Use Humor in Business Presentations and Speeches Says Executive Public Speaking Coach

How many blondes does it take to change a light bulb?

Tell that joke during your next business presentation and you'll either win your audience or lose them. Maybe forever. Most jokes are suitable for some occasions and unsuitable for others. Few things are as painful as listening to a speaker tell a bad or tasteless joke. The speaker suffers, and so does the audience.

And yet nothing is better than humour for grabbing the attention of an audience and winning them to your point of view. A good laugh relaxes an audience. That's why so many experienced speakers open their talks with a funny story or humourous line. And salt their remarks with witticisms or funny anecdotes.

The secret to succeeding with humour in the boardroom is to be funny and appropriate at the same time.

Some topics are always off limits, of course. Jokes about race and ethnicity are always wrong. So are sexist jokes, and jokes about people with disabilities. Other themes to avoid are sarcasm and irony, two boomerangs that tend to sail over the audience and return to the stage to hit the speaker in the temple.

The safest kind of humour to use in a business presentation is a joke about you. If you're like me, you have plenty of material to draw upon. Self-deprecating humour is effective for two good reasons. It doesn't make fun of anyone important. And it helps you make a point without pointing the finger at anyone.

The best kind of humour comes from your own well. Stories from your childhood, your marriage, your family life and your career are sure to get a laugh if they are original and well told. Here are some tips on delivery to make your jokes winners.

Keep your jokes short

A one-liner gets just as loud a laugh as a long story but requires less of the speaker (and the audience) to work well. When telling a story, keep it relevant to your topic by including relevant details only (time and place, names, sequence of events and so on).

Don't apologize

Don't apologize for not being a comedian before you deliver a joke, and don't apologize for a joke that falls flat.

Don't talk over laughter

The better your humour, the harder and longer your audience will laugh. So pause after you've delivered the punchline, and pause while the audience laughs. Look about your audience with a smile (or a smirk). Let them enjoy the joke. Don't sabotage the effect you created. Start speaking again only when the room is quiet enough to continue.

If you aren't hilarious, at least be witty

If you lack confidence in recounting humourous stories or telling funny jokes, try to express yourself in a funny way a few times during your presentation. Even mundane topics become entertaining when you discuss them with some wit. Did you know, for example, that the IRS has the perfect gift for the man who has everything? An audit.

Humour relaxes your audience and helps them connect with you. Audiences want to laugh. They want to have fun and be entertained. So take courage and use original humour that's appropriate for your audience and your topic.

By the way, have you guessed yet how many blondes it takes to change a light bulb?

One.

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About the author

Alan Sharpe is an executive speech coach and business writing trainer. On-site, online and over the phone, Alan teaches executives and managers how to express themselves clearly, concisely and convincingly using the written and spoken word. Receive a free tip like this each week by subscribing to his public speaking [http://www.alansharpeconsulting.com] and business writing [http://www.alansharpeconsulting.com] column, The Confident Communicator.

© 2007 Alan Sharpe. You may reprint this article online and in print provided the links remain live and the content remains unaltered (including the "About the author" message).

Effective Public Speaking Skill - Using a Joke Format to Add Humor to your Presentations

Adding humour to your speech or presentation can be beneficial because it helps you to connect with your listeners (most people like to laugh and be entertained) and it can help them more easily remember your message.

The purpose of this article is not to turn you into a comedian. It's just to present you with some ways to add a little humour to your speech.

With that in mind here are two fast and simple, down and dirty formats for including humour in your next speech or presentation.

The first is called: "Joke Format"

This details a way in which you can format street jokes (jokes that friends might tell you in a bar) together to form a comedy monologue like old school comedians, like Bob Hope or Jack Benny. Here's the format:

1) Put the 2nd funniest joke first

2) End with the funniest joke

3) Counter a good joke with a bad one.

4) Organize jokes according to theme.

Now, I'm not saying that they used this format, I used Hope and Benny as an example of the style of comic that might have used this approach. Although, I have to say, the "counter a good joke with a bad one" seems more in-keeping with the comedy format of old school comics, rather than modern stand-ups. I think today's comedy professionals try to have continuous funny lines. This particular point seems to indicate a groaner type of joke, like a pun.

But just to remind you the purpose of this article is not to turn you into a comedian. You don't have to worry about that.

That said, I don't think there's anything necessarily wrong with using such a funny line in a speech, providing of course that it ties in with your overall topic and it doesn't offend anyone overtly. Some people might be offended by a groaner joke, but that's too bad. It makes you come across as human because we don't always come out with incredible zingers like they do in sitcoms.

The other format is called the "Message Format". There are two types for this format:

A)

Intro

2nd Funniest joke

Main body of Jokes

Theme

Funniest Joke

With the second one being as follows:

B)

Intro

Funniest joke

Other Jokes

Theme

This last one ends on a serious note instead of a laugh. Personally, if I'm doing a humorous speech I'd rather end on a laugh. But that's just my personal taste.

What you might consider doing is reducing your actual speech or presentation by about a third or even a half. Keep the core details that are necessary to convey your message to your audience. So what do you replace the edited content with?

Humour. Funny stories, funny jokes, maybe you could quote other comedians or witty people as long as you give credit where it's due. There's no sense delivering a line by Woody Allen in your presentation and passing it off as your own. There will always be someone who can attribute it to the original author, plus it's highly unethical.

Not only that but by saying something like: "as Woody Allen once said..." you can immediately get your audience into a better state to laugh as they'll remember their favourite Woody Allen moment. Then if the line doesn't have everyone rolling in the aisles then you can get out of it by saying, "obviously it's much better when Woody did it". Your listeners will love you all the more then because you will have revealed yourself to be slightly vulnerable.

You would have to judge for yourself what you think is appropriate. I would have to guess that it may be better for you to end on a comment about your overall theme. What are you trying to convey to your audience? What's the take home message that you want them to walk away from your speech remembering?

If you can follow some of these pointers in your next speech you'll be well on your way to being remembered for your humorous speeches and you'll get people congratulating you afterwards because you made them laugh and in their eyes you just became the star.

Jason Peck is a Humorist, Speaker and Consultant based in London, England. He provides empowering speeches, valuable business training and morale-boosting entertainment to businesses, colleges and private functions. Check out Pro Humorist