I am a Speaker, a Coach, and an Author.
I’m also a Reader!
By reading great books on Public Speaking and Presentation Skills, I’ve immensely increased my knowledge of my craft, and improved my presentations!
I’ve placed brief reviews of two recent tomes in this Post. They both helped me. Reading them will benefit you, also!
Here are some guidelines for Humor in Presentations:
Self-Effacing humor is good!
Don’t overdue it else it really gets the audience wondering about you and your self-confidence.
If you’re like me, you have lots of material to work with!
Never make fun of others, especially audience members. The person, even if a celebrity, that you might want to poke fun at, might be someone’s hero.
The old rule, “If you can’t say it in front of your mother, spouse and child – Don’t!, holds true.
All humor you use should be relevant to your overall message with the goal of helping your audience GET IT!
If the speaker has developed and practiced a speech, the audience should follow certain “Guidelines” that give the presenter an opportunity to deliver their message so the audience GETS IT! They don’t have to agree with all of it. They don’t have to agree with any of it. However, unless they GET IT! there can’t be a significant discussion going forward.
Just as an Elevator goes up one floor at a time, the Elevator Speech should be delivered “by the floor.”
At each stop, the verbal and/or nonverbal signal to look for is, “Tell me more.”
Everyone doesn’t want to go to the Top Floor with you. Some don’t want to leave the lobby! There is no need to waste time and energy taking them all the way up.
The Elevator Speech can be a good tool for Qualifying / DisQualifying prospects.
The Elevator Speech starts simple. As interest and time permit, it is expanded.
In his book, Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer, Roy Peter Clark provides insights to the Magic of the Number Three:
Use One for power.
Use Two for comparison, contrast. (right – wrong, black – white, up – down, hot – cold)
Use Three for completeness, wholeness, roundness.
Use Four or more to list, inventory, compile, and expand.
