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Training Article on the Best Use of Humor In Public Speaking

Should you open with a joke? My opinion is that if you open with a joke, you're risking disaster!

Why? Because if you open with a joke and they find it not-funny or even offensive, you might not be able to recover from that. You'll have ruined your public speaking engagement right from the very start. You might as well just go home.

On the other hand, humor - if done properly - can be a great tool in your presentation. When people laugh, they feel good and it gets them relaxed.

Here's the two best ways to use humor - safely - in your seminars and public speaking engagements:

The first way is to simply put up funny slides on the screen. A well-placed cartoon with a funny caption can have the crowd rolling on the floor laughing.

The other way to use humor - and in my opinion this is the best possible way to use humor - is to simply use funny quotes.

Funny quotes are best for two reasons:

1. It's not YOU saying it!

2. You can whip them out fast and easy.

Memorize at least three funny quotes. Then at the appropriate time in your seminar talk, you can use one of them.

Funny quotes are better than telling jokes or funny stories for 2 reason:

1. Quotes take less time.

2. Quotes are safer!

You never know if people will pay attention to your story or even get the humor of it, or if you're not good at telling stories you're going to blow it and leave out something critical.

Jokes are just plain risky, you never know who you're going to offend. But even if you say a funny quote that someone finds offensive, it's easy to recover from that, you just say: "I'm so glad that so-and-so said that and not me!" And even that will probably get another laugh!

When it comes to humor, take the safe way and use funny quotes! Go find three right now and memorize them.