Speeches don’t have to be deadpan serious! One of the keys to making it memorable for the speaker and the receiver during public speaking is to have fun by incorporating humour.

In this episode of Presenting, Pitching & Public Speaking Podcast, Toni lays out effective strategies on how to add jokes, one-liners, self-deprecating humour, anecdotes and many more to your speech. It’s a skill you have to learn since timing and delivery play important roles in making your audience laugh. Discover also why it’s important to understand your natural default energy when delivering a speech and to take note how serious or light is the content of your speech to know how to add in the humour.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Jokes, one-liners and self-deprecating humour. Comedians use this. It’s not for everyone, but it invites a good laugh from the audience. But you shouldn’t undermine yourself and add up a lot of humour especially if it is content-driven or educational speech.
• Time is the absolute key. Jokes and one-liners are all about the delivery and timing.
• Using catchphrases once to thrice in your speech can add that depth and a little humor to your content. And, also it diffuses the pressure in the environment.
• Make sure that you’re comfortable for you to say the jokes you’ll incorporate. Just like we learned last time, you can model your speech from someone BUT always make your personality stand out.
• If there’s an unforeseen event (e.g. delayed schedule, tech issues, etc.) that happened during your speech, make use of it. Tell a joke about it. It makes your listeners laugh and at the same time, they forget what happened and focus on your content instead.
• Use your face or voice to portray emotions.
• Give credit to the person you got the joke from.

BEST MOMENTS

• “Humor is learned.”
• “There’s no point of doing public speaking if it isn’t fun.”
• “Not enough humour can make it quite dry; too much humour can make it to playful to not get your message across.”
• “The worst jokes are the ones that are half-done.”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

• Progressive Property
• Rob Moore
• Mark Homer

ABOUT THE HOST

Toni Gargan is a Double World Record-holding Public Speaker, Mentor, Entrepreneur, and Professional Property Investor. She acts as the Director at Owen Oliver Property, a family-run property investment company helping others gain passive income through investing.

Aside from building her amazing property portfolio, she’s also a full-time mentor for property investors through Progress Property and Unlimited Success. Toni has since then discovered her true passion – helping others by training and mentoring through public speaking.

She now hosts her own show, Presenting, Pitching & Public Speaking Podcast, which aims to help you be confident, improve your speaking & communication skills and present better for you, your team, and your business.

CONTACT METHOD

• Toni’s LinkedIn
• Toni’s Twitter

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