Tall Tale Guidance
Paris Hilton Joins Toastmasters!In an to effort repair her tarnished reputation and speak on herown behalf, Paris Hilton has joined a local Toastmaster’s club! She was seen recently as a guest of Richard Stewart at the Renaissance Speaker’s Toastmasters Club in Hollywood. She alsostated that she intends to enter the District 52 “Tall Tales Contest”. If you find the above two paragraphs to be incredible, but somehowpossibly true, you now know the flavor and spirit of a good Tall Tale! Of course, some Tall Tales I have heard are IMPOSSIBLY true, but the sincerity and delivery of the speech made me wonder… So what is a Tall Tale? I can explain it a little better by telling you what The LA TIMES wrote about me in 1989 when I won the DistrictTall Tales contest. “Richard Stewart is the biggest liar in Los Angeles.”Yes, I was somewhat ambivalent about that title. In short, a Tall Tale is a big lie, the more creative and (somehow)believable the better. One secret to success in delivery is staying in character. A good actor knows this. If you break character by laughing at your own “incredibility”,you quickly loose the “spirit of belief” in your Tale. Another key ingredient for a winning Tale is embellishment and details,details, and more details. I think I accomplished this in my 1989 Tale: “It was mid-December, 1944; I was in the air, 2000 feet above Normandy France. Sure I was only four years old… but I was big for my age, and besides, was sort of proud of the fact that I was the youngest fighter pilot working for General Patten.” Later when I “had to bale” and my parachute’s rip cord didn’t open, I looked down and I started to panic! I saw the ground racing up before me! I knew I was going to die! I started crying like a three year old!” In another contest I secured some “believability” by calling on my (prearranged) lawyer in the audience. I asked him to stand up and simply raise his hand when I mentioned him. I also warned the audiencethat my “testimony” was being videotaped for evidence (and pointed to the real camera filming me). I then went on to say how Toastmasters ruined my life and I was filing a class action law suit against them. (You had to be there.)(note from Linnaea: I was there, it was hysterical!) One of my favorites was a District winner in Orange County. He spoke of his grandfather who had a wooden peg leg. He worked hard as a farmer and would use his wooden peg to stomp the fields and plant corn. The family was so poor, when he died they couldn’t afford a coffin. To save money they just took Grandpa to the back 40, stuck his peg leg in the dirt, held his arms out and screwed him into the ground. I hope my brief notes here inspire you to “dive” into the upcoming District 52 Tall Tales contest! If you do, let me know. I’ll bring Paris as a guest and come hear you! As you can see, CREATIVITY is your main tool in this game. If youfind yourself having fun, you’re on the right track! L. Ron Hubbard said it best from his essay entitled “The Joy of Creating”: “The greatest joy there is in life is creating. Splurge on it!”
|
