1300 finance people heard me tell this joke:
“Hey, great to be here at the Mayo Clinic, where you guys invented Cortizone!
Well…. not you guys.
And then you GAVE it to the world! How cool is that?!
By a show of hands, how many people would like to get that patent back for just a couple of months to pay for some new parking.”
Funny or not?
I was recently hired to be a motivational humorist speaker in Minnesota at the Mayo Clinic. I strongly believe that if I can get the audience laughing at the beginning of the speech, I’ll have their undivided attention when I get to the “wisdom” parts of the presentation. If they are laughing, they are listening. And if they are listening, they are ready to learn.
So… again… I spend a ton of effort on customized humor and comedy for every group… even the groups that want a strong business tie in.
Back to that joke. I told that joke pretty much as it is written when I was there in Minnesota. If you read it, you realize that it isn ‘t funny. But I can tell you that the Mayo folks laughed hard. Nobody told THEM it wasn’t funny.
Why ? Because that joke is all about them . They did invent Cortizone. They did “give” it away. And the lack of parking is a horrible pain in the sides for most of those folks. (Parking is so bad that most of the Clinic’s people are bussed in.)
So by combining two truths — horrible parking and Mayo inventing and gifting Cortizone — you get a joke. An inside joke. You get customized humor.
What’s my point? If you’re a speaker, you need to make sure you have some tightly targeted humor…. it creates a connection between you and your audience you wouldn’t believe.
If you’re looking to HIRE a motivational keynote speaker, make sure your speaker can speak your language, knows you’re inside information, and — perhaps most important of all — knows how to use your culture to create some very funny humor.
[Oh, and by the way, I’d love to be that guy. :)]
Looking for a motivational speaker for your event? Contact me here .
How to be a Comedian on YouTube
Interested in learning how to use humor in your presentation? Check out Brad’s Got Mirth: Milking Your Presentation for all the Humor It’s Worth .
Learn more about how to be a motivational speaker with my how-to audio here .
Related : Blog Posts: How to Be a Motivational Speaker (Part 1) | Get a Mentor How To Be A Motivational Speaker (2) Choose the Right Topic How To Be Speaker (3) Format of a Keynote. A Template! Adding Humor (1) The Act Out Adding Humor (2): Give the Audience a Voice Adding Humor (3) What to Do When Your Humor Bombs Part 7: How to Be a Motivational Speaker — Find A Niche to Make you Rich Part 8: Be a Professional Speaker — Be Authentic On the Platform
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