Have you ever seen a speaker that was talented, successful, and seemed to have a solid message but yet, you still walked away from that speech\u00a0feeling like there was\u00a0something missing?\u00a0It was like you felt\u00a0some kind of\u00a0disconnect with the speaker but you just couldn’t quite put your finger on it.\u00a0Chances are, that the speaker failed to use the critical tool in speaking called “laugh at your failures.”<\/p>\n
One of the absolutely worst thoughts that you can plant in the minds of your audience is for them to think that you’re special. The minute that your audience puts you on a pedestal saying “well he is able to accomplish all that because he is talented. I’m not talented. I can’t learn anything from him.” Your message is doomed.<\/p>\n
You can have the greatest message in the world, but if you come across as being someone who “has all the answers” without first sharing the experience that led up to that wisdom,\u00a0then you will be perceived as the “guru of your own story” and your message will fall on deaf ears.<\/p>\n
If you look at history, you will see that all great leaders had someone or an experience in their life that showed them “the way.” So by sharing your failures first and poking fun at them in a lighthearted way, you will go a long way in setting up your audience to accepting your message.<\/p>\n
In comedy they call it “self-deprecating humor”\u00a0and successful\u00a0comedians\u00a0use it all the time within their routines to connect with and garner laughs from their audience.\u00a0Unfortunately, what comedians wholeheartedly embrace\u00a0most speakers will wholeheartedly avoid. Most speakers would rather run and hide than have to share their failures. Why? Because they think that sharing their faults\u00a0will make them look weak \u00a0and this is simply not true. On the contrary, when done with confidence, self-deprecating actually builds you up in the eyes of your audience.<\/p>\n
Merriam Webster’s dictionary defines the word deprecate as follows; “to\u00a0criticize or express disapproval of (someone or something).” You will not see Self-deprecate in Merriam Webster’s dictionary because it is a hyphenated word.\u00a0However,\u00a0you will find other sources\u00a0online define\u00a0Self-deprecate as “belittling\u00a0or\u00a0undervaluing\u00a0oneself.” When you add 1 part confidence and 1 part self-deprecation, the resulting effect will be self-deprecating humor.<\/p>\n
Now let’s track back to the comedy world\u00a0 where self-deprecating is always associated with humor. When great comedians take the stage, the first thing they bring to it is their\u00a0“stage presence.”\u00a0They bring an aura of\u00a0personality and confidence. And when they poke fun at their “miserable lives”\u00a0you will always see them do it with confidence.\u00a0As an example, listen to the following clips where\u00a0 you will hear Bruce Bruce<\/a> a well know comedian (whom once weighed close to 500 pounds at one point in his career), as well as George Casey<\/a> another comic who is known as “the clean comedian” use self-deprecating humor in their routines.<\/p>\n Comedian Bruce Bruce<\/strong><\/p>\n