I was practicing a very serious speech for the first time in front of a
co-worker. It was very personal and emotional. However, in a couple
of spots, I attempted to add some levity, to ease the seriousness of the
message. I saw no reaction to my attempts at humor. After the speech,
I asked my co-worker if it was inappropriate, ill-timed, or just not
funny. She said she thought it was funny but she wasn’t sure, given the
heavyweight of the message, if she was allowed to laugh.

The speaker needs to give some indication, whether it is a wink or
a smile or some other kind of non-verbal or verbal “permission,” for
the audience to come along on their journey. A well-placed pause, for
example, with an emerging smile, may be enough to connect with the
audience and let them know it’s okay to laugh.

Thomas B. Dowd III’s books available in softcover, eBook, and audiobook (From Fear to Success only):

• Now What? The Ultimate Graduation Gift for Professional Success
• Time Management Manifesto: Expert Strategies to Create an Effective Work/Life Balance
• Displacement Day: When My Job was Looking for a Job…A Reference Guide to Finding Work
• The Transformation of a Doubting Thomas: Growing from a Cynic to a Professional in the Corporate World
• From Fear to Success: A Practical Public-speaking Guide received the Gold Medal at the 2013 Axiom Business Book Awards in Business Reference
• The Unofficial Guide to Fatherhood

See “Products” for details on www.transformationtom.com.  Book , eBook, and audiobook (From Fear to Success only) purchase options are also available on Amazon- Please click the link to be re-directed: Amazon.com

Comedians use quick-hitting humor and one-liners because they
don’t want to lose the audience. They work on timing and delivery
to get the biggest laughs. I learned that not everything a speaker says
needs to be side-splittingly funny. Going for a few chuckles can be just
as entertaining to an audience. You simply need to know what your
audience wants and expects.

Once you determine this, you can develop your humorous stories.
As with a quick-hitting comedic set-up, you must get to the humorous
part of the story sooner rather than later. I have watched speeches
crash as the audience knew something funny was coming but it took
too long to get to the punch. I was involved in a humorous-speech
competition and four of the first seven contestants went several minutes
into a five-to seven-minute speech before they delivered their first
laugh. Don’t get me wrong. My fellow competitors were hilarious once
they got rolling, but they had unfortunately lost many of the judges
and audience members, who were expecting the funny parts sooner.
Don’t let the audience wait too long to laugh.

Thomas B. Dowd III’s books available in softcover, eBook, and audiobook (From Fear to Success only):

• Now What? The Ultimate Graduation Gift for Professional Success
• Time Management Manifesto: Expert Strategies to Create an Effective Work/Life Balance
• Displacement Day: When My Job was Looking for a Job…A Reference Guide to Finding Work
• The Transformation of a Doubting Thomas: Growing from a Cynic to a Professional in the Corporate World
• From Fear to Success: A Practical Public-speaking Guide received the Gold Medal at the 2013 Axiom Business Book Awards in Business Reference
• The Unofficial Guide to Fatherhood

See “Products” for details on www.transformationtom.com.  Book, eBook, and audiobook (From Fear to Success only) purchase options are also available on Amazon- Please click the link to be re-directed: Amazon.com

My personality leans toward being more serious than funny. I have
my moments, but I have to work hard to get some laughs. I have concluded
that I will never be a stand-up comedian, but I have had more
fun with myself, and the audience, once I stopped putting so much
effort into being funny. I found all I had to do was remember to just
look around me. We are surrounded by humor.

Self-deprecating humor is always a winner and usually won’t offend
the audience. It can be fun to go back and remember funny and embarrassing
stories from your childhood, from school, or from work. You
may even begin to chuckle when you unleash the repressed memories.
How many times have you sat around the dinner table and rehashed
humorous stories with family and friends? After dinner, jot down
some notes to help you remember, and throw them in that folder or
file.

Look around you. Have you ever passed a sign that made you laugh?
I have learned that humor isn’t all about one-liners or long, drawn-out
stories. The simple stories can get a great reaction. For example, my
wife was driving down the road when my fourteen-year-old daughter,
at the time, asked her about an old building they had just passed. My
wife said that it was an old topless bar. This is the part in the story
where people start getting very concerned about appropriateness. You
can relax. My daughter asked, “What did they do when it rained?” We
are surrounded with funny life moments.

Thomas B. Dowd III’s books available in softcover, eBook, and audiobook (From Fear to Success only):

• Now What? The Ultimate Graduation Gift for Professional Success
• Time Management Manifesto: Expert Strategies to Create an Effective Work/Life Balance
• Displacement Day: When My Job was Looking for a Job…A Reference Guide to Finding Work
• The Transformation of a Doubting Thomas: Growing from a Cynic to a Professional in the Corporate World
• From Fear to Success: A Practical Public-speaking Guide received the Gold Medal at the 2013 Axiom Business Book Awards in Business Reference
• The Unofficial Guide to Fatherhood

See “Products” for details on www.transformationtom.com.  Book, eBook, and audiobook (From Fear to Success only) purchase options are also available on Amazon- Please click the link to be re-directed: Amazon.com

I used to do a monthly presentation at work for newer employees.
The topic was often financial fraud, which can be a scary or fascinating
topic, depending on how the audience relates to it. I tried to have fun
with it to ease the mood and hold the audience members’ attention.
I started to receive consistent feedback that I was funny and engaging
on this potentially complicated topic. I went home and told my
wife and she simply said sarcastically, in the way only a spouse could,
“You’re not funny.”

I have retold this story many times and always seem to get some
laughs. I do have my funny moments, and it is important to inject
humor into your presentations, when possible. Not every presentation
is required to have humor, but if you can find a way to appropriately
add it in, even during serious presentations, you will give your audience
a release and the chance to get more involved in the presentation.

Thomas B. Dowd III’s books available in softcover, eBook, and audiobook (From Fear to Success only):

• Now What? The Ultimate Graduation Gift for Professional Success
• Time Management Manifesto: Expert Strategies to Create an Effective Work/Life Balance
• Displacement Day: When My Job was Looking for a Job…A Reference Guide to Finding Work
• The Transformation of a Doubting Thomas: Growing from a Cynic to a Professional in the Corporate World
• From Fear to Success: A Practical Public-speaking Guide received the Gold Medal at the 2013 Axiom Business Book Awards in Business Reference
• The Unofficial Guide to Fatherhood

See “Products” for details on www.transformationtom.com.  Book, eBook, and audiobook (From Fear to Success only) purchase options are also available on Amazon- Please click the link to be re-directed: Amazon.com

Inspiration and motivation are often used interchangeably. As a
speaker, you must understand the difference in order to achieve the
full effect of what you are trying to convey.

An inspirational message typically takes the audience on a journey. It
often is a part of the individual speaker’s personal trials and tribulations.
The inspirational ride is driven primarily through an emotional connection
to the audience. However, motivational speeches carry with them a
take-away or a specific request of the audience. You’ll try to persuade the
audience to take some kind of action, whether to change their ways—
such as eating habits, for example—or to accomplish something, such as
running a marathon. Simply sharing your own personal successes with
an audience is not being specific enough to motivate them to join in.

If you want an audience to be motivated, you need to tell them or
ask them to take a specific action. Staying with the example of eating
habits, you may want to ask the audience to start reading the labels
when they get home, counting calories against the recommended
intake, and incorporating the appropriate amount of fruits and vegetables
into their diets. You must convey specifics if you truly want to
motivate a positive change.

Thomas B. Dowd III’s books available in softcover, eBook, and audiobook (From Fear to Success only):

• Now What? The Ultimate Graduation Gift for Professional Success
• Time Management Manifesto: Expert Strategies to Create an Effective Work/Life Balance
• Displacement Day: When My Job was Looking for a Job…A Reference Guide to Finding Work
• The Transformation of a Doubting Thomas: Growing from a Cynic to a Professional in the Corporate World
• From Fear to Success: A Practical Public-speaking Guide received the Gold Medal at the 2013 Axiom Business Book Awards in Business Reference
• The Unofficial Guide to Fatherhood

See “Products” for details on www.transformationtom.com.  Book, eBook, and audiobook (From Fear to Success only) purchase options are also available on Amazon- Please click the link to be re-directed: Amazon.com