Speaking-
Do you want to hear something funny?
So does your audience!
Advice from Expert Speakers.
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Speaking- Do you want to hear something funny? So does your audience! Advice from Expert Speakers.
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One of the
more daunting techniques people use when speaking in public is humor.
Many people just won't use it because they are afraid of the dreaded
"Bomb".... the joke that yields no laughter. But humor is too powerful a
tool to disregard it altogether.
Now I'm very familiar with "The Bomb". Several months ago, I decided to try my hand at stand-up comedy. I went to an open microphone night at a local bar and delivered a set that was about 8 minutes long. The crowd was too kind. No, I didn't hear any laughter, but they didn't boo me off the stage! Now in stand-up, the comedian should certainly be focusing on writing funny material, and delivering it so the audience laughs. Though the same is true when you work humor into your presentation, the laughs are really secondary. Your primary concern should be your message. That is to say, your humor should have a point, and it should be relevant to your topic. If it is relevant, it's not as important for the audience to laugh. If it's not relevant, don't use it. Even if it gets the laugh, it could be distracting. O.k....so you've developed your presentation, and you've added certain bits of relevant humor to draw the audience in. You deliver your joke or anecdote, and the audience just looks at you. Don't get discouraged! Occasionally, you'll write something that you think is absolutely hilarious, and you'll get virtually no response from the audience. I've been in that situation before. Sometimes the audience doesn't even realize you've just made a joke. Don't tell them. Just move on as though their response is just what you expected. As long as your humor has a point, it doesn't have to be funny. As long as your humor is relevant, "The Bomb" doesn't exist. Hopefully I've convinced you to at least give humor a try. But how do you work it in? There are many different approaches that work well, but the one I like, particularly if you're just getting your feet wet, is to work the humor in after the fact. Organize your thoughts and put together a good intro, body, and conclusion just as you would with any presentation. Don't even concern yourself with humor until you have prepared a solid presentation.
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Once you have your presentation, you're
ready to start adding humor. The first thing you have to decide is where
to add it. Now there are no hard and fast rules, but as a general rule, I
like to add humor either right at the beginning of a new thought, or as
you wrap up a thought and are preparing to transition to the next point.
Start by just adding one joke in the intro as you introduce your main
topic, and maybe one in the conclusion. As you start to feel more
comfortable with using humor, you can always add more. The next thing you have to decide is what to say. Again, making it relevant is the key. What I would suggest for starters is looking at your topic, and maybe your main thesis statement and asking yourself, "When the audience hears this statement, what picture will they see in their mind?" Great! Now you know what you want the audience to see. It's time to mess with them! Put in a statement that makes them question for a second where you are going, and then pull them back to the original picture. For example, your thesis statement might be something like, "Education is not only important to prepare children for the future, but to keep them out of trouble". You might start off your presentation with a rhetorical question such as, "What does education mean to you?" The audience probably has a picture of kids in the classroom reading textbooks, taking tests, etc.
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After a short pause, you
say, "If you're like me, it probably means you get up at the crack of
dawn, kick the kids out of bed, get them fed, dressed, and out the door to
the school bus so you can finally get some peace and quiet!" You've led
them to see one picture, and then you present them with a more humorous
perspective of what education might mean to someone. Then you bring them
back to your thesis with something like, "But seriously, education is so
important.....blah blah blah". Now the amount of laughter you receive from
the audience will probably have a great deal to do with the delivery, but
even if they don't laugh, it is still relevant, and it will still be a
good intro to your thesis. A few important things to remember:
It may seem daunting at first, but the effect of humor in your presentation is too powerful to shy away from it. So give it a try! Start off with just one or two jokes/anecdotes until you start to feel more comfortable using humor. Don't worry about "The Bomb"; if it's relevant to you topic, it won't exist. With enough practice, you'll be using humor like a pro, and you audience will love you for it!
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