What does making people laugh have to do with influence and persuasion? Quite a lot really. Comedy and humour can be very useful tools in your influence and persuasion toolkit when employed well and sadly, it's an area that is often overlooked in studies on influence and persuasion.

It can be a powerful rapport tool. We tend to like people who can make us laugh and we are more likely to remember things when we find them funny. Being able to vary the emotional experience of your audience is one of the hallmarks of a confident and experienced speaker. Humour requires looking at the world a little differently.

Not everyone will feel humour is for them but even a small chuckle or groan-worthy dad joke in a presentation can lighten the mood and expand the emotional journey of your audience. My guest Shaun Eli helps us out with some ways we can add some humour into our social, professional and public interactions. 

In this episode:

• The importance of being a clean comedian (if you can be)
• making humour through storytelling
• Connecting and engaging with people through humour
• How to make your audience feel it's all about them
• Simple ways to add humour to a presentation
• Why a comedy class could be just what you need
• The big difference between a professional speaker and a comedian
• The three steps to making a joke

and more besides.

As Shaun states during the episode, our chat wasn't packed with jokes. We talked humour but not so much the jokes, so if you want to see Shaun in action, and he is indeed a funny guy, you can visit his website BrainChampagne.com and you can connect with Shaun if you'd like him to help make your talks and presentations more entertaining.

Did you enjoy the show? Did you learn anything new or useful? If you did, then the best way to show your appreciation is by sharing the show to your online network. Tag me and I'll give you a shout out on an upcoming episode. Leave a review and I'll read it out on the show.

Of course, if you REALLY liked it, you're welcome to support the show financially too using the link below.

Support the show (https://speakinginfluence.supercast.tech/)

Mentioned in this episode:

Podfluence Weekly

Join us for the official Podfluence Weekly newsletter https://present-influence.ck.page or Subscribe on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=6882642444815519744