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So here did it all start...
It was the summer of 2009...
I was having lunch with the inimitable Gretchen Meddaugh, chatting about the fun aspect of getting up on stage and speaking. She'd just been to the first Budapest Ignite! And we figured that Budapest needed a competitive forum where the speakers could present and let the audience judge their performance. Something a little edgier than Toastmasters and not as daunting as stand-up comedy. Something that would pit prepared speeches against impromptu spiels. Something that the audience could judge.
Why's it called 'the gift of the gab'?
Practically anyone can give a prepared speech, but not everyone has the gift of the gab – the ability to get up in front of any audience, any where, and talk about any subject, completely unprepared. You either have it, or you don’t.
Is there another Irish connection?
Some say the gift of the gab is an Irish thing – something that the Irish are born with – so it seemed fitting to run the competition in the months before St Patrick's Day and have an Irishness to it all. The final this year will be part of the week-long festival championed by the Irish Hungarian Business Circle and we're running the GOTG as a charity event for its Give a Little campaign. So it's a good night's entertainment with a giving element. The lads at Smiley's (Kenny and Terry) are really supportive. All the proceeds will go towards an orphange in Göd. Everyone who helps out volunteers their time. Not bad going at all.
How does it all work?
Judges are chosen from the audience on the night. Each one of five speakers gives a five-minute prepared speech on a topic of their choice and then a three-minute impromptu on a topic chosen by the audience. The winner of each round goes through to the final. Simple. The most important thing for speakers is to keep talking ’til they hear the bell. Be engaging. The most memorable impromptu from 2010 had to be Mark Griffith's three-minute stretch on peas. Speeches don't have to be funny – it's not a humorous speech contest and it's not stand-up comedy. The focus is on entertainment. My advice to would-be speakers is to pick a subject that's interesting and then hope like hell you draw a decent suggestion from the audience...it'll all be fine on the night.
PSA slots
We also have three, one-minute PSA (public service announcements) slots each night where people can promote their own gigs in town. It's one way to reach a new audience. Have a new book? A new business? A new pub? You have 60 seconds in which to tell it all.
Read an interview published in Funzine, 24 March 2010
Read more in this Budapest Times article published 22 September 2009
I was having lunch with the inimitable Gretchen Meddaugh, chatting about the fun aspect of getting up on stage and speaking. She'd just been to the first Budapest Ignite! And we figured that Budapest needed a competitive forum where the speakers could present and let the audience judge their performance. Something a little edgier than Toastmasters and not as daunting as stand-up comedy. Something that would pit prepared speeches against impromptu spiels. Something that the audience could judge.
Why's it called 'the gift of the gab'?
Practically anyone can give a prepared speech, but not everyone has the gift of the gab – the ability to get up in front of any audience, any where, and talk about any subject, completely unprepared. You either have it, or you don’t.
Is there another Irish connection?
Some say the gift of the gab is an Irish thing – something that the Irish are born with – so it seemed fitting to run the competition in the months before St Patrick's Day and have an Irishness to it all. The final this year will be part of the week-long festival championed by the Irish Hungarian Business Circle and we're running the GOTG as a charity event for its Give a Little campaign. So it's a good night's entertainment with a giving element. The lads at Smiley's (Kenny and Terry) are really supportive. All the proceeds will go towards an orphange in Göd. Everyone who helps out volunteers their time. Not bad going at all.
How does it all work?
Judges are chosen from the audience on the night. Each one of five speakers gives a five-minute prepared speech on a topic of their choice and then a three-minute impromptu on a topic chosen by the audience. The winner of each round goes through to the final. Simple. The most important thing for speakers is to keep talking ’til they hear the bell. Be engaging. The most memorable impromptu from 2010 had to be Mark Griffith's three-minute stretch on peas. Speeches don't have to be funny – it's not a humorous speech contest and it's not stand-up comedy. The focus is on entertainment. My advice to would-be speakers is to pick a subject that's interesting and then hope like hell you draw a decent suggestion from the audience...it'll all be fine on the night.
PSA slots
We also have three, one-minute PSA (public service announcements) slots each night where people can promote their own gigs in town. It's one way to reach a new audience. Have a new book? A new business? A new pub? You have 60 seconds in which to tell it all.
Read an interview published in Funzine, 24 March 2010
Read more in this Budapest Times article published 22 September 2009
