The humour does not need to induce gut – wrenching belly laughs. A smile with their eyes, a smirk or even a small chuckle will do the job. Something that shifts them from thinking about your content to feeling it.
It may be a joke about your name, your town of origin or how boring your subject matter is. Speakers often have a funny line in their introduction or their first piece on stage to get the delegates smiling.
It could be highlighting your data in an unusual way. Australian demographer Bernard Salt who talks about Census Data often talks about the towns with the highest percentages of males and females and then refers to the “love highway” between the two.
Whatever you do, make sure you practice it. Maybe even get an independent test audience in, to see how it goes. People’s sense of humour varies and what you think is hilarious may not rate so well to others, so best to get someone to test it!
Straight forward, simple and curious observations about your content, paired with a quizzical expression, a big pause or a stage prop are great ways to start adding humour to your presentations. When you add more humour to your presentation, your delegates, your clients and your bank balance will thank you. So add more humour to your presentations today!
Warwick Merry is a Certified Speaking Professional, dual Certified Virtual Presenter, recipient of the 2021 Global Outstanding Intrapreneur award, the 2022 PSA Breakthrough Speaker Award and 2022 PSA Nevin Award for service to the speaking industry. For over 20 years he has been hosting and producing online, hybrid and in-person events. He is the host of the Making Events Awesome livestream and Facebook group.
