There are many benefits to using humor in your speech, however, I’ll be the first to tell you that humor is a tricky thing. You see, one person’s humor is another person’s “what were you thinking?” But, if you can weave some humor into your speech that gets the audience laughing; that is appropriate to your topic, and that doesn’t offend anyone, you can reap many of the following benefits.
Put the audience at ease.
A relaxed audience is one that will be more present and available to take in the information you want to present.
Create a connection.
Humor often makes the speaker more approachable and likable. This helps them hear your message more readily.
Keep your audience engaged.
Properly timed humor can create breaks in your speech, thus breaking things up and helping keep your audience awake and engaged. Also, it is hard to laugh and fall asleep … so a laughing audience is more likely to be engaged in what you are saying.
Make key points memorable.
Humor helps people remember things better. When you present your key points with humor, those points will be more likely to be remembered.
Make a better impression.
Your audience will remember how you made them feel more than anything else. If you make them feel good … make them smile and laugh … that will leave a good impression.
Lighten the load.
Sometimes topics are too heavy and need a little humor to make them more bearable. Of course, you need to make sure the humor is appropriate and respectful of the topic.
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