Discover the secrets to turning your next big speaking gig into a valuable experience for both you and your audience. Overcome the fears of being put on the ‘SHELF’ and learn a methodology for success.
Humour, when used right, can strengthen your message and engage your market. But it can also go the wrong way.
In business, there is a particular type of humour that could damage your credibility or, worse… the reputation of your whole company!
Do you want to be funny and use humour to engage your clients better? But are you worried people won’t take you seriously?
You’re right to worry.
One question that often comes up when it comes to speaking is “How do I increase my fees?”. You may be wanting to get to the next price level, or maybe you are done speaking for “exposure” and it’s now time to start getting paid!
So, you may have heard that I used to be part of a show called the Three Stuffed Mums. The premise of the show was that I was “physically stuffed”, because I had a toddler, Maggie was “mentally stuffed” because she had a teenager and Kehau was an empty nester, and she was telling everyone to “get stuffed!”
People want to be funny for all sorts of reasons when they give business presentations. You may want to use humour to engage your audience more. You may have a boring topic that switches people off, so you want to include humour to liven up the discussion. You may simply want to shift the mood or energy and change it up a little bit so you can have more laughs and fun.
It only takes a quick google search to see the scientifically proven benefits of humour and laughter. And when you are speaking in front of an audience, you want to stack the odds in your favour as much as possible.
I have a one on one client that I’m working with at the moment who wants to know how to add humour to a boring topic. She is a Workplace Health and Safety Consultant, and as you can imagine, it’s a little bit of a dry and boring topic – yawn! We are working together to liven up her presentation and make it a bit more engaging and entertaining for her audience (as well as a little bit more fun for her to present!)
I often see this particular bit of advice thrown around a lot when it comes to being funny. It’s a pretty easy way to get a laugh, so I can see why it’s so popular – the problem is, that this particular advice can be very detrimental if you are a Speaker or Presenter. I feel that this style of humour has the potential to damage your credibility as a Speaker and should be avoided at all costs. (Or if you must insist on using this style of humour, at least make sure you are very aware of the possible consequences.)
I was recently chatting with a client, and we were talking about public speaking. He said, “Kate when it comes to public speaking, I’d put people into 3 categories:
Really good at it,
Happy to give it a go and
Vomit!” [when they think about Public Speaking]
2022 Kate Burr. All Right Reserved.