Page 55 - The New Articulate Executive_ Look, Act and Sound Like a Leader

46 CREATING THE PERFECT PRESENTATION

tor and representative in Washington. To compete globally we

have got to have a level playing field. Right now. Today.
Bingo. Point made, forge ahead, drive hard to the finish, and then

fi nish hard.

8. Humor. Humor is very high risk, and I don’t recommend it. Even
the funniest, most facile speakers sometimes wind up sounding sar-
castic, insensitive, snide, or downright dumb when they try to get a
laugh. If a joke goes wrong, for any number of different reasons, the
unfortunate result is often a weak, pathetic kind of embarrassed
tittering that is mostly an awkward expression of sympathy for the
hapless speaker. When an early joke goes flat, it tends to take all the

bubbles out of whatever follows.
Why do so many people insist on starting a speech with a joke?
One, they see others do it, so they think it is the way to go. Two, they
simply don’t know of any other way to start strongly. And three, they
think a joke will “break the ice” (it can, but probably not in the way
they intended).
Even when a speaker is smart enough to use humor to make a
legitimate business point, there are other mines in the minefi eld.
Suggestive humor is out of bounds, but it never ceases to amaze me
how many people still don’t get it.
For example, I heard a speaker tell a joke about a woman sun-
bathing naked on a skylight to make the point that there are two
sides to every issue. Nice try. But I could hardly believe my ears.
Technically, his execution was correct. The story made a point, and
he told it correctly. However, the women in the audience, most of
them M.B.A.s, were not amused. Some of them later let him know
it, saying that they thought his sense of humor was insensitive and
inappropriate. Given the circumstances, they were probably right.
If you insist on trying humor, make certain you abide by these
four rules: