When humor goes wrong

Sometimes a joke or story may not go over the way you’d planned. Oh no, you just want to die or, at the very least have a big hole open up and you can just disappear into the centre of the earth!

Humor doesn’t always go the way you thought it would. The delivery didn’t work, the audience is inattentive or a heckler yells out the punch line. 

My most important tip is – not to show the disappointment on your face.

If it’s obvious that your joke or story didn’t work then you can always say “I thought that was going to be funny………..but obviously I was wrong” this can sometime elicit a laugh on its own, as it helps to release the tension that was built up from the failed attempt.

Every speaker will experience a “dud”, it’s how you handle the experience that separates the good speakers from the less experienced ones. 

My second most important tip is – be confident and continue on with your presentation as if nothing had gone wrong.

Humor can take a little bit of time to get right, but when things go well, you’ll feel on top of the world.

Keep speaking – Carrol

Humorously Speaking

Have you tried adding a little bit of humor to your presentations?

A little bit of humor goes a long, long way. People love to laugh and it’s a great way to connect with your audience.

One of the reasons that people don’t include humor is that they think they have to write it themselves or they don’t have anything funny to say. You don’t have to turn into a comedian to have amusing parts in your speech.

* Keep a file on things that you’ve found amusing. Chances are, if you found it funny then your audience will too.

* You can borrow material from other speakers. Re-write it and put it in your own words, this will make it more believable

* Collect jokes and stories from newspapers or magazines

* Look for humor everywhere, things that are weird, silly or ironic

If you look at your speech you’ll see some great opportunities to add something amusing. Remember, it doesn’t have to be rip roaringly funny, slightly amusing will work.

Whenever possible, put yourself in the story or make fun of yourself. Audiences like to hear about your personal experiences or that you don’t take yourself too seriously.

People love to laugh, it makes that special connection, why not try a little humor in your next presentation.

Keep speaking – Carrol