Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Jokes for Public Speaking | Fearless Public Speaking

Laughter is the best medicine! And adding jokes for public speaking engagements can release anxiety both for you and your audience.

What better way to overcome any nervousness than by telling a joke.

While you may be nervous, your audience is also nervous for you. They want you to do well. A joke can help to break the ice, lighten the mood or facilitate in engaging the audience.

It?s your presentation so feel free to be funny. Just make sure that the situation calls for it. (Telling someone that they just lost their job is not a good time to be funny!)

The most important thing to remember is to be calm. It is normal to be nervous when speaking in front of a crowd. Everyone is. But don?t let it, (the nervousness,) take over. Realize that you will be anxious then work on relaxing. It?s hard to tell a good joke if you are too scared to speak. But using jokes for public speaking situations can actually help to calm you down.

Be Yourself

People can tell if you are trying to be something you?re not. Just be yourself and you?ll be fine. If you are not a singer, don?t attempt to sing humorous songs.

Back in my business career days, I attempted to conduct a technical talk on a business case. I threw in lots of industry words on operations management like TQM, core competencies, supply chain management, kanban. Unfortunately, at the time I knew nothing about these terms let alone be able to answer any questions. (I forgot there would be questions at the end!) Good thing I had a few jokes to tell. Even if no one found them funny.

You need to know your style of humor. Everyone has a sense of humor but we are all unique individuals. So, determine if you are best at delivering ?canned? jokes or slapstick. Maybe you have a dry sense of humor. Whatever it is use what you are good at. No sense reinventing the wheel.

There are many places to find humor and jokes.

If you are planning on using a canned joke you can check out the internet. There are thousands of websites and ebooksto get you started.

Ask a friend if they have heard any good jokes lately.

My mother is always a source of endless jokes. She plays bridge with my dad. She is well known for liking a good joke. Hence, everyone at bridge tends to provide her with an continuous stream.

Of course every joke that she hears gets tried out on my ears. Occasionally with alternate or forgotten endings. But they are funny just the same.

Have a wedding that you?re giving a speech at? Are you the MC? Check out this Wedding Joke Book for lots of jokes and inspiration to make your speech one to remember.

Wedding Joke Book!

Here are a few other ways to find material for your speeches.

Children are a great way to get stories. I sometimes just retell what my daughter has said to me to get a laugh.
The work place can be a gold mine for good jokes. Just don?t mention any names.
Use song titles or words from a song. Make mention of your topic and say that?s what this artist was thinking of when they wrote this song, (name the song.) You can also say this is how you feel about your topic, then state a few songs. (I.E. Help, Don?t be Cruel, I did it My Way.)

Song Lyrics-Find song lyrics by today?s top music artists
Use a situation that happened to you. As they say, nothing?s stranger than the truth. It also personalizes the story.
Use a situation that you wished would have happened to you.
Use a situation that did happen but change the outcome so that it is funny rather than bringing tears to your eyes.
Look for funny signs around town.

Another way to to find jokes is from books.
Here is a great site to find books, at great prices and you?ll get cash back just for shopping online.

Using someone else?s joke

Most jokes that we hear are not original. Someone else has told them first. But this doesn?t mean that you can?t use one of these jokes for public speaking engagements. People don?t tend to remember the joke if they?ve heard it before. Most people even forget jokes they heard on Letterman the day after.

The thing to do is personalize the joke. Relate it to your story, yourself or your topic. You can change the characters, where the joke happens, etc. Just make sure your timing is right on. That is the key. Timing is probably the most important aspect of telling any joke.

Don?t forget to slow down when telling your joke. Most people get too excited and start to speak too fast. Don?t ever laugh at your own joke. If you find it that funny, keep practicing until you can say it with a straight face.

Lastly, don?t forget to pause after delivering one of your jokes for public speaking. This will give the audience time to laugh. And if they are laughing for awhile, let them.

Jokes for Public Speaking will help anyone become Fearless while presenting.

Source: http://fearless-publicspeaking.com/jokes-for-public-speaking-html/

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