Should I tell jokes at the beginning of the speech to loosen up the audience?
The following comes from TJ Walker’s upcoming book “The Wisdom of Your Audience”. Consistently, the worst advice speakers and presenters get, comes from everyone who is NOT your audience. The following gives examples of some of the WORST advice people are often given. It is followed by the advice of your audience. Listen to them. They are your true judge and jury.
Should I tell jokes at the beginning of the speech to loosen up the audience?
Your Speech Writer: “Yes, this will be a great way to get the audience on your side.”
Your lawyer: “What? Are you crazy? Do you want to get us sued?” Don’t ever use humor at anytime in your speech.”
You: “Yes, I’d like to start off with a good joke—this will relax me and make me more comfortable for my speech.”
***
Your Audience: “Who are you, Henny Youngman? There’s nothing worse than someone trying too hard. That’s the problem with starting your speech with a joke—it’s too obvious. We know it’s coming and so do you. Sure, you might get a chuckle form us begrudgingly, but so will bad puns. You’d be a lot better off saying something funny in the middle or the end of your speech. We aren’t expecting it then—that’s why we’d be even more pleasantly surprised.”
April 18th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
I’m going to have to disagree with this post, but before I do I should clearly differentiate between humor and jokes.
Humor usually occurs when telling stories, revealing one’s foibles or
spontaneously from what’s happening in the moment. I ALWAYS encourage clients to include humor.
Jokes should not be attempted unless the speaker can consistently make
people life in conversation AND the joke is clearly related and connected to
the topic. After all, there is only one criterion for success. And if it
bombs, everyone in the room knows it.