Organizational speech humor

by Michael
(Portland, OR)

A while back when I was still in college, I was the regional coordinator, or vice president, for a young men's organization called DeMolay. It is a character building organization for young men ages 12-21 across America and many other countries.


As the regional coordinator, I was invited to speak at state conventions in my designated area which included WA, OR, CA, ID, HI, BC, and AK. There was never any criteria for my speeches, just say something inspirational or funny that would cater to a 12-21 year old mind and also have some small message to take away.

One particular speech I thought went very well for me was in Nov. of 2004, right after Arnold Schwarzenegger had been elected Governor of California. This was great news for my speech since I love to use current events as humor, and I was giving my speech in the senate chamber of the capitol of California in Sacramento, of all places.

So, I opened my speech with a line that puzzled people at first. I said, "My California brethren, you all must feel so safe and assured in this state. For if you were to be attacked by time traveling robots (Terminator), Crisp (Kindergarten Cop), pregnant men (Junior), terrorists (True Lies), or you need help finding your long lost twin (Twins),.... your governor, the governator, could tackle each issue one on one." It was written better than that but you get the gist.

I think that if you're a speaker making a presentation or training in a different city, it's always fun to start of by using a current event as a joke in a positive way about the place you're in, while maybe putting down where you're from.

This usually seems to get you going on the right foot with a crowd and helps make them feel good about where they're from if you say something about where you are from that sounds dumb/funny.

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