Types of Humor Public Speaking Skills

Prepared By TM Manu Melwin Joy

Kerala ToastmastersArea – G3,Division G

District 92, India.Phone – 9744551114

Mail – manu_melwinjoy@yahoo.com

Kindly restrict the use of slides for personal purpose. Please seek permission to reproduce the same in public forms and presentations.

Types of humor

1. Self – effacing humor2. Personal anecdotes3. Similes / metaphors4. Quotations5. Lists 6. Predictions 7. One liners

Types of Humor

• What do you think of when

you think of humor? I’m

guessing that you think of

jokes. Most of us do and

when speakers start using

humor in their speeches,

they add jokes.

Types of Humor

• They give a bit of their

speech, then tell a joke,

then another bit of their

speech, then another

joke… and that’s what the

result sounds like… speech.

joke, speech, joke….

Types of Humor

• Forget jokes, look for

humor that adds to

your speech, makes a

point or illustrates

something you’re

saying.

Types of HumorSelf – effacing humor

• if you want to have a little

fun at someone’s expense,

make sure it’s at yours. As

the speaker you should be

big enough to take a little

ribbing and the audience

will admire you for it.

Types of HumorPersonal anecdotes

• we’ve all had

humorous experiences

or heard people say

funny things, so weave

them into your

speeches.

Types of HumorPersonal anecdotes

• Audiences are more likely to

warm to amusing anecdotes

and observations that draw on

your own experiences. These

stories tend to feel more real,

less forced and give your

audience opportunities to

connect with you as a speaker.

Types of HumorSimiles / metaphors

• Similies and

metaphors are a great

source of humour on

any subject you can

think of.

Types of HumorSimiles / metaphors

• “Life is rather like a

tin of sardines – we’re

all of us looking for

the key.”

Alan Bennett

Types of HumorQuotations

• Funny quotes are the No. 1

best way to use humor in a

presentation because funny

quotes are brief, and you can

easily memorize several

quotes that you can toss out

when you think it's time for

some humor.

Types of HumorQuotations

• Plus, when you quote someone else, you're somewhat in safe territory because if it bombs, it was that other person that actually said it, not you, so you gain some distance there. But if the quote gets a great reaction, then you get the credit for making them laugh.

Types of HumorQuotations

• There are huge volumes

of quotations out there

just waiting to be used

to illustrate your points

and add humour to

your speeches.

Types of HumorQuotations

• I’m a kind of

paranoiac in reverse –

I suspect people are

plotting to make me

happy.”

J.D. Salinger

Types of HumorLists

• Whenever you use a list

of at least three items

you can inject a little

humor. The first few

items follow a pattern

and the final item catches

the audience by surprise.

Types of HumorLists

• It is by the goodness of God

that in our country we have

those three unspeakably

precious things: freedom of

speech, freedom of conscience

and the prudence never to

practice either of them.”

Mark Twain

Types of Humor Predictions

• The pronouncements

of experts have left us

with a wealth of

funny material.

Types of Humor Predictions

• “Computers in the

future will weigh no

more than 1.5 tons.”

Popular Mechanics,

forecasting advance

of science, 1949

Types of Humor One liners

• I know I’ve told you

not to tell jokes, but

one liners are short

enough not to

interupt the flow of

your speech.

Types of Humor One liners

• “Start every day with

a smile… and get it

over with.”

W.C. Fields

Types of HumorProps

• Think about your topic

and if there are any

props you could use to

lighten things up and

inject some humor in

your speech.

Types of HumorProps

• I once saw a presenter give a talk about how to deal with problems, and he had a couple of stuffed animals on stage with him - one was a guppy to represent small problems and the other was a whale to represent big problems. Whenever he talked about a big problem and held up the whale, the group would laugh.

Types of HumorCartoons

• If you're using an overhead projector or a PowerPoint presentation, it's very easy to insert a funny one-panel cartoon into your presentation. The funniest cartoons will be ones that have something to do with the topic of your presentation.

Types of HumorPun

Puns are words with different meaning.

Types of HumorStereotypes

Stereotype is a widely held and oversimplified belief.

Types of HumorChanging context

• Change the setting, or

meaning with surrounding

words.