Do not open with an apology or funny story opening

To begin a talk with an apology does not get you off to a good start. How often we all have heard speakers begin by calling the attention of the audience to their lack of preparation or their lack of ability.

I think it is sort of insulting to the audience, because the audience is there to listen to the speaker and it is showing them that it was not worth preparing for.

They don’t want to hear apologies and we want to be informed and to be interested. So, it is important to have an opening sentence capture the interest of the audience.

Also, we may have noticed that there is one method of opening a talk and one much favored by speakers that is not recommended here ; the so-called “ funny” story opening.

The painful truth that the “funny” story is often more pathetic than funny and the story may be known to persons in your audience.

A sense of humor, though, is a prized asset for any speaker. It says that
“ If you have the ability to tickle the risibility of your audience by some witty reference to a local situation or to something arising out of the occasion or the remarks of a previous speaker, then by all means do so “.

That type of humor is more likely to succeed than state jokes, because it is relevant and because it is original.

I think sometimes, it is not easy to distinguish between Jokes and humor. So, My suggestion is to create merriment while telling a story about myself. So it gets down to the very essence of humor and is safe.

Overall, it was a good comment that what I can do to avoid in the speech and what kind of things can give benefit to a successful speech. I personally like a speech with more personal stories which are based on real experiences and that touches the heart of the audience.