Everybody’s a comedian | Entertainers Go Corporate

By Courtny Lingle, Denver Business Journal

“I was always sort of goofy,” said Brad Montgomery with a genuine smile and a giggle straight from the gut. In his profession, being goofy is an asset.

Montgomery is one of a growing number of people around the country using humor to spice up conventions and the workplace and relay important messages to corporations via jokes, stand-up and improvisational comedy, humorous anecdotes and even magic.

Montgomery, a Denver local and self-proclaimed “funny motivational speaker and humorist,” says these days people seem to need humor more than ever.

“People need to be coached into remembering that life rocks,” said Montgomery, who has been speaking to audiences in Denver, Colorado and across the country for about 15 years.

With a bad economy, massive layoffs and the anniversary of Sept. 11 hanging like a thundercloud over people’s heads, a joker like Montgomery might be just what the doctor ordered – and a creative way for companies to achieve success.

Colorado funny motivational speakers like Montgomery say adding a humor to a meeting, convention or training session can be a phenomenal way to boost morale, get a message across or just lighten the mood to make a long, boring day of meetings a little more bearable.

Chris and Tim O’Shea of Experience Productions said humor and improv can make for better relationships between co-workers.They’ve performed in front of companies as big as Hewlett-Packard and Travelers Express.

“It really helps you to see your colleagues in a different light,” Chris O’Shea said. “It really helps with building morale. You have a different relationship after you’ve laughed together. When you have laughed together, you work together better. You have a common experience that’s based on something positive.”

The husband-and-wife team said humor is sometimes the best way to get a message across. “It helps employee retention,” he said. “People think, ‘This company is fun and sometimes funny, I don’t want to leave.’”

Montgomery said bringing using humor and laughter can also be a good way to soften the blow of problems that affect a company, such as layoffs, and a great way to deal with change.

Montgomery recalled speaking to a group of health care employees in Los Angeles who were facing major changes in leadership coupled with the introduction of a new software.

“I put that change back into perspective,” said Montgomery, who began his program by introducing himself as the new president. “Change is going to happen anyway, so you might as well laugh about it.”

Most of the people doing corporate motivational humor have a background in comedy and or theater. But as Kevin Fitzgerald described it, “Corporate entertaining is very different than club work because of the nature of the beast.” Fitzgerald is a veterinarian for Alameda East Veterinary Hospital and appears frequently on Animal Planet’s reality TV show “Emergency Vets.” He also works as a stand-up comedian and corporate entertainer. Fitzgerald said that diversity of audience is a major difference, because often the only thing people have in common is work. There are other challenges to entertaining in a work environment, such as political correctness and fear of offending someone.

“Can it be funny when the sun’s up?” Fitzgerald asked. “Can it be funny if people don’t have drinks in front of them? Can it be funny if they’re sitting next to their boss?” He said it’s also more difficult because they do not go to a meeting or conference expecting to laugh. “They didn’t ask for comedy, they have to be there,” he said. “They’re not with their friends, they’re with the people they work with. But they’re desperate to laugh.”

The great thing about humor is that when it is done well, it reaches everyone from the 60-year-old veteran about to retire to the 22-year-old newbie starting his first day on the job, Fitzgerald explained. “The best humor touches all of us,” he said. “They both laugh if you do it right.”

Colorado funny motivational speakers and humorists entertainers said that because of a growing awareness of the effectiveness of this approach and the increase in the number of conferences and conventions coming to Denver, the corporate entertainment industry is flourishing.

“I think people are tired of just hearing the boss speaking,” said Fitzgerald, noting that the local demand for corporate entertainment has gone up tremendously. “Denver has really taken off as a nationally recognized destination for conventions,” he said.

The O’Sheas said that while business was down for a short while after Sept. 11, that tragedy seems to have increased people’s desire for this sort of program. “I think there’s certainly a greater appreciation for it,” Chris said. “For us, the demand is going up.” Ireland said she attributes the growth in popularity of her programs over the past 10 years to changes in our society.

“I think that there is more anger out there because we have so many more stressers in life today,” she said. “And I think sometimes [companies] get to a point where they’re having a large turnover and people are going to employers and requesting these kinds of seminars.”

Montgomery said he thinks the future of funny motivational speakers looks bright. “The industry is recession proof,” he said. “Even when things get bad, people want to laugh and need to laugh. Even when the economy is good, people still have problems.”

Montgomery noted that while the industry is growing and business is good for him and many of his colleagues, there are still people in his line of work who are not as busy. However, he said he believes the growth in demand and, therefore, higher expectations on the part of corporations seeking entertainers will “weed out some of the people who aren’t as good.”

While Montgomery, Ireland, the O’Sheas and Fitzgerald have all been speaking and entertaining for several years, the greater demand for programs like theirs has meant more comedians and speakers entering into the industry at the local and national levels. But many say the nature of the industry dictates the more the merrier. “Probably a company is only going to have me in once,” explained Ireland. “So we’re not really competing against each other. It’s not like the world of acting where there is only one part. There’s plenty of work for everybody.”

Tim O’Shea said the network of corporate entertainers in the Denver area is a tight-knit group of people who often share clients and celebrate each other’s successes. “A lot of our ‘quote-unquote’ competitors are our friends,” he said.

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Brad Montgomery is a Colorado funny motivational speaker and humorist comedian. He presents his inspirational and motivational keynotes across Colorado and the United States.

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Related links:
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Other funny motivational speakers

Politicians Know Speeches

If you listen to the main political keynote speeches, you will hear two techniques being utilized extensively: The Phrase That Pays and Theme Weaving. A Phrase That Pays is a short phrase such as Walk Your Talk or Cast Your Ballot that calls the listener to action. It is short and sweet, musical and rhythmic and generally begins with a verb or action word. There is generally one predominant Phrase That Pays in an important speech. Theme Weaving is the repetition of a theme that is woven throughout the speech to emphasize the theme or core message of the speech. When the stakes are high, a speaker needs to ensure that his or her audience takes home the message that they intend to convey. Branding an idea, concept or phrase into the listener’s mind is accomplished by using a Phrase That Pays and then weaving it throughout the speech. Right now, both political parties are staking their future on their ability to weave a theme better than the other guy. The best speechwriters in the country are teaching valuable lessons in message branding by using theme weaving with a Phrase That Pays. Watch, listen and learn. Theme Weaving with a Phrase That Pays works for the big dogs in politics and it works for you and me, as well. It doesn’t matter to whom you are speaking or what topic you are speaking about, theme weaving using a Phrase That Pays is advanced adult learning technology at work. (See Never Be Boring Again, Chapter 12)

Repetition

We all know that repetition aids retention. Many of us know the Pledge of Allegiance simply because we repeated every day in school. Many of us learned the alphabet by singing it over and over again with a simple tune. To this day, you probably recite the alphabet using the tune you learned as a child. We seldom learn something the first time. It takes many impressions, experiences (or mistakes!) to fully integrate a lesson. As a speaker you will use thousands of words in the course of a speech. The challenge is to get your audience to remember something that you said. If they can’t remember and retain what you said, you were merely talking up wind in a hurricane to a deaf man walking the other direction. They heard it but they didn’t learn it. The solution, weave the theme with a Phrase That Pays. To brand your core message into your listener’s brain, you must start planning your speech with the core message in mind. Before you write a single word, answer this question, “What do I want my audience to think or do?” Don’t worry about coming up with the main thought, concept or action immediately. Brainstorm. Mind map. Write all of your ideas down and then rank them by priority from high to low. Do this alone or better yet, form a team. If you’re in politics, create a task force! Then get a committee to investigate the task force. Create a commission to review the results of the committee! Or, if you’re like me, run your ideas by your wife, your kids, or the dog!

Get the Phrase

Finally, choose one core message and transform it into a Phrase That Pays/call to action. Once you have your Phrase That Pays, build your speech making sure to lead all sub-points back to it. Weave the theme. As I listened to Bill Clinton’s speech on the opening night of the Democratic Convention, he wove the phrase, “send me,” throughout the speech. It was used to sell the idea that John Kerry has chosen, over the course of his life, to volunteer for the hard duty. “Send me,” represented an attitude of service. After he’d first introduced it, Mr. Clinton repeated this phrase approximately every 90 seconds. He’d describe a situation in which John Kerry had done something ethical, moral or brave. Then Mr. Clinton would end the example by saying something like, “When no one else was willing to step up to the plate, John Kerry said, “Send Me.” By the third time he said it, Mr. Clinton had created a cadence that orchestrated the audience into saying the phrase in unison with him.

By the time you read this, the Democratic Convention will be over. In August you will hear the same techniques repeated at the Republican Convention. Regardless of where you live on the planet, if you pay attention and study the best speakers, in and out of politics, you will begin to recognize theme weaving with a Phrase That Pays. You will hear it time and again because it works. Some listeners may feel as if they are being talked down to, but as a speaker you must understand the principle that is at work. Repetition aids retention. When you weave the theme, it clarifies and simplifies your message. It makes you focus on one clear point and allows your audience to focus as well. Bad speeches are notable for their lack of clarity and focus. The speaker rambles, leading their listener on a wild goose chase. The only problem is, there’s no goose. This makes audience members mad. They show their displeasure by tuning out. The speaker wastes everyone’s time and leaves the podium less credible than when they approached it. Are the stakes high when you give a speech or presentation? Is your credibility and professional image important to you? Would you like to blow people away when you speak rather than giving them another boring recitation of facts? Then take a hint from the professionals. Don’t give a speech. Craft a presentation. Don’t tell people what you want them to hear. Invite them into an experience. Don’t wait until the last minute. Begin preparation three weeks out.

Create a theme and then weave the theme. I was recently brought in to work with a corporate client on an important speech. They hired me to take the facts, data and information which needed to be included in the speech and weave them into a narrative, a story. There were eight people on the team and me. For three days, we sat around a huge conference table in the belly of a city-block-long building. Everyone brainstormed ideas. We scribbled on huge easel boards and drew diagrams on chalkboards. We wrestled with what needed to be in the speech and what had to be cut. It was fun. And productive. In the end, we created a magical script for a wonderful speech. The story that held it all together included their facts and data, but it also contained humanity and humor. We chose a phrase that pays and wove it into the speech. The phrase was repeated throughout. They realized up front that without a story, the speech would be boring. They also knew the stakes were too high to let that happen. The Fortune 100 corporation that hired me was willing to dedicate time, money and people to craft what they deemed to be a “turning point” speech. How about you? Are you ready to take speaking seriously and reap the harvest of your brilliance? Can you handle the adulation? Are you ready for a raise? Dedicate time. Find a Phrase That Pays. Weave the theme!

Copyright 2005 by Doug Stevenson. Reprinted with permission. Doug Stevenson is the creator of the Story Theater Method. He is an author, keynote speaker, and workshop leader. Reach Doug at www.storytheater.net or 800.573.6196