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Training Tips from an Expert

Birk_Jeff

I recently had the great privilege of interviewing Jeff Birk. The long-time stand-up comedian turned professional training executive has opened for Jay Leno, Bill Cosby, and Martin Short. He’s also appeared in several movies filmed in Utah including: The Singles Ward 1 & 2, The Home Teachers, and Saints and Soldiers: The Void. He was kind enough to take a break from all of that to answer a few questions for us.

First, how did you get involved in this industry and with training?

Well, I’ve been training for 25-plus years. I think the most important part of training is being comfortable on your feet and that part of it started for me with stand-up comedy back when I was at BYU. I was there doing the typical BYU thing, you know, studying a little and playing a lot, but I was always a goof-off with my friends. They suggested I attend an open mic night at a local comedy club, so I went and checked it out. I saw a few of the people going up on stage and thought, “I could do this.” I wrote up about 5 or 6 minutes of material and went back the next week. It went well the first week and I kept going up week after week. Soon, the club owner was asking me to open for the headliners. Then I became one of the headliners.

How did you shift into the training side of things?

After hitting the comedy club pretty regularly, I went on to do private events like corporate Christmas parties and high school graduations, but I was still performing at clubs as well. In 1995, a couple of guys from WordPerfect saw me performing in Provo, Utah and thought I’d be great pitching software at trade shows. The first tradeshow I did that year was called Comdex and the client was Iomega. A buddy of mine and I had to memorize a seven-page script full of words we’d never heard before like bits, bytes, and megabytes. It was five full days of performing, Monday through Friday, 9am-4pm, and we were alternating one 22-minute show back and forth each day. That was what got me into the realm of corporate training. From that point on, things just progressed.

What do you do now?

For the past few years, I’ve been with OC Tanner as their Manager of Speaking and Training. They’re a company that specializes in employee recognition programs around the world. I essentially teach managers how to say “thank you” to their people. I do it in a good, funny, creative way so it’s not “death by PowerPoint” and no one’s rolling their eyes thinking, “I’ve got to listen to this guy for an hour? Kill me now!” I’m usually doing 90-minute keynote addresses or half day trainings. As far as MLM stuff goes, I’ve just dabbled in  it here and there. Now I’m pretty much full-time training for OC Tanner.

Besides what you do for OC Tanner, what else are you working on?

Along with my focus on training, I do my own personal coaching and training. That all started last May when I did a breakout session for what’s now the Association of Talent Development. The class was called “Train Like A Rockstar: Speaking Tips from a Stand-Up Comedian.” I came up with this class because of what I had witnessed at a trade show about training—some trainers who were just horrible. I couldn’t believe it. I decided that I wanted to create something of my own to help improve public speakers and trainers. It turned into a class that has really taken on a life of its own.

In the class, I talk about how to give a better presentation. It’s a lot of fun because it helps people add a little more life and fun and impact to their training so that they are more effective.

Some people have a difficult time presenting. Why do you think that is?

A few different personality types struggle with training and teaching: some can be experts on a subject but stink at presenting the material, others think they’re funny and hip, but they don’t really relate solid information or leave an impact. Sometimes people might be really quirky or have nervous tics that bug the heck out of you.

If you’re born with it, you can pick up a few things from trainers you’ve enjoyed and add to your skills; if you aren’t, I can show you how to improve on what you do have to offer. Either way, I teach veteran trainers or people who are just starting out.

What do you like best about your work?

The thrill of it for me is when I walk into a room of executives or engineer types and impress them.

I spoke at a Bose Conference for their director level executives in Massachusetts recently. They were engineer types who were really into facts, figures, and standard deviations. By the end of the training, they were just regular people. I get the biggest kick out of showing people that it’s possible to make training a memorable experience.

What do you usually cover in your training classes?

With OC Tanner, we have an offering where people can come into our corporate location for training on our content. Aside from OC Tanner, I do my own work for any company that wants me to train their people to be better trainers. I talk about things like the art of storytelling, how to memorize things so you aren’t so dependent on notes or slides, and a variety of techniques for dealing with people who are bored, distracted, or even booing you during your presentation.

Most of the time, I’m just working with people who have a team they need to inspire to perform at their best and highest levels.

What’s your best piece of advice for our readers?

You want to be memorable. You want to make an impact and leave an impression. You want to differentiate yourself from all the other trainings and presenters they’ve seen. I talk a lot about how to grab your audience in the first three minutes: you don’t have to be funny; you can tell stories or you can ask a question. There are a variety of ways to do that and there’s a way for everyone.

If you can give them something they haven’t seen before in that first three minutes, you’re going to be 80% of the way there. I think of the movie “Gladiator” when Russell Crowe talks about “winning the crowd.” Before he goes out to fight in the stadium, one of the gladiators asks him, “How are you going to win the crowd?” He said, “I’m going to give them something they’ve never seen before.”

I really try to keep that theme in mind with my training. I have two or three surefire things I always do in the first three minutes that no one has ever seen before. I did this way back with my stand-up comedy, too. I never start with, “Hey, how’s everyone tonight? You doing okay?” because everyone does that. Instead, I start with something that instantly engages the audience and makes them see me as someone who is credible. I show them right away that they should pay attention and that I mean business.

So that’s about my best piece of advice: Start off strong with some level of poignancy that’s going to set the tone right away.

Is there anything that regularly surprised you in your work as a trainer?

I’m kind of surprised at the level at which some people don’t believe in themselves. I’m surprised that something that comes so naturally to me can be so difficult to someone else. But, I believe that anyone can learn to train well. I break it down into a few simple things anyone can do, such as using bullet points or memorizing and telling a joke so that the pause and punchline come at the right time.

For many, there just needs to be the right reason or cause that’s bigger than their fear. For example, a person afraid of public speaking who loses a loved one to cancer finds the bravery to go out and start speaking out for the cause. They find a way to make it work.

I also tell people that it’s still important to stick to their material when it seems like they’re failing with the audience. For example, I had a presentation in Montreal for about 200 accountants not too long ago. It was about 8:00 in the morning and they’d been up late drinking and partying the night before. I tried to mirror them as much as I could, but their response wasn’t what I was used to seeing. I still stuck to my guns and told my stories, both funny and inspirational.

When I was finished, I wasn’t sure how exactly my material had been received. One of my coworkers who was there said, “They were all totally engaged. I didn’t see anyone texting or breaking out their laptops.” And she was right—even though the response wasn’t what was typical, I stuck to my core message. Because I was committed to my material, it was still well-received.

Stand-up comedians talk often about being committed to their material. Robin Williams was one of the best at this. Because of his passing, his methods have been discussed a lot recently. He was so committed to what he was joking about; he went all the way with it and could make anything funny.

What do you like most about what you do?

I’m one of those few people who has found themselves in the dream position of  doing exactly what I want to do. I get to make people laugh and teach them important principles to improve their lives and to help them in their work, too.

For more information on Jeff Birk, his presentations, or booking him for your corporate event, contact him at www.jeffbirkcomedy.com or through Facebook or LinkedIn.

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