I was recently in Illinois speaking at a teacher in service.  I LOVE speaking for educators!   And happily, this group was pleased to see me too.   How do YOU know if your motivational speaker is any good? There are several ways to guarantee success but one way is to hear from former clients. Check out this video:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXgmkaq5xM4

Looking for a motivational speaker for your event?   <a href=”http://www.bradmontgomery.com/contact”>Contact me here</a>.

Brad Montgomery
Speaker for Educators, Motivational Speaker, Fan of School District In Services

For those of you who prefer to read, here is the transcript:

Brad:    Hey it’s Brad Montgomery from BradMontgomery.com.  I just worked in McHenry, Illinois as an Education

Colorado Speaker

Speaker; total blast.  They had me do three different sessions; it was sort of like a teacher in service, but they had everybody there, classified and non-classified staff.  It was a blast and the cool thing it went well, so let’s listen to see what my client Fred had to say about it.

Fred:    Hey I’m Fred Laudadio, and I am the Director of Learning and Technology for McHenry school district 15.  We used Brad Montgomery for our opening day, and our school district is eight schools; 5,000 students and about 500 staff members.  So, Brad did an excellent job.  He made people laugh until they cried and people just truly enjoyed his humor and his magic.  In making the decision to choose Brad, it really came down to who would be the best fit for our school district and truly somebody with a  vision, but also that uses humor that is important to a lot of people.  And we took a risk, because in previous years, the speakers we were able to go watch personally before we chose them and with Brad he was actually across the country, I believe in Mexico with his family at the time, and so we did a lot of work over the phone and we also called a couple of other school districts that he presented at.  And to no regret, Brad was phenomenal and I would recommend to anyone for educational presentation or any business presentation.  So thank you very much.

Brad:    No, thank you.  You said something that you’re already getting feedback, electronic feedback, personal feedback, can you speak to that?

Fred:    Yes, it’s only been about a half an hour since Brad spoke and we’ve gotten e-mails from teachers, we’ve had administrators already approach us, we’ve had even our Superintendent say to previous years’ speakers, we honestly don’t know how you can match one speaker from one year to the next, and you know, Brad has met the challenge to the tenth degree.  So everyone was very pleased and feedback is coming in via e-mail and even face-to-face from a lot of people.  So, whoo hoo.

Brad:      And one more thing, you took advantage and I thought were smart, to have me do multiple sessions.  Tell them what we did and how did it work.

Fred:    Sure.  This is our big opening day and so what we do is we meet with all of the certified staff, teachers, secretaries, any classification meets and so that is a huge presentation.  And so that is what we did first today and that was about an hour and fifteen minutes long and Brad completely nailed it which was fantastic.  Then, we met and we did something different this year and that was because Brad was flexible and agreed to that, was we took our administrative staff and we brought them into the learning center, and we have about 35 to 40 of them on our team, and Brad gave them a message personalized just for them and tailored to what we as leaders need to do as an inspiration for the people that work underneath us and that’s at all levels, from both a central office level and a school level.  And lastly we met with the food service team for the school district.  A team that not necessarily has ever gotten somebody to come and speak to them and motivate them; a particular team that has a lot of turnover and a group that needs motivation.  And so Brad came in and was able to speak with them and gave them a message that they were able to walk away with and even just five minutes ago we’ve had three or four food service people come up and thank him for the message that he gave them.  So three completely different crowds and three very inspired groups of people.

Brad:      Thanks.

Fred:      You’re welcome.

Brad:      **** as that, but one of the things that I wanted you to notice from Fred is that if you’re booking an education speaker, you might want to think about using me, taking advantage of me in a good way, the same way Fred did.  So, he had me do a key note speech for all of his educators, for classified and non-classified staff.  And then we followed that with that deal for the leaders, and that was a really cool moment where we took the administrators, put them in a small group, and then we shaped the message and kind of reminded them specifically as leaders how does this message apply to you.  How can you use levity and lightheartedness and happiness and joy to make sure that your job as an administrator is, you know, that you’re running at full speed.

And finally, how cool was it that he separated the nutrition folks, you know, they were lunch ladies.  They were surprised, totally surprised to have a speaker come in for them, and it was also fun, because they were really quiet, but in the end it was clear that that was a great investment of time and fun.

So, if you’re looking for a speaker to come speak to your school district, or your schools, if you’re looking for an educator speaker that’s funny and can still make it relevant, I’d love to be your to be your guy.  Come visit at BradMontgomery.com.  Thanks.

Ok, perhaps I should explain.  I just did a full-day seminar / training for the support staff at Colorado Mountain College.  This is a great group of folks that run the many campuses all over the state.

I commonly take groups for a 1/2 of training and motivation.  But I was lucky to get this group for a fully day.  (From a guy who used to do 20-minute magic shows, this is a big change.)  But with a full day, we’re really able to create some lasting change.

It was an absolute hoot for a dozen reasons.  But top on that list was that this group of folks were ready to commit.  They were ready to give what I had a try.  And the result was awesome.

Not all groups are so willing.  With most of my seminar and training clients it takes me a while to get the group to trust me and to be comfortable.  Sometimes that takes a ton of time and energy.  Don’t get me wrong;  I love a challenge, so wary and skeptical groups bring their own rewards.

But this group from Colorado Mountain College was gung ho (whatever that means, but I’m pretty sure it means they were up for anything that seemed fun and valuable) from the start.  Heck, they were laughing while I was being introduced.  (It’s disturbingly hard to take credit for that…. but I’ll find a way.)    They were kind enough to write a very cool leter.  Check it out:

Hi Brad,

I had several people tell me that our retreat was the best ever. One woman told me she had been to 18 of them and this was the best ever. Everyone had such a great, fun and valuable time. I owe most of that to you. Thanks – you’re great.

While we had only two people in the whole room that sit on the “president’s staff” I thought it was hilarious that you managed to pick them both – our CFO within the first few minutes and then our head of HR, Kelly, who will now forever be known as Ruth.

Today was our president’s time to present to the group. He asked our VP of Academic Affairs, Brad Bankhead, to assist. This guy was not invited to attend the retreat -(there is a “student services retreat” that is geared to those who work more on the academic side.)

He was asked to be there at 10am. He arrived to hear everyone raving about the great day we had with you, the great dinner, the belly dance lessons, the magic, the hot tub parties, card games and the great breakfast this morning (more than the cheesy thing). He got up on stage and started pouting saying “thanks for inviting me to your retreat and be here at 10 after the great dinner, belly dancers” ….etc….. “I had to get up really early and drive 3 hours to get here by 10 . . . . .” and simultaneously our group yelled out “lame!!!”

After looking a bit startled he continued and said, “yeah, you all had this great breakfast and I get here for my choice of soda or water……” and our group simultaneously shouted “how cool is that?”

Again he looked pretty baffled and everyone laughed hysterically.  Brad continued on with his PowerPoint presentation with several somewhat boring slides of statistics and the audience of 1/2 hung over people were fidgeting in their seats and then one slide came up with one sentence that said “the success of our college is measured by the success of our students” and our group simultaneously shouted “How cool is that?”

You made a lasting impact.

Thank you.

Mollie

[Note:  I have learning-sections in my training titled "Cool or Lame?" and another called, "How Cool is That?!"   She was referring to those segments in the seminar.]

Aw Shucks.  I’m absolutely thrilled it went so well.  And to hear those words, “You made a lasting impact” is like winning the Olympics (except without the medals, endorsements or Wheaties box.)

Thanks for taking the time to let me know, Kids.  How cool are you?

Do you need some teamwork and fun for your group or organization.  Are YOU reading for a lasting impact that will energize and motivate your team?   Give me a call!  Go to the contact page.

Cheers!

Brad Montgomery
Keynote Speaker, Colorado Mountain College Fan, Proud That it Went Well!

Technorati Tags: Colorado speaker, Education, training, seminars, Off-site, Colorado Mountain College Del.icio.us Tags: Colorado speaker, Education, training, seminars, Off-site, Colorado Mountain College

Ok. Not exactly.

Farmington Schools recently hired me to motivate their administrators. We brought them together for one huge team-building, morale-building, humor in the workplace fiesta. Ok, seminar is the proper term, but hey, “fiesta” sounds like better marketing.

We did Laugh-O-Nomics: my session for folks who really wan to create lasting change in their work culture.

It went great: check out the reviews in this very short video:

Are you looking for a motivational speaker for your school district?  Want to inspire and motivate your staff, your classified staff or your administrators?  I’d love to be your guy.

The main take away for me:  I was struck with how important it is to these educators to make their job fun.  They were craving both tools and techniques for bringing levity and lightheartedness to the workplace AND permission to use them.   In other words, one of the biggest things I provided by being there was encouragement and permission to bring the concept “enjoying ourselves at school will help us with our mission as educators” to each of these fine educators.

Many of them new HOW to lighten up;   they just had forgotten how important it was both to them AND to the superintendent.

It was a great day in Colorado.  (Which was weird, because the school district was over the border in New Mexico!)

Learn more about this educators speaker here.

Yours,
Brad Montgomery
Education Speaker, New Mexico Speaker, Fan of Farmington!

Technorati Tags: educators, farmington, education speaker, New Mexico Del.icio.us Tags: educators, farmington, education speaker, New Mexico

…and he learned how to be funny.

If you think humor is just for kids, shame on you.

Where most corporate types go wrong is in assuming that humor = jokes.  Or clown noses.  Or punchlines.  Fun can come in many different shapes, forms and places.

I recently returned from a motivational seminar on humor in the workplace for the Farmington Unified School District in New Mexico. (Actually, we met in Colorado…. just a few miles from their district across the border.)  I met principals and administrators who really liked the idea of “play” at work. I was able to help them find ways to transform their corporate humor culture and their funny bones in the process. However, as usual, the best humor at work ideas came from the audience.   

During the seminar, we looked at ways humor and levity could make any environment a little lighter — resulting in better productivity, morale, and retention. And, in a academic environment where things have to be very precise and “above the line”, it means that the administrators and leaders have to be more clever and more creative in finding the balance to make work and humor mesh.

Let’s face it, “starchy” leaders lead us to a lousy work environment. It is a leader’s job to set the “humor-meter” for their staffs and for the office. In the case of this New Mexico school district, they had NO trouble finding things to make them all smile.

* One of the principals did crossing guard duty (boring, right?) and decided to make up a game to goof off with his students. As you know, it doesn’t take much to get kids started anyway. So when a kid asked to cross the street, the crossing-guard-principal-man asked for their favorite color. The student replied, “Pink.” He tells them, “Ok, you can cross when the next pink car goes by.” Well, this creates much laughter and giggling because that’s only going to happen when the Mary Kay caravan comes through. Finally though, a pink car does come by and the kids do all they can to contain their squeals and giggles.

The next day, the same kid was asked the same question. What was their favorite color. Well the kids are smarter and have caught on AND they’re not willing to endure another flamingo parade, so he says his favorite color is…white. What does the principal do? He tells the kid “You can cross when 7 white cars go by.” The kids…crack…up.

The result? The kids had fun and bonded with their principal, plus it’s cool to see your principal dressed up in a orange safety vest, directing traffic.

But more importantly, the principal created levity that he enjoyed.  He turned the crossing guard duty to something he enjoyed:  it was a way for him to feel connected with his kids / end users / clients, it helped remind him why he chose education as an industry in the first place, and the smiles he earned in that safety vest helped him survive some of the icky parts of his job. 

My point?  Have fun at work. Not because you’ll get others to laugh or smile, or because you want them to listen closer – though these reasons ought to be good enough for anybody.    Have fun at work because it makes you better at your job.  These educators were better administrators because they actively made their work more lighthearted. That makes them better leaders, better managers and better educators. And in the end… isn’t that better for their students?

If you are educator, a school administrator or even a student, how do YOU make your fun at work? What was the most creative thing that you’ve ever done for a laugh. Care to share?

P.S. Thanks Farmington! I had a blast working with you in New Mexico!