Short Humorous Play
Here is how to find humor in not-so-funny stuff. Before long, you will have people laughing a lot at your presentation without telling Jokes. Below are some ways to get people to laugh.
Steps
1. Set the scene for laughter. If you want to lighten up your program, you might want to let the audience know this, even before you say one word. Project some lighthearted visuals as the audience is entering the room. Play some uplifting music as they enter. Or, add some humor to your presentation title or program description. Your bio, for example, can have a list of accomplishments, playfully followed by “His mother is very proud of him.”
2. Poke fun at yourself. Again, even before you open your mouth, you can show the audience that you do not take yourself too seriously by adding some playful things about you in your introduction. For example, have the introducer tell the audience that you are the author of seven books which have sold well over 30 copies. Then the person corrects their mistake and says, “Oops, that is 300,000 copies.”
3. Get some laughs with a prop. It has been said that learning is enhanced with visual aids. If this is true, then speakers need to enhance their talks with something to visually illustrate what they are saying. A prop is a great way to do this because it not only makes your message memorable but it can also get a laugh. Use balloons to illustrate how people can let go of their stress; an inflatable globe to illustrate how we often carry the world around on our shoulders; and a plastic hammer with which to hit yourself on the head when you goof up. All make a point and all get a laugh.
4. Tell your humorous stories. Open your humor eyes and ears and look and listen for the funny things that happen all around you. Families are an especially good resource for finding humorous stories. One such story involves the author’s 93-year-old mother. Every time she goes to the doctor, she hires a van service to take her there and back. One late afternoon, it did not show up to take her home. Since the doctor had to close the office for the day, he suggested that she wait for the van in the pizza parlor next door. After waiting a long time without the van arriving, she went up to the counter and asked, “Do you deliver?” When the man behind the counter replied, “Of course, we do. We’re a pizza place.” She said, “Great. Then I’d like a pepperoni pizza and I’d like to go with it.”
5. Borrow some witty words. While waiting for your own humor-related stories to appear, you might want to borrow some funny short quotes from famous people to lighten up your talks. Quotation books, the TV, newspapers, and magazines such as Reader’s Digest are great resources for locating great quotes. For instance, if you frequently speak to hospice groups, Woody Allen’s comments about death and dying are appropriate (e.g., “There are worse things in life than death. Have you ever spent an evening with an insurance salesman?”).
6. Collect audience anecdotes. Sometimes audiences say the funniest things. When they do, write it down. It could be a big laugh in your next presentation. For years, I have been asking audiences, “How do you spell relief?” My answer is “L-A-U-G-H”. Then one day a woman in the back row called out, “D-I-V-O-R-C-E.” It got a huge laugh for her that day and continues to get a laugh for me when I retell it.
7. Remember the bottom line. For non-humorists, some of the ideas presented here may seem too frivolous for your subject matter. Nevertheless, I would still encourage you to seek some way of upping the entertainment value of your talks because it might also increase what you can charge. As Steve Allen once noted, “People will pay more to be entertained than educated.”
8. Make it relevant. One final word about using humor in your presentations–make sure it is relevant. Amusing an audience for the sake of getting a laugh might be ideal for a stand-up comedian or an after-dinner humorist but it’s probably not okay for most speakers. If your humor does not make a point or have a purpose, do not use it!
Tips
· When speaking to a group of people, sweep the room with your eyes so that everybody pays attention to you
· In sweeping the room, periodically make eye contact for a few moments with one person, then with another – don’t appear too animated and speak to that person as though they were the whole room, then break contact and look at someone else.
· In Powerpoint presentations or similar situations, use crudely drawn pictures you threw together in MS Paint (or similar program). Make it quite obvious that you are not an artist with stick figures, incoherent blobs, and poorly drawn simple pictures, all with the brush tool. No predefined shapes, text tools, or anything of that sort. The idea of this is that you threw this picture together in paint in 30 seconds. Present it as you would any other slide, starting off with “this diagram I put together…” or anything that mentions that you did it.
Warnings
· Be careful while poking fun at yourself (step 2). If you do it, do it without losing credibility, or else no one will take the rest of your presentation seriously.
· Do not dress funny for, let’s say a presentation. That is a surefire way for people not to take what you say seriously. You should be able to make people laugh and still get your message across. If you look like a clown you will be perceived as a clown.
The article is written by Stanley Lyndon, author of “How to be Funny” ISBN 1-4276-1392-3 sold at: How to be Funny . This may be distributed free of cost anywhere as long as the author note is preserved.
Stanley Lyndon is a well established comedian/writer and author of “How to be Funny”. His website can be found at: How to be Funny
Gareth
http://www.articlesbase.com/art-and-entertainment-articles/how-to-be-funny-without-telling-jokes-92760.html
Lynn Terry recently posted a review of the The Supper Affiliate Handbook on her blog and it really got me thinking about purchasing the book since I have been really interested in affiliate marketing.
Lynn’s Super Affiliate Handbook Review was very detailed and thorough but I still had some questions about affiliate marketing in general and the book itself. Luckily Lynn is awesome and agree to answer my questions in a short interview!
My Question: What is your favorite aspect of affiliate marketing? Is there one part of it you love more than the others?
Lynn: Cashing checks certainly ranks right up there at the top LOL – income aside though, I really do enjoy affiliate marketing. I think my favorite part about it is connecting with the different markets and finding out what makes them tick – well, click in this case.
It can be a fun challenge to research a market inside and out, and get to know the human side of the need or want behind the purchases. And in markets where I’m a buyer myself, the conversations and networking – and even the research – are a lot of fun.
As an example, if you’re a foodie with an affiliate site or blog all about cool unique kitchen appliances… hanging out in food & cooking related forums is part of your job. It makes work fun!
My Question: In your review of The Super Affiliate Handbook you mentioned that “Rosalind gives you 6 ways to create content, a detailed example of a well-written Elance project proposal…” How does Elance play a part in affiliate marketing? Isn’t it just for freelancers looking for jobs?
Lynn: Right, elance.com is a place where you go to find people to help you do odd jobs or work on projects. This is great if you need to hire someone to customize your affiliate blog theme, or create you a custom header graphic for your affiliate site.
You might also want to outsource things like content development, programming, link-building or other tasks that go along with creating and marketing your own affiliate site.
Obviously you can do all of these things yourself, and most things are easy enough to learn, but no guide would be complete without at least mentioning the option to outsource to make things go quicker for you.
I do a lot of outsourcing myself, as I have more than a dozen active sites at the moment. Sometimes links need to be updated, or mundane tasks need to be done – like submitting the site or blog to directories, for example. I’d rather focus on doing the thing I’m best at and outsource the rest.
My Question: You also mention a list of 20 Questions to ask before joining an affiliate program is included in the book. Are there are any other questions you would add that to that list that you believe are also important?
Lynn: Rosalind covered the bases with that list in her Super Affiliate Handbook, and some of them I hadn’t thought of on my own. The most important thing to me is having a personal contact, or knowing who and how to get in touch if I have a question or want to discuss a certain aspect of their affiliate program.
I work with a large number of networks and merchants, and they all operate differently. Those that keep an open line of communication, are open to feedback, and go out of their way to help me make sales for them… are the merchants that get my loyalty. Those that treat their affiliates best, usually treat their customers better as well – and that goes a long way with me when choosing who and what to promote.
My Question: How do you decide what kind of site to setup for affiliate marketing? A static site, mini-site, or full blog?
Lynn: That’s a great question. It depends on the product and the market, and on your specific objective. Sometimes you have to test and see what will work best – and sometimes the answer to that will surprise you.
I often do more than one for any given product or market. For example you can set up a blog to build a readership around your topic, and funnel that traffic into your product-based mini-site. Or you can set up a mini-site with an opt-in offer for a free report and funnel them into your static site or blog in the follow-up series.
There’s no one right way that will work best in every market, or for every product. My favorite method is to set up affiliate blogs around topics (I always create around topics, not products). This allows you to create a lot of content around keywords, and reach your market through the major search engines – and build a loyal readership.
Thank you Lynn for answering my questions!
Here is a little bit more about The Super Affiliate Handbook:
Read the amazing true story of how one woman, with no previous business experience, earns $435,000+ per year … selling other people’s stuff online!
In her down-to-earth, sincere and often humorous style, Rosalind Gardner guides you through the entire process of building an affiliate marketing business on the ‘Net. In 220+ pages, and more than 68,000 words, you’ll learn how to pick the best programs, negotiate a commission raise and save time, money and effort on everything from affiliate software to web hosting.
To learn exactly how she does it, Click Here.
I will be purchasing this book in the near future. Lynn has totally sold me on it. What about you? If you want to get started in affiliate marketing The Super Affiliate Handbook sounds like a must have resource!
P.S. If you have been wanting to join the affiliate marketing world, I highly suggest you read Lynn’s ClickNewz blog and check out her forum, Self-Starters Weekly Tips. There is all kinds of great information in both places.
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