Public Speaking Lessons from Kathy Griffin

For our one-year anniversary, my husband was a good sport and let me drag him to a Kathy Griffin concert.  Now, Kathy is not everyone's cup of tea.  In fact, before she started her show the D-List, I was never a fan.  However, her hilarious takes on our celebrity culture are just too funny -- she's the gal that says what we're thinking but would never have the guts to say. 

However, what really won me over was her willingness to show the good, the bad and the ugly of her own life on the D-List.  Bombing at shows, stressing out about auditions (i.e. for QVC), parents deaths and dating - these were things we all can relate, too.  It's also commendable that she's hitting her stride at 48. 

During the concert, both my husband and I laughed as Kathy riffed on Hollywood, her dogs and her mother's aging (the latter of whom has become a celebrity in her own right).  But, I noted that we all could learn a few things on public speaking from her.

• If you have good content you don't need bells & whistles.  Kathy appears onstage in all black, with just a table and some water bottles.  She doesn't rely on visuals, nor does she have distracting outfits or jewelry.  Instead it's just her presenting us with a 2-hour rapid-fire monologue.
• Play to your core audience.  While she made a few apologies in advance to the "4 straight guys in the crowd whose wives dragged them there" (encouraging them to go to their safe place for a while), she focused on topics that 40-something women, and her gay followers, would love - i.e. Real Housewives, Suze Ormond, etc. 
• Make your audience feel special.  Many of Kathy's stories start with "I shouldn't be telling you this, but I'll let you in on a secret ..."  Who cares that she's telling the 5,000 members in the audience, we all felt like she was sharing an inside joke with us.
• Become a master storyteller.  Kathy does not tell jokes.  She tells stories, and she wraps stories inside stories so that you're hanging on right to the end.  By leaving a story open-ended, it keeps the audience engaged.

We don't have to be a professional comedian to be a good public speaker - we just need to find the right content and connect with the right audience.

Diane K. Danielson
ceo, DowntownWomensClub.com

Comments

[reiko]

gives me something to think about (I'm a power -powerpoint user)!!

Thank you for your insights.

[Dan Erwin]

Good content continues to be king. However, unless we have a solid info base it's difficult to distinguish between the good and the bad. I can readily distinguish psych, coaching, training content, but have little ability, thus far, to distinguish between effective and not so effective recommendations for web networking.

[Sue Burton]

Great post! As someone who speaks and performs stand-up comedy, I can honestly say that comedy has dramatically improved my speaking. While good comedians appear spontaneous, the vast majority are actually crafts people who continuously hone and polish their material. A 15 minute comedy set (be it jokes & stories) is meticulously put together for rhythm, word-choice and perfect punch lines. Judy Carter (an expert speaker/comedienne) has several books that lay out the comedic material development process. Even if you're not speaking humorously, the precision craftmanship approach can only enhance your material and your presentation skills! And if you're getting laughs ... its a fabulous bonus!