I love to start off presentations with an attention grabbing cartoon like this one.  Even though it pretty much state’s the obvious, it’s enough to draw the audience in so that I can share the message that I have.

Depending on the length of the presentation, I might even squeeze a few more in to give the audience a break from time-to-time.  It’s important the cartoon not be so complex as to distract the listeners. A single panel, black and white cartoon is usually sufficient with a one or two sentence caption.

I also use these cartoons as an opportunity to take a break.  A clever cartoon provides a segue from topic to topic giving me a chance to shift gears before starting-in on the next topic.

I haven’t done much in the way of social media, but I believe cartoons work the same way as with presentations. They can serve as visual separators between large groups of text.

Where do you find cartoons?

There are so many cartoon websites on the internet today–just google “Business Cartoons” to see for yourself.  The quality of cartoons doesn’t differ as much as the style and relevance.  The pricing is probably the characteristic that stands out the most to me.  There are three or four cartoon sites that stand out from the rest in terms of quality, selection and style, but the pricing on all of them leave a lot to be desired.  If they offer prices at all, they attempt to bind the buyer as to how they can use the cartoons and how many times they can use them–or worse, how long they can use the cartoon before licensing it.

I recommend Designer Hipster Cartoons because the cartoons, at the time of this post, are only $5 each, and can be used however you want as long as you don’t sell them.  I can download a full-sized cartoon, try it out and then pay five bucks if I use it.