How to Build a Strong Connection with Your Audience with Humor
In my last blog post I wrote about how speakers can connect with their audience through authentic storytelling. This week I’ll continue with another tip for connecting with your audience: leverage humor!
Humor is another excellent way to build a bond with our audience. Laughter is a connector. When asked if you have to be funny to speak, speaker and author Kathi Lipp answers, “No. Only if you want to get hired.”
You don’t have to be a comedian, but does laughter connect people? Yes, it does! So, if you’re like me and you’re not particularly funny, you can tell funny stories about yourself and let the audience laugh with you.
I’ve learned how to leverage the humor of self-deprecation which goes a long way. I do goofy things all the time, so if I just share with my audience things that I’ve done, they laugh. It’s awesome!
Personal stories and humor go a long, long way to letting the audience know you and connect with you. I encourage you to find your style of humor.
In one of my messages about friendship, I start with a story about the day I got a friend request on Facebook from my childhood best friend. Even though the bigger story is about our friendship struggles and eventual estrangement, I tell some examples of silly things we did together as girls to show how close we were at one time. I embed some quips in that part, making the audience laugh with me.
Then I start to introduce the problem by talking about the deeper part of my message, how our friendship eroded as we got older and about some of my friendship challenges as an adult.
Storytelling with some humor allows your audience to connect with you before you go on to telling deeper truths.
~Amy
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