A Funny
thing happened on the way to the boardroom: Using Humor
in Business Speaking (Paperback)
by Michael Iapoce
Perhaps the best of its genre, this book offers detailed
advice on the effective use of humor in business
situations such as presentations, meetings, or seminars.
The author is a speech writer who places the onus of
boring corporate meetings on the speakers themselves. No
one is too important to consider their audience, and Mr.
Iapoce effectively nudges “suits” to loosen their ties
and deliver their messages effectively. Its comedic tips
are simply that: tips for catching the attention of
listeners thus ensuring that one is “heard.”
He presents the basics of writing humorously in a clear,
step-by-step fashion, and reveals invaluable tricks of
the trade for creating one’s own custom-tailored jokes
using techniques employed by professional comedy
writers. Also provides short one-line jokes arranged by
subject, as well as longer, story-type jokes arranged by
the meaning or the point that the story illustrates.
What makes this book so good is that you can make jokes
of your own that fit the occasion — it isn’t just a run
of the mill joke book.
“Excellent! It even works for lawyers!, Few gatherings
cry out for humor as loudly as those in which all the
attendees are lawyers. Let’s face it: they’re usually
the joke, not the jokers”
