Laugh and Learn: 95 Ways to Use Humor for More Effective Teaching and Training

  • 3h 39m
  • Doni Tamblyn
  • AMACOM
  • 2003

It’s no joke—as funny as it may sound, incorporating humor in the classroom can get you serious results. Used properly, it draws people together, helps engage participants’ memory without them even realizing it, and substantially reduces the sense of stress that can effectively shut down people’s ability to learn. But what if—gasp!—you’re not a naturally funny person?

In Laugh and Learn, corporate trainer and former professional comedian Doni Tamblyn shows how anyone can energize training sessions with a little dose of humor. Based on years of experience and research on learning theory, Laugh and Learn provides tons of challenging exercises and thought-provoking games to help you increase your own Humor Quotient and immediately engage the emotion of participants. It is the one resource you need to keep even the most resistant trainees laughing—and learning.

About the Author

Doni Tamblyn is president of HumorRules, a Philadelphia-based consulting firm that helps organizations create more positive work environments and whose clients include Chevron Corp, Wells Fargo Bank, the USDA, and other Fortune 500 companies. She is the author of The Big Book of Humorous Training Games, a frequent speaker at training conferences, and a former stand-up comic.

In this Book

  • You've Got to Start Here: What is Humor, Anyway?
  • Come to Think of it, What is Brain-Compatible Learning?
  • Okay, so Why Use Humor to Deliver Brain-Compatible Learning?
  • It's Easy-And You Can Make it Easier Five Rules for using Humor Naturally, Successfully, and without Fear
  • Deposing the Brain's Great Oppressors—Threat and High Stress
  • Drawing People Together to Enlist "The Social Brain"
  • Relevancy and Visual Memory—Two Powerful Mnemonics
  • Engaging Emotion
  • "I Need My Space!"—Giving the Brain Regular Breathers for Enhanced Learning
  • Laugh in the Face of Fear!
  • I Can't Believe I'm Writing this Chapter
  • The Best Chapter in the Book
  • Endnotes
  • Bibliography
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