Using humour at events

"And of course I'm pretty sure everybody knows Jemima better than we'd like to..."

Is humour suitable for use at events? 

• humour can make people feel very bonded and engaged if it's done well but also quite alienated if it isn't
• we're all pretty much SCARED by the same things, but most of us find quite different things funny
• the problem with humour at large corporate events is that not everyone is actually there to engage with the speaker - particularly standup - and if using a comedian you actually need to hire a specialist one for corporate events because they need to be quite skilled to engage the audience at such events because it tends to fall fall flat if groups of people in the experience space continue their own interactions, and some don't
• Corporate comedians cost more than normal standup comedians.
• the type of humour that will work depends a lot on the culture of the organisation  - or the family group - and the comedian will need to research this carefully first. I'm involved in the comedy business and there's nothing worse than watching a comedian - even some quite well known headliners - wander in cold and not really know what the socre is with the audience - and timing, drunkeness, previous acts, etc all play a role in the audience interaction.
• the problem with humour and comedy is that a lot of people who think they're funny, just aren't. I've even worked with professional comedians who actually aren't that funny with certain audiences.
• It's a real skill - a fusion of brand, humour, jokes as vehicles, and a whole variety of experience design elements which need to be carefully thought out and designed beforehand - not for the faint hearted.
• if you want to talk to me more about different types of humour, etc. then I'd be happy to engage.

I was one of the speakers at Confex in London recently, and there was some serious faux-pas being meted out there by some of the speakers, and in a comedy club you can get away with it, but in a corporate event, I'm not so sure.

Some of this stuff is covered in my new book also entitled "Events Management: An Introduction" which is totally cutting edge and can be found here: