Episode 108

You only need to make your audience laugh if you want to get paid well | Shaun Eli

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.

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About the Podcast

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Present Influence
The podcast that helps professional communicators learn the skills that increase influence, impact and authority.

About your host

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John Ball

From former flight attendant to international coach and trainer, on to podcaster and persuasion expert, it's been quite the journey for John.
John has been a lead coach and trainer with the Harv Eker organisation for over 10 years and is currently focused on helping his clients develop their personal presentation skills for media and speaking stages through his coaching business brand Present Influence.
He's the author of the upcoming book Podfluence: How To Build Professional Authority With Podcasts, and host of the Podfluence podcast with over 150 episodes and over 15,000 downloads John is now focused on helping business coaches and speakers to build a following and grow your lead flow and charisma.
You can now also listen to John on The Coaching Clinic podcast with his good friend and colleague Angie Besignano where they are helping coaches create sustainable and successful businesses, and the Try To Stand Up podcast where John is on a personal and professional mission to become funnier on the stage and in his communication.

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