Choosing the right volunteer to have as an assistant or helper on stage is critical to the success of the performance. The right child on stage can make a show, the wrong one can leave you wishing you had stayed home.

Here are a few ideas that help insure you get just the right person so your presentation goes well.

Enlist the Help of the Parents

Since I am always at the show site at least one hour in advance, I have time ask the person in charge for a few names of adults or children that would be good on stage. The boss really likes the opportunity to involve their friends or to reward a child by participating. They will also know which kids that should NOT be on stage due to behavior or physical abilities issues.

Setting the Stage with Your Audience

During the opening of your show, introduce yourself to the audience and inform the children that from time to time you will be inviting some of them to help me right from their chairs and that some of them will have the chance to come up on stage as well. Then say, “However, I only choose children that are sitting up nice and straight and that have very big brains!” This is very important so you don’t want to embarrass anyone. Then follow with, “Raise your hand only when I ask you to and remember, you must have a giant big brain!”

Of course, my job there is to have fun with the children and give them an entertaining and educational experience. I am not there to embarrass them. If they do answer incorrectly, I will guide them to the correct answer.

Don’t Make this Critical Mistake

A performer should also be mindful of race when selecting volunteers. People will notice and remember if the performer selected only children during of one race during the show. When selecting volunteers, mix it up! Choose a mixture of volunteers according to race, gender and even size.

Handle Volunteers with Care

If you are using a hand held microphone and ask a child their name, then bend down and let the child answer in the microphone or at least repeat the name of child several times during the routine. This technique will validate not only their name but them as a person.

When inviting volunteers on a stage, please have an escort ready to assist them up the stairs. If the performance is at a theater, then an escort needs to take the children up on stage to you through the wings and back to the seating area again.

While the child is on stage, do NOT handle them roughly by forcing them to bow, smile or turn their head a certain way. It is always better to whisper a request into the child’s ear. This is what a gentle entertainer does. You never know, the child you pick for the stage may someday hire you for their child’s birthday party!

In last week’s installment of this series, I discussed the need to develop a trademark action or saying that our audiences will permanently associate with us and thus, remember us. For example, the hundreds of cannibal jokes that “Cannibal Cannon” used more than three decades ago that still ring in my memory today.

This final chapter of the article will focus on two more qualities we can infuse in our characters and performances that will help create lasting memories with our audiences.

Click here to read part 1:Create a Memory and Stay Ahead of the Competition.
Click here to read part 2: How to Become a More Memorable Performer.

The first quality is what I will call an approachable persona. It is the quality of being vulnerable or lovable. This is somewhat hard to describe; however, we are easily able to identify the opposite qualities. The opposite of this attitude is the wisecracking, smart-alecky entertainer. Consider Groucho Marx and Harpo Marx. Most of us would feel safe around Harpo while we would be somewhat fearful around Groucho. Why? Because we would be on edge waiting to be the brunt of one of his jokes or the recipient of one of his sharp retorts.

Who receives the punch lines of your routines? Our jokes are much funnier when they are on us. In fact, when things go wrong for us, it creates a certain empathy for us with our audience. Consider something as simple as a wilting flower. Typically we smell the flower with no problem. When our helper smells or blows on the flower it wilts. Consider how this makes the child feel. He is embarrassed and his friends may even tease him. We can easily reverse the routine so the flower wilts when we smell it. Then our helper can be the hero and cause the flower to be repaired. Now how does the helper feel? He is the hero and caused everything to turn out okay. Who would you rather have for a friend? Who would you ask to come to your birthday party?

The third and final quality I’ll mention for this series is the ability to entertain children and adults at the same time. Sure, adults will enjoy seeing children having a great time, but this only lasts for a short time. What are adults doing at your performances? Do you have their full attention or are they disrupting the show by talking and carrying on side conversations? The solution is to provide enough material geared toward adult level humor. By this I don’t mean off color material, but rather material that only adults will understand and appreciate. A great example is the Three Little Pigs routine made popular by Dave Risley. If you are familiar with the routine, you know that the material has kids howling, yet there are enough adult lines to hold the attention of the older crowd. One instance is when he says the pigs were watching their favorite movie on the VCR. . . Silence of the Hams! Kids will laugh at the idea of three pigs watching a VCR. Adults react to the title of the movie. (One that we hope most six year olds know nothing about!)

Well, there you have it, three relatively simple things you can do to create positive, long lasting memories with your audiences. By creating a trademark saying or action, making yourself the brunt of negative punch lines, and entertaining the adults as well as children you’ll go a long way toward creating memorable performances . . . performances that will cause people to remember you for years to come.

Click here to read part 1:Create a Memory and Stay Ahead of the Competition.
Click here to read part 2: How to Become a More Memorable Performer.

Standing Ovations are a wonderful sight to behold. Ovations are the audiences way of letting us know we did a great job! Standing O’s gives us a sense of accomplishment and give us that feeling that we are doing what we are meant to do in life. So, exactly how do you get a standing ovation? Some performers ask for them, but that seems to cheapen the reward at the end. Here are some techniques that work well for me.

A Heart Tugging Quote Can Be an Effective Close

The most effective technique that I have discovered for getting a standing ovation is a close with a heart tugging quote and a slight bow of the head. If you use this technique, remember that it’s important to pause immediately after the quote. Here are some of the quotes I’ve used in the past:

• It is said that when you were born people that care about you cried, when you pass on, people who care about you will cry… it is up to you as to how much they will laugh while you are alive. Thank you for sharing your time with me.
• In the words of that greatest clown of all Red Skelton, talents are gifts from God and when we use those talents, they are gifts to God.

The Red Skelton quote is especially effective to use with other entertainers.

Get Them On Their Feet

Another effective technique for getting a standing ovation is to ask the audience to gather their belongings and please stand. With that you can thank them for a standing ovation! This technique is a little bit of a smart-aleckish. but most people take it in the spirit of fun.

Try This Only If You Did a Good Job

One final idea for eliciting a great response from your audience is to inform the them that you have made an unconditional guarantee to the person who hired you that you would not accept payment unless there was an “unsolicited” standing ovation. Pause, then repeat the statement. If the audience liked you then they will laugh, stand and clap for you. However, if they did not like you or were not entertained, they will most likely camp out there so that you will not be paid!

And here’s a tip: I have discovered that an audience needs to be taught to clap for a funny line or routine, but not in a way that is condescending. You can cue the audience to clap with a pause and a slight bow. After a powerful routine. The audience will clap for the effect 50% of the time. However, with a pause and a slight bow of the head, the audience will clap 100% of the time.

Remember, the audience will reward a humble and entertaining performer more than any other. So that’s it folks, thanks for sharing your time with me (my head is slightly bowed now and I am pausing…)

Creating a lasting memory with your audience. Why is it important? How do you do it? In part one of this series, Create a Memory and Stay Ahead of the Competition, we explored some of the reasons it is important to leave lasting memories with your audiences.

In that article, I reminisced about Rich Cannon, a speaker at summer camp. Rich Cannon created a memory so vivid that I clearly remember him more than thirty years later. So what can we learn from obviously memorable performer? How can we create the kind of memories that will have adults fondly remembering a performer they met when they were children?

Click here to read part 1:Create a Memory and Stay Ahead of the Competition.
Click here to read part 3: 2 Things That Will Help Your Audience Remember You .

3 Ways to Become More Memorable

Whether a clown, magician, or storyteller, I believe there are three qualities we can infuse in our characters and performances that will help endear us to our audiences.

The first of these characteristics is some trademark action or saying that your audiences will associate with you. Rich Cannon’s nickname will give away his trademark. He was known as “Cannibal Cannon.” You see rich had been a missionary. And although he didn’t have magic tricks, clown gags or special props, Rich did have cannibal jokes. In fact, I truly believe Cannibal Cannon knew every cannibal joke that had ever been created. Throughout his presentation, Rich was able to weave in this special type of humor that came to be associated with him. We were willing to stop canoeing, riding horses, and swimming and listen to Rich’s message because we wanted to see if he could possibly come up with even more cannibal jokes.

Develop a Trademark

Of course, there is more to developing a trademark than memorizing a joke book. Your trademark has to fit your personality and performing style. Cannibal Cannon was able to use humor that related to his background as a missionary. He became the punch line of his own jokes. We howled when he talked about the chief having him over for dinner and finding out he was the dinner.

Who can forget the classic children’s performer, Captain Kangaroo? Mr. Moose, one of the regular puppet characters on the show, was always tricking the Captain into saying a phrase that caused hundreds of ping pong balls to drop on the Captain’s head. We waited with anticipation to see how and when it would happen.

Mama Clown is another example. Marcella Murad uses a lot of jokes and props about cockroaches. Yuck! But it works for her because these pests are a common problem in her area of the country and the way she introduces the humor in her act.

We’ll talk more about developing lasting memories in the third and final part of this series. In the meantime, be thinking about a recurring joke, line, or prop you can use in your show.

Click here to read part 1:Create a Memory and Stay Ahead of the Competition.
Click here to read part 3: 2 Things That Will Help Your Audience Remember You .

I haven’t seen him in more than thirty-five years, and yet I still remember him like it was yesterday. He was the speaker at summer camp, talking to a bunch of restless teenagers and holding their undivided attention.

There were no magic tricks or clown skits. Yet, we happily stopped riding horses, paddling canoes, and dunking each other in the old swimming hole. How did Rich Cannon do it? How did he command our undivided attention and make himself memorable?

How about you? When you perform, do you leave a lasting memory with your audience? And why should you care? At least two reasons stand out about why you should strive to create a positive and memorable performance experience for your audience.

The first reason is a practical one. If you are “just another clown,” then any performer will do. When parents want entertainment at their child’s party, they’ll look for the least expensive person or someone their children haven’t seen before.

Stay Ahead of the Competition

The first reason is a practical one. If you are “just another clown,” then any performer will do. When parents want entertainment at their child’s party, they’ll look for the least expensive person or someone their children haven’t seen before. However, if you are memorable, then children will ask for you by name. The thought of having any other entertainer at their party is inconceivable. These youngsters will nag their parents until they will go to almost any lengths to find you and book you for the event. As a result, you’ll find your bookings increasing at a phenomenal rate.

Of course, the kind of memory you leave is important. Creating a long-lasting bad memory is entirely possible too. A negative review of your performance can hurt your career and the career of other performers. Parents won’t want to hire you, but even worse, they may not want to take a chance on another entertainer because they assume that they will all come across in the same manner.

Create a Lasting Imprssion

The second reason is the lasting impression of our art and craft you leave with members of the audience. Let’s face it. Many children never see a clown other than on television or at the circus. Your performance may be the only time Mary or Johnny has the chance to interact in a personal way with a live performer. You may determine how these individuals view performers for the rest of their lives.

The Most Important Question to Ask

So exactly how do you create a positive, long-lasting memory, the type of memory that will have children and their parents demanding your services now, and thinking fondly of the memory of you and of clowns overall many years from now?

Click here to read part 2: How to Become a More Memorable Performer.
Click here to read part 3: 2 Things That Will Help Your Audience Remember You .