March 23, 2005
Speaking at the Inc. 500 Conference
Last week, I had the incredible opportunity to attend and speak at the Inc. 500 conference as an alumnus of the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE). I spoke for 2-3 minutes to an audience of 1,000. For those of you who don't know, the Inc. 500 is the 500 fastest growing companies in the USA. Surprisingly, I wasn't nearly as nervous as I expected and a number of people came up to me afterwards to buy the book and congratulate me.
On to speaking strategy... I've known about the tactic of opening with a joke for a long time. However, I've always avoided it because I was afraid no one would laugh. At this conference, I opened with a joke that received laughter and a round of applause. It was:
"People always ask my why I decided to start a business when I was 16 years old. I've thought about this for awhile, and I've traced the source to something somebody told me once. [pause for punchline] My mom told me, "Michael, get a job!" [pause for audience laughter and laugh at your own joke] I knew I didn't want to get a job, but I knew my mom was serious so I did something in between and created my own job! [start actual speech]
After successfully using a joke to start, I realize that the power of a joke is not only that it loosens up the audience and sets the tone of the speech, but that it loosens you up and makes you comfortable for the rest of the speech.
Below are some pictures from the event. The bottom picture is the other NFTE alumni who spoke and Steve Mariotti, the president of NFTE.
Posted at March 23, 2005 12:01 AM
A tremendous exposure event, Michael, I'm sure you made the most. I have mixed feelings about starting off with a joke; levity is def. very important throughout the course of the speech...I guess it just depends what your best-case outcome is afterwards.
Hey great experience and exposure for Extreme entrepreneurship.
Hey Michael, Good Joke, I'm glad to see you continue to make strides in the right direction, you are a huge inspiration
I'm volunteering to teach entrepreneurship at the local Binghamton HS because of you, thanx!
Hey Michael, Good Joke, I'm glad to see you continue to make strides in the right direction, you are a huge inspiration
I'm volunteering to teach entrepreneurship at the local Binghamton HS because of you, thanx!
speaking at the 500inc. conference..now THAT's cool!
am glad for ya michael! i luv young ppl making it that big...n bigger!
wish ya' greater success..
Take care!
Hey Michael,
Congrats once again and a job well done. You are awesome. Continue your journey. You an inspiration and talent worthy of imitation and emulation!
...and your quite tall. ;)
T. L. Pakii Pierce
"Think Well, Finish Strong!"
Michael you are huge! How tall exactly are you?
I bet you play a mean game of b-ball.
Yaro
Hey Yaro,
I'm 6'5" and play tennis, not basketball :)
- Michael
