Fun is Incredibly Powerful in Presentation

I thought this post would be the easiest to write, in the series of Six Trends in 2010 Presentations.

Incredibly hard! I've been struggling with it for one week. Okay, there was Christmas in between, and a house still full of teenagers, their friends and a husband in holidays, all hungry all the time and wanting to be entertained...Still...I thought I'd have fun writing this last post of the year and "end in beauty" 2009.

 What is Fun? Is putting a silly hat and making jokes fun? Mmmm, NO!

(By the way,the title of this picture is fun "overexcited nerd")

What is NOT Fun? Serious-Hard-Tedious-Soporific-Moralistic-Preaching-Self-centered-Righteous-Perfection-BORING!

Why is Fun so hard? It's because it's often unpredictible. If I tell you I'm going to write a post about fun , I find myself seriously paralyzed by the injunction I need to find funny stuff to say...

Why is it so powerful in presentation? It makes us human and alive! And we're craving for humanity in our virtual world...

                      

What is Fun? Fun is the "E" in TED. Fun is Entertaining.Fun is humour. Fun is play. Fun is light. Fun is creative. Fun is joy. Fun is freedom. Fun is free!

Here are The TED Commendments - Rules that every speaker needs to know, thanks to Tim Longhurst.

1. Thou Shalt Not Simply Trot Out thy Usual Shtick
2. Thou Shalt Dream a Great Dream, or Show Forth a Wondrous New Thing, Or Share Something Thou Hast Never Shared Before
3. Thou Shalt Reveal thy Curiosity and Thy Passion
4. Thou Shalt Tell a Story
5. Thou Shalt Freely Comment on the Utterances of Other Speakers for the Sake of Blessed Connection and Exquisite Controversy
6. Thou Shalt Not Flaunt thine Ego. Be Thou Vulnerable. Speak of thy Failure as well as thy Success.
7. Thou Shalt Not Sell from the Stage: Neither thy Company, thy Goods, thy Writings, nor thy Desparate need for Funding; Lest Thou be Cast Aside into Outer Darkness.
8. Thou Shalt Remember all the while: Laughter is Good.
9. Thou Shalt Not Read thy Speech.
10. Thou Shalt Not Steal the Time of Them that Follow Thee

What is NOT fun? You would think statistics, graphs, data, figures are not fun.Or announcing the decline of Occident.Think again!Have you ever heard and watched Hans Roesling talk about statistics and the rise of Asia?

So you've got it. Anything can be fun, entertaining. Even the most boring business report.

Why is Fun so hard? Especially when we're speaking in public.

• Hey, we want to be taken seriously! We present our personal selves in front of others, publicly...at work!
• Work is supposed to be a serious place, (Working is for adults-Playing is for Children...)
• We don't want to make a fool of ourselves!
• We want to be in control and "masters" of the situation!
• We're supposed to be the Experts...
• We don't want to show the others that in fact...we don't know
• We are afraid of humiliation in front of our peers
  

Why is fun so powerful in presentations? And especially online?

"Le rire est le propre de l'homme"   Rabelais Laughter is unique to man said Rabelais(and not" laughter is the cleanser of man", like I found in Wikipedia!)...although laughter can clean the soul...

When we're funny and making people laugh, we are saying:

"Hey! I am a human being! Just like you!"

We make mistakes. We fail.We're authentic. REAL. VULNERABLE. ALIVE.
Opposed to the remote and virtual perfect image on our desktops...

Fun has become part of our life, personally, socially and professionally.

• Just read Peter Bregman 's article in The very academic Harvard Business Review "How to Make Problem Solving Fun?"

• Or Michael Deutch in the Mindjet 's blog "Become a presentation Superhero"

• And a last one, before this post gets too long, Carmine Gallo in Business Week "Your next presentation Should borrow from Broadway".

What are you waiting for?

When you prepare for Your Next presentation:

1. Make it Simple
2. Make it Short
3. Make it Personal
4. Make it Interactive
5. Make it Collaborative
6. Make it Fun!

And I'm still working hard on point 2!

Bonus! If you are a presenter and want to learn more about Making Presentation Fun, join Lisa Braithwaite's  Ning Network at  Speak Schmeak 

You will find, among many others, Olivia Mitchell, Steve Cherches, Cliff Atkinson, Rich Hopkins,Tony Ramos sharing stories on what they have done to add fun to a presentation.

You can share your own stories right now, in the comment box just for you!

Have a wonderful New Year's Eve

Have Fun!

Comments

[Marion Chapsal]

Thank you Lisa for your very enthusiastic comment!
I'm very happy to share ideas and stories with you on Twitter, on our blogs and on the Ning Site you created.
I bet your next book is going to be successful!

It seems to be a lot about Giving Ourselves the Permission to enjoy while taking our talk seriously.
You certainly give yourself this permission, Lisa!
Bravo!

[Marion Chapsal]

Hi Simon and thank you for your specific input.
True, fun and funny are two different worlds and the frontier is delicate...
Maybe the more one "tries" to be funny, the less one becomes?
The magic happens at the intersection between great (and "serious") preparation and last minute improvisation.
It requires to be fully aware of what's going on, intensely present and alert.
Quite a challenge!

[Mazarine]

This was the problem over and over again as I worked in very "serious" nonprofits, like nonprofits trying to stop domestic violence.

Maybe it was wrong, but I set myself the question, how can I make domestic violence funny?

If Richard Pryor can make setting himself on fire while completely high on heroin funny, there's got to be a way that I can make this cause funny.

I have made many outreach and fundraising presentations over the years, and I've tried to make them as short and funny as possible. Think like Hemingway. Try to make every 3 syllable word a two syllable word, and try to make every two syllable word a one syllable word. Ruthlessly cut your presentation until you can scroll through it and get the major details and jokes without straining.

Now, you might say, "Mazarine, there is NO WAY that Domestic Violence can EVER be funny." And I would say, "Perhaps not. But I'm going to try." This is one of the benefits of pissing people off. You get talked about. Which is one of the points of nonprofit marketing anyway.

Examples of presentations I've made funny
http://wildwomanfundraising.com

[Account Deleted]

You article so nice..thank you ...Iaam happy here.
Thank u so much. I really appreciate it.
love this one.
ray ban sonnenbrillen
http://www.raybansonnenbrillen.de.com/