Credibility Before Humor
I recently attended a workshop on Cold Calling. The seminar leader started her presentation by stating that she had never taught cold call techniques nor had she ever really made cold calls in her career, but she downloaded cold calling information off the internet.
She immedietly lost credibility with the audience. I looked at the other attendees and I could see them rolling their eyes and shaking their heads. They felt that they were going to be wasting a half-day listening to someone who doesn’t know what the instructor is talking about. If she had tried to incorporate humor into the presentation it would have failed.
In order to incorporate humor into a presenation, it is important to know your subject and have credibility.