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You’re probably intrigued with the idea of having Your Own Personal Humor Writer.
But you’re wondering: How Does This Even Work?
Well, glad you asked! Here’s the process in a nutshell:
Step 1: Write a rough draft of your speech.
Don’t worry—it doesn’t have to be a masterpiece. That’s why it’s called a “rough draft”—it can be “rough.”
That being said, many seasoned speakers already have their speeches completely finished—and the only help it needs is the humor. That’s great—and will keep your cost down.
Other clients provide us with an extensive outline….or sometimes very detailed bullet points—and that’s ok, too. As long as you’ve written enough for us to get a good idea of what you want in the speech, we can usually take it from there.
In addition to the humor we’ll add, we can also help shape the speech, add transitions, and strengthen your opening and closing, if necessary. But you have to do the “heavy lifting” first and get us a framework of what you’d like to say.
If we feel you haven’t given us enough to work with, we’ll come back to you and ask you for more information—or ask you specific questions to help us do the best job possible for you.
Step 2: E-mail us the speech so we can review it.
We prefer the speech be sent as a Word document, if possible. You can e-mail it to david@davidglickman.com.
If your speech is available as an audio or video file, but you don’t have it as a Word document, you can easily have it transcribed by a service called Rev.com. You can set up a free account with Rev, which will transcribe up to 45 minutes per month at no charge.
If you have a longer program to transcribe, you can sign up for their $10 per month plan, which will transcribe up to 20 hours per month. (And there is no obligation to continue–you can cancel after paying the $10 for one month.) Rev will then convert the transcription into a Word document in minutes.
Rev is a wonderful service and has been incredibly valuable in helping Funnier Speeches clients transform their audio/video files into a format where we can help them–but please know there are many other similar vendors you can find in a simple search.
If your speech includes slides, please send those, too. It will be very helpful—and keep your cost down—if you can indicate in your script when each slide is to be shown. If not, we can usually figure it out pretty well! But it’s much better for your project if the slide placement is noted clearly in what you send us.
Step 3: We will review your speech and get you a firm price on your humor punchup.
Don’t worry—it doesn’t have to be a masterpiece. That’s why it’s called a “rough draft”—it can be “rough.”
That being said, many seasoned speakers already have their speeches completely finished—and the only help it needs is the humor. That’s great—and will keep your cost down.
Other clients provide us with an extensive outline….or sometimes very detailed bullet points—and that’s ok, too. As long as you’ve written enough for us to get a good idea of what you want in the speech, we can usually take it from there.
In addition to the humor we’ll add, we can also help shape the speech, add transitions, and strengthen your opening and closing, if necessary. But you have to do the “heavy lifting” first and get us a framework of what you’d like to say.
If we feel you haven’t given us enough to work with, we’ll come back to you and ask you for more information—or ask you specific questions to help us do the best job possible for you.
Step 4: If you decide to move forward, we will send you a PayPal invoice for 50% of the project cost.
Don’t worry if you don’t have a PayPal account. You can still easily pay the invoice with a credit card or debit card.
If you prefer to pay by check, that’s fine. The downside to paying by check is that it often takes a while for the check to arrive—and your project is not placed into the queue until the deposit is received.
When you pay via PayPal, the payment is received instantly and your punchup can begin that much sooner.
(If it’s a $400 project, we will require the entire amount paid in advance.)
Step 5: We punch up your speech!!
Now it’s our turn to do the heavy lifting. Your punchup is created in a very high-intensity, highly-focused writing session. We do NOT do multiple punchups at the same time. We only work on one assignment at a time, so as to keep our focus absolutely 100% on you and your presentation.
The humor that is written for you is inserted directly into the existing script you have sent us. In some cases we may have to make some slight adjustments to what you’ve written. But most of the time we are able to seamlessly insert the funny material directly into your transcript.
When we add the funny lines into your script, we put the lines we’ve written in bold print so you are able to see them more clearly in the context of what you’ve written.
Step 6: We send you a new, improved funnier speech!
Because humor is so subjective, we will typically write WAY more material than you will probably want to use. That way you will have plenty of humor to choose from.
As you review the material, our advice is to choose to use the lines that YOU think are funny and YOU feel comfortable delivering. If it doesn’t fit BOTH criteria, then it’s probably not a good fit for your finished speech.
We have found that a typical punchup will net you about 25% of lines that you will absolutely fall-on-the-floor-with-laughter love, another 25% of lines you will like a lot, another 25% of the lines will be ok, and the remaining 25% will not strike you as funny at all. Again, these are just estimates—your actual mileage may vary.
(We have had some clients who used every single line we wrote for them! We’ve also had some clients who only used one or two lines—but they were absolutely thrilled with the big laughs that those lines received.)
When you receive your punchup, we’ll also send you a PayPal invoice for the 50% balance, which is due at the same time.
Step 7: Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse!
OK, tag, you’re it—the “heavy lifting” is back in your court.
The greatest funny material in the world will do you no good unless you can deliver it well. If you’re tripping over your words and haven’t prepared well, it will show.
The good news is that the funny material we’ve created for you doesn’t involve any extraordinary skills to deliver it. With very few exceptions, the words alone are funny. As long as you can deliver them—as written—with confidence, you will usually get the laughter that they were designed to produce.
Regardless of the length of your speech, though, we recommend that you rehearse it no less than 20 times. That may seem like a lot—but you’ll thank us later! You don’t have to memorize the speech—but you should be really, really familiar and comfortable with it.
It’s ok to be nervous when delivering your speech. But the nervousness should NOT be based on your lack of preparation. Any nervousness should be based on your wondering how the material will be received.
If you have any questions about the material we’ve written or its delivery, we are happy to have a phone call with you, up to 30 minutes at no charge, to help you prepare for your speech.
If you feel you want further humor coaching, we can make arrangements for that, also. But most clients are able to get exactly what they need for their preparation in the free half-hour call.
Step 8: Show time!
Take a deep breath…..and begin your speech.
Witness the incredible power of your punchlines.
Watch as the audience actually leans forward in their chairs, as the laughter propels them both mentally and physically.
Bask in the glow of the laughter that engulfs you.
Experience the visceral thrill that all speakers receive when delivering Funnier Speeches.
“If you think being in the ‘Shark Tank’ would be tough, try getting laughs from a business audience with really high expectations. I give almost 100 speeches a year–and thanks to David Glickman, I’m getting great laughs at each one! He has become my ‘go to’ guy for humor!!”
