After dinner speakers should understand the genre within which they are working. It demands social grace and elegance. The aim is to round off a pleasant social occasion with cleverness and suave sophistication so the speaker needs to be someone who is at ease, confident and socially well respected. His job is to entertain.
Frequently business people are invited to a dinner to celebrate an occasion such as an anniversary to mark a centenary or number of years that the company has survived. In such a case the best topic for the after dinner speech may be the organization itself, under a topic such as 'You and the company you keep'. This would allow some space for analogies, puns and amusing allusions from the after dinner speaker.
There are times when the precise composition of an audience may not be known at the time a speaker is invited. On such occasions organizers must search for a topic that has universal appeal, or relevance. Two themes that are useful in such circumstances are time and humanity. Stories written for children often begin with a line such as, 'Once upon a time there was a boy'. The universal appeal of time and humanity is implied in these two words.
Other broad categorizations of audience types may be town and country. Rural audiences may be expected to respond to earthy or environmental themes. Farmers are also great grousers, ever quick to laugh at their enemies who are usually authorities of one sort or another. Urban audiences, on the other hand, may respond to more sophisticated topics such as 'Fashion Fits'. Here again there is scope for some puns and anecdotes that may be amusingly told.
Sport is a social activity and sports people love to complement their activities with functions where they can talk and laugh about the things and they do and the people they play with. A topic such as 'Reminiscences' will be quite sufficient for a retired star to recall amusing incidents and the foibles of well known characters. The trick is to drop names and allude to famous people in familiar terms. The audience will enjoy basking in the glow of being 'in', and laugh easily, especially if they have enjoyed their dinner.
An essential rhetorical skill is to judge the mood of an audience and adapt accordingly. An experienced orator might omit some lines or modify others but one who lacks experience and therefore confidence might stick to his script. This is probably best. An inexperienced speaker who hesitates may get swept away by confusion.
Good dining tends to breed geniality and good cheer, so a speaker's task is often made much easier by the time he has to rise and perform the task for which he was invited. If the diners' mood is sufficiently euphoric he may elicit howls of laughter even for lame jokes and banalities. If a speaker relinquishes his responsible role and joins wholeheartedly with the mood of carefree celebration he may enjoy giving his speech as much as his audience enjoy hearing it.
After dinner speakers are part and parcel of a whole evening's entertainment and cannot be separated from the mood and general ambiance of the evening. They form an important part of it but also help to define it in an important way. Whatever transpires on the actual evening a conscientious speaker will prepare before the event. He will inquire about the nature of the audience and possible ask for some suggestions as to an appropriate topic.
Frequently business people are invited to a dinner to celebrate an occasion such as an anniversary to mark a centenary or number of years that the company has survived. In such a case the best topic for the after dinner speech may be the organization itself, under a topic such as 'You and the company you keep'. This would allow some space for analogies, puns and amusing allusions from the after dinner speaker.
There are times when the precise composition of an audience may not be known at the time a speaker is invited. On such occasions organizers must search for a topic that has universal appeal, or relevance. Two themes that are useful in such circumstances are time and humanity. Stories written for children often begin with a line such as, 'Once upon a time there was a boy'. The universal appeal of time and humanity is implied in these two words.
Other broad categorizations of audience types may be town and country. Rural audiences may be expected to respond to earthy or environmental themes. Farmers are also great grousers, ever quick to laugh at their enemies who are usually authorities of one sort or another. Urban audiences, on the other hand, may respond to more sophisticated topics such as 'Fashion Fits'. Here again there is scope for some puns and anecdotes that may be amusingly told.
Sport is a social activity and sports people love to complement their activities with functions where they can talk and laugh about the things and they do and the people they play with. A topic such as 'Reminiscences' will be quite sufficient for a retired star to recall amusing incidents and the foibles of well known characters. The trick is to drop names and allude to famous people in familiar terms. The audience will enjoy basking in the glow of being 'in', and laugh easily, especially if they have enjoyed their dinner.
An essential rhetorical skill is to judge the mood of an audience and adapt accordingly. An experienced orator might omit some lines or modify others but one who lacks experience and therefore confidence might stick to his script. This is probably best. An inexperienced speaker who hesitates may get swept away by confusion.
Good dining tends to breed geniality and good cheer, so a speaker's task is often made much easier by the time he has to rise and perform the task for which he was invited. If the diners' mood is sufficiently euphoric he may elicit howls of laughter even for lame jokes and banalities. If a speaker relinquishes his responsible role and joins wholeheartedly with the mood of carefree celebration he may enjoy giving his speech as much as his audience enjoy hearing it.
After dinner speakers are part and parcel of a whole evening's entertainment and cannot be separated from the mood and general ambiance of the evening. They form an important part of it but also help to define it in an important way. Whatever transpires on the actual evening a conscientious speaker will prepare before the event. He will inquire about the nature of the audience and possible ask for some suggestions as to an appropriate topic.
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