Techniques of Great After Dinner Speakers

7 you need to know.

Great after dinner speakers mark themselves with mastery of specific skills that lend quality to their speeches. What are those skills? Here are 7 that you need to know.

• Know the venue. Know if you'll have a podium or just be in front of the room. Know the mic situation. Watch out for the acoustics and lighting. Be prepared.
• Know the audience/organization. You'll speak differently to a group of businessmen than to a group of individual entrepreneurs. Tailor your topic to them.
• Don't overprepare. Joseph Choate said that he always goes to dinner "with an anecdote and a sentiment - and trusts to the evening for the rest!" Pay attention to the conversation during dinner. Pick up on what people are talking about. Trust to the evening!
• Interact. Talk to the people at your table. Get to know them. Get your mind off of your speech and onto the dining floor. You'll enjoy yourself more while getting a better feel for your audience.
• Involve the audience. Mention names, ask questions, find stories... it brings everyone together and takes a load off of you.
• Use appropriate humor. Along with involving the audience, joke around a bit. Be classy if your audience is classy, brash if they are brash, smart if they are smart, subtle if they are subtle.. Fit your audience. Be funny.
• Praise lavishly. Ok, maybe not lavishly. But dish out well-deserved compliments wherever and whenever they are due. If you can tie compliments into a funny story, all the better. You'll raise the feelings of everyone in the room.