Would you fake sick to get out of giving a presentation at work? If you’re like twenty percent of employees asked this question in a survey, the answer is yes, yes you definitely would!
How to add humor to a presentation: the vital key to relatable presentations.
According to a survey conducted by Prezi, seventy percent of employed North Americans say that presentations are critical to their success at work. So why are they skipping out?
Prezi collaborated with Ticker to survey professionals about how they feel about the presentations they give at work. The results highlight just how important presentation skills are in the workplace, but also the extreme measures that people will take to get out of doing them.
This can’t be good for careers!
Poor presentation skills can cause a domino effect at work. Leaders with unmotivating, unrelatable presentations fail to inspire their teams and kill morale. This causes reduced performance, failure for products to sell, and less impressive or effective services. If you’re an entrepreneur, poor presentation skills can cause failure to attract funding and interest. Basically, bad presentations can prevent careers from soaring.
It seems like a big price to pay for a basic skill that anyone can improve upon!
Knowing how to add humor to a presentation can ease fears, make your presentations more relatable, and increase your success at work.
So how do you add humor to a presentation?
My presentations are known for their humor! Let me give you some simple tips on how to add some humor and story to your presentations. And no, you do not have to be a comedian or a “naturally funny person” to get this.
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How To Add Humor To A Presentation: Four Simple Steps
PROCESS 1: READ THE ROOM AND SET THE TONE
At the start of all my presentations, I like to test the waters by lobbing out a joke and reading the response I get. The joke can be anything, it doesn’t have to be related to your subject. It can be about something you just saw on TV, a news item (not political!) or a movie that just came out. Or it can be something that just happened at one of your kid’s sports games. Just something that more or less everyone can relate to. This is how I check the pulse of the audience. Really good presenters know how to read an audience. If they don’t pick up what I lob out, I’ll know to reel back my humor. This will save me a lot of awkward moments later in my talk. If they grab it and laugh, I’ll ramp it up.
PROCESS 2: USE VISUALS AS A PROP
You don’t have to be a naturally funny person to know how to add humor to a presentation. Yes, that means you, CAs, engineers and CEOs! If you want anyone to actually hear what you’re talking about, let alone care about it, you need to show some humanity. And that means humor! You can do this with an easy visual to augment your presentation with a bit of light-heartedness. It can be a photo of your kids or yourself doing something like camping or skiing for the first time. Or you can pull something off of Google images that will illustrate your message in an amusing way. There are millions of examples. Keep your eyes open for image opportunities in the real world and snap a photo with your phone. Even if you don’t have the perfect place for it at the time, start a “quirky images” folder and keep potential images there. Believe me, something will come up. Oh ya, the more you look for funny, the more it turns up!
PROCESS 3: WRAP YOUR CONTENT WITH HUMOR
I surround my content with humor so the audience will be more engaged and will actually hear and be present with what I’m saying. Think of it as the pill-delivery system! They won’t resist the ideas of change so much. In fact, change has never been this painless!
PROCESS 4: LAUGH AT YOURSELF
This isn’t for everyone, but if you can pull it off it’s very effective. I’ve always used self-deprecating humor to draw in my audiences and help them connect with me. They are able to laugh at my stories with me because they can see themselves in them. This method allows me to see eye-to-eye with my audiences and my messages are better received.
Here’s the major point of using humor: We all have our own sense of funny. Just keep exploring working on yours. Are you willing to dare and lob one out there? The results just might amaze you!
If you want some coaching to help you with your presentations skills, contact me through my site or phone me at: 250-717-6079
