I was invited to the How to Web conference to give a talk on proactive community moderation, but I left with more than just having done that — I also explored a glorious part of the world and made a bunch of new friends. Comrades and collaborators who all understood the value of the web and how it can help us collaborate.
By no means was this my first talk I've given, but it was one of the talks I'm most proud of having given.
This talk stood out for a few different reasons:
First IRL international talk under my belt! 🎉
I received great feedback from the conference organizers and attendees of my talk.
My talk was described as a "fun, insightful look in the world of online community." (Yes, I immediately added that Twitter DM I received after my talk to the 'wins' folder).
I rickrolled the audience in the name of education. 😉
Now, I'm all for fun, games, and a laugh or two — I am, after all, a standup comedian by night. But sometimes, we sacrifice learning and insights when we lean into fun and games.
I struggled earlier on in my career to find the right balance between "fun" and "educational" and ended up more like a bad take of the One Semester of Spanish Lovesong.
Here are some tips I've learned to effectively marry the content divide between fun and functional in the content arena.
Understand the point you want to make — how does your commentary move the narrative of that point forward?
If you have to "force" the plot forward because you're making a joke — it's not worth it. Your audience will be confused and struggle to draw a connection. Remember, your audience doesn't know the topic as much as you do; you're the expert in the room. Make it easy for them to understand what they should take away from this conversation.
Know the stage you're on.
Different stages have different tolerance levels for comedy. Given I was at a very online, very tech-savvy audience, I understood internet humor would perform well. This was a primarily international audience. English Many folks spoke English as a second language. Satire, sarcasm, or other points of humor may not have landed as well as the rickroll because of the amount of nuance, context clues, and other subtleties that were to take shape. This doesn't mean it wouldn't be possible, but is it fun to make your audience work to understand your humor? Keep it simple.
Tie it together.
IMHO, nothing is worse than when you read a book and an author gets overly carried away in a side tangent or plot detour that doesn't matter or add value. Sure the joke could offer terrific prose and descriptive powers — but it also could open up confusion and frustration if not done well. How can you tie your humor or jokes into other parts of your talk?
In my case, I could connect the dots to show how the glorious Rick Astley has become a more harmless form of internet trolling on the larger spectrum of all internet trolls.
If you're not having fun, neither is your audience.
At the end of the day, if you're not having fun, neither is your audience. Take the stage with purpose and for a reason; entertain, delight, and inform with your words, mannerisms, and habits. Your audience came to see you and the content you're delivering. In the words of John Mulaney, canceling plans is as addictive as heroin. If you're fortunate to be a plan that someone isn't planning on canceling, make it worth their while. 😉
How do you have fun in what you do?
What are your tips for having fun and incorporating humor in the talks or educational content you create? How do you surprise and delight your audience on a stage or video screen?
Let me know! I'm always looking to level up my repertoire!
🏄🏼♀️ Catch you online.
Erin
This post was originally posted on erinmikailstaples.com
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