TED Talks: The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking

by Chris J. Anderson

The funniest person on our team is Tom Rielly, who runs our fellows program and for years gave a final wrap-up of the conference that skewered every speaker with wicked hilarity. Here’s his advice: Tell anecdotes relevant to your subject matter, where humor is natural. The best humor is based on observation of things occurring around you and then exaggerating or remixing them. Have a funny remark ready if you flub your words, the A/V goes awry, or if the clicker doesn’t work. The audience has been there and you instantly win their sympathy. Build humor into your visuals. You can also have the humor be the contrast between what you’re saying and what you’re showing. There are lots of great possibilities for laughter. Use satire, saying the opposite of what you mean, then revealing your intent, though this is really hard to get right. Timing is critical. If there’s a laughter moment, you have to give it a chance to land. That may take the courage to pause just for a moment. And to do so without it looking like you’re fishing for applause. Very important: If you’re not funny, don’t try to be funny. Test the humor on family or friends, or even a colleague. Are they laughing? If not, change it or spike it. Dangers (even in the hands of people blessed with the gift of humor): Off-color remarks and offensive language: Don’t. You’re not speaking at a late-night comedy club. Limericks or other seemingly funny poetry Puns Sarcasm Going on too long Any attempted humor based on religi...