Thanks to a wonderful group of New Hires that my company has brought on board in the past couple weeks. I've taken the opportunity to observe the presentation styles of many different people. There is been the Midwestern man from Kansas City who finishes every power point slide with the question, "Y'all good with that?" There's the lady from Texas who throws "Golly gee" into every sentence. There is the woman who lived in Hawaii for years and has the extremely relaxed, go with the flow attitude to match. Each of them has little tactics to set the group at ease, and to establish rapport with the trainees. One likes to toss candy and toys at the group. Another likes to make the class record what she is saying to keep their attention. Yet they all have one thing in common. They use one of two tactics to keep the people on their side.
1. They make fun of themselves
2. They make fun of people in the class (for being the last one in the room, for answering every question, etc).
Every single presenter I have seen in the two weeks of sessions uses humor as a bonding tool to unite the group. Watch the next presenter you see, you'll notice it. And maybe try it yourself next time you are trying to get a group of people on your side.
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