[MUSIC]
Today is a celebration of sorts.
It's a culmination of all the work that we put in this quarter, and
a chance to apply the lessons that we learned.
And to commemorate moments like this,
I think it's important to hear from the people who helped make that happen.
So JD, I want to invite you to come up and give us a toast.
Tell us a little bit about what you're thinking about,
as you hear these final presentations.
What do you guys think? >> Speech, speech, speech.
[APPLAUSE] >> I'm
just kidding. >> [LAUGH]
>> I do think it would be entertaining,
though, to brainstorm what might have been going through J.D.'s
head just now when I called him up. >> [LAUGH]
>> He might
have been thinking some vengeful thoughts about how he was going to get back at us.
>> [LAUGH]
>> Or maybe he was really impressed.
I mean, this was an opening that he will always remember.
[LAUGH] >> But if JD is anything like the rest
of us, the first thing that popped into his head was, what am I going to say?
And, as Bert told us,
that thought comes with an accompanying physiological reaction.
His palms get sweaty, his knees get weak, arms get heavy.
He might have vomited on
his sweater already. >> [LAUGH]
>> You get the idea.
I'm playing shenanigans, right? >> [LAUGH] In all seriousness,
a lot of us have been in a situation like this,
where we're called on to give an impromptu toast, and that could be nerve-wracking.
It might be in class, it might be at a friend's wedding, in my case,
it was at my mum's birthday party.
And you know, in this class,
we've gotten some lessons about how to give impromptu speeches.
But feels a little bit different.
We're not talking about what superpower you'd want to have, or
what you would do with an ideal day.
You're being asked to capture everything that defines what happened in the class,
or over years of friendship, or in a lifetime of love and
affection, in just a few seconds.
Luckily for you guys, we have the answer on how to do that.
Jen and Andrew are going to give you 6 tips on how you can deliver great
impromptu speeches.
And then, at the end of our presentation,
we're going to call on one of you to give an impromptu toast about this class.
See now, you guys are paying attention.
[LAUGH] So with that,
I'll turn it over to Jen. >> All right, thank you, Akilesh.
All right. The number one tip is easy.
Just keep it simple.
We've gone through a variety of different public speaking simulations in this class,
including how to pitch your own startup or how to present data in a creative way.
What's different about an impromptu toast
is most people were not planning on hearing you speak.
And to be honest, most of them probably will not be listening when you do.
So just remember, you're pretty much the only thing standing between someone and
that great conversation they were already in the middle of, or
that cold glass of champagne that they really just want to take a sip.
So don't stress out too much about the toast.
Tip number two, we've learned in the class that structure is paramount to clarity.
It's how you keep yourself from rambling indefinitely, or how you make sure that
you really focus on the message that you're trying to get across.
While there are a variety of structures that you can try to use,
one that we're proposing here is this past, present, and future rule.
Where you start by acknowledging the past and present, and
then describing the future that you look forward to seeing.
This is a great chance to incorporate some of our learnings from
JD's storytelling class.
Instead of just describing the past and present, capture them with an anecdote.
Let's say you're trying to give a toast to someone for their birthday,
may not be Akhilesh's case, where he talked about his mum's birthday party.
Since he probably couldn't tell the story of maybe when he met her as an anecdote,
but, another story that, let's say you're talking about a GSB friendship.
You could reflect back on that small group dinner that the two of you first met at,
or maybe that 8AM accounting lecture that you struggled to drag yourselves through.
For me, I gave an impromptu toast on my last day at work, and
I used this structure actually without realizing.
I talked about my first day on the job, and
how nervous I was to prove myself to my teammates.
But when I saw the team's tradition of decorating other
coworkers' desks when they returned from sabbatical with balloons and
streamers, I felt like I'd joined a family.
I closed by talking about the future that I hope to create.
One in which there was that same feeling of family on my teams and
in my organization.
The last tip that I'm going to share with you is to avoid problems.
Remember, the point of your talk is to be uplifting.
You're not there to list everything that's wrong in your life or at your company.
So, let's say you're an employee of Uber.
If you're giving a toast at a company party, do not start by saying,
well, after a year marked by the forced departure of our CEO,
several sexual harassment scandals, and a lawsuit by Google, I think things
are finally starting to look up here. >> [LAUGH]
>> Instead,
even if it's been a terrible year, try to refer to it in a neutral, or
ambiguous way.
So instead, you could lead with something like, well, it's been quite a year.
It may feel a little bit disingenuous to do this, but remember, the point of your
toast is not to solve or dissect problems. >> Thanks, Jen.
The next three lessons are,
focus on the people, use humor appropriately, and smile, relax.
Your audience is expecting a good story from you,
with the toast of honor as the leading character.
So give your audience what they want.
Whether that be an embarrassing story, a funny story, or
a touchy story, it's easy to tell someone else's story.
And, let's be honest,
you can get away from that 5,000 spotlight that's shining on you.
So which story to tell?
Well, the first tip I can give is,
that first thought that come to mind is often most memorable.
And therefore authentic.
When you tell your story, try to use pronoun like you, so
you can involve your audience, and not less on the words like I,
me, myself so that your focus is back to the people.
Humor is a tricky ingredient.
It can make and break your toast.
Ask yourself this, do you really know your audience well, so that they would for
sure will laugh at your joke?
When in doubt, don't.
If your joke unfortunately fall flat, quickly move on.
Don't let that awkwardness fill the silence.
As we learned from JD,
even your significant other can get lost in translation.
Last, relax your body and facial expression.
When you are nervous and tense, your audience feel it too and
they get discomfortable.
So my personal tip is, gather as much time as you can before coming up here and
speak, so you can gather your thoughts.
And, think of something that's funny in your head,
that brings a natural smile to you.
And for me, I think of these two little guys.
>> [LAUGH]
>> Now, when you are up here,
one thing to remember is what we learn from Matt, which is his book,
Speaking Up Without Freaking Out.
Don't think you're performing for the audience, instead, reframe your mind, and
think of this as having a conversation.
And JD taught us how, interact with your audience, such as asking them question.
For example, Alexandro, now that you have heard our presentation, would
you please come up here and give a toast? >> [LAUGH]
>> All right, well, someone has to,
Akhilesh already mentioned this.
I will have to pick someone from one of you guys.
So who shall I pick? >> [LAUGH]
>> Dinacio.
>> [LAUGH]
>> Well, good thing I brought
my champagne glass. >> [LAUGH]
>> So as we wrap up the quarter,
let's take a moment and appreciate the journey that we have been on.
From the benchmark presentation, where Lee showed off his basketball skills, and then
the story about proposing to his wife, to the mid-term presentations, where showed
off his passion for pool and brought his cue and showed us all how to use it.
From impromptu exercises to frantically waking up on Fridays, not knowing
where class is going to be that day. >> [LAUGH]
>> We have come a long way since January.
Presumably, we all took this class because public speaking wasn't a strong suit.
But we can walk away a little bit more confident that we have a strong foundation
to give a speech in front of a large crowd.
What I am most grateful for are the strong bonds that we formed within our cohort.
We have shared our stories, memories, our passions with each other.
We have built each other to be the public speakers that we are today,
by being present at every single exercise and constantly giving each other feedback.
But what I am going to miss the most is Bird's contagious laughter.
Seriously, though, even if no one else in class laughs at your joke,
you know you are going to get Bird's moral support
laughter. >> [LAUGH]
>> So, I'd like to raise my glass to
the team that went before us, to my team, to all the teams that are about
to present, as we leave it all on stage for our final presentations.
And just know, this is just the beginning.
As we become leaders in our organizations, and
prominent figures in our respective spaces,
we're going to have to give speeches on almost a daily, monthly, weekly basis.
If you're ever brave enough to give a TED talk on a vulnerable topic like JD did,
just know that your 315 family will be here to constantly give you feedback,
so you ace that presentation.
And most importantly, your 315 family
will be here to support you in any single one of your public speaking endeavors.
So thank you, JD, Curt, and Allison, for fulfilling an engaging quarter.
Cheers. >> Hear, hear, cheers.
[LAUGH]
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