Presentation Skills
Articles for Speakers

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In Fun

Tom Antion
Washington, D.C.

Sigmund Freud wrote:
"The most favorable condition for comic pleasure is a
generally happy disposition in which one is in the mood
for laughter. In happy toxic states almost everything
seems comic. We laugh at the expectation of laughing,
at the appearance of one who is presenting the comic
material (sometimes even before he [she] attempts to
make us laugh), and finally, we laugh at the
recollection of having laughed."

This concept has been termed "in fun" by people that study humor.
If you want your audience to laugh, they must be in fun. You, the
speaker, must be in fun. The emcee or program coordinator must be
in fun. The whole program should be designed in fun.

Don't do anything to take them out of in fun. Don't discuss
controversial subjects like religion or politics and don't make
unfriendly comments to audience members. If a problem occurs
which must be dealt with, find an in fun way of doing so. For
instance, if I'm at a presentation and someone asks me who I
voted for I say, "I voted for the USA." That's a cute way to say
that I really don't want to talk about it.

Retired NSA member and one of the greatest humorists of all time
Dr. Charles Jarvis, told me about a friend of his who was an
excellent speaker, but lost his audience when he forced someone
to turn off a tape recorder. He was so nasty about the way he
said it that the in fun audience totally turned against him.

An in fun audience is more critical for the speaker who is there
to entertain, but the concept should be in the back of every
presenter's mind. Your material may be controversial by nature,
but that doesn't mean that you should go out of your way to do or
say things that will take the audience further out of in fun.

Also, pay close attention to the total program. One friend of
mine had to present comical material just after a passionate plea
went out to the audience to collect funds for starving babies. He
came on stage just after the teary eyed audience had seen slides
of emaciated children. If you ever get caught in this situation,
DON'T start right in with your humorous material. Start out
gently with a sincere reference to what the audience has just
seen. Cut most of your early humor and get to your subject to
ease the audience's transition to your more lighthearted topic.

How do you put in fun into practice? One time I had a
ventriloquist introduce me at an early morning meeting to wake up
everyone and get them in fun. You could pass out fun snacks to
the audience or put balloons on their chairs. Meeting
announcements and agendas can be decorated with cartoon
characters. Funny props are great for putting people in fun. Do
anything you can to be sure your audience knows that it's OK to
laugh.

Next issue learn the techniques of good timing.

"At Hawaiian Tropic we believe that fun and excitement keep our
corporate staff and distributors productive. Tom can teach you
how to create this excitement every time you address a group."
Ron Rice, Owner and Founder,
Hawaiian Tropic/Tanning Research Labs., Inc.


Note: This article is part of an eleven part series excerpted from
Tom Antion's new book, Wake em Up: How to Use Humor and Other
Professional Techniques to Create Alarmingly Good Business
Presentations. Anchor Publishing, 336 page softcover, $24.95 +
$4.00 S&H, (800) 448-6280 x 1 or FAX to (757) 431-2050 To Order Click Here