How to Use Humor Effectively in Presentations

A little humor goes a long way. Use it wisely. It’s more important to be genuine than jocular.

“Start with a joke,” is one of the most poorly framed, and therefore widely misunderstood pieces of advice regarding giving presentations. In addition, the jokes themselves are usually badly executed. Nevertheless, using humor in a presentation is a powerful tool for engaging an audience, defusing a tense situation, and conveying a sense of authenticity as a leader – if done well. Using humor effectively requires a level of self-awareness about where your talents lie.

Don’t overdo it. You’re not in front of the room to entertain. You’re there to inform, persuade, or inspire. A little humor early in a presentation helps you grab the audience’s attention. I line or two a bit later helps you keep their attention. Now they’re waiting for you to be funny again. Let them wait. If you overdo it, you start to come across as less serious.

Here’s a guide to the pros and cons of the various ways people try to use humor in business presentations.

Jokes – “Two guys walk into a bar….” Jokes are fictional, play on stereotypes, and have a defined punchline at the end. You need to rehearse them to deliver them well. They serve a purpose, but it’s usually in social settings or at open-mic night at a comedy club. They can be used in presentations but only if the topic is tightly tied to the substance of your presentation, and you are really good with your delivery, which most people are not. I use humor in presentations fairly effectively, but I can’t tell a joke to save my life. I botch the punch line every time. So, I don’t tell jokes. If this is your talent, great. Go for it. If not, steer clear. Poorly delivered jokes harm your reputation and kill the opening of your talk.

Cartoons – The visual version of telling jokes is when someone’s cover slide in a presentation is the image of a single-frame comic, like a Far Side cartoon. It’s usually related to the topic at hand and the speaker found it amusing and a way to warm up the audience before launching into an otherwise dry business topic. And it can work, but it’s very tricky.

Looking at or reading a cartoon is, in a way, a private act between the cartoon and the observer. It operates on an individual level. Your presentation is a public engagement between you and the audience. The humor needs to be of a public nature as well. Humor of that nature requires timing. When you share your screen, the audience looks at the cartoon and reads the caption. If you start talking right way, or start explaining, “I saw this cartoon recently and it reminded me of this topic,” and then you read the caption, you’re slowing down the process, and killing the timing. It doesn’t work. If you’re about to show a cartoon, before you bring up the image tell the audience, “I saw a cartoon recently and it resonated with me when I thought of our topic today.” Then, show the cartoon and be quiet for a few seconds while everyone sees the image and reads the caption at the same time. Then, after the chuckles, make your point if you need to, but don’t explain the cartoon. They either got it, or they didn’t. Tie it to the topic if necessary or just move on. And don’t be thrown off when a few seconds later, there is an isolated laugh when that lone guy in the back of the room suddenly got the joke.

Funny Stories or Anecdotes – Chances are you’ve been asked to give your presentation because you have some experience with a topic. You probably have a million stories and examples to share with your audience, each of which bolsters your credibility and heightens the value of your recommendation. Some of those stories are funny and make a point. Use them. They are powerful. Just keep them short. Don’t start with, “Let me tell you a story.” It’s too didactic. Instead:

1. Set the scene with a reference to time or place.
2. Highlight the challenge you were facing in a sentence or two.
3. Make your point about how things were resolved.
4. Tie it back to the topic.

Throughout, use language that triggers our senses. One or two references to what you saw, heard, smelled, etc., can bring the audience into the scene. The whole story should be less than a minute. Some stories are whole in five or six sentences. The brevity helps the humor. There’s nothing worse than a long, rambling story that’s resolved in an only-mildly humorous ending.

Quick, Off-the-Cuff Remark – This is the best way to use humor in a presentation. Make a brief comment at the start of a talk that references something immediate that the audience will all have experienced, such as the weather, the setting, or something major that happened in the news that day.

I recently attended a small political fundraiser in one of the most glamorous and infamous apartment buildings in New York – not my usual vibe. In fact, my main motivation in attending was the opportunity to see inside this particular building. The politician, knowing his audience and how striking the room was, opened his comments by thanking the host and saying, “Thanks for giving me a great venue to unveil my proposal for affordable housing.” It was a wry and witty comment that was clearly spontaneous, relevant, self-effacing, and human. It reflected the politician’s awareness of the irony of the situation and complexity of how the world operates.

When you are giving a presentation, those quick unscripted comments allow your genuine self to come through to the audience. They put the immediate topic in the context of our broader world. They help us keep today’s budget report, monthly sales discussion, or update on our corporate restructuring in context of our larger humanity. The casual aside or reference to something our colleague just shared allows us to be both more relatable and likeable, both of which help us connect with our audience.

Self-Deprecating Comments- We’ve all heard people using self-deprecating humor as a way to appear more humble and hopefully get a quick laugh. Use them sparingly. The first self-critical comment accomplishes those goals. The second one causes your audience to wonder if you really are insecure or incompetent. The third causes them to pity your therapist. You’re in front of the room because you’re the expert. It’s okay to let people know you’re confident about your abilities.

In sum, remember, there are no points taken off for having a straightforward, business-focused delivery. You do lose points, however, if you try to be funny and it flops. Play to your strengths. Be yourself – your funny self or your serious self. Your authenticity strengthens your credibility more than a few laughs will.

Originally published on Forbes.