How to Use Humor in a Speech Opening

How to you use humor in a speech or presentation opening (Part 2 of 5). Many options exist to grab your audience's attention when public speaking but I do not recommend telling punchline jokes.

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Unless you are a truly hilarious person, however, straight up joke will not likely work.

At the same time, I'm 100% in favor of using lighthearted humor to grab an audience's attention.

How do you make a funny speech without telling jokes?

1. Quote somebody funny. Quotations are great and you can find humorous quotations for your attention grabber. Be sure to say "As [blank] once said . . ." as you transition into the quotation. That will help to transport your listeners. Position yourself so that both you and your listeners are focusing on the quotation and the person who said it. Don't make it sound like you are the one saying it. That will help listener's hear the other person's voice in their heads and take the attention off of you as the joke teller.

2. Tell a lighthearted story. Stories don't have punchlines. They have situations people can imagine. Most funny stories have a goal that the people in the story are trying to accomplish and the obstacles in the story become a funny series of problems they have to overcome. As long as the end goal is lighthearted, each obstacle or issue the people in the story face will sound quite funny and weave a great attention getter.

3. Show a humorous visual. It can be a funny picture with a caption or just an image that is funny on its own.

Related Videos in the Series:
Best 5:    • How to Draw Attention in a Presentati...  
Use a Story:    • How to Open a Presentation with a Story  
Use Humor:    • How to Use Humor in a Speech Opening  
Use Questions:    • How to Open a Presentation with a Que...  
Use Statistics:    • How to Open a Presentation with a Sta...  

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