How To Incorporate Humor Into Your Speech

Humor is a great way to enhance a speech.

Laughter will create a positive atmosphere and ease tension for the speaker as well as the audience.

Audience members will be more receptive to what you have to say and will probably remember a lot more of your speech!

You don't have to be a naturally gifted comedian to incorporate a little humor in public speaking. During your next speech, try out one of the following techniques:

Use a few cartoons in your presentation.

Cartoons are a great way to relax an audience. In the middle of your speech, show a funny cartoon on an overhead projector.

You will get a few moments break while your audience reads the cartoon.

Use this time to grab a glass of water, collect your thoughts or glance at your notes.

Cartoons can be very effective as long as they're not offensive or controversial. They will illustrate your point in a visual way.

Just make sure you choose cartoons that relate to your topic. Don't throw in a few Far Side cartoons just because they're your favorite!

Include a humorous quote.

Humor in public speaking can also involve the use of funny quotations. Try starting your next speech with a comical quote.

Imagine using the following as your opening line about computers:

"A computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any other invention in human history, with the possible exception of handguns and tequila."

What do you think your audience will think?

"Wow this is going to be so boring..."

Of course not!

They'll be really interested in your speech. You will be setting a positive tone right from the very start. Using humor will let your audience know you don't plan on giving a boring, unexciting speech.

This will be much more effective than starting your speech with "I would like to discuss how computers work..."

Trust me - stick with the humorous option whenever possible!

Tell a funny story. Describe a comical event that happened to you.

People love to hear a comical story. Your audience will be able to relate to you better when you share something personal with them.

Tell them about the time you tripped down the stairs during your graduation ceremony. People will enjoy hearing about your mishaps and realizing that you are human.

You will gain credibility with your audience and get a few laughs in the process.

Keep the stories relatively short. As with the other methods of humor, make sure your funny stories are relevant to your topic.

Throw in a couple of well-timed jokes.

If you can, throw in a few relevant jokes throughout your speech.

Laughter is a great way to bond with your audience. Humor in public speaking will loosen up the crowd and gain their attention.

Have a few good jokes prepared that you can use in any speech. Use these if your audience appears to be getting restless or if your speech is really long.

Just make sure you don't use any off-colour jokes. Your goal is to make your audience laugh, not cringe! Only make fun of audience members if it is done in a very light-hearted manner. You might want to tease a few people, but avoid embarrassing them completely.

Also save your adult jokes for your next keg party. Not everyone will appreciate a sexist joke so keep them clean and easy to understand.

Last but not least, make sure you memorize the entire joke.

You don't want to start off with a great joke and then forget the punch line!

Don't be afraid to incorporate humor in public speaking. You don't need to be Steve Martin or Chris Rock to get a laugh or two.

Include a little wit into your next speech by including one or two of the following:

• Show a few funny cartoons

• Include a humorous quote

• Tell a comical personal story

• Throw in several clean jokes

Humor can really enhance your public speaking. If you don't learn to tickle your audience's funny bone, the joke will be on you!

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