Think Like a
Comedian
Serious Business Doesn’t
Have to be Seriously Boring
“They say tragedy plus time equals comedy, but nobody said it had to take a long time.”
Merit Kahn
Discover How Humor, Curiosity and Comic Timing Create Better Leaders, Teams and Humans
What can business audiences learn from comedians? More than you might think.
As a Certified Speaking Professional, clean touring comedian and business strategist, Merit Kahn reveals how comedic thinking helps people reframe stress, communicate more effectively, recover faster and approach challenges with greater creativity and perspective.
This laugh-out-loud keynote or interactive breakout delivers practical tools audiences can use immediately, because thinking like a comedian isn’t about telling jokes. It’s about finding new perspectives and thinking better under pressure.
Audiences Walk Away Able To:
✓ Reframe stress, setbacks and difficult people with greater agility
✓ Use humor to de-escalate tension and deepen connection
✓ Strengthen creativity, presence and communication under pressure
Best For:
Leadership meetings, innovation events, sales kickoffs, conferences and teams that could use fresh thinking and lighter hearts.
Let’s Talk About Your EventWhat ChatGPT Won't Do for You When It Comes to Sales, Leadership, and Communication.
In a world increasingly powered by AI, the human advantage has never been more valuable. ChatGPT can generate answers. It won't build trust for you, navigate a difficult conversation, uncover unspoken concerns, or help someone feel truly heard. Those skills still belong to humans.
In this engaging keynote or interactive breakout, Merit shares how curiosity-driven communication helps leaders and teams build trust, navigate difficult conversations and uncover opportunities that others miss.
Blending practical tools, audience interaction and clean comedy, this program helps people communicate with more confidence, connect with greater impact and create momentum through the power of better questions.
Audiences Walk Away Able To:
✓ Ask questions that open dialogue instead of trigger defensiveness
✓ Use curiosity to build trust and uncover opportunity
✓ Communicate with more influence, empathy and confidence
Best For:
Sales kickoffs, leadership events, communication programs, client-facing teams and organizations navigating change.
Let’s Talk About Your Event
Open Minds,
Open Doors
How Better Questions Open Conversations,
Opportunities and Outcomes
“Questions are the answers... Nothing happens until their mind is open to receiving your ideas, solutions and insights.”
Merit Kahn
Unmute
Yourself
Presence is not about speaking louder.
It’s about connecting deeper.
“People don’t open up when they feel managed. They open up when they feel met.”
Merit Kahn
Discover how to use emotional intelligence, humor and human connection to become a stronger presence in every room.
In a world full of noise, influence belongs to those who communicate with clarity, empathy and presence.
In this energizing keynote or interactive breakout, Merit shows how emotional intelligence and relatable humor help people speak up, connect authentically and lead conversations that matter.
Practical, interactive and deeply human, this program helps audiences strengthen the interpersonal skills technology can’t replace.
Audiences Walk Away Able To:
✓ Increase presence and confidence under pressure
✓ Use emotional intelligence to strengthen communication and trust
✓ Find connection through authenticity, empathy and humor
Best For:
Leadership development, women’s conferences, people leaders and culture-focused events.
Let’s Talk About Your EventA one-woman inspiring comedy experience about resilience, reinvention and rewriting what comes next.
This is not a keynote in the traditional sense.
It is a theatrical keynote experience that blends storytelling, stand-up, original performance and transformational insight in a way audiences never forget.
Equal parts laughter and perspective, Optimistic Personality Disorder invites audiences to laugh hard, reflect deeply and leave seeing their own story through a more hopeful lens.
Think TED Talk meets theater… with a tequila shot.
Audiences Walk Away Able To:
✓ Reframe adversity through humor and perspective
✓ Rediscover possibility in the next chapter
✓ Leave lighter, braver and more open
Best For:
Women’s conferences, opening or closing general sessions, association events and special event entertainment.
Available As:
• Featured General Session
• Evening Entertainment
• Fundraiser / Special Event
Let’s Talk About Your Event
Optimistic
Personality Disorder
Part inspiring keynote.
Part theater.
Part shared human truth.
“Rewrite your past. Rewire your future.”
Merit Kahn
Let’s Find the Right Program for Your Audience
Whether you need a keynote, breakout, event emcee or a little clean comic relief woven throughout your conference, let’s create something unforgettable.
Merit Kahn
CSP – Emotional Intelligence Expert – Clean Comedian – Event Emcee