| Are you the office jokester? Humor can be a | | | | than lots of mediocre humor in your retirement |
| great method for breaking the ice at the | | | | speech. |
| beginning of a retirement speech. Jokes can place | | | | - For inspiration, consider watching comedy shows |
| both the audience and the speaker at ease when | | | | or searching online, modifying the jokes where |
| used correctly. If used incorrectly however, | | | | appropriate to fit your given situation and |
| unintended effects may be experienced. Follow | | | | personality. |
| the tips below to increase the likelihood of | | | | - Be careful not to offend the individual. It might |
| producing a funny retirement speech. | | | | be funny to reminisce about the time that Bill got |
| Tips to consider when adding humor into your | | | | his hand caught in the vending machine, but only if |
| own retirement speech: | | | | he thinks it's funny as well. He may be |
| - Never tell a joke for its own sake. It must be | | | | embarrassed by the incident, particularly if |
| relevant; you can't just throw in ‘why did the | | | | described at his retirement party. It's also |
| chicken cross the road', or some other generic | | | | probably not funny to talk about the time Bill's |
| joke for a laugh. | | | | chair broke under his weight, or the time his |
| - Be yourself; some people can pull off a hilarious | | | | project went over budget. Which statements to |
| speech, but if it's not your style, don't worry as | | | | include is your judgment call; be careful. |
| humor is certainly not a prerequisite for a | | | | - It is okay to base your jokes on real events, |
| successful retirement speech. | | | | but embellish them a little. For example, Jim |
| - If you do decide to include humor in your | | | | burning the toast is funnier if you say, "Jim nearly |
| retirement speech, find one or two places to | | | | burnt down the office." |
| incorporate the jokes. Once you have chosen the | | | | When you incorporate these tips when preparing |
| jokes and their placement, polish them. Ensure | | | | for your retirement speech, you will be able to |
| that the humor is witty and personalized. It is best | | | | add that bit of humor to enhance the delivery and |
| to have a smaller amount of personalized humor, | | | | style of your message. |