Presentation Training Tips:
Humor In Presentations: How to Write a Top 10 List 

First, it's hard to come up with 10 really funny things to list. The only reason David Letterman gets laughs all the way through is he has a band punching it up with rim shots and musical cues.

Second, audiences have really short attention spans. When I started customizing Top 10 lists for client presentations it was apparent from the very first one that 10 was too much of a good thing.

Third, it's just much easier!

Jeff's golden rule for Top 5 lists is, 'End on the funniest, begin with the second funniest, and put the other three in the middle.'

How to write it:

Pick a subject relevant to your presentations theme. Here, let's use the Rolling Stones. Make a list of everything you can think of regarding this subject, especially nouns or phrases. In this case, that would include song titles. My list for the Rolling Stones would include the following, plus much more. (The more the better):

Brown Sugar, Jumpin' Jack Flash, Big Lips, Drugs, I Can't Get No Satisfaction, Rock and Rollers, Start Me Up, etc.

Now, pick an adjective that describes your subject. The first one that comes to mind in this case is "old." There's humor potential there! Make another list of everything that you can think of that has to do with getting old, such as:

Walker, Bran, Polygrip, Senile, Social Security, Medicare, Viagra, Geritol, Respirator, Catheter.

Choose one item from each group and put them together with a little exaggeration to form your humorous idea. In this case, it will be titles for the Rolling Stones' upcoming tour.

The Top 5 names for the Rolling Stones tour are...

5. The Big Lips and Polygrip Tour

4. The Brown Sugar and Bran Tour

3. Hey, You, Get Off My Catheter Tour

2. The Grumpy Old Men Tour

1. The Start Me Up With Viagra Tour.

In my corporate presentations workshops I teach the group how to write Top 5 Lists on subjects meaningful to them like, 'The Top 5 things you'd never hear from a customer.'

They come up with items like, 'Could you please keep me on hold longer? I was enjoying the Musak.'

The groups must write their own lists and then present them at the end. After the laughter subsides, I point out that if they reverse the Top 5 list, they've identified five negative things that they do hear from their customers. Then we spend time developing humorous and appropriate responses for when those situations occur. This is a great exercise for presentations and training sessions in smaller groups.

Jeff Justice: http://www.public-speaking.org/public-speaking-top10-article.htm