In a previous post I recommended that that speakers  avoid using  jokes in favour of self deprecating stories. Recently I had the pleasure of meeting Jan Jack of PerfectVerse who used to be a corporate secretary but is now a professional swriter, speaker and comedian.

Jan  specialises in writing humorous poems for special events and corporate speeches. During our conversation she told be how she had been commissioned by the CEO of a multinational company to help him make [...]

Building humour into your speeches and presentations is a post from: Inter-Activ Presenting and Influencing

Today I was phoned by a guy who I have met on a couple of occasions at local networking events.  he works for a company called the disc directory, a local on-line business directory covering Portsmouth and Southampton.

Now I’m pretty hard on tele-sales people but his approach was so refreshing that I just had to post on it.   He called me up, started by saying something like ” Remember the good looking guy who’s been bumping into  you around [...]

A cheeky sales approach that worked is a post from: Inter-Activ Presenting and Influencing

Often people ask me about humour in presentations and how best to use it.  

Humour can be a powerful tool in public speaking but it is a bit of a double edged sword.  If it doesn’t work, the presenter falls flat on their face and often finds it difficult to recover their credibility.      

In the past I have discouraged people from telling jokes as part of their presentation for this very reason.  Instead I advise gentle, self deprecating humour to make a [...]

Should I tell a joke to start my presentation? is a post from: Inter-Activ Presenting and Influencing

Today I came across a post on a blog called “Eight to Late” by  Kailash Awati, an IT development manager in Australia which I loved and so I thought I’d share it with you.

“Some weeks ago I sat through yet another presentation that had me drifting into dreamland within minutes.  To stay awake,  I started to put together a list of stereotypical soporific speakers,  much in the spirit  of a couple of my earlier posts on project mismanagers and meeting time wasters.  It was, I confess, the best time I’ve had [...]

A Great Post On Soporific Speaker Stereo Types is a post from: Inter-Activ Presenting and Influencing

It happens to the best of us. We know what we mean to say but somehow the words that come out of our mouth aren’t what we really wanted to say. Here’s one of mine which I thought might raise a smile.

I was giving a workshop on renewal rituals, tips and tricks for coping with stress and pressure. one section was about getting a good nights sleep and I suggested that delegates should keep a pad an pen handy, and, [...]

Foot in Mouth Syndrome – My Recent Presentation Blunder is a post from: Inter-Activ Presenting and Influencing

Is there life after Death By PowerPoint?

The title of my blog is Laughter, Learning and Light bulb moments. Well it occurred to me whilst reviewing my recent postings that, whilst there has been lots of learning and light bulb moments, there hasn’t been much laughter. By the time you have finished watching the linked video clip, I’m sure you’ll agree that my omission has been well and truly rectified!

I thought that you might enjoy this short but pithy video clip [...]

Things To Avoid When Using Powerpoint – And a Laugh too! is a post from: Inter-Activ Presenting and Influencing