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Adding humour to your speech or presentation can be beneficial because it helps you to connect with your listeners (most people like to laugh and be entertained) and it can help them more easily remember your message.

The purpose of this article is not to turn you into a comedian. It’s just to present you with some ways to add a little humour to your speech.

With that in mind here are two fast and simple, down and dirty formats for including humour in your next speech or presentation.

The first is called: “Joke Format”

This details a way in which you can format street jokes (jokes that friends might tell you in a bar) together to form a comedy monologue like old school comedians, like Bob Hope or Jack Benny. Here’s the format:

1) Put the 2nd funniest joke first

2) End with the funniest joke

3) Counter a good joke with a bad one.

4) Organize jokes according to theme.

Now, I’m not saying that they used this format, I used Hope and Benny as an example of the style of comic that might have used this approach. Although, I have to say, the “counter a good joke with a bad one” seems more in-keeping with the comedy format of old school comics, rather than modern stand-ups. I think today’s comedy professionals try to have continuous funny lines. This particular point seems to indicate a groaner type of joke, like a pun.

But just to remind you the purpose of this article is not to turn you into a comedian. You don’t have to worry about that.

That said, I don’t think there’s anything necessarily wrong with using such a funny line in a speech, providing of course that it ties in with your overall topic and it doesn’t offend anyone overtly. Some people might be offended by a groaner joke, but that’s too bad. It makes you come across as human because we don’t always come out with incredible zingers like they do in sitcoms.

The other format is called the “Message Format”. There are two types for this format:

A)

Intro

2nd Funniest joke

Main body of Jokes

Theme

Funniest Joke

With the second one being as follows:

B)

Intro

Funniest joke

Other Jokes

Theme

This last one ends on a serious note instead of a laugh. Personally, if I’m doing a humorous speech I’d rather end on a laugh. But that’s just my personal taste.

What you might consider doing is reducing your actual speech or presentation by about a third or even a half. Keep the core details that are necessary to convey your message to your audience. So what do you replace the edited content with?

Humour. Funny stories, funny jokes, maybe you could quote other comedians or witty people as long as you give credit where it’s due. There’s no sense delivering a line by Woody Allen in your presentation and passing it off as your own. There will always be someone who can attribute it to the original author, plus it’s highly unethical.

Not only that but by saying something like: “as Woody Allen once said…” you can immediately get your audience into a better state to laugh as they’ll remember their favourite Woody Allen moment. Then if the line doesn’t have everyone rolling in the aisles then you can get out of it by saying, “obviously it’s much better when Woody did it”. Your listeners will love you all the more then because you will have revealed yourself to be slightly vulnerable.

You would have to judge for yourself what you think is appropriate. I would have to guess that it may be better for you to end on a comment about your overall theme. What are you trying to convey to your audience? What’s the take home message that you want them to walk away from your speech remembering?

If you can follow some of these pointers in your next speech you’ll be well on your way to being remembered for your humorous speeches and you’ll get people congratulating you afterwards because you made them laugh and in their eyes you just became the star.

The practice of yoga is meant to calm both the body and the mind. With slow movements and a focus on breath, we learn to quiet the mind and focus on the present moment. Most often, we need to be calm enough to handle the stresses of daily life, regret over past actions, and worries about the future. It is easier than it sounds to think only of the present moment. Our minds wander quickly, and thoughts tend to “snowball” toward worst case scenarios. When our minds are in an anxious state and we forget about the present, we may notice our breath quickens and our heart beats faster. Whatever we are doing in the present is quickly forgotten.

To counter this snowball effect and to become calm and develop awareness, we must learn to be in the present. This starts with a focus on the breath. Yoga posturing is a physical practice of the body’s core and limbs, which work alongside the breath. In a Vinyasa style class, as students move from one position to the next, the yoga instructor will note whether to breathe in or out, for example: “breathe in, upward-facing dog, breathe out, downward-facing dog,” and so on. Breathing in this way with each posture allows the body to flow easier and gentler through the positions. This method is especially valuable for beginners who may feel that some of the movements are difficult to master at first. Adding the breath makes each position flow into the next and provides a fluidity that could not be achieved otherwise.

Additionally, controlled breathing helps practitioners to be present while they practice flowing through the postures (asanas). When you are thinking about breathing in and breathing out, you cannot also think about the fight you had with your sister last week or the yard work that needs to get done. The practice of yogic breathing teaches our students to be mindful. Being mindful means simply observing what is happening in the present moment; not trying to escape it by thinking of the past or future and not criticizing it, but simply observing it.

Here’s an Easy Way to Explain it to Your Students

We think too much as humans, and our minds need a rest from our racing thoughts, so as you breathe in and then out and move from upward-facing dog into downward-facing dog, for example, think to yourself: “I am breathing in, upward-facing dog, I am breathing out, downward-facing dog.” These are not random thoughts, but observations of the present moment. You are being present. You are being mindful. You are in the here and now, aware of others practicing alongside you, aware of the instructor’s voice, aware of the feel of the mat beneath you, your muscles as they stretch into position.

Remember, thinking about other moments in time is not bad. We must be able to learn from the past and plan for the future; but we must not forget the most important time: the present.

The Yogic Concept: I Am

The concept of “I am” is meant to help those who are participating in an activity designed to develop the mind’s focus, in order to participate in meditation successfully. It is essential that anyone who is interested in pursuing yoga understand that the practice will not be as fulfilling, unless the mind is trained.The “I am” concept is designed to help the student better focus on the self. More importantly, it is vital that the only sense of focus be in the moment, rather than allowing the mind to race from one thought to the next. In order for yogic methodology to work well within the human body, as well as the mind, it is imperative that the student learn how to successfully deal with the stresses that normally occur throughout daily life. Otherwise, it would be virtually impossible to focus on the Eight Limbs of Patanjali’s teachings (The Yoga Sutras).

Students who are practicing yoga must be able to focus on the body and control the thoughts of the mind while they are engaged in yogic practices. It is essential to control the breath and steady the mind long enough to allow one to reach a state of self-realization. Otherwise the student is merely going through the motions without any real concept of the deeper meaning of practicing yoga. In order to maximize the benefits that can come from its practice, students alike must make a conscious effort to remain focused in their thoughts.

In its purest form, yoga is a meditative exercise involving mind, body, and spirit. It combines the most effective elements of its many methods to help students develop physically, emotionally, spiritually, and mentally. Many practitioners find that they are able to develop spiritually as a result of learning the “I am” concept and practicing it on a regular basis. The ability to center one’s mind and focus only on the here and now is one of the most important things that anyone can do to improve his or her overall health. In addition, a great deal of insight can be gained regarding an individual’s ability to excel in life, even in the face of challenges.

A friend of mine produces horror movies, one of which is called, “There’s something out there.” However, when it comes to delivering a presentation, I beg to differ: There’s nothing “out there.” It’s all “in here.”

I was on the phone with Jolene, a woman I had worked with on her presentation skills. I had been hired to help her overcome her anxiety whenever she was asked to express herself in a meeting or in a presentation. I asked her how she was doing.

“It’s getting better,” she said.

That statement, I told her, contains the explanation for why she is anxious.

Who is this “it” I asked, “That is getting better?” Jolene’s statement suggests that anxiety is an “it” that one catches like a cold. Other people I’ve worked with will echo Jolene’s comment by saying, “I got scared” as though scared was running around the room and “got” them. Still others will say that someone in the audience “made” them anxious as though an audience member held a gun and forced the person to become anxious or else.

The key to handling our anxiety is to get in touch with reality. In reality, there is no “it” getting better. In reality, there is no “scared” trying to catch us. In reality, there is no audience “making” us nervous.

In reality, there is nothing “out there”…except what we put there. If we imagine that our audience is hostile, that hostility doesn’t exist in the audience. That thought exists in us and we find evidence to confirm it “out there.” If we imagine that the audience doesn’t like us, that thought doesn’t exist in the audience, that thought exists in us and we find evidence to confirm it. If we imagine that we won’t be able to close a sale, that thought doesn’t exist in the audience, that thought exists in us and we find evidence to confirm it.

You can see this even more clearly when calling someone on the phone. As you’re about to call, notice the thoughts that are in your head about how the other person will respond when he or she answers. Whatever thought is there is clearly your fantasy, not reality.

In reality, there is nothing between us and our audience except what we put there. I encourage people to repeat this statement many times until it becomes ingrained in their brains which is exactly how “I got scared” was implanted there in the first place.

A rut gets created in the road when many cars pass over it. Similarly, a “rut” gets created in our brains (called “neural pathways”) when we tell ourselves something over and over again. Sometimes, it only takes one such experience if the experience is sufficiently traumatic.

Anxiety is produced when fantasy trumps reality. Anxiety is created by our imaginings and our imaginings aren’t real because between us and the audience there is, in reality, nothing except what we put there.