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What Toastmasters Taught Me About Getting Stuck in an Elevator
Eldred Brown, DTM, IPDD
be patient and find some fun things to do council, they told him his wife was stuck in
with nothing. I could follow the lyrics of the elevator. MY TRAVEL PARTNER ISN’T
an old Statler Brothers song and count EVEN MARRIED! Oh, well. We both got a
flowers on the wall. (I didn’t see any.) good laugh over that.
Even singing the song was fun. I could How does this apply to Toastmasters? I’ve
play solitaire with a deck of 51, or a deck heard a lot of humorous speeches, especially
of 1. I could play with the buttons on the back in the day when we ran humorous speech
button panel. I could practice my Morse contests for our Fall conferences. Most of
code—SOS is easy. them are based on misadventures in which
How does this apply to Toastmasters? the speaker was later able to find some (or a lot
Don’t get disheartened when you run out of) humor. Being stuck in an elevator at 2:00
of ideas for your speeches. Be patient yet in the morning is certainly a misadventure,
be constantly looking for new ideas. The and I’ve already given speeches about it to
ideas will come to you. two of my Clubs. It’s even better when you
can anticipate speaking about the experience
Lesson 3: There’s a Speech in This and consciously gather from the experience
Somewhere all the details you need to make your speech
While stuck in the elevator, I was compellingly funny.
constantly looking for the humor in the
situation. I was thinking up jokes I could Conclusion
tell about my experience. I tried to see I finally did get rescued from the elevator
oddball connections I could play up for and made it home from Baltimore. I learned
laughs. For instance, I could only laugh at where the hotel’s stairs were. I now also have a
how some of those on the outside reacted survivor’s tale to tell. What about you? In your
to my situation. When they told me not to failures and misadventures, are you keeping
panic, I told them I wasn’t panicking, though your cool? Are you exercising patience? Are
I was about to lose that game of solitaire I you looking for the humor you can share in
had going. When they ran and told my travel your next speech? People love to laugh with
partner, a friend with whom I shared a hotel you, so look for the humor to make them
room every night of the weeklong church laugh.
VOICES! | AUGUST 2022 19
