Public Speaking Course:
Finding Humor for Specific Industries
A great lesson from my public speaking course in finding relevant humor. When
you need to find humor for a specific industry that isn't very common, sometimes
you need to dig a little deeper to find stories or jokes that will fit your
particular audience.
Some professions like police, law, and medicine have many joke books,
newsletters, and articles written about them. But what if you are a plumbing
executive, or are speaking to the plumbing industry. I'm pretty sure that you
could not go down to your local library or bookstore and find a plumbing joke
book.
You should start a funny material file as soon as possible, and fill it
with any funny industry-specific information you find. Then classify the
material according to industry, so you can easily sort through it to find what
you need. You can start looking for good material to use is in a trade
journal for that specific industry. Almost every industry out there has one or
more associated trade journals. You should sort through some back issues and try
to find some humor you can use now. Virtually no one remembers the details of
cartoons and jokes more than a month or so. Watch for industry newsletters so
you can use some of their material. Check company bulletin boards regularly for
funny signs and interesting postings. Using the skills you learned in your
public speaking course involves knowing your audience and finding humor that
relates to their specific industry.
The true devoted public speaker will go even further. Get on your phone and try
calling others in the industry and ask for any funny stories or mishaps that
would be of interest to your audience (remember to credit the provider). Collect
all the material you can that is interesting and industry specific and soon you
will have the best collection around.
Another place to look for funny material to searc the Internet. Anytime I
need something funny that is really specific, I just type the keywords (ex.
plumbing humor, or water humor) into one or more major search engines. Pretty
much every time something relevant will pop up. Though the internet can be a
good source for some usable findings, you must be ready sort through all the
useless material before you will find something great.
Here are some lines I found for the plumbing engineer group I did a presentation
for.
Getting married is a lot like getting into a tub of hot water.
After you get used to it, it ain't so hot. -- Minnie Pearl
My wife's an earth sign. I'm a water sign. Together we make mud. - -
Rodney Dangerfield
The shower is the greatest invention. I don't like taking a
bath. I don't like to wash my face in the water I've been sitting in.--
Lewis Grizzard
How come when you mix water and flour together you get glue ...
and then you add eggs and sugar and you get cake? Where does the
glue go?-- Rita Rudner
After finishing your public speaking course you will be able to involve
learning and sharing of specific industry humor that relates to your audience.
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