Memorable prop handouts for your speech audience from a dollar store

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have been skimming through a 2004 book by Robert V. Smith titled The Elements of Great Speechmaking: Adding drama and intrigue. On page 71 in a section titled Artifacts and Props his second paragraph says:

 

“You have likely been to meetings – especially lunches and dinners associated with professional gatherings – where the host organization provides a small gift -be it a lapel pin or something of greater worth. Have you noticed how many people can’t keep their hands off of the gift during the subsequent event. The gift becomes a type of talisman – a connection object. Now imagine that you plan such a scenario, only using an object of your own choosing – an object that ties into a message that you wish to imbue in the minds of audience members (see figure 9.4). This can work like magic.”

 

For example, for a speech about marketing or personal branding and the need to always blow your own horn, as shown above, you might hand out little plastic horns (at the dollar store a pack of six is just $1.25).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Or you might discuss how preparing great slides is like having a magic wand – and hand out pocket-sized wands, as shown above.

 

 

In his 2025 commencement address at the University of Maryland Kermit the Frog says to “leap together”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On May 22, 2025 the famous puppet Kermit the Frog spoke. (His creator, Jim Henson, was an alumnus of that university) He’s the ultimate speech prop! An article from The Associated Press at npr on May 23, 2025 is titled ‘Leap together,’ Kermit the Frog says in address at the University of Maryland graduation. His three main points are about:

 

1] Finding your people

2] Taking the leap together

3] Making connections

 

You can watch a fifteen-minute Youtube video at PBS NewsHour titled WATCH LIVE: Kermit the Frog delivers commencement speech at University of Maryland. And on May 23, 2025 The Baltimore Sun has another article titled Transcript: Read Kermit the Frog’s University of Maryland commencement speech.

 

Kermit is voiced by Matt Vogel, as described on June 6, 2023 in a nineteen-minute Youtube video at Webster University titled Matt Vogel | Webster University Commencement Speech |2023.

 

Making our talk pop with effective use of a prop

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a three-minute YouTube video by Michael Davis at Speaking CPR on May 3, 2024 titled One key to make your talk pop with effective use of props. He advises that we should get our audience to pay attention by interacting with a prop. Look at it and pick it up.

 

The image was modified from kid and grandpa and microphone at Openclipart.

 

THE STORY BEAST is a free quarterly magazine about storytelling

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE STORY BEAST is a free quarterly magazine about storytelling, which is subtitled For Story Artists, Listeners, and Dreamers. It has a web site with an archive of pdfs from three volumes with fourteen themed issues so far:

 

VOLUME 1 - 2022

Issue 1, July 2022 – Breaking Free

Issue 2, August 2022 – Dog Days of Summer

Issue 3, September 2022 – Monsters in Your Backyard

Issue 4, October 2022 – Whispering Spirits

Issue 5, November 2022 – Eternally Grateful

Issue 6, December 2022 – Guiding Lights

 

VOLUME 2 - 2023

Issue 1, Spring – Winged Words

Issue 2, Summer – Bright Babblings

Issue 3, Fall – Under the Tome and Tombs

Issue 4, Winter – Peaceful Ponderings

 

VOLUME 3 - 2024

Issue 1, Spring – Stepping Stones

Issue 2, Summer – Chaotic Creations

Issue 3, Fall – Flavored Fright

Issue 4, Winter – Whirling Winds

 

A section titled TAMING the BEAST is about The Art of Crafting Stories. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Summer 2024 there is an article by Joan Leotta titled Folded Tales on pages 15 to 18 which describes how Kuniko Yamamoto and Megan Hicks use origami as props.

 

The mammoth and origami crane cartoons are from Openclipart.

 

A prop can be as simple as a sheet of paper

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a one-minute TikTok video from Nicole at TeachingLittleWonderz titled Teaching my students an important lesson using a piece of paper. John Zimmer wrote about it an article a at Manner of Speaking on January 3, 2023 titled The Power of a Prop. She crumples that sheet and says:

 

“I want you, and it’s going to sound silly, say something mean to this piece of paper. You look ugly. You smell bad. I hate you. You’re the worst one ever. You don’t deserve to be here. Now I want you to apologize. Everybody say sorry. Will this paper ever go back to the way it was when we first started? No. Right? It’s never going to go back to the way it was in the beginning.

 

And the reason I’m doing this with you today is because this week we’re talking all about how our words and our actions affect other people. Your words affect people so much, even after you leave them, even after you say sorry. They can stay inside that person for a really long time. So, we need to think about how our words and the things that we’re saying to each other are affecting each other. And that’s why it’s important that we use nice, kind words.”     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And back on August 22, 2008 in a post titled Give ‘em props I said that:

 

“Ellen Hermens describes a speaker who just placed a paper circle on the floor and stood on it to show that ‘this is my point of view’. Then he stepped away and took a critical look at that point of view from another angle.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You also could fold that sheet of paper to make an airplane or an origami crane, as shown above.

 

Chapter 37 of the Advanced Public Speaking book by Lynn Meade is titled Props: It is more than just setting stuff on a table. There are 16 embedded videos and 23 references!

 

Images of a paper airplane and origami crane came from Wikimedia Commons.

 

My second Tall Tale for a Toastmasters speech contest

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The December 2020 issue of Toastmaster magazine has an article by Kate McCLare titled True Lies, which discusses Tall Tales speech contests. On August 23, 2020 I blogged about My Tall Tale for a Toastmasters speech contest. That first speech came in third at Pioneer Club. This year I tried a Tall Tale contest speech again, and got further, as shown above. My title was Were You Visited by the Table Topics Bunny? This speech had lots of deadpan humor and numerous props.

 

The first time I gave it was on February 22, 2023 at Pioneer Club. No one else competed, so I won by default. I went on to the Area 3 contest on March 25, 2023 and won (over one other contestant). For feedback I gave it again on April 5, 2023 at Pioneer Club. Then, in the Division A contest on April 15 I competed again, but came in fourth out of four, and only received a Certificate of Participation.

 

This speech topic goes way back on my blog. It begins on June 30, 2008 with a post titled Daddy, where do “Table Topics” questions come from? The full story first shows up on September 27, 2008 in another post titled Tales of the Table Topics Bunny and the Jackalope. In that version the back story for the Table Topics Bunny included eight children (four girls and four boys). A cartoon of the bunny carrying a basket of questions appeared almost a decade later, in yet another post on February 24, 2018 titled Were you recently visited by the Table Topics Bunny?

 

For this year, I brought the number of bunny girls and boys up to five of each, so I could count them off on the fingers of each hand. One of the girls plays the role of the Energizer Bunny in TV commercials.

 

For the first version at Pioneer Club the only props were a couple of sheets of paper with a cartoon image of the Table Topics Bunny and one of the Energizer Bunny. Then I gave the speech to the Surpassing Excellence Academy advanced club on Zoom. My audience suggested that I instead needed to ‘be the Bunny’.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, I went to the Zurchers party store in Boise, and bought both blue and pink bunny ears. I borrowed a woven basket from my wife. White half-inch thick insulation foam was made into a stack of Table Topics Questions. On eBay I got some 10” wide pink gag sunglasses. At the Idaho Youth Ranch I got a 13” diameter cylindrical carboard box, which I spray painted white and fluorescent pink to make a drum. My drum stick actually was an inflatable microphone, which I had blogged about in a post on October 1, 2021 titled Inexpensive inflatable props for speeches. All those props are shown above. 

 

The final script [with prop use shown in brackets] is as follows:    

 

Were You Visited by the Table Topics Bunny?

 

Fellow Toastmasters. If you have small children, then eventually you will get asked:

 “Daddy, where do Table Topics Questions come from?”

 

We reply that the Table Topics Bunny brings them. [Put on blue bunny ears]. February 22nd is the birthday of Toastmasters founder, Dr. Ralph C. Smedley. That is when the Table Topics Bunny hops by and visits the homes of lucky Toastmasters. The Bunny reaches into his big basket, and leaves them a stack of questions. [Pick up basket, walk across stage, and pull out a stack of questions].There are more than enough to last for the whole year. When I looked in my office that morning, I found a new pile on my credenza.

 

The Table Topics Bunny is named Harvey, and his wife is Barbie. They live near San Diego and are proud of all ten of their children. The five blue boy bunnies are Bruce, George, John, Paul, and Ringo. [Take off blue bunny ears, and put on pink bunny ears]. The five pink girl bunnies are Amy, Britney, Lindsey, Miley, and Taylor. Britney plays a role in TV commercials that is much better known than the Table Topics Bunny.

 

Bruce originally was chosen as a famous mascot, the Energizer Bunny. Then lawyers for an ice cream maker objected. They said WE had trademarked a Blue Bunny for OUR advertising back in 1935, and YOU can’t have one too. Bruce suggested that they use his pink sister Britney instead. She got the job, but due to an oversight the ad copy never was fixed to read that SHE just keeps on going. [Put on pink prop sunglasses].

 

Britney learned to play the bass drum for her junior high school marching band. The sandals, shades, and attitude came later in high school when she started to hang out with the bad beach bunnies. Then Britney headed up to Hollywood to become a singer and actress. [Pick up drum and drumstick, and walk across stage beating the drum].  She just keeps going and going because she has stimulant abuse issues with diet pills. Reportedly Britney again is in rehab somewhere near the Energizer headquarters in St. Louis.

[Take off pink bunny ears, and put on blue bunny ears]. What do you think of the Table Topics Bunny? Does he sound like a Tall Tale? Was he just made up to put something in the calendar between Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny?

 

Some of you want to ask why you weren’t visited by the Table Topics Bunny. That’s simple. Think about another holiday. Do you remember the Peanuts Halloween special, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown? Just like the Great Pumpkin, you have to sincerely believe in the Table Topics Bunny. Otherwise, he won’t visit you. So, do you truly, sincerely, believe? Fellow Toastmasters.

 

A giant inflatable colon visited Idaho: Burley in the Magic Valley and Nampa in the Treasure Valley

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back on January 15, 2014 I had blogged about An outrageous prop for a serious purpose – the giant inflatable colon.

 

An article at IdahoNews6 on March 29, 2023 titled Intermountain Health hosts colon cancer awareness event with 12-foot 113-pound inflatable colon described one recent event in Burley. A second article at IdahoNews2, also on March 29, 2023, titled Intermountain Health’s giant inflatable colon tour comes to Treasure Valley described another event in Nampa.

 

A third article by Peri Kinder in the Sandy Journal on March 31, 2023 titled Intermountain Health’s giant inflatable colon offers a unique colorectal perspective discussed that same campaign in metro Salt Lake City.

 

 

Making props on your dining room table

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Suppose you were writing a speech for your Toastmasters club about the Jurassic Park films and wanted to have a prop dinosaur egg to hold up. Could you easily make one at home? You might use paper mâché (made with PVA glue) layers formed over a round balloon. On YouTube you can find an hour-long webinar by Eric Hart at the Society of Properties Artisan Managers titled S*P*A*Minar: Props You Can Make At Home. Mr. Hart wrote (among other things) a recent book on Prop Building for Beginners, which he blogged about at his Prop Agenda on November 23, 2021.

 

Folks doing costume play (cosplay) also make props. There also are some interesting YouTube videos from KamuiCosplay. One on December 10, 2019 is titled Top 10 Crafting Materials for Cosplay. Another on December 1, 2016 titled EVA Foam Build – Sombra Gun Replica – Part 1 shows how to use contact cement to laminate ethylene vinyl acetate foam.

 

The image of an egg came from Openclipart.

 

Using props to make your presentation memorable

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A month ago, on April 11, 2022, at SketchBubble there is a good article by Ashish Arora titled Make your presentation memorable using props. He shows rather than tells - by using five YouTube videos – two from Toastmasters World Championship speeches and three from TED talks.

 

Back on October 1, 2021 I blogged about Inexpensive inflatable props for speeches. After that, I did a speech on that topic at Pioneer Toastmasters Club. I began with the inflatable microphone shown above deflated and in my shirt pocket. I took it out and blew it up with five breaths. Then I made it a lavalier mic by putting the handle through a twine loop on my shirt, and continued by pulling a (folded) inflatable electric guitar out of a bag.

 

What were you doing a decade ago?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every month I read an online amateur microscopy magazine called Micscape. This month’s issue only has three articles, but also indexed their March 2012 issue. And that issue had my construction article titled Building a double gooseneck white LED illuminator for a stereomicroscope using modular coolant hose.

 

As shown above, I used 1/4” Loc-Line coolant hose parts to attach an LED headlamp to my StereoZoom7 microscope pod. Loc-Line consists of snap-together ball and socket segments. My collection of photo equipment also includes a Grip-It triple arm clamp made from Loc-Line.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joby has copied the ball and socket idea for their GorillaPod line of tabletop tripods (as shown above). The three legs on that little tripod can be wrapped around a vertical post or horizontal rail to support my little Nikon Coolpix L110 digital camera for travel photography.   

 

 

No one wanted to buy a stolen ten-foot-long inflatable colon in Kansas City

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back on January 15, 2014 I blogged about An outrageous prop for a serious purpose – the giant inflatable colon. In October of 2018 there was a news story about one in Kansas City, which generated some useful publicity about colon cancer prevention.

 

On October 19, 2018 there was a brief AP story titled Giant inflatable colon stolen in Kansas. Then on October 22, 2018 at People there was a detailed article by Joelle Goldstein titled Giant inflatable colon worth $4000 stolen ahead of a cancer event in Kansas. It included both still photos and a 2-1/2-minute YouTube video explaining that prop.

 

On October 29, 2018 the Star Tribune (Minneapolis) had an article by Erin Adler titled Story of Edina nonprofit’s stolen inflatable colon has a happy ending. It mentioned the stolen inflatable had been found, and that it had been produced by Landmark Creations of Burnsville (15 miles south of Minneapolis), who so far had made 218 of them.

 

Two New York newspapers picked up the story on October 30th. At the New York Post there was an article by Nicole Darrah titled Stolen inflatable colon found in vacant home. And at the New York Times there was another article by Sarah Mervosh titled A giant inflatable intestine went missing. The stolen colon is back, but mystery remains. That day Forbes also had yet another article by Bruce Y. Yee titled That stolen giant colon was found: how things worked out in the end.

 

There is an article by Christine A Miguel et al in Preventive Medical Reports on December 20, 2020 titled Scripted tours through a giant inflatable colon: An innovative and effective educational tool in urban communities.

Were those audience figures inflated?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not just figuratively, as was described in an article by Matt Ford on January 21, 2017 at The Atlantic titled Trump’s press secretary falsely claims: ‘Largest audience ever to witness an Inauguration, period.’ I mean literally inflated, as has sometimes been done to provide ‘extras’ in films before Computer-generated imagery (CGI) recently became inexpensive.

 

For example, an article at insider media limited on January 11, 2011 is titled Inflatable Crowd Company helps bring The King’s Speech to life. A more recent article at Ripley’s on December 9, 2016 is titled Inflatable crowds – Hollywood’s secret extras, and is accompanied by a brief YouTube video titled The Inflatable Crowd Company – Hollywood’s secret extras. There also is another brief YouTube video from November 5, 2012 by their competitor, Crowd In A Box. Crowd in a Box even sued The Inflatable Crowd Company, as described by Leslie Simmons at the Hollywood Reporter on October 23, 2007 in an article titled Judge dismisses crowd dummy case.

 

On October 1, 2021 I blogged about Inexpensive inflatable props for speeches, but did not include inflatable audiences there.

 

Best historical story about an inflatable prop

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Monday, October 4, 2021 I visited the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum over in McMinnville, Oregon. Its centerpiece is the one and only wooden Hughes Flying Boat, popularly known as the Spruce Goose. That eight-engine monster (shown above in a vintage photo and on display) has a wingspan of 320 feet, a length of 219 feet, and a height of 79 feet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When you walk inside the fuselage and look towards the rear, you can see some beach balls. Why are they there?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A display on the balcony provides the following explanation (which could be the basis for a Toastmasters speech):

 

“This beach ball is a genuine historic artifact from the one-and-only flight of the Hughes Fyling Boat Spruce Goose.

 

In preparing for taxi tests, Hughes was concerned about the floatability of the aircraft if the hull was breached. His solution was to pack the hull with a readily available flotation device…beach balls.

 

The story goes that prior to and shortly after the Nov. 2, 1947 taxi test and single flight of the Hughes Flying Boat, a beach ball could not be found in the Los Angeles area and possibly, all of Southern California. Hughes had instructed his people to purchase every beach ball they could find.

 

For the test, Hughes had the balls stuffed in the hull but it has yet to be determined exactly where they were placed. In 1992, a portion of those balls arrived in McMinnville still in the hull of the Flying Boat. This ball is one of about 25 of the original LA Beach Balls.”

 

Inexpensive inflatable props for speeches

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s October, and perhaps time to shop for a costume or other stuff for Halloween. When you look around at a party store like Zurchers, you also can find inexpensive inflatable props to use for speeches. As is shown above, I found a package of four 11” tall inflatable microphones for just $4.27.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They also had a 37” tall inflatable electric guitar for just $4.27. That’s a real version of an ‘air guitar.’ Both were packaged in 6- 3 /4 ” x 13” plastic bags. Those props are easy to carry when deflated but large enough for the 20-to-30-person audience at a Toastmasters club meeting. They also had a pair of 12” inflatable red dice for sale for $6.43.

 

Other online party stores like PartyPalooza have a 42” tall inflatable electric guitar. Amazon has even more inflatables. At Amazon you can get a Max Fun inflatable rock star toy set with 30 pieces for $24.99. It has a half-dozen guitars, four bass guitars, a half-dozen saxaphones, four microphones, a half-dozen gag shutter glasses, a lute, a keyboard, and a drum.

 

Back on May 2, 2017 I had blogged about how to Pump up your presentation with inflatable props.

 

What shape should your next year be? Modeling dough as a metaphorical prop.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I recently saw a six-minute YouTube video by Brooke Samples from January 29, 2017 titled Props for speeches. After 3 -1/2 minutes she says:    

 

“And last week, at the Palm Beach Advanced Toastmasters, we had the Play-Doh metaphor, as far as what do you want your year to look like? You have the opportunity to shape it whatever way you want to. You can make it a cookie man or something. This kind of prop makes your point more memorable. 

 

Cathy Frasier could have spoken all night long about the opportunities 2017 allows us. But this one visual of Play-Doh and how you make it this way, you don’t like it, you wad it up and start over.

 

I like that so much that when I was in Houston last week speaking to sixty service managers, parts managers, general managers, and controllers, I got every one of them their own Play-Doh, And I put a reminder on there that your future is flexible, and if it doesn’t work out, start over again, and it’s fun.”      

 At a local Dollar Tree store I found ten-ounce bags of generic modeling dough like the yellow shown above. If you wanted to hand out cans to your audience, then at Amazon there is a pack of ten 2-ounce cans for $7.99.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another way to begin using this as a prop would be to shape the dough into a question mark, as is shown above.  

 

Containers are simple but effective props, like for dividing up what comes in or goes out

Containers can be simple but very effective props. For example, as shown above in a YouTube video clip, at Macworld 2008 Steve Jobs demonstrated just how thin a MacBook Air was by pulling one out of a forty-cent interoffice mail envelope.   

Containers can be used to interact with your audience and divide up what comes in among buckets, like income for retirement. As shown above, a YouTube video of Frank Maselli Seminar Tip: Presentation Props, describes sources to discuss strategy:  Social Security, retirement accounts, taxable investments,  pensions (or part time work).

Containers also can be used to divide up what goes out. As shown above (on page 10) via a pie chart, about half of the 2019 Idaho state budget goes to public schools. We could simplify by grouping smaller categories and rounding to the nearest five percent.

Then we might represent each five percent via an orange table tennis ball. Drop the 20 balls into a series of clear plastic cylinders (hydrometer jars or graduated cylinders) as shown above. Start with the smallest. Ask the audience what percent they think goes for each of those five categories. Build an interactive bar chart, and surprise by ending that fully half (50%) goes into public schools.


UPDATE  February 6, 2020





My Google alert on public speaking found me a TEDx Evansville talk by Lewis Chaney titled You Won’t Die From Public Speaking but Your Deal Might, as shown above. It begins by using a water glass as a prop.