Public speaking is an art, delivering a great speech needs much more than confidence and a well written speech that you have memorized over a span of days tweaking and twisting it here and there. It needs a personalize touch to grip the audience and engage them.
A good speech has quality content, a speaker confident enough to take it to the audience, and a well-directed strategy to influence them, but a great speech has all of this with a pinch of humor and a dash of improvisation. Good and well directed humor is always appreciated by the audience; it not only reflects on the speaker but also allows him/her to connect with the audience.
According to most speech writers and orators with years of experience in public speaking, humor has gone from being an admirable part of a leader’s character to being a mandatory one. But why has this happened, why has humor taken over the podium and became an integral part of a great speech? Here’s why!
Humor Always Works
It is not just about delivering a speech it is about connecting with the audience and nothing works better than humor. The best of speeches have always had humor as a topping to all the motivation and information that they contained. Humor has always been appreciated and the right amount of it can turn an average speech into a great one.
Makes You More Likable
Everyone loves a good laugh and if you can do that while delivering a speech then there is nothing like it. You will be on top of the charts, the crowd’s favorite, and the one they would love and listen to with all their heart in no time if you have your humor guns loaded and know when to pull the trigger. Being a great orator needs you to be more than just a great speaker, it needs you to have a bond with the audience and humor paves the way with it.
Gets Your Point Through Without Facing Hostility
Not everyone would agree to what you have to say but reducing the hostility in the environment would allow you to get your point through and have a healthy session with the audience. The best way to do so is lighten up the mood, pop the humor pill and let it work its magic. Humor can turn a hostile audience into an engaged one and help you disarm their hostility in no time.
Interest Generator
A plain speech can actually be a sleep inducer, no matter how informative, it will push the doze off button in the audience in no time and sound monotonous even to the people actually interested in the information. Humor on the other hand keeps the audience engaged and their interest trains on track till you are done. Giving you the attention you need to put the information through and get a 5-star rating after you are done with your speech.