C. Restate your point.

Vary The Types

The above formula would get boring and redundant rather quickly if you used exact same type of humor every time for part B. By varying type of humor in B, you can go on virtually forever, and no one will recognize that you are using a formula. I have identified more than 34 different types of humor to plug into formula. You could use one liners, jokes, humorous props, funny stories, magic, cartoons or other funny visuals.

Rule Of Three

One of most pervasive principles in construction of humorous situations is "Rule of Three." You will see it used over and over because it's simple, it's powerful, and it works. (See, I just used it there in a non-funny situation.) Most of time in humor Rule of Three is used in following fashion: The first comment names topic, second sets a pattern, and third unexpectedly switches pattern, making it funny. Here's an example from a brochure advertising my seminars:

In "How to Get There" section

From Washington, D.C., take Route 50.

From Baltimore, Md., take Route 95.

From Bangkok, Thailand, board Thai Airways.

Look Funnier

I have been accused of being too "corporate-looking¡¨ to be funny. When I'm being funny, I use facial expressions, odd body angles and bizarre comments and props to make up for my "normal" look. Those of you that have obvious physical characteristics that can be used in teasing yourself have an advantage. People love characters who are not afraid of teasing themselves. You can enhance funny look with fun patterns and colors on ties and dresses, hats and funny glasses.

Bombproof Your Talks

Are you afraid of bombing when you get up in front of a group? You don't have to be. With proper material selection, a few prepared comments in case of unexpected problems and attention to time, worries about bombing can be virtually eliminated. As in tip above, make sure your material is relevant to your topic, and keep it short. The longer a piece of humor is, funnier it better be.

A. Saver Lines

Saver Lines are what you say when your supposedly humorous statement does not get a laugh. You shouldn't be ashamed to use saver lines. The top comedians in world need them and some purposely make mistakes so they can get a laugh from saver line. Johnny Carson was an expert at this. After a poor response to a joke, he would say a comically insulting line like, "This is kind of crowd that would watch Bambi through a sniper scope." Don't overdo saver lines. If you have to use too many, your material must be pretty bad.

B. Pre-Planned Ad-Libs

Another way to keep from bombing is to "expect unexpected." Canned or pre-planned ad-libs are pre-written responses to unexpected happenings or mistakes that occur during a presentation, i.e., microphone squeals, projection bulb burns out, you say wrong thing, etc. Prepared ad-libs actually do more than just save you. They make you look tremendously polished. Here's continuum: A bad presenter will stammer around when a problem occurs. A ZZZZZs presenter will say nothing and try to ignore problem. A great Wake 'em Up presenter will make a witty comment that appears to be spontaneous. The audience believes you are originating humor on spot. You are just quickly recalling pre-planned responses.

Microphone Squeals

This is portion of my presentation where I do my elephant impression.

Projector Light Burns Out

This is first time I have been brighter than my equipment.

Highlighter Runs Out Of Ink I'm out of ink. I'll be back in a wink. (remember . . . "k" words are funny)

Think Diversity

Our audiences are more ethnically diverse than ever before, so it's crucial to watch your political correctness and eliminate sexist language from your presentation. Not only is it easy to offend, which will turn your audience off completely, easily understandable word choice is more critical than ever to ensure that your audience members "get" humor. When speaking across cultural lines, especially, visual humor such as magic, cartoons and comic strips are most readily understood.

www.netaim.info

Still missing from my list was anything resembling a "great" sermon. Then it hit me.

One sermon got away. How sermons get away from a person varies with each minister. With computers these days, it is not difficult to lose a great sermon. But sermon I'm thinking of was B.C. (before computers).

It's hard to believe there was a time before computers. Everything had to be written by hand and stored in some filing system. My filing system, before my computer, left much to be desired.

My system did not so much leave much to be desired as to be nonexistent.

I remember this sermon now. It was a special Sunday in our church and worship program was filled with guests, including a group of singers who were to perform at our service.

I worked for weeks on this sermon and had it worked out pretty good. Everything that belonged to a great sermon was in this sermon. I reworked it until it was as close to perfect as I could possibly make it.

The Sunday arrived and I anxiously anticipated delivering my great sermon. Everything seemed to go right that Sunday. Even weather cooperated by delivering a splendid day.

Looking back, however, I overlooked one thing. Concentrating so much time in preparing my sermon, I forgot others were participating in service.

My sermon, as is usually case, was last thing on program. The service started on time and everything progressed very nicely.

Then musical group got up to sing. They were simply marvelous and harmony was heavenly. In fact, they were so good they received a standing ovation.

As custom is, they responded appropriately by singing another song. Again, they received a standing ovation, which in turn resulted in another song ... and another song ... and another song.

By this time, I was nervous. Time to preach my great sermon started 20 minutes ago and there was no indication musical group sensed time.

When last strain of music faded and I stepped to pulpit, it was time to give benediction. With as much graciousness as I could command, I pronounced benediction and dismissed people.

To this day, nobody knows (except you) that my great sermon got away.

"And how shall they preach, except they be sent? As it is written, How beautiful are feet of them that preach gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!" (Romans 10:15 KJV.)