Humor - a serious business

"Why do you use humor in your seminars, Joel?"

In a two-hour custom seminar for computer technicians on the subject of how to see change more positively, they laughed 117 times. In a half-day custom seminar for stockbrokers and their branch managers on increasing their book of business by finding out what everyone else is doing and then…not doing it, they laughed 221 times!

Why did they laugh, you ask?

Because early in my career as a professional speaker I learned that humor—more than any other technique—can keep an audience relaxed, alert and receptive. Think about it—how do you feel when you laugh? It keeps the windows of your mind open.

But humor didn’t always come naturally to me, so I decided to work at it. Over three decades and 2,800 seminars later, I’m still working at it, and I’ve developed a strategy that I use in almost every presentation. Here’s how you can use it when you speak before a group.

First, remind yourself to take the presentation very seriously, but not to take yourself seriously at all. (Remember, if you take yourself too seriously, no one else will!)
Get the audience laughing at you within the first 90 seconds. At you. Once they see that you enjoy being laughed at, it’s easier for them to laugh at themselves.
Get them laughing at an imaginary person: “this guy” “a man at the…” “a woman who…” within the first five minutes.
Next, get them laughing at themselves—as a group—within the first ten minutes.
Keep them laughing at least every 2 to 5 minutes thereafter, in a four-hour seminar.
Conclude every important, serious point with a laugh, to release the tension.
Get them to laugh—big time—just before the coffee break.
Finally, end the seminar on a big laugh, causing the audience to remember your time together as having been fun. That way they’ll be more likely to act on your suggestions!

Remember, humor is the ability to laugh at things you can’t change. And once an audience can laugh at and accept the things they can’t change, they’re in the right mood—the mood to improve in those areas in which change is possible.

That’s why I use humor in my seminars—how about you?

Here’s what you can do:

Begin seeing your limitations or liabilities in a more humorous light. This will make them seem less serious, and help you turn them into assets. Comedians do this constantly.
Next time you speak before a group, sprinkle in a little humor. Then evaluate the results. Did it help you? Did it help the audience?
When you encounter a highly-tense situation, be spontaneous and do something that might cause the people involved to smile or chuckle and let down their guard. Keep the windows of their minds open!