Makes you more likeable – this one is a no brainer. We all like people who make us laugh and believe me, you really do want the audience with you not against you.

1. 12 benefits of using humor
Public Speaking Skills

2. Prepared By
TM Manu Melwin Joy
Kerala Toastmasters
Area – G3,Division G
District 92, India.
Phone – 9744551114
Mail – manu_melwinjoy@yahoo.com
Kindly restrict the use of slides for personal purpose.
Please seek permission to reproduce the same in public forms and presentations.

3. Benefits of using humor
• Makes you more likeable
– this one is a no brainer.
We all like people who
make us laugh and believe
me, you really do want
the audience with you not
against you.

4. Benefits of using humor
• Helps you connect with
the audience – as the
audience start to relax
they start to see you as
someone they know, a
friend.

5. Benefits of using humor
• Arouses interest and
keeps attention – if the
audience are having a
good time they want
more, so they are more
inclined to forget about
their worries and listen.

6. Benefits of using humor
• Helps emphasize points
and ideas – if you
emphasize the main
points of your speech with
a little humor the
audience will actually
remember what you’ve
said.

7. Benefits of using humor
• Disarms hostility – you
won’t always be
speaking to an audience
who are on your side,
but if you’ve made them
laugh they will be more
sympathetic.

8. Benefits of using humor
• Shows that you don’t
take yourself too
seriously – nobody likes
listening to a stuffed shirt.
A little self-effacing humor
will let the audience know
that you are just like
them.

9. Benefits of using humor
• Makes information more
memorable – if you
illustrate the main points
of your speech with a little
humour, the audience are
more likely to remember
those points.

10. Benefits of using humor
• Lightens up heavy material –
nobody wants to listen to a
heavy message for twenty
minutes but if you start with
a little humor, hit the
audience with your main
message and then finish with
something light hearted…
they might last the distance.

11. Benefits of using humor
• It answers the question
everyone wants to ask –
when Abraham Lincoln was
accused of being two faced,
he answered with the now
famous…
“Friends, I ask you, if I were
two-faced, would I be
wearing this one?“

12. Benefits of using humor
• Gives the audience
some shuffle time –
during the laughter the
audience can shuffle
around and get
comfortable in their
chairs.

13. Benefits of using humor
• Improving Health - If you enjoy
a good laugh on a regular basis
you will usually have a lower
blood pressure than average. If
your humor makes people
laugh, your contributing to
their health. It also results in
deep breathing which in
numerous ways.

14. Benefits of using humor
• Antidote for stress - Numerous
studies show how laughter
helps to ease tension and
stress. It is also a way to help
keep the brain alert. This
means if incorporated in public
speaking, it can serve as a way
to tap into the audience mind,
helping them to retain more of
what they hear you say.

15. Humor is Like an Old Shoe
• Humor will serve to relax the
audience resulting in them being
more comfortable with you. It is
kind of like an old shoe. When you
get up on podium and start
speaking, you are like a new shoe.
New shoes look great but are not
always comfortable. Once broke in
however, they are not only
comfortable, they make you feel
comfortable.
• Humor allows the audience to feel
comfortable around you. This makes
what you say have more weight and
builds rapport with your audience.

16. The use of off-color, risque or blue humor,
humor which derives its "effectiveness" from
shock value, sexual content, or relation to
bodily functions has no place in the
repertoire of the professional speaker.