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Presentation Skills That Will Take You to the Top (Collection)
book

Presentation Skills That Will Take You to the Top (Collection)

by Jerry Weissman
August 2011
Beginner
712 pages
16h 22m
English
Pearson
Content preview from Presentation Skills That Will Take You to the Top (Collection)

4. Beware of Jokes: Dispelling a Common False Belief

One of the most pervasive pieces of advice bandied about in the presentation trade is to start a speech or a presentation with a joke. Wrong! No one can guarantee the success or failure of any joke—certainly not a businessperson, but not even a professional comedian.

Consider Johnny Carson. The legendary talk-show host spent 30 years on late-night television telling jokes written by a crack team of professional, experienced comedy writers, but the jokes didn’t always work. Fortunately, one of Johnny’s greatest assets was his ability to recover from failed jokes. Whenever a scripted gag elicited no reaction or even groans from his audience, Mr. Carson mugged a silent take or made a comment about ...

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Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9780132808491