Make 'Em Laugh & Take Their Money: A Few Thoughts On Using Humor As A Speaker or Writer or Sales Professional For Purposes of Persuasion by Dan S. Kennedy

Author:Dan S. Kennedy [Kennedy, Dan S.]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9780982859049
Publisher: Morgan James Publishing
Published: 2010-04-26T14:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

INTRODUCING A SPEAKER, BEING INTRODUCED AS A SPEAKER

I’m sorry to disappoint you: in most situations, this is not the time and place to demonstrate your comedic genius.

When you are introducing a speaker, it is about them, not you.

The person delivering an introduction needs to understand what is needed to best enhance the speaker’s effectiveness. That may be establishing his expert authority and status, his direct relevance to the audience, or his purpose for being there. It may be erasing some skepticism or resistance about the material the speaker will be presenting. It may be setting up the sale of resources. It may require a recital of resume in as interesting a way as possible, a personal testimonial, a testimonial from someone in the group or the industry the audience is in. Ideally, the speaker you are tasked with introducing has clear objectives and can discuss them with you to strategize for success, and, of course, provide information for you to work from.

Rarely can you best serve the speaker’s objectives by getting up in front of him and attempting to be funny. Or being funny. But if you insist on doing so, at least avoid like the plague any humor that is at all derogatory or diminishing of the speaker – whether joking about the tie he’s wearing or something more significant. Your job is to raise his stature, not sabotage it or put it at risk. Also take care not to use a joke or story he relies on. If you’re not sure, check with the speaker about the story you intend using in advance.

If you want to be a little funny, consider making fun of what your speaker isn’t. Example:

I know you’ve been in way too many sales meetings with egghead theorists who are about as useful to real salespeople as the sex expert who can diagram 52 different positions but has never even had a date. Our speaker today has 25 years’ of real, successful experience and is street-smart. By the way, you know MBA stands for More Bad Advice. There’s a new designation: MBA – WAS. Stands for an MBA Working At Starbucks. Well, our speaker, John Jones, probably wouldn’t even be allowed onto a college campus, but you’re gong to be very happy he came here because …

The expert/consultant line is very old, and fairly reliable. The MBA-WAS is my very own invention, and also pretty reliable with groups who don’t hold those with MBA’s in high regard. MBA’s never laugh at it. Or at much of anything else. The ‘formula’ is: have a little fun with a ‘target’ the group doesn’t like or respect, that is the antithesis of the speaker you’re introducing.

Key word I’ve used here repeatedly is: little. Do NOT turn your introduction into your audition for the comedy club. Get it done. Get the speaker up there.

If you are a speaker who sells, your introduction and the person giving it are both critically important, so you ought not leave either to random chance, nor take any of the above for granted.

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