George Gilbert’s Motivational Humor

“Perhaps as important as anything. I learned a lot about humor, a lot about laughter.” George H. W. Bush on Ronald Reagan at his funeral.

We can all learn a very important lesson on how to use humor in our presentations from former President Ronald Reagan. Reagan earned the title of “the Great Communicator” because he was able to use humor to diffuse very tough situations.

When President Reagan was running for his second term as president he participated in a series of debates with former Vice-President Walter Mondale. Mondale was trying to make age a big issue in the campaign. When Reagan was questioned during the debate about age, he replied, “I want you to know that I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience.” From that moment on age was no longer an issue in the 1984 presidential campiagn.

President Reagan was a master of using humor in his presentations. Remember, a little appropriate humor can help you diffuse a situation when you are giving a presentation.

When determining what kind of humor to use in your presentation you have to take into consideration two things. Will the audience think it’s funny and do you think it’s funny? I know this sound silly, but sometimes speakers use a joke because someone told them that it was funny. When I was first starting out as a stand-up comedian old comedians would want to help me out by giving me jokes that they used to do. I would try them out, but I knew they wouldn’t get a laugh becuase I didn’t think the joke fit me. It may have worked twenty years ago, but it was passe and didn’t fit my personality. The jokes didn’t go over well. If you don’t think its funny the audience isn’t going to think its funny.

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Don’t talk too fast. The audience needs time to process what you are saying. This is especially true when delivering a humorous speech. Not only does the audience need to process the information but they also need to process the humor. The audience will not laugh if they are too busy trying to understand what you are saying. This doesn’t mean to talk so slow that you sound like you are talking down to the audience. It just means that you should speak at a natural conversational rate so the audience can pick up the nuances of the humor. Also, when you speak too fast it can give the audience the impression that you are nervous and want to get through your speech and off the stage as fast as you can.

A speakers introduction can make or break a speech, especially a humorous speech. If the person delivering the introduction doesn’t deliver your intro well (as unfair as this may seem) the audience will react to your speech negatively. That is why it is important to get a copy of your introduction to the Master of Ceremonies, or chair-person, or whomever will be responsible for introducing you in advance. Ask them to rehearse it several times before they give it. Make sure they understand exactly how you want them to present it. This is a script and it should be followed. Quite often the content of your speech will refer back to the introduction and if they don’t follow the script it may leave you referring to something that was left out. I once had someone introduce me by starting out saying, “This is what George wrote about himself..” that wasn’t in the script and now it sounded like I was boasting. I had to use some self-deprecating humor to win the audience back. Another example, the MC made a comment about something in the introduction and again this underminds the credibility of the speaker. If this happens try to laugh it off and use self-deprecating humor to get the audience back where you want them. Never point out a bad introduction. You do not want to embarrass them as that might create a negative reaction from the audience.

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