Regardless of their expertise, (beginner or pro) it is challenge every speaker has to overcome. I am talking of course of how to use the right amount of humor to keep your audience totally engaged with you.

Perhaps you have tried a humorous story or presented some humorous jokes only to have your audience stare back at you with that deer-in-the-headlight-look.

Frustrating, right? Well, you’re not alone, so don’t be discouraged. Writing and developing the right humorous material is a skill anyone can learn if you have a funny bone. Learning this vital skill can undoubtedly help you deliver your humorous speeches to the right audience and hit it out of the ballpark (or any other sports metaphor you can think of.)

One important caveat you should take to heart: Before venturing to write and deliver your own sense of humor — fit your comedic material to your important message or content, not the other way around.

Doing a joke or theme that has nothing to do with your message or content will NOT work. It’s a disconnect with your audience who will think, “Why did they tell that joke, it doesn’t make sense?

That said, I’ve outlines some ideas for you to use that’ll help you compose humorous jokes that your fan base will enjoy.

Know Your Audience – Right off the bat, you should do your due diligence and really know the type of audience you will be in front of so you can deliver a successful presentation, speech or seminar. One sure-fire way it so your audiences age bracket and general interests for you to hit a homerun with your humorous jokes. Is your material really applicable for them. In other words, is your audience going to understand your joke’s content? Or , will they find the material offensive?

For instance, in politics I find fault with both parties. If I want to get edgy, I can write material for both groups. However, know this: If you’re performing for democrats you should poke fun of Republicans and vice a versa. Rule of thumb: find a common enemy and your audiences will undoubtedly laugh at your humorous material.

2. Stick to the Theme – Common sense dictates that different occasions require different kinds of humorous speeches. Even if you think the humorous speech is funny, when it goes out of context, delete or edit it properly. Do a questionable joke or use questionable material will invariably become very risky especially when you just blurted out an epic punch line, which was followed by hearty laughter from the audience.

In comedy, you are judged from joke to joke. Wrong joke, and your sudden laughter will instantly die down and it could affect your next humorous speech or joke on that given topic..

3. Drop the Introductions – Once you are introduced as the speaker of the night, there’s no need to keep saying introductions like “this is going to make you laugh till you drop.” It’s very important to show
that it’s funny, do NOT tell your audience they will laugh at it. Remember, the most potent humorous joke are spoken to your audience that get to the point of what you’re trying to say.

4. Don’t Make Fun of The Audience – If you are in front of teenage crowds, you can make fun of senior citizens. If your audience is middle-aged people, you can make fun of young adults. But never make fun of your audience. In order to be a sought-out speaker (or comedian) be sensitive with audiences emotions. If you break this rule, you will have trouble risking your audiences’ approval. Of Course, your material can’t please everybody, but your goal is to create the material that has the most impact on winning every audience over.

5 Rehearse – Practice doesn’t make perfect. Perfect practice makes prefer. You must rehearse your material especially if you’re a beginning speaker or humorist. Gather some friends, family or foes you know and practice telling your humorous jokes to them. Afterwards, ask them to give honest feedbacks about your performance. Listen to what they have to say. Accept any criticisms about your punch lines and take time to alter them if needed. Work on the delivery of humorous speeches to be familiar with how it must be spoken, what is the right facial expression, what accent to use and if there’s a need for additional physical actions.

Take A-way: When your humorous speeches hit their target, your audience will feel more relaxed at your presence. You’ll be able to get their undivided attention and capture their interest. They’ll listen to every humorous speech you convey more eager anticipation. Disappoint them? And you can lose them. Thankfully, once the tension is released, you’ll be able to be more comfortable with the audience. When this happens, you’ll notice how smoothly you can deliver your humorous speeches like a real pro without even pausing to think of what to say next.

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Before Peter reinvented himself from a successful stand-up comic into an in-demand speaker, freelance advertising copywriter/problem solver, he worked on many TV shows, including Married With Children, Hope and Faith, and Whoopi.

He is the author of the critically acclaimed book If Not Now… Then When?: Stories and Strategies of People Over 40 Who Have Successfully Reinvented Themselves. For info on his book and to sign up for Peter’s FREE Reinvent This! E-zine and get his 4-in-1 Total Success Reinvention Package (a $75 value). Visit www.reinventyourselfnow.com/reboot-your-career/

If you’re interested in public speaking, please sign up for Peter’s FREE 7 Days to MORE Effective Public Speaking e-course (a $125 value) and get FREE Mp3 downloads at www.publicspeaklikeapro.com.

I always tell my Public Speaking Coaching Clients that it is a hell of a lot easier to be speaker who uses humor in your presentations — than it is to become a comedian who has to be funny for a straight forty-five to sixty minutes.

Why is that? Because the bar is lower for you. A comic must get a certain amount of laughs per minute (and is constantly judge) a speaker does not. You see, the beauty of public speaking is that all you have to do is add just the right amount of humor to cement your important message into the hearts and minds of your listeners for optimal effect.

As in any craft, it’s important to know the rules to “Creating the Funny” out of thin air. You cannot just blurt out humorous jokes and expect your audience to burst into laughter especially if what you were
discussing moments ago was serious. That would be a disconnect and confuse your listeners.

There are at least two fundamental rules to know when creating humorous speeches. Yes, these
rules can be broken, but the most part every speaker (newbie or veteran) should adhere to them in some form or another.

1) The Truth is Always Funny: Humorous speeches should be based in reality. When the content is obviously trapped in fiction and fantasy, most people won’t buy it. Audiences can sense when something rings untrue.

2) Unexpected Twist – Never telegraph where you are going with your humorous story or speech. The more unexpected surprise you can bring to your humorous speech, the bigger the laughs you will create.

As a general rule, its best that your audience be involved or can relate to your story or situation. Again, as I have stated in other articles, your job as a speaker or humorist when crafting a humorous story is to make sure it cements your message or content. Telling a story out of context will only confuse your audience.

Your best bet in creating a humorous speech is to have your story true (or based on a true event). For instance, if you are weaving a tale that didn’t happen to you but to someone else, then you should paint a vivid picture in the audiences mind so they can feel totally engaged as to what happened to the other person. In addition, the audience should know what your relationship was with that person (and why it is important to even tell this tale.

For instance; “This is what happened to my father who was my best friend and the single most important influence in my life…!”

See the difference? Audiences can relate to that third person type of story-telling. Hopefully, most audiences smile when they think of their father and the influence they had in their lives. (Not me, of course, but that is whole different story.)

Getting back to the business at hand, your best bet is to humorous stories of every like missing a bus… a plane… standing in long lines… stupid people that infuriate you. Craft that story and tell it to reinforce a message or content you are delivering.

I live for finding every day craziness and telling my tale to my eager audiences. On the flipside, invented stories are easily detected by your listeners and will not give you a ROIL (return-of-Infectious-laughter), so please try to avoid them.

As you proceed on your journey to delivering humorous speeches, consider studying some simple yet effective steps below:

• Be Expressive – It’s essential that a public speaker be a enthusiastic storyteller. You have to
  make sure that every funny situation sounds real. Make the audience feel the emotions of the story until they grasp the content of the situation.
• Keep It Simple – Being a professional speaker doesn’t require you to use heavy languages or
  vocabularies. In order to make sure that every person in the crowd to understand the humorous speeches, you have to make use of lighter words. This is to make them comprehend what is funny in the situation and why did it become humorous.
• Exaggerate your Actions – Tell the story as if you are telling the tale the first time. Be excited and passionate about it, but don’t rush it and get to the punch-line so quickly. Like a fine wine, let it air out and savor the moment. An effective way to slow down and let your audience take in your humorous speech is to exaggerate your gestures. Not only are you making people laugh with your funny remarks, but you’re also able to add more fun using your whole body to show the absurdity of the situation you are telling. This heightens the story. Don’t mug, but let it come naturally.
• Get Your Groove On– When creating humorous speeches, there are certain segments of the story that must be emphasized, while other words must be pronounced slowly. At one point, you get faster, at another point you must pause-and-breathe. Thankfully, changing your rhythm helps keep your audience engaged and makes sure they do not know where you are going with your humorous story or anecdote. Remember: you want to create the unexpected. The moment your audience knows what is happening next, you will lose the element of surprise.
• Record Yourself – Pros do it to improve and so should you. Taping (either video or audio) will show you how to enhance your presentation. Doing so allow you check your pronunciation, grammar and overall delivery — plus show you how to improve.

Listen to your voice and ask yourself: Are the words clearly spoken? Is the punch-line properly emphasized? Were you able to deliver all the humorous speeches the way they you wanted? Did the audience laugh? Can you improve upon the delivery and punch-line?

Take-Away: The important thing in creating humorous speeches is sharing the experience with your audience in a way that stays with them after the presentation is over. A good story for a speaker is to blend the humor and pathos together so it makes a more powerful impact. This is why story telling is such an important skill for the professional speaker.

No matter how much you like the story or humorous speech you are delivering, remember this: The final decision as to whether it works will be up to the audience. They are the judge and jury of whether your story hit the mark. Now go forth and be funny! Any quick questions? Then don’t hesitate to contact me at peterfogelspeaks@yahoo.com

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Before Peter reinvented himself from a successful stand-up comic into an in-demand speaker, freelance advertising copywriter/problem solver, he worked on many TV shows, including Married With Children, Hope and Faith, and Whoopi.

He is the author of the critically acclaimed book If Not Now… Then When?: Stories and Strategies of People Over 40 Who Have Successfully Reinvented Themselves. For info on his book and to sign up for his FREE Reinvent This! E-zine and get his 4-in-1 Total Success Reinvention Package (a $75 value). Go to www.reinventyourselfnow.com/reboot-your-career/

If you’re interested in public speaking, please sign up for Peter’s FREE 7 Days to MORE Effective Public Speaking e-course (a $125 value) and get FREE Mp3 downloads at www.publicspeaklikeapro.com.

It seems the jury is out on this one, with opinion divided on whether or not it is okay to laugh at your own jokes.  Maybe it’s just me (although I doubt it given the number of comedians and humorous speakers who also laugh at their own jokes), but I believe the aim of a speaker is to connect with the audience, and sharing a laugh is the perfect bridge to achieve that.

 Speakers are entertainers.  Entertainers do it because not only do they love what they’re doing, they love the interaction with and the reaction of the audience.  Entertainers get up there on stage and they have a great time because they love to entertain and share what they do with their audience. 

 As a speaker, you also want to interact with a room full of people and the only way to do that is to share and be a part of the experience with them.  Of course, this also depends on your presentation style… the persona you present on stage.  So if this means your style is to laugh at your own jokes, so be it. 

Whatever works.  (With the emphasis being on “works”.)

Different types of humor and presentation styles can determine whether or not you should laugh at your own jokes on stage.  Obviously, some deliveries would be ruined if the presenter laughed first or loudest, although a huge grin or even a cheeky chuckle is used to great effect by many speakers and comedians. 

They may not burst into loud guffaws at some of their funniest witticisms, but you can see by the twitch of their mouths and the glint in their eyes that they’re having a good laugh inside. You can tell by their facial expressions that they are enjoying themselves and they’re having a great time making you have a great time. You can’t help but smile with them.

Many comedians also get the biggest laughs delivering their funniest lines with deadpan, serious expressions, taking their audience by surprise.  And some humorous talks would be ruined were the presenter to be overly amused the entire time by his own cleverness – especially if the audience wasn’t on the same wave length and didn’t find him amusing.

On the other hand, some of the funniest comedians in the world laugh at their own jokes, and crack up in the middle of telling them – and even though the audience has no idea of what they’re about to say, just the histrionics of the entertainer is enough to make them start laughing too.  Think about Robin Williams and Billy Connolly.  Billy Connolly has made it a trademark almost  – he’s been doing it forever. 

Not everything he says is pants-splitting hilarious, but his reaction, bouncing around the stage laughing his head off and obviously having a great time is so contagious, it spills over to his audience who can’t help but laugh with him.

Of course, sometimes you don’t want to laugh because you’ll give it away that a joke is imminent and ruin it for your audience.  You want to take them by surprise.  This is when you need to develop the deadpan expression so you don’t give away any clues that something very special and funny is coming. 

On the other hand, if you were a Billy Connolly, with his special style, you could probably get away with cracking up before the punchline… but not all comedians and speakers can get away with this.  You have to develop your own style and then stick with it because your audience will come to know you in that style, understand your cues, and interact with you on that level.

Then there are those people who think if you laugh, the audience may fake laughter to save face if they didn’t find your joke as funny as you did and you’ll end up looking stupid.  I don’t necessarily agree. 

Audiences aren’t always that kind.  If your joke is that terrible in the first place, they’re not going to laugh whether you do or not.  In fact, as laughter is infectious, if your joke is terrible, maybe getting them in the mood to laugh is not such a bad idea…  Laugh and the world laughs with you!

If it is appropriate and natural and fits in with your on stage persona and presentation style, it doesn’t really matter if you laugh at your own jokes because in doing so, you can also build up more of a rapport between yourself and your audience. 

But it must be genuine and not staged or planned because people aren’t stupid and can tell the difference.  If the presenter is relaxed and obviously having fun and also having a laugh, the audience will respond in kind.  They will also relax and start to enjoy themselves and open up to a good laugh, and they’ll be more inclined to react this way if they actually believe what you are telling them and that you are genuinely enjoying yourself, too.

The secret is not to overdo it.  Try not to laugh at all your jokes… leave some surprises!

Laughter is not only infectious, it relaxes people.  When people are relaxed, they let their guard down.  What happens when people are relaxed and let their guard down?  They are more approachable and more receptive to you and your ideas.  Bingo!  This is exactly what you, as a speaker, have been aiming for, because it creates an atmosphere where you and your audience can truly interact in a meaningful way.

 What else does your laughter tell your audience?  It tells them that it’s okay for them to laugh and have fun, too.  You’re having a great time… and so should they.  When a whole room is laughing you can feel the energy!  When you can interact with your audience like this and reap this response, you’ll get your message across more easily – because you’ll have them on your side.

 If you’re recalling a funny story for your audience, it’s okay to laugh.  After all, as the storyteller, it is expected that you know what is coming and if you find it funny, all well and good, and they are gearing up to be amused by it as well. 

Besides, there is something warm and connecting watching somebody who is obviously having a wonderful time and laughing.  You find the corners of your mouth twitching for no apparent reason other than laughing and smiling is infectious!  You can help get your audience in the mood by getting in the mood first.

Also, some intricately involved stories sometimes require that you chuckle or laugh at the right place to let the audience know it’s time to laugh. 

It’s a matter of personal style but regardless of your own style, it won’t take long before your audience will figure you out, and they’ll pick up on your body language and facial expressions and they will know when it is time to laugh or at least when it is okay to laugh.  

 So, back to the question… should you laugh at your own jokes?

 At the end of the day, it’s your call.  If it comes naturally to you and if it works with your style to have a belly laugh with the audience at your own jokes, do it.  Keep in mind, less can be more… but most important, if you’re obviously enjoying yourself, you’re giving your audience permission to let their hair down and enjoy the experience with you.

 Before Peter reinvented himself from a successful stand-up comic into an in-demand speaker, freelance advertising copywriter/problem solver, he worked on many TV shows, including Married With Children, Hope and Faith, and Whoopi.  He is the author of the critically acclaimed book If Not Now… Then When?: Stories and Strategies of People Over 40 Who Have Successfully Reinvented Themselves. 

His most recent book, “Reboot Your Career: 27 Ways to Reinvent Yourself in the Workplace (If You Still Have a Job!)

For info on his book and to sign up for his FREE Reinvent This! E-zine and get his 4-in-1 Total Success Reinvention Package (a $75 value). Go to www.reinventyourselfnow.com/reboot-your-career/    If you’re interested in public speaking, please sign up for Peter’s FREE 7 Days to MORE Effective Public Speaking e-course (a $125 value) and get FREE Mp3 downloads at www.publicspeaklikeapro.com.]