Using HumorEffectively

If you intend usinghumor in your talk to make people smile,you must know how to identify sharedexperiences and problems.Your humor must be relevant to the audience

and should help to showthem that you are one of them or that you understand their situation and are insympathy with their point of view. Depending on whom you are

addressing,theproblems will be different. if you are talking to a group of managers,you mayrefer to the disorganized methods of their secretaries;alternatively if you are

addressingsecretaries,you may want to comment on their disorganized bosses.

Here is anexample,which I heard at a nurses' convention,of a story which works wellbecause the audience all shared the same view of doctors. A man arrives inheaven and

is being shownaround by St. Peter. He sees wonderful accommodations,beautiful gardens,sunnyweather,and so on.Everyone is very peaceful,polite and friendly until,waiting

in a line forlunch,the new arrival is suddenly pushed aside by a man in a white coat,whorushes to the head of the line,grabs his food

and stomps over to atable by himself."Who is that?"the new arrival askedSt.Peter."On,that's God,"came the reply,"but sometimes he thinkshe's a doctor."

If you are part ofthe group which you are addressing,you will be in a position to know theexperiences and problems which are common to all of you and it'll beappropriate

for you to make apassing remark about the inedible canteen food or the chairman's notorious badtaste in ties.With other audiences you mustn't attempt to cut in with humor

as they will resentan outsider making disrespect remarks about their canteen or their chairman.Youwill be on safer ground if you stick to scapegoats like the Post Office or

the telephonesystem.

If you feel awkwardbeing humorous,you must practice so that it becomes more natural.Include a fewcasual and apparently off-the-cuff remarks which you can deliver in a

relaxed and unforcedmanner. Often it's the delivery which causes the audience to smile,so speakslowly and remember that a raised eyebrow or an unbelieving look may help

to show that you aremaking a light-hearted remark.

Look for the humor'It often comes from the unexpected.A twist on a familiar quote"If at firstyou don't succeed,give up"or a play on words or on a situation.Search for

exaggeration andunderstatements.Look at your talk and pick out a few words or sentences whichyou can turn about and inject with humor.To make your humorwork,you should________.

A.take advantage ofdifferent kinds of audience

B.make fun of thedisorganized people

C.address differentproblems to different people

D.show sympathy foryour listeners