Humor in a Presentation - Obama Style

I always caution my clients about using humor in their presentations. Humor, like beauty, can be in the eye of the beholder and is frequently fraught with pitfalls.

If, however, you are naturally funny or lucky enough to have someone writing clever, humorous lines for you, and you do decide to include humor in your presentations, here are some tips to maximize the effect.

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE

There is an ever increasing list of topics that would be considered inappropriate or insensitive by an ever increasing number of people. The last thing you want, as a presenter, is to offend or annoy some portion of your audience. So do your homework to find out whether the funny comments you want to use about certain topics will have the audience throwing their heads back in laughter or throwing sharp objects in your direction.

PACING

Every actor will tell you that pacing and timing in delivering a line are the keys to getting the intended response. Don't hurry in speaking the humorous line or lines. Figure out where you need to pause, either to build anticipation and suspense or to give the audience time to digest what you've said and find the humor in it.

Watch even the first few moments of this video of President Obama at the recent White House Correspondents' Dinner. Although I think there are several things the President could improve about his speaking style, one area where he is quite masterful is pacing. Watch how many beats he holds between "Biden talked me into it; he leaned over and he said, Mr. President..."  and "...this is no ordinary meal", giving the audience plenty of time to get the reference, find it funny and respond by laughing.

PRACTICE

Equally as important as pacing, practice will ensure that you deliver the line(s) as planned. Practice irons out the bumps and lets you add nuances to tone and expression. Practice also gives you the opportunity to "test run" your lines, delivering them to others to see if they evoke the kind of response you want.

Humor can be a powerful tool for engaging an audience. But only if done well. If you do decide to incorporate humor in your presentations, try out these suggestions for the best results.

Here are some more tips from John Zimmer at Manner of Speaking where he dissects an actual presentation.