It is nice to stay close to home. All I had to do is drive down the road to the DMACC Conference center located in the Culinary Center to address the leadership of SHRM.

At the very least I knew I was going to get some great breakfast pastries…

For those who don’t know, SHRM is an acronym for the Society of Human Resource Managers. A fantastic organization, one that I have spoken to on a few occasions here in central Iowa. This group was different, leadership from all over the state gathered in Ankeny to have an all day workshop, which I was privileged to kick off.

The best part for me was my contact person, Sharon Dralle, who helped me create a new program with a leadership focus. She was also instrumental in helping me get my program approved for continuing education units or CEU’s for the SHRM attendees. Every so often you meet someone with real vision who understands what this is all about and pushes me to be a better speaker. From start to finish, this program lit up the Culinary Conference Center and the group was amazing.

And I got crum cake…scrumptious crum cake…what a great gig!

And Gavin Jerome was there. And what  wild time it was. One of the generous vendor partners provided a free “happy hour” for attendees of the event before dinner. The beverages were flowing and the everyone was having a great time.

I was glad as well, because I figure that the more they drank, the funnier I would be…

By the time dinner had finished and I had started my program, everyone was in a perfect mood. These folks work unbelievable hours and the message I provided was a needed one. As one attendee put it,

“Thanks for the great time! Great material. We all definitely need to laugh every day!”

Meeting planner Heather Hill was very pleased and for the first half of the program acted as event photographer for me. I am not an easy one to photograph as I move around quite a bit and I am a little bit “animated” when I speak.

Still, the program has something for everyone and attendees left with a renewed sense of purpose as they head into fall harvest season.

And the lasting lesson learned is even if it is an open bar, DON’T order a Long Island Iced Tea if you are not used to drinking them…

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Many companies are struggling and their morale is at an all time low. So the Morale Mechanic is rolling up his sleeves and pitching in.

The Morale Mechanic has announced HIS brand new Humor Stimulus Package specifically tailored to fit any and all companies, associations or budget. Gavin’s main morale boosting workshop now comes with several added elements dealing with the current crisis and presents it in a way to make every attendee smile and be re-energized.

“That is the really scary part of this economic climate. The one thing companies SHOULD NOT DO is forget the morale of their people. It is the employees that make a business great and it is your people who will keep it afloat during the tough times…”

A morale boost is often needed and concrete skills need to be learned in order to deal with this in a positive way WITHOUT losing perspective or your sense of humor. A humor stimulus package from the Morale Mechanic could be just the ticket.

And I will share it with your company at a discount…

If you or your company need a morale boost during this tough economic climate, contact the offices of The Morale Mechanic today and ask about the special Humor Stimulus Package and the deep discount it provides. You will be glad you did!

The Des Moines Register covered the affair that took place on the Budweiser/ABC5 stage and my quote lead off the story.

“There is no award given at the Fair more prestigious than the title of Mullet champion.”

Sponsored by the Iowa School of Beauty, an organization that I have done consulting work for, this event literally FILLED the Budweiser stage and the huge crowd was cheering for their favorites.

In the end, a resident of Omaha by way of Atlantic, Iowa made the trek to the fair to enter the contest and the competition was stiff. Coming in second and third were the winner and runner up last year.

We were lucky to have great judges from all over the metro including:

• Avant Garde Beauty Supplies, Inc.
• Atelier Hairspace
• House of Hair in Ames
• Blondies Beauty Parlor on Ingersoll
• Artwork by Shawn Palek

The grand prize winner got product and prizes and a special airbrushed painting of Joe Dirt done by sponsor Shawn Palek.

The vision of NSA is to be the recognized community for developing the content expertise, platform excellence and business knowledge of those who speak professionally. It’s mission is to advance the art and value of those who speak professionally.

I was very fortunate to be a part of the NSA-Minnesota chapter at the beginning of my speaking career and the info I garnered and the friends I made shortened my learning curve by years.

I highly recommend this organization to anyone thinking of speaking as a business and anyone who is thinking of hiring a speaker should give huge weight to those speakers who fly the NSA designation on all their promotional material.

Joining NSA was truly the best move I ever made in furthering my speaking career. Check them out at www.nsaspeaker.org.

Margaret Gustafson, CEO of Kewanee Hospital in Kewanee Illinios is just such a person. After seeing me present at the Rural Health Care Conference in Phoenix, Arizona, Margaret immediately hired the Morale Mechanic to boost the morale of her troops.

In what I remember is one of the coldest days in Midwest history, I drove to Kewanee and put on two different programs, one for staff and one for the board. There were worries whether or not such a message would be received well by the board and administration.

It was. In fact, they enjoyed it as much or more than the staff.

Margaret then booked me for a return engagement where I build upon the program I shared before and lightened and enlightened the staff once again in two separate programs. A facility like hers really has fantastic morale and I believe it trickles down from the top. Although it seems that sometimes I am preaching to the choir, a nice reminder of some of these morale boosting principles is good now and then.

And yes, the weather for the second program was ALMOST as cold as the first. Someday I would love to speak in Kewanee in the summertime…

Filled with exercises and illustrations, this book promises to make you funnier. It can’t make you funny. Certain people suffer from such humor constipation that even a laxative of THIS magnitude will not unblock the system, but it will make you FUNNIER.

That begs the question, “Can humor be taught?”

Absolutely. Humor is a muscle, the more you use it the stronger it will become. Nobody is born funny. One of my favorite quotes on this subject comes from comedian extrodinaire Jerry Seinfeld. He recalls his early days in comedy and notes:

“I used to rush my jokes just to get to the funny one…”

This book takes you step by step, teaching you the basics of what humor is, why people laugh and how to create humor in four easy steps. It also reveals that there are only 7 forms a joke can take. If you learn these 7 tricks, creating punchlines will be a snap!

I sell this book via internet and at the back of the room after most of his presentation. It is a “must have” for any collection of humor books and instruction. Get your copy HERE.

Objective: The main objective of Customer Service Comes From Within, is to help companies and organizations provide better internal and external customer service.

Content: This multi-faceted program includes but is not limited to:

• How do YOU define customer service
• Why are most companies lousy at it?
• Differences between internal and extrenal
• Customer Service Horror Stories
• Small Service Step to improve your Customer Service

Objective: The main objective of Speak Softly and Carry a Big Schtick is to provide attendees with valuable tools in order to manage workplace stress.

Content: This laugh a minute stress busting program includes but is not limited to:

• What is Stress?
• Dealing with Workplace Stress
• Laugh at stress WHILE is it happening
• Learn to Go With The Flow
• Humor Helps Manage Conflict
• Defuse conflict even BEFORE it occurs

Objective: The main objective of They’ll Listen if They’re Laughing is to provide communication tools and teach how to use humor to communicate more effectively.

Content: This hands-on program includes but is not limited to:

• What is Communication?
• Why are we so BAD at it?
• The Closest distance between people is humor
• Listening tools, techniques and skills
• How to Poke Fun without Offending
• The 4 things you should NEVER joke about