If you are debating on using a joke in your presentation, there’s a new study that suggests it could be beneficial to your audience’s perception of you. Almost every presentation has a moment for humor, but there are right ways and wrong ways to go about it.
The Right Way to Tell a Joke in a Presentation
A study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology presented the question of if jokes help you get ahead in the workplace. The study included a set of questions that would make people laugh, that would not make people laugh, and inappropriate jokes. There were two separate experiments that measured the jokester’s status, competence and confidence.
The results showed that if a joke made people laugh and was work appropriate, that person was viewed with a higher status, more competent and more confident than the person who did not say a joke. If the person delivered a joke that did not get laughs, they were still seen as having more confidence than the person who did not tell a joke, even though their status and competence decreased. But with inappropriate jokes, the perception of status and competence was lower than the person who did not tell a joke. However, confidence was still measured higher.
“These results suggest that when people hear someone tell a joke in a work setting, it increases their sense of the joke teller’s confidence. However, unsuccessful jokes and inappropriate jokes decrease people’s sense of the competence of the individual. When people view a colleague as confident, but not very competent, that ultimately hurts the colleague’s status.”
– Art Markman, Ph. D. Psychology Today
The main takeaway is jokes can increase your level of confidence as viewed by others, but telling the right joke will not hurt your status or competence. Every presenter should exude confidence during their presentation, and telling a joke could help with that. Here are some tips to help you tell a successful joke.
Do a Test Run
Practice your joke in front of friends or colleagues before making it a part of your presentation. If your joke is too uncomfortable for you to deliver in front of your kids or coworkers, then you should leave it out.
Make Fun of Yourself
Self-deprecating humor is a good way to increase your likeability. According to Putting the Ha! In Aha!: Humor as a Tool for Effective Communication, making fun of yourself will make people like you more, and in turn help you persuade and inform audiences.
Read more: Why You Should Add Humor to Your Business Presentations
Be Generic
To make sure everyone is included in the laughter, keep you joke broad, simple and easy to understand.
When In Doubt, Don’t
If you still are not sure if your joke will work in your presentation or not, it is better to be safe than sorry. Don’t risk losing a client over an awkward or insulting joke. For your next presentation, you can always try again but don’t hurt your reputation in the process.
Jokes can be a great way to break the ice and make your audience feel connected to you. Just make sure you know how to handle your audience with whatever response they give you.
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