the material I was going to use, and I broke it down into individual gags/sections. I rehearsed and timed each section, and then I did it again...and again....and again, and I made sure that at those key junctures, three, five and seven minutes, that tried and tested material, my best material, would be landing on an audience facing a decision........ should I stay or should I go.

I didn't assume I'd survive, but I planned for that eventuality so that I could take greatest advantage of that extra sixty seconds. So that it would be as polished, as seamless as the first seven minutes. So that it would pick up where I'd left off only a couple of minutes before, still fresh in the memory of the audience; to ride the support and engagement I'd already earned.

And I won. I won because I'd prepared better than at least seven of my competitors. I won because I'd thought through the whole process. I won because I'd put myself in the shoes of audience members with a difficult choice to make, and I'd made it easier for them to make it.

I don't consider myself a 'professional' comedian (yet!), but I do consider myself a 'professional' speaker. That's one reason why I'm a member of the Professional Speaking Association. I started doing stand-up three years ago to hone those professional speaking skills and to give me an edge (pardon the pun). It works.

When I'm preparing a speech or presentation, I do exactly what I did before last night's performance. I think the process through. I write or choose my best material. I put myself in the shoes of the listener and try and imagine how that material lands. I time it, I rehearse, I do it again....and again....and again, so I'm as prepared as I can possibly be.

The most spontaneous comedian you'll ever see will have prepared, will have rehearsed, will know pretty much what they're going to say. Yes, some are particularly good at going off piste, ad libbing, working the crowd, but the majority will know exactly what they're going to say, when and how they're going to say it, and how it's going to land. As a speaker or presenter your audience is unlikely to be holding up three red cards and voting you off stage. They'll find different ways to vote. Don't give them the excuse.