Being funny

Here’s a question I’d never had posed before:

 “How can I be funny?”

The question came from a perfectly sincere and seemingly very nice woman during a break at one of the workshops I gave last week for the Wake County, NC, schools. It seems the person who previously held her position was a very funny person and she’d been getting comments from her staff comparing her to her predecessor.  According to them, she’s coming up short in the humor department. Since I use humor in my workshops as much as possible to get attention, establish a relaxed working atmosphere, and make the occasional point, I guess she thought I was the go-to guy for advice about being funny.

I really didn’t know what to say. I simply advised her not to try to be funny or memorize jokes, but to use stories whenever she could to illustrate her ideas. I’ve advocated telling stories for a long time (See Once Upon a Time) and it was heartening to read Daniel Pink in his book A Whole New Mind saying that storytelling and play  are  “conceptual age" skills.

Had I the chance to think about my response a bit more, I would have added, “And tell stories that are self-deprecating when possible.” Of course this is very easy for me to do since I have so many stories that may seem to be self-deprecating, but in which I am just telling things the way they actually happened.

There is of course danger in using humor. A joke can fall flat and you wind up looking like a real dork. A funny story is rarely funny if not told well. Forgetting the punch line tends to blunt the impact somewhat. Much humor is or can be interpreted as racist, sexist or otherwise offensive. And of course there are times when humor is inappropriate – as your wife is trying on new clothes, when talking to the immigration official at Canadian customs, or during a negative performance review with your boss.

There is a less obvious, but perhaps more important, caution about humor as well. Pain, discomfort or embarrassment are at the root of many things humans find funny. Slipping on a banana peel may bring peals of laughter to the viewer, but it doesn’t bring even a smile to the slipper. Humor at the expense of others is often just plain mean. That’s why self-deprecating humor is a wise choice. When you are the butt of the joke, you are fairly safe.

From Machines Are the Easy Part; People Are the Hard Part:

34. Work a little humor into every communication effort.

What did Ole say when the Kinsey Sex Survey called and asked him if he smoked after sex? “Don’t know. Never looked.”

All right, it’s an old joke, but it made you keep on reading. There is really no excuse whatsoever not to inject at least a little humor into every communication effort you make. It’s a mistake to confuse dryness with professionalism.

If you want the head paying attention, you have to get the heart involved. Humor is probably the easiest way to evoke an emotional response. (A groan is an emotional response, right?) You can elicit anger, fear or sadness to get attention as well, but for my money smiles do the job better.

 Oh. I wouldn’t make my jokes any racier than the one above.

What advice would you give to someone who feels they need to be “funnier?”

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Thanks much to all the wonderful people who attended my presentations in Minneapolis, Raleigh, and London, Ontario this past week. It was an exhausting, but also energizing few days. Your kindness and hospitality were much appreciated.

A few weeks at home now until heading to the ICE conference in Indianapolis the end of January. Looking forward to spending some quality time doing E-rate 470s in the district.

The Paranoid Presenter

Heading off this afternoon to give a keynote and a couple sessions at the Maryland Educational Media Organization (the other MEMO) tomorrow in Baltimore. I’m looking forward to seeing my friend Jay Bansbach and other fine Marylanders.

Even though I’ve done presentations for about 150 associations, school districts and other organizations over the past few years, I still get anxious. Have I prepared well enough? Did we choose the right talks for this audience? Did I bring enough clean underwear and socks? Details, details.

Anyone who uses technology as a part of his presentation also worries – will the technology work? And the more one works with technology, the more concern one has and the more heartfelt the prayers become. Computers not only sense fear, but nervousness as well. Trust me on this - the time a computer takes to reboot lengthens in direct proportion to the number of people waiting for it to reboot.

I always wonder when the “technology expert” speaking can’t actually get the technology to work. It's like going to a doctor who is overweight and smokes. Is there a credibility problem here? Duh.

So here is my paranoid presenters checklist I go through before I hit the road. If you find yourself going someplace to give a talk using PowerPoint or something like it, perhaps the suggestions might be useful.

1. Is my computer actually in the bag?
2. Are the right power cord, video dongle, and remote control in the bag?
3. Are the PowerPoint slides backed up to a flash drive? (In case the computer breaks or goes missing.)
4. Are the slides on an ftp site I can access? (In case the flash drive breaks or goes missing.)
5. Are the slides printed out? (In case the technology gods abandon you completely.)
6. Did I wear shoes that will allow me to run as fast as possible if all else goes wrong? (In case you can't find your printouts.)

As you can tell, when it comes to tech, I am a belt and suspenders sort of guy.

I have had to cancel one talk. Just one. At conference in Missouri the after lunch general session was being held in a banquet hall that I believe was a converted parking garage – low ceilings, lots of pillars, and no windows. The electricity went out. Blackness ensued. Glow sticks were passed around. My talk could neither be seen nor heard, let alone supplemented with the projector. Session cancelled by the sponsors. Act of God.

But most things are to a large degree under one's control. Here are some must-do’s for the traveling speaker.

1. Have backup plans (see above).
2. Use generic fonts in your slides in case you must use another computer.
3. Always get to the room at least a half hour early to check out the equipment.
4. Know your own equipment. (How do you turn video mirroring off and on? Use the remote?)
5. Never, never, never depend on the Internet. Have cached pages or screen shots just in case.
6. Don’t take the last flight out.

Oh, and pack an extra pair of socks and undies. You just never know.

Do have some tips about minimizing the likelihood of technology snafus?