How-To Humor

5 Tips for Corporate Entertainment Success

By on November 21, 2011 in How-To Humor

I’ve had the pleasure (and sometimes pain) of doing and seeing a wide variety of corporate entertainment events for a number of different organizations. Many of them have gone phenomenally well, others weren’t quite as lucky.

Many times, the bad shows weren’t a result of bad performance or even a bad audience, but rather misguided planning. Here are 5 Corporate Entertainment Tips to help sure you have a successful event:

1. Be Clear About Your Expectations.

As someone who (presumably) knows the audience, you can help the entertainer get crystal clear on what’s appropriate, what’s inappropriate and what will result in getting the mic turned off. Some comedians are more risqué than others, knowing the audience, and sharing it with the entertainer can help make sure everyone goes home happy.

Expectations to be clear on: start time and end time (and amount of flexibility), content rating (G, PG, PG-13, R), size of audience, AV equipment, room layout, attractiveness of audience (OK, maybe not this last one).

2. Shorter is Better.

Even if you want to go “all out” for your group, rarely does more than 60-minutes of comedy go well (particularly if it’s been an all-day event). Keep it short and keep it fun. The audience should be left wanting more, not wanting the show to end.

If you do have more than 60-minutes scheduled, consider a keynote or workshop that is fun and educational.

3. Don’t Schedule Comedy During Dinner.

While it might seem like an efficient way to schedule the agenda, eating + comedy don’t go well together. Either no one laughs because they have food in their mouth, or no has food in their mouth because they’re laughing.

The best time-slot for comedy is before dinner or right after the desserts have gone out (just make sure to tell catering not to clear plates during the show).

4. Don’t Forget About Bio Breaks.

Before the comedy happens, make sure to allow time for a bio break and announce it! Nothing interrupts a comedy show more than a mass exodus to the restrooms, or worse, someone who laughs so much they… well let’s not get into that.

5. Tailor the Comedy to Your Audience.

Finally, as an event planner it’s important to consider your audience when selecting a comedian or group. The entertainment should be appropriate for the size of the audience, setup of the venue and the energy of the event. After all, you wouldn’t book U2 for a show in a conference room.

A good corporate entertainer will help you understand all of the nuances to consider.

Have any questions or concerns? Feel free to send us an email at entertainment@humorthatworks.com. Ready to book some entertainment for your next event? Check out our Corporate Entertainment Offerings.

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10 Tips for Using Humor in the Workplace

By on August 29, 2011 in How-To Humor

There are plenty of reasons why you should use humor in the workplace. Humor can reduce stress, improve health, increase productivity, develop creativity, expand learning, strengthen relationships, create opportunities, enhance leadership, earn you more money and make you happier.

But knowing how to properly use humor at work can be tricky, so here are ten tips to using humor to achieve better results, at work, at home, and in life.

10 Tips for Using Humor in the Workplace aka HUMOR RUMOH

  1. Have Fun – Humor is about having fun in the workplaces, and chances are, if you think something is fun, other people will think it’s fun too.
  2. Use What You Know – Humor works best when it’s honest (“truth in comedy”), so use what you know best: yourself. Find your own style and be willing to poke at yourself.
  3. Make it a Ritual – Humor is incredibly versatile and can improve nearly any situation. Start enjoying work more by adding add a little humor to your work every single day.
  4. Opt for Positive, Not Negative – Humor has the power to bond people, but it can also be used to ostracize. Keep your humor positive and inclusive and you’ll create a more supportive environment without secluding anyone.
  5. Recognize the Value of a Smile – Humor doesn’t necessarily have to cause laughter, evoking a smile is also success. When in doubt, go for humorous instead of funny.
  6. Retain Your Professionalism – Humor is great but it can be overused. Don’t overdo it and stay work appropriate—you don’t want to be seen as immature or as a clown.
  7. Own It – Humor is never guaranteed to work, but one of the best ways to help it is by being confident in your use of it. Take pride in what you’re doing and often that alone will help you succeed.
  8. Mix Original with Produced – Humor is so prevalent in the world it would be a shame and a waste if you didn’t leverage the great work done by others. You don’t always have to be the source of humor, you can also share humor created by others (just be sure to give credit).
  9. Understand Your Audience – Humor is subjective to the receiver, so it’s important to learn what works and doesn’t work with different groups of people. Not everyone has the same sense of humor so tailor it to your audience.
  10. Help Others – Humor can help just about everyone. Encourage other people to use humor and help them out by smiling, laughing, and letting them know you appreciate their use of humor.

It’s impossible to distill everything there is to know about using humor into a single page, but the above ten tips will help you on your way to effectively using humor in the workplace.

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Team-Building Activity – Telephone Pictionary

By on July 6, 2011 in How-To Humor

What’s better than Pictionary? Telephone Pictionary that helps you get to know your team a little better.

Telephone Pictionary, a game that combines elements of the classic verbal exercise of Telephone with the fun drawing of the game Pictionary, is great for any size group, so long as they can be broken into smaller groups of 5-10 people each.

To play, give each person a sheet of paper for every person they have in a group (so if 8 people, each person gets 8 sheets of paper). Next, have them write down some type of phrase on the top sheet of paper and then pass their entire stack to the person on their left. That person will read the phrase, move that sheet to back of the stack, and draw a picture representing that phrase on the next sheet of paper. They’ll then pass it to the person on their left, who will then look at the drawing, move that sheet to the back of the stack, and then write a sentence that describes that picture. This repeats until the stacks make it all the way around the circle.

NOTE: Each person has a stack of paper to start, so everyone in the group is always doing the same thing, just on a different stack of paper.

For more detailed instructions you can share while doing the activity, check out the presentation below.

For more on team-building activities, check out our humor training programs.

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Using Humor to Create Fun Surveys

By on December 2, 2010 in How-To Humor

A survey is only as good as the responses it receives from the responders. One way to increase the number of survey responses is to use humor to make your surveys fun. You can easily do that in one of two ways:

A fun survey

  1. Adding humorous questions among your standard survey questions, or
  2. Asking your standard survey questions in a humorous way.

The benefit to your responders is that they enjoy taking the survey more and the benefit to you is that you get more responses.  These rules apply to just about any survey you could think of: employee surveys, customer satisfaction surveys, training surveys, surveys about surveys–you name it, humor can help.

Ready to make your surveys fun? Here’s how to do it.

Adding Humorous Questions Among Standard Survey Questions

The easier way to add humor to your survey is by adding interesting questions to it, just for the sake of humor. This is as easy as picking a question or eight (such as any from 50 Questions to Get to Someone) and adding them in between your “serious” questions.

The key to doing this effectively is to design it in such a way that it doesn’t cheapen your survey or negatively impact its results. To accomplish this,

  1. Use a 4-1 ratio of 4 serious survey questions for every 1 humorous one. This allows you to have fun survey questions without detracting away from the most important questions.
  2. Where possible, use humorous questions that are related to or inspired by your actual questions. This keeps people from straying too far away from your subject matter. If this isn’t possible, keep the humor questions simple so they don’t require too much thinking (you don’t want to wear out your responders).
  3. The humorous questions should be appropriate and upbeat for your audience. You don’t want your responders to be offended (or in a bad mood) while they’re answering questions about employee satisfaction or your site design.

As for specific survey questions to use, there are countless, just use your imagination. If you’re lacking inspiration, take the Humor That Works Survey for some sample survey questions, or adapt a few humorous questions from 50 Questions to Get to Know Someone.

The added bonus to this method is that it will make the analyzing your survey results that much more fun, because in addition to getting the survey research you wanted, you’ll also learn your responders’ favorite colors or hear a humorous one-liner.

Asking Standard Survey Questions in a Humorous Way

The other option for adding humor to your surveys is through spicing up the serious questions you want answered. This keeps the focus on what you want to know but does it in a way that is more engaging to the responders. To do this,

  1. Include humorous measures along with real ones.  Instead of using a standard scale of 1 to 5 in your training survey, try using a scale that draws on your subject matter (such as a scale of Ha (1) to Hahahahaha (5)).  You still accomplish your goal, but it’s more engaging than the typical approach.
  2. Use humorous examples to demonstrate what you’re looking for.  This is a perfect time for the comedy rule of 3, allowing you to have two real examples and a third humorous one.  You accomplish your goal of giving an example while at the same time injecting humor into your survey.
  3. Provide humorous responses as possible answers.  The last option for any given question can be one that is included for humor, not for a legitimate response.  The key watchout here is that people may choose your humorous answer instead of an actual one, so only do this on survey questions you would be OK not getting a serious response on.

Using Humor to Create Fun Surveys

Adding humor to your surveys can go a long way in improving your response rates and can help you get more engagement from the responders. As the responders realize you’ve sprinkled humor throughout, they’ll start looking forward to the upcoming questions to see your use of humor instead of dreading the questions to come. Do it consistently in each survey and they’ll start looking forward to answering future surveys.

If you want to see a sample survey that uses these tips, and wouldn’t mind helping me better address the humor needs of you as a reader, fill out the Humor That Works Survey.  It’s guaranteed to make you laugh (or at least smile (or at least click the mouse a couple of times)).

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Team-Building Activity – Line Up

August 13, 2010

One of my favorite team-building activities of late has been the “Line Up.” It’s an exercise that involves all of the participants lining up single-file according to a specified criteria. As an example, you might have everyone line-up alphabetically by first name.  As you specify different criteria, you can add conditions like not being able [...]

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50 Questions to Get to Know Someone

June 2, 2010

Want to get to know me better (or anyone really)?  Just ask one of the below “get to know you” questions… they’re meant to be fun, interesting questions that can help you learn more about the person you are talking to.  These questions can be great for team-building, learning more about your fellow co-workers, and [...]

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5 Ways to Energize an Audience

November 24, 2009

A tired audience is an impatient and distracted audience. To help ensure your presentation is actually heard, it’s important to energize the audience. Here are 5 ways to energize the audience before your next presentation: 1. Warm up the crowd by conducting a symphony. Conducting an audience symphony is one of the easiest ways to [...]

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6 Myths of Using Humor in the Workplace

November 6, 2009

I recently came across a great article on FastCompany that shares 6 myths of using humor in the workplace.  It goes on to dispel each myth and share anecdotes from people that highlight how to properly use humor at work. The 6 myths are: Professionalism and fun are incompatible. It takes toys and money to [...]

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101 Ways to Create Humor at Work

September 24, 2009

With all of the benefits to having humor in the workplace, every office could stand to have a little more fun.  But how do you incorporate humor into the corporate world?  It’s easier than you might think. From individual activities such as reading office jokes, to team-building games using improv, to community-wide fun at work [...]

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How to Host a Speed Networking Event

August 11, 2009

Networking and community-building don’t have to be hard, especially when you create an environment where it is expected. Speed Networking can be a great way to meet a number of people and build your office’s community. How to Host a Speed Networking Event Hosting a speed networking event is easy–all you need is 30 minutes, [...]

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