SPEAKING IN PUBLIC: Using Humour
Jun 02, 2021
USING HUMOUR:
Some DOs and DON'Ts...
“If I can get you to laugh with me, you like me better, which makes you more open to my ideas. And if I can persuade you to laugh at the particular point I make, by laughing at it, you acknowledge its truth.” JOHN CLEESE
Using humour is a fantastic way to connect to your audience! Cracking a joke makes you appear relaxed and confident and audiences respond to humour. It helps your audience bond with you as a speaker; it helps your audience to remember your points; and it keeps your audience energised and attentive!
But, it's difficult to get right! So, here are our 3 TOP TIPS for using humour effectively.
DO:
Make it appropriate
Guess what? Just because you find something funny doesn't mean everyone else will. The biggest consideration when using humour is... your audience! You need to think about what they are going to enjoy. There's no point making jokes about TIKTOK to your granny or Shakespearean malapropisms to a group of 5-year-olds.
Some things to consider are:
- cultural reference points
- language choice and tone
- style of humour
DON'T:
Tell jokes
YOU: What? I thought we were supposed to be cracking jokes!
Me: Yes... and no.
So, although humour is a great way to connect to your audience it needs to sound spontaneous and natural. That means you need to abandon your "knock-knock..." jokes and use humour in other ways. For example, you might want to tell a funny anecdote; you could make a quip about your subject matter; or you could use understatement!
DO:
Make it relevant
It's important that your humour doesn't feel like an unnecessary diversion from your topic but actually helps to make your meaning clear and emphasises your message. If you manage to make people laugh then you know instantly that they've connected with you as a speaker but also that... they're listening! So use humour as an entertaining way to lead your audience towards your key point.
Check out this fantastic example from Sir Ken Robinson's famous TED Talk:
USEFUL LINKS:
TO READ...
USING HUMOUR IS NO LAUGHING MATTER
MORE DOS AND DONTs OF USING HUMOUR
TO WATCH...
Want more content like this? Workbooks, videos, quizzes interviews with celebrity guests... sounds like you need to join our LAMDA ON-DEMAND community. Click the link below to find out more!
