Using humor in presentations is an important way to connect with your audience and to keep them interested in your presentation. No one likes going to presentations when they’re just delivered coldly reading off a prompter without any voice inflection, stories to help people relate, and a few jokes.
1. Use Real Life – Every day you pass by things that are funny. Try to take note of them. There are celebrity quotes, signs, laws, situations, funny acronyms and so forth that you may have thought were funny at the time. You can use these things in any presentation if it’s relevant to your audience.
2. Use Analogies – Comparing two things or concepts is a great way to entertain your audience. Don’t feel as if you must use your own; you can use other people’s analogies and just change up some of the things to make it relevant to your audience and make it funny.
3. Read Industry News – You never know what you’ll discover in industry news. Read the industry news of the audience you plan to present to. Learn about their culture so that you will truly understand them. For example, if you’re a motivational speaker who is speaking to 100 engineers, it’s imperative that you show them that you understand who they are. You can use humor to connect.
4. Keep Track of Your Stories – Whenever you think of or witness something that is interesting or funny, write it down. Keep track because you never know when you may be giving a presentation and can use that story within. Just keep a file on your computer. You can use Evernote or Trello for keeping organized.
5. Connect to Your Audience – The first thing to do when you step on stage to give a presentation is to seek to connect with your audience. Using humor is often the best way to do it. Self-depreciating jokes, or jokes about how awesome your audience is, will often work here.
6. Have a Point to the Story – No matter what type of story you’re telling, it should have a point to it. Take every joke, quote, analogy, and situation, and make it relate to the point you’re trying to make your entire presentation.
7. Practice, Practice, Practice – Every presentation should be practiced. You don’t want to sound like you memorized everything and sound monotone. You want to sound relaxed and get your point across. The only way to do that is to practice.
8. If You’re Not Sure, Don’t Do It – When any joke makes you feel unsure and sleazy, don’t do it. If you’re not sure it’ll go over well, there is no point in telling it. Let’s be clear; it’s okay if a joke fails, but you don’t want one that offends people. So if you think it will offend anyone, don’t do it.
If you’re not sure where to get inspiration, consider looking at bumper stickers, t-shirts, greeting cards, laws, signs, acronyms, definitions, cartoons and your daily life. When you see anything that might work, just note it, organize it, and save it for later. It may help you create presentations that will wow your audience and ensure that they really hear your message and take action based on that message.
