My buddy, Brad Montgomery, good looking guy on the left, made a simple but astute observation:
Want to be Funny? Hang with Funny People! Brad is a great comedian and also a fellow Colorado blogger.
Many business presentations don't incorporate any humor-and that's a shame becasue audiences today are demanding great content delivered in a humorous way! The big shift is on. Last week I was talking with an owner of a speakers bureau. He told me that in the future he was going to emphasize speakers who could deliver great content with humor. I was glad to be included in this group-and really couldn't we all use a lot more humor in business presentations? You don't really want to look like Alan Greenspan, on the left, as you are presenting your brilliant sales presentation do you?
Here are some tips to get you thinking about adding some humor to anchor your key points:
1. When you see a cartoon or hear a comic say something, do you laugh out loud-even if you are by yourself? That's a good sign that you may be on to something.
2. Practice your humor attempt on a few folks who won't laugh just becasue you are the boss. Novices tend to step on the punch line so practice until you can snap that baby off!
3. Only use the humor if it anchors a point that you want the audince to take away-otherwise it could distract from your main points.
4. When in doubt-keep your humor short and sweet-don't take 5 minutes to make a humorous point!!
5. Don't tell your audince you are going to humor them-just surprise them with your comic brilliance as you make those fantastic points :)
I will be the first to admit that it is challenging to find clever and concise humor in many business presentations but it's there you just have to dig it out. But if you are humor challenged remember my buddy
Brad Montogemey's advice: Hang With Funny People and have them give you some pointers! Good Luck.
Steve Mertz
Did Alan Greenspan Ever Smile??
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Humor, Presentation, Brad Montgomery, Public Speaking