Ok, the wait is over.   Here’s the latest motivational speaker preview video baked fresh just for you.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UjkzBPFVIs

Let me know if you like it by leaving a comment below.

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

Yours,
Brad Montgomery
Funny Motivational Speaker, Keynote Speaker, New Video Owner!

PS.  Check out other videos of my keynote and motivational breakout sessions.

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Same for http://www.funnymotivationalspeakers.com

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As a motivational speaker one of the most requested marketing tools is our preview videos.  Well…. wait for it….here is our newest version of the preview.

It was filmed live over 4 or more keynotes and we think it’s pretty spiffy.   What do you think?  Leave a comment and let us know.

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

Cheers!

Brad Montgomery
Motivational Speaker, Business Speaker, Owner of a New Video

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.

I love being a motivational speaker. But honestly, there are some jobs that are more fun than others. And for me, that often means military audiences. (Hey corporate and association pals… I love you too! But you got to admit it: the military is special.)  If you’re looking for a military speaker you want to make sure they are good; check out this video from an Air Force event I did….

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gk0RijT_lNA

Looking for a motivational speaker or military speaker for your event? Contact me here.

Brad Montgomery
Military Speaker, Motivational Speaker, Fan of the Air Force

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

Speaker: And in all of the years that we have done this, this was the absolute top event and over the top, hit the message right on.

Brad: The point is that tiny, tiny changes when added together can make a huge difference.

Speaker: I wasn’t quite sure going in. We had a couple of questions; was it the right speaker? Was it the right message? I have no doubts today. If you’re out there, you know, Sergeant Snuffy, Airman, Colonel, Mister looking at an event, Brad was the guy. He was a great guy for our event. Everybody left from the top to the bottom knowing it was one message. For our group, two at the same time, you know in the military we’re an industry. Time is important. Saving money is important and what we do every day, and we can either enjoy it, or we can make our lives miserable and regret all the cuts that’s coming down the line, and he just picked everybody up and gave us a new focus where we can look at life a little bit differently and go out and do our jobs, so hey, book Brad Montgomery

We’re pretty proud of this latest video. If you’re looking for a motivational speaker how in the heck do you know if they are any good? It’s not brain surgery… and it probably starts with the video.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UjkzBPFVIs

1) Check out their video. Watch it closely. Is there enough there for you to REALLY get the feel of that speaker?
2) Check out the references. See videos of them. Contact them. Any speaker can find a handful of happy clients; you want to make sure your speaker has a LONG list of raving fans.
3) Talk to your speaker; make sure you feel like you can work with them and that the “get” what you are trying to accomplish.

Looking for a motivational speaker for your event? Contact me here.

Like the video? Please click through to see it on Youtube and “like” it there and subscribe to the channel!

Yours,
Brad Montgomery
Motivational Speaker, Keynote Speaker, Owner of a Brand New Preview Video

I’ve got myself all dressed up purdy for Halloween. But I’ve also got a pretty cool point about using levity and humor for a tool. Check out the video:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUGA--V3NR0

What’s my point?   What are you gonna DO today to create levity, lightheartedness and joy?  For yourself? For your family?  For your organization?  Your team?   All of the attitude adjustments in the world are great, but without action you have nothing.

So get out there…and act happy.   Your people need you.  And it will help you to get what you want.

Looking for a motivational speaker for your event? Contact me here.

Yours,
Brad Montgomery
Motivational Speaker, Keynote Speaker, Halloween Fan

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

Hey, it’s Brad Montgomery from BradMontgomery.com. Happy Halloween! All right, so I love Halloween for a lot of reasons, but one of them is I get to dress up like a complete idiot and it’s okay. Check out the cool shoes!

All right, so what is my point and what does this have to do with you? The reason I like Halloween, besides the Snickers, is you get to dress up you get to have fun. You’re not only allowed to have fun, you’re encouraged to be a little bit goofy, and when I am speaking to my audiences, one of the messages that we give them, whether we’re talking to managers or to leaders or to entire organizations, we’re saying, ìIf you want to have a better workplace culture, if you want to bring levity and lightheartedness and humor to work, part of it yeah, is mindset, part of it is sort of a mental game, but in the end, it comes down to action. What are you going to do? What are you going to do to create joy and levity and fun in your life?î

So Halloween is perfect. You can act crazy and get away with it. Now, if you don’t feel like acting like a complete dork on Halloween, I don’t really care, but the point remains, and Halloween, I think, emphasizes that we’re allowed to do something, we’re encouraged to do something and if you really want to succeed to make your work culture fun, your family fun, any organization you’re part of fun, it’s going to require action on your part.

All right, Happy Halloween. Trick or treat. My name is Brad Montgomery. There’s more on BradMontgomery.com. Woo-hoo!

Many of you know that I lived for a year in Mexico.  There are a million things I love about this country, but the most thirst quenching thing on that list is a delicious beer drink called a Michelada.  My pal Oscar taught me the real deal recipe, and now we’re teaching you.

There are many michelada recipes on the web teaching people how to make micheladas. And I’m here to tell you that all of these recipes are WRONG. So I’m going to teach you the right way to make a genuine Mexican Michelada.  (Mi amigo Oscar, un Mexicano verdad, me lo enseno.)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpfZ1T4S0vg

For those of you who don’t like videos, or simply found it confusing, read the michelada recipe here:

How to Make Michelada:

Michelada Ingredients:

Lots of Limes

Don't Skip Tajin!

Salsa Inglesa
Jugo Maggi
Pacifico or Corona (Doesn’t matter which one)
Tajin (A mixture of salt, lime flavoring and chile powder)
Clamato (optional)
Hot Sauce.   (Also optional.)   Use Valentino brand…not the American Tobasco.  They taste different.   I like a couple of drops.  My pal Oscar doesn’t like any.)
Beer.   Oscar thinks you should use Pacifico or Corona.  But we’ve made them with a darker Negro Modelo and they are pretty tasty with that too.

Note: Where in the heck do you buy Tajin, Salsa Inglesa and Jugo Maggi? Well, as I write this I’m living in Mexico and they are as easy to find as catsup.  But my guess is that no matter where you live, you’re not that far away from a Mexican grocery store or tienda.   Go track one down and buy this stuff.  You’ll be glad you did.  Seriusly, I cannot imagine a michelada without the tajin.  The lime juice and the Jugo Maggi and the Salsa Inglesa are pretty important.   But the Tajin — or some substitute brand — is crucial.

Tajin is simply the most common brand of the dried chili, dehydrated lime and salt mixture.  There are many other brands;  I’ve tried 3 or 4..they are all good.

Michelada Recipe.

First, cut a lime and rub it around the rim of your glass.  Then pour a bunch of Tajin (the chili / salt / dehydrated lime mixture) on a small plate.  Invert your glass and rub the wet rim in the tajin, making it stick.  (This is like salting a margarita glass, only substituting Tajin.)

Add the juice of 2 or three small limes, or perhaps 1 larger lime.  Add more juice than you think.  Now add some more.

Add a couple of shakes of Jugo Maggi.  And a couple of Shakes of Salsa Inglesia.

Salsa Inglesa

This is a “to taste” sort of thing.  I like to add extra Maggi.  But it’s up to you.

If you like, add some Clamato.  Just about 1/3 of a cup.  But again it’s a to taste thing.  If you like more, go for it.  Less?  Fine!  Not at all…. sure, no problem.

(I’ve seen the difference of “chelada” and “michelada” described as with or without the Clamato.  My my pal Oscar, who was born in and lived in Mexico City for 20+ years thinks they are both micheladas.  So who am I to doubt him?)

Add ice.  A bunch of ice.

Fill your glass up with beer.

Add a couple of pinches of Tajin.

Stir it up.  Drink it up.

Repeat as needed.

Finally:  Don’t be an idiot.  Don’t drink and drive.  Don’t over do it. And don’t….please don’t…. fail to get the right ingredients.  You need the Jugo Maggi, the Salsa Inglesa, and especially the Tajin!  It’s worth the trip.  It will make your michelada genuine.  And most important, it’ll make it tasty!

Cheers!  Salud!

See the how to make a michelada recipe video on YouTube
Read a post about how to make a michelada on my other blog.

Leave comments with questions or results.

Brad Montgomery
Motivational Speaker, Friend of Oscar Montes de Oca, Lover of Micheladas

Texas Motivational Speaker Goes Batty?

I was recently speaking in Texas and got a chance to see the famous bats in Austin.  Check out this short video I put together for you:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9iHKTyyLvw

My client was the University of Texas Health Care System.   Happy day… I am going back next month to work for them again.  Think I’ll get to see the bats?

Looking for a motivational speaker — with or without bats — for your event? Contact me here.

Brad Montgomery
Texas Speaker, Health Care Speaker, Fan of Bats

Related Links:

Texas Speaker info on Brad’s other work in Texas.
Texas Speaker See this video on YouTube
Health Care Speaker More info on Brad’s work in Health Care

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

All right, so it’s Brad Montgomery.  How is this for a day in the life of a motivational speaker?  I’m in Austin, Texas, its 8:30; right there in that bridge, 1.5 million bats.  Bats.  How cool is that, bats are about to fly out.  I don’t know, any second.

But, here’s the day I had.  So I started out, I left my house at 1:00 p.m., (its 8:30).  I just got here, gave the bellman a dollar.  I’m here working for the University of Texas Healthcare Medical System, and I’m late.  I was supposed to be at their big bash, cocktail party tonight, but I missed that because of Frontier Airlines. Pretty typical though, because I think so many people think motivational speakers speak.  What I think we do is travel a lot, and then we speak.

So I’m here now.  Good news, I get to see the bats.  Bad news, I’m here late, but, I get to see bats.  More later.

The bats?   yeah, there’s no bats.  Okay, I’m in the Hyatt now which is pretty groovy.  Let me tell you what happened with the bats, nothing, zilch, 1.5 million bats, I saw four.  I saw four.  Total bust.  So, I was out there for an hour and a half, supposed to be a million and a half bats, a mile long trail of mammals with wings.  What I saw was a million and a half mosquitoes, my legs.  I’m just telling you, I’m going to be scratching tonight.

But, all right, being a motivational speaker is cool.  Being in Austin, Texas is cool.  The bats were a total bust, I’m so bummed.  But, good news, keynote speech in the morning.  So, get a good night’s rest.  It’s kind of hot.  I just came up in the elevator right over there, with a whole bunch of conventioneers.  These are the HR folks from the University of Texas, and they’ve got these little blinky things on, and I think maybe they might have had an adult beverage and they didn’t see the bats.  Oh, I think they were drinking something.  But it’s kind of funny because I was asking about stuff and then they said, well who are you?  And I told them I was their speaker.  They said, “good, don’t remember us.”

I’ll see you tomorrow.

In Wyoming recently, motivational speaker Brad Montgomery had a group of Construction Engineers lined up at the door waiting to hear him speak.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0MjjFsGLDc

Here’s a transcript of Brad’s video of his conversation with Jim and Russ at the Wyoming Dept of Transportation Construction Meeting.

Jim:     Doing this he is going to leave the best impression I’ve ever had out of all eight years; he is top notch.

Brad:    Hey this is Brad Montgomery from Brad Montgomery.com.  I’m on the way home, just having worked for the Wyoming Department of Transportation.  They asked me to be a motivational speaker; do some breakout sessions.  It was a blast.  It went really well and let’s see what they have to say.  Glad you’re here.

Jim:     Hi, my name is Jim Messing. I’m with the Wyoming Department of Transportation.  We are finishing up our 2011 Engineers Construction meeting and we’ve had Brad Montgomery as our main speaker and out of eight years of doing this he is going to leave the best impression I’ve ever had out of all eight years.  He is top notch.  If you ever have a chance to watch him, do it.

Brad:     Awesome, can you tell them a little bit about what we did yesterday and today?

Jim:     He did a two hour presentation, opened it up, kind of loosen everybody up, then he did a couple of one hour sessions with us and how to take laughter into your workplace, your family life and everything like that.  And everyone came out laughing.  We had people lined up at the doors waiting to get in to his session.

Brad:     Thanks.

Jim:     You’re welcome.

Russ:     I’m Russ Howe with the Wyoming DOT Construction Staff.  I’m a staff technician.  Just had the opportunity to see Brad Montgomery do three presentations or performances, whichever you prefer, for our 2011 Engineers Conference and boy if you need a good guy I’d definitely get him.  Very, very enjoyable.  Very pertinent things to say; made us laugh.  Made us feel good.

Brad:     How did it go compared to other years?

Russ:     I’ve only actually been to one other one and we had another guy similar to Brad and he was good but I have to say I really enjoyed Brad more.

If you want to get your staff lined up out the door to hear a keynote speaker at your next event, contact me here.

I was recently in Detroit at 5 AM and had a remarkable interaction with a woman at Starbucks. She should be the motivational speaker…not me. Check out this video I recorded with my phone — which is code for, “calm down, I know the quality isn’t that great!”

Looking for a motivational speaker for your event? Contact me here.

Brad Montgomery
Motivational Speaker, Inspirational Speaker, Fan of Detroit!

For people who prefer to read, here is the transcript:

Howdy. I’m Brad Montgomery. BradMontgomery.com. I’m still in the Detroit airport. I wanted to put up one more video for you because I was struck yesterday with another person that really has figured out humor in the workplace. She works at Starbucks. She works in the airport. She works at Dallas-Ft. Worth. Alright, so you know how it is, you go to, we’ve all been to somewhere and boughten a drink. It’s no big deal. It is a big deal with this woman because she just made, she just owned this whole concourse. She owned the concourse. She was like the queen of Dallas-Ft. Worth airport. She was like holding forth at Starbucks and she was calling everybody up, “Hey how are you doing? Get up here! How are you? What are you doing? Where are you going?” Just a super unbelievably friendly woman. So as is my habit, I asked her, “What’s the deal? You know, how do you do this? How do you stay happy when it seems like people around you are not so happy with their job?” And she said, “Oh it’s up to me, baby. But really what makes me happy is making you happy.” It’s so simple, but it’s so cool. So social psychologists are going to call this flow, motivational speakers are going to call this motivation, customer service experts are going to call this, you know like “she’s in the zone, she’s doing her thing.” But I think what really struck me is that she knows what keeps her happy and she knows that when she invests in other people, the payback is twofold. Not only are her customers happy, I was thrilled. She called me baby. I loved it. “Okay, here’s your coffee, baby”. I loved it. Not only did she make her customers happy, but I’m in the airport, can you hear me talking? Not only did she keep her customers happy, but she keeps herself happy. By delivering service, she feels served. It’s just so, it’s such a basic truth, but it’s so easy to forget. So here is my challenge to you. What are you doing today to help others? And if you’re thinking you are having a crappy day, maybe the way out of your crappy day is to deliver excellent service to your teammate, to your managers, to the people who you’re managing, to your customers, to the people you are trying to sell. How can you make it better for them? And I think that what this woman at Starbucks is going to teach us is that by doing that, it will make it better for you. Happiness at work equals excellence at work. It’s so cool. Serve others, you become happy. Love it! Alright, Brad Montgomery. BradMontgomery.com. Thanks for being here.

Brad recently spoke with the leadership team of a large hospital in Tyler, Texas.   Mary Mother of Francis Hospital asked Brad to make them laugh— but more importantly — teach a seminar about how levity, lightheartedness and even humor can have a positive impact on health care and on leadership.

Check out this testimonial video from Brad’s meeting planner:

Looking for a motivational health care speaker for your event? Contact me here.

Thanks!
Brad Montgomery
Health Care Speaker, Funny Guy, Fan of Tyler Texas

Prefer to see the Testimonials on YouTube?
Health Care Speaker video testimonial
Health Care Speaker from the University of Texas Health System
Another Health Care Speaker video testimonial from the University of Texas Health System
Texas Health Care Speaker Testimonial from Mary Mother of Francis Hospital

South Carolina Rural Health Care Association Video Testimonial
One more Testimonial From the Rural Health Care Association
Brad spoke recently to the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization.  See the video of Brad as a Hospice Health care speaker here.
YouTube Testimonial from Kaiser Permanente Palliative Care
Hospice Speaker testimonial from Haven Hospice in Florida
Hospice and Health Care speaker for Kaiser Blog

Technorati Tags: health care speaker, health care speakers, funny Del.icio.us Tags: health care speaker, health care speakers, funny

In less than one minute I will show you what you’ve never seen from another pro speaker.

I can’ think of another speaker would expose themselves like this video exposes me.   Would you show the world your mistakes?

What do you think?  Leave a comment below.

Looking for a motivational speaker — who can actually complete a sentence? —  for your event? Contact me here.

Cheers,

Brad Montgomery
Motivational Speaker, Comedian, Flubber-Upper

Looking for a magician speaker or a magician motivational speaker? Pick me baby!

Seriously, we’ve got some news. We have started editing several preview videos of my latest stuff… everything from team building to networking to… of course my work as a motivational speaker.

This first video focuses on one of my niches, as a Magician Speaker.

Related Links:

Brad’s Magician Speaker Keynote: Ordinary Magic

Related Links:
Magician Speaker on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1MAak5Vh4w
Ordinary Magic: One of Brad’s popular magician speaker keynotes. http://www.bradmontgomery.com/motivational-speaking-topics/ordinary-magic/
Article about why use a magician speaker.  http://www.bradmontgomery.com/magician-2/magician-speaker
Presto Chango: Brad’s magician speaker keynote where he talks about a magician’s guide to laughing at change. http://www.bradmontgomery.com/motivational-speaking-topics/change-management/
An audio CD of Brad’s Magician Speaker program http://www.bradmontgomery.com/ordinary-magic/
Related Links:
Magician Speaker on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1MAak5Vh4w
Ordinary Magic: One of Brad’s popular magician speaker keynotes. http://www.bradmontgomery.com/motivational-speaking-topics/ordinary-magic/
Article about why use a magician speaker.  http://www.bradmontgomery.com/general/magician-speaker/
Presto Chango: Brad’s magician speaker keynote where he talks about a magician’s guide to laughing at change. http://www.bradmontgomery.com/motivational-speaking-topics/change-management/
An audio CD of Brad’s Magician Speaker program http://www.bradmontgomery.com/ordinary-magic/

How to hold your squeaker

I was recently a motivational speaker in Oklahoma laughing and playing with some good folks for American Olean. (They make tile…lot’s of it. Trust me, you’ve seen their work.) (They had a very cool event for some of their top folks and wanted to end the day with a very funny motivational speaker. Aw shucks!) I spoke at the end of a long day of learning…. my job was to pick up the energy in the room, send them out with more energy than they came in with, and to give them some nuggets to keep tile fun. (Yes, that’s the first time I’ve ever typed that.)

Here’s a surprise follow up video, complete with instructions about how to use a hand squeaker. (American Olean sent all these good people squeakers…now let’s get you up to speed on how to use it right!)

Looking for a motivational speaker for your event? Contact me here.

More instructions about how to use your hand squeaker here.

Shop for hand squeakers.

Check out my motivational speaker home.

Well, I’ve moved my family down to Mexico for a year.  A working sabbatical.   Only with more beer. Here’s the first of many videos about the journey. : )

We’ve been down here a month….not yet in a routine yet, but getting there.

Hey clients!  Don’t freak out… I’m still working!   I’ve already flown to the States twice (and am in fact writing this post from North Carolina.)  Oddly — and wonderfully — it’s as cheap or cheaper to fly from here as it is from Colorado.    So…don’t fret… I’ll be there. : )

Why the trip? Why Mexico? Why the whole family? I’m currently living in Mexico.

Mexican School Shoes

We’re in search of adventure, perspective, and language skills. I speak to my audiences so often as a motivational speaker I thought it was about time that I put myself through some drastic change myself. We found plenty: new culture, new language, new school, new house. New everything. Lot’s of change

We’re all learning Spanish. The kids are learning faster than we are, which is sort of funny.

Looking for a motivational speaker for your event? Contact me here.

For you non-video types, here is the transcript of the video:
Brad Montgomery from BradMontgomery.com with episode 1 of Brad and Kim take their family to Mexico.

So we’re on the way to Mexico and we’re at the coolest place, which I think, I hope, is a metaphor for the whole trip. So Kim and I were lost, we missed our exit, we were tense, and then suddenly we’re lost and we’re looking for a place to pee and guess what we found? We found this place out; we’re in a place called Santa Rosa. Since we’re studying Spanish, we call it Santa Rosa, New Mexico, and we found this cool little lake. So we jumped out, we all put our suits on, we jumped in the water, we’re swimming, we’re laughing, we’re playing, everyone feels good again. We got some exercise, it’s all happy.

What’s the point? I think that the point is is that by taking the risks and giving ourselves a chance to get lost we ended up finding something that we never would have expected to find. I doubt we could find it again. Yet, it’s totally, wildly cool.

So, that’s going to be, I hope, the metaphor for us. What other risks can we take? Getting lost probably will work out great. Good day, so it works out great.

What are you doing to get lost and take some risks on purpose? Take care, see you next time.

Technorati Tags: Motivational speaker, motivational speakers, funny, humorist, humorists, Brad Montgomery Del.icio.us Tags: Motivational speaker, motivational speakers, funny, humorist, humorists, Brad Montgomery

How To be A Motivational Speaker | Find your Niche Can Make You Rich

A How-To video series about how to be a motivational speaker.   In this very informal video in which Brad Montgomery — a funny motivational speaker — Brad asks fellow motivational speaker and Colorado speaker Elaine Dumler for a killer tip for folks on their way to being a paid professional speaker.    She offers up some excellent advice about being yourself on the platform — something that is very hard to do, but is crucial for your success as a speaker.

Check out the video:

Interested in learning how to use humor in your presentation? Check out Brad’s Got Mirth: Milking Your Presentation for all the Humor It’s Worth.

Learn more about how to be a motivational speaker with my how-to audio here.

Related:
Blog Posts:
How to Be a Motivational Speaker (Part 1) | Get a Mentor
How To Be A Motivational Speaker (2) Choose the Right Topic
How To Be Speaker (3) Format of a Keynote. A Template!
Adding Humor (1) The Act Out
Adding Humor (2): Give the Audience a Voice
Adding Humor (3) What to Do When Your Humor Bombs
Part 7: How to Be a Motivational Speaker — Find A Niche to Make you Rich
Part 8: Be a Professional Speaker — Be Authentic On the Platform

On YouTube
Part 1. Find a Speaker Mentor
Part 2. Choose a Correct Motivational Topic (on YouTube)
How to be a Motivational Speaker (3) on YouTube
Adding Humor (1) The Act Out (On YouTube)
Adding Humor (2): Give the Audience a Voice (on YouTube)
Adding Humor (3) What to Do When Your Humor Bombs (YouTube)
Part 7: How To be a Speaker — Find a Niche
Part 8: How to be a Motivational Speaker — Be Authentic on the Platform

More interested in reading than going to YouTube?   We’ve got your back!  Check out this transcription….

How to be a Motivational Speaker – Part 8 (Elaine Dumler on Authenticity)

Brad Montgomery:         Hi, this is Brad Montgomery from bradmontgomery.com with the continuing series on how to be a motivational speaker.  As I said before, I don’t know – I don’t have all the expertise, but I know people who do and we’re looking at ****my pal, Elaine Dumler.  Elaine Dumler is a college speaker who speaks nationally to everybody, but specializes in military audiences and today she’s going to tell us at least one tip about how to be a motivational speaker.  Go Elaine!

Elaine Dumler:         I think the best thing that you have to always remember to do when you’re speaking, especially if you’re working to motivate other people, is you’ve got to be real.  I think a lot of times we see speakers on the platform who are not the same person as they are maybe off having a beer, a cup of coffee or something.  You have to be who you are.  You want that type of connection and rapport that comes from just being your true self on the platform and letting you come out in everything that you do.  I think that’s what makes you someone that someone wants to listen to.  And if you’re going to add humor, and kind of make it funny, or you know, work kind of natural humor into it, it has to come from who you are.  And if it doesn’t come from your heart, then I don’t know where it’s coming from.

Brad Montgomery:         I think – thank you, Elaine – being you is important.  That’s why when I’m a motivational speaker, I always strive to be Elaine Dumler.  All right.  More tips on how to be a motivational speaker.  Stay tuned.  Thanks, Elaine.

Technorati Tags: Elaine Dumler, Military speaker, How to be a motivational speaker, colorado speaker, colorado speakers, presentation tips Del.icio.us Tags: Elaine Dumler, Military speaker, How to be a motivational speaker, colorado speaker, colorado speakers, presentation tips

I just got back from Texas where I was the motivational speaker for a group of social workers for the Child Protection Services.  These are the good people who look out for kids who need it most:  kids in physical danger.  They oversee way too many cases of abused and neglected kids, and do their best to get them into safe situations.

This group was especially fun for me because right now I’m a foster parent.  I’m one of the families these people — ok, actually their peers in Colorado — work with on a day to day basis.

Check out this video I made about them:

My familiarity — in such an intimate way — with foster care made this event special for two reasons.  First, the audience knew I wasn’t bluffing when I said, “I understand.”   Audiences crave authenticity in their motivational speakers, and because I have two foster kids myself, it was easy for me to be direct and honest.   Second, because of my familiarity with “The System” it made for some REALLY funny jokes.  I could joke in VERY specific ways about their jobs, their stresses, and their joys.

Thanks Texas Foster Care System (Children and Family Services!)  It was my absolute pleasure.

Mobile Post: Posted on-the-go by Brad Montgomery from his iPhone.

==

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

This is Brad Montgomery from BradMontgomery.com.  What a really cool afternoon we had.  So I’m still in Texas, but today we worked for Child Protective Service of Texas.

This is a government agency entrusted with dealing with kids who need help, kiddos in foster care and protecting kids who are in danger. I love doing this for a million reasons, but one of the things I love most is, some of you might know, I’m a foster dad right now.  We’ve got two little foster girls and it’s a lot of work.

One of the things we’ve learned is the social workers involved, the peers of the people I just spoke with, are really, really hardworking people working in a system that doesn’t get enough support, is under-funded, is under-trained, and if it wasn’t for these people, these kids would be suffering.  So it was my delight, I was totally flattered to deliver not just a motivational speech, which we did, and not just an inspirational speech, which we did, but also a message of appreciation because these social workers work hard and rarely get a thank you.  So we made them laugh and we made them laugh hard and we did all the things we were supposed to do as a motivational speaker, but the best part for me was as a foster dad, is to be able to look them in the eye and say it and mean it; thanks for all you do for foster children as Child Protection Service social workers.

So we were in Wichita Falls, Texas for about 160 people, absolute total blast.  Folks, keep up the good work, you’re doing amazing things.  It’s a pleasure to be your motivational speaker, and keep your eyes out for those kiddos; they need your help and you’re making a difference.  Thanks!

Technorati Tags: social worker speaker, foster care, foster children, protective services, protective services speaker, Texas speaker, government speaker Del.icio.us Tags: social worker speaker, foster care, foster children, protective services, protective services speaker, Texas speaker, government speaker

If I were trying to pick one motivational speaker among many, I’d want to know:
1. Are they really funny? (Or do they just say they are?)

2. Will my group or organization feel like he “gets” us? Or is he just presenting the same old crap to my audience he delivered last month at the Rotary Club?

3. And finally, I would want to make sure he can provide a LONG list of recent and very happy clients. Seriously…they gotta be recent, they have to be real, and they need to rave.

And frankly, it’s kinda cool — though not a deal breaker — if your potential motivational speaker has spoken groups you’ve actually heard of.

Well…lucky me, because here is a video taken of the Boeing meeting planner in St. Louis Missouri where I recently presented a keynote. (It was 2 hours….so it was sort of a keynote speech on steroids.) It went well, the group was fabulous, and here’s VK with her words right after the speech.

Do you need a motivational speaker? Whether or not you create Space Shuttles, Space Stations or fighter jets, I’d love to help your team get to be where they need to be, and to energize your meeting. Contact me here.

Thanks!
Brad Montgomery
Missouri Motivational Speaker, Humor in the Workplace Expert, Fan of Boeing

For you readers, here’s a transcription of the video:
He far exceeded our expectations. It was funny and he was able to give us tips that we can use every day and we would definitely like to have him back.

He talked with me about our day to day job and what we do and he was able to use that and be relevant within his presentation and really talk about things that related with the audience and what they would need for their jobs and things they can relate to. And compared to other presenters, he did an awesome job at bringing humor in and really keeping it relevant. People enjoyed it but they did walk away with some really great information and tips that they can use.

Technorati Tags: missouri motivational speaker, missouri, st. louis speaker, boeing, funny

Hey Boeing!   It was a total blast to be part of your event in St. Louis.   As a surprise to you, (How Cool is That!?) here’s a brief follow-up video to remind you of some of the fun stuff we covered when we were together on Last Tuesday.

Here’s an ethical bribe:   leave a comment (scroll down and leave it below) and tell us what YOU are doing or thinking differently based on our time together and I’ll send you a gift.  No silly….not a crystal bowl.  But it’s fun.  It’s free.  And it’s my treat.

Here’s a very casual (which translates to “I made it with my phone!”)  video I created in the St. Louis airport just for you.  Thanks again… and don’t forget to comment.  Cheers and thanks.

Looking for a motivational speaker for your event? Contact me here.

Thanks Boeing.  It was my distinct pleasure!

Have a great day….. and don’t forget the bribe:   leave a comment below about what you learned and are doing differently and I’ll send you a treat!

Technorati Tags: missouri motivational speaker, missouri, st. louis speaker, boeing, funny

For those of you who prefer to read, here is a transcription:
Hi friends it’s Brad Montgomery from Bradmontgomery.com.  I put together a special video just for you because I wanted to thank you for all of your time and attention today.  But also to remind you of what we covered today because I know since then you’ve had some difficult times, you’ve had like what, 10,000 emails, all kinds of emergencies, let’s see if we can’t remind you how to connect happiness to your bottom line.  Because remember the concept was that if we enjoy our time at the link we are going to be better and more productive and more efficient, more effective at Boeing.  So how do we do that? You know how.  Remember all that fun we had this morning?  The laughing and the joking and the carrying on, that feeling is to go, you’re job is to bring it back home and especially bring it back to Boeing because it will make it you better and because you know how.

Here’s the 3 points we covered this morning.  First, I want you to find happiness. Find things that remind you that life is good. I mean how cool is it to work for Boeing?  You’re involved with the space shuttle. You know, you see planes landing every single day that you guys have a piece of supporting. How cool is that?  How cool is it that you just finished up a really cool administrative admin week, how cool is that?  How cool is it that you’re getting a reminder video from a guy, Brad Montgomery that you’ve already forgotten about?  How cool is that?  I’m at the airport in St. Louis getting ready to take off to go home and it’s going to be a Boeing plane. Woo Hoo! How cool is that!? So the first step is a gratitude piece, find things that remind you that life is good.

The second step is a choice. I want you to choose happy, think happy.  Remember that if you want to enjoy your life at home and especially your life at work, part of the equation is deciding that you want to enjoy your time at Boeing. So either that has to be a conscious decision, do you want to have a good time or not? I’m thinking you do. I want to make sure you make that conscious decision.

Now finally, there’s an active piece. You’ve got to be physically active in doing something that creates levity, light-heartedness, joy, humor, fun at work. So I don’t know what this means for you. Maybe it means you really do put a magnet in your coffee cup and drive around St. Louis or maybe it just means you make a point to bring some humor to work. You play at work, you put a clown nose on, I don’t care, do something. Whatever it is, do something.

Finally, I just wanted to remind you how much I appreciated being part of it. It was very cool to be in the Boeing building with you guys in St. Louis.  It was very fun to be your motivational speaker, but the coolest part was watching your faces start from kind of serious and busy and over-worked and end where you ended just feelings to go.  You people deserve it, you’ve been working hard.  Life has not been easy lately and I know you guys work hard at Boeing, you deserve to really enjoy it. So find happy, choose happy, act happy.

There’s more stuff at Bradmontgomery.com including a bribe.  All right, so here’s the bribe, if you leave a comment, there’s a button, I don’t know where the buttons are.  Look down, there’s a button and leave a comment and tell me what specific thing are you doing or thinking differently based on our time together.  If you tell me what you’re doing or thinking differently, what I’ll do is I’ll send you a gift.  No, it’s not a Ford Explorer. No, it’s not a space shuttle.  But it’s cool and it’s my treat and all you have to do is leave a comment and tell me what you’re doing differently based on our time together.

All right, thank you so much, if you have any questions or comments let me know. You can contact me through the website right here Bradmontgomery.com and really thank you so much, just an absolute pleasure to be part of it.  Have a great day Boeing.  Thanks Admins.

Ok. That’s not funny. Yes it is. Well… it depends.

Humor is relative. (No, I don’t mean your relative is funny. I mean that what is funny to some people in some circumstances isn’t funny to others, and that’s OK.)

I recently spoke in Colorado for the Kaiser Permanente Palliative Care department. We had nurses, doctors, administrators, chaplains, and hospice partners… the whole team gathered for a day of celebration and a much needed dose of perspective—through humor.

This is hard-working team of health care professional who are constantly dealing with a difficult heavy job. And, judging by the laughter and volume from this particular group they really needed a break.

So we laughed. We joked about everything from what was served for lunch, to the party going on upstairs, to the fact that they had an off-site on a Saturday. But we also joked about the difficult and serious parts of their jobs. We even joked about death, hospice, and used a bit of black humor. (Maybe not black, but certainly very dark brown.)

In my job as a comedian motivational speaker, I’ve found that the groups with the most grizzly occupations are the quickest ones to joke about stuff that makes most of us blanch. Cops, firemen, ER nurses, — and hospice and palliative care folks not only joke about stuff that many people would find “crosses the line” of good taste, they HAVE to joke about it. It helps keep them healthy.

Humor helps with stress. And folks super stressful jobs will often turn to gallows humor to help them stay sane.

So, after agreeing that the jokes would “stay in the room,” we went for it. And the laughter followed.

Often people complain about humor that is “in bad taste” without understanding that often that humor is “in good health.” I once worked for a bunch of intensive care nurses who finally put up a plaque outside of the ICU that said something like, ‘If you see us laughing please know that this is not evidence that we are taking the care of your loved ones less seriously. It’s our way of dealing with the stress that is inherent with this job. And in the end, our laughter helps us provide the care that your family deserves.” Brilliant. Beautiful.

Back to Kaiser: I was impressed with how quickly this group was to laugh. But as I lead them through some exercises to help them connect humor and levity to increasing their ability to provide care and to serve their folks — and how keeping themselves sane in the end serves their patients, I was amazed at how quickly they got to the point.

In other words, this audience didn’t just run through the humor in the workplace exercises and try to move on. They lingered. They enjoyed. And they went deep. I think I might have learned as much as they did. Scratch that…. I definitely learned from them.

Thanks Kaiser Palliative Care. It was my absolute pleasure.

Are you looking for a health care motivational speaker, or palliative care / hospice speaker? I’d love to be your speaker. Go to the contact page now.

Yours,
Brad Montgomery
Palliative Care Speaker, Hospice Speaker, and Fan if Kaiser Palliative Health

Related:
Hospice video on YouTube
Kaiser Health Care Speaker video on Youtube
Sex, Beer and Death : A blog being a speaker for another Hospice organization
Funny Health Care Speaker home on my main website.

Technorati Tags: Hospice speaker, palliative care speaker, palliative, funny, motivational speaker, Kaiser, Kaiser Permanente, Colorado Speaker Del.icio.us Tags: Hospice speaker, palliative care speaker, palliative, funny, motivational speaker, Kaiser, Kaiser Permanente, Colorado Speaker

How To be A Motivational Speaker | Humor Tips — Give the Audience a Voice

A How-To video series about how to be a motivational speaker. In this very informal video in which Brad Montgomery — a funny motivational speaker — Brad explains the simple technique of Giving the Audience a Voice. It’s a guaranteed humor technique that’s easy to implement.

For those of you checking out hot comedians, Jim Gaffigan is awesome. Check out this funny guy. One of the many techniques he uses is to give the audience a voice. In fact, he opens his album BEYOND THE PALE with a high voice with which he simply gives the audience a voice. He talks about what they must think of his skin, his clothes, etc. Funny opening, and all he does is to say what (he imagines) the audience is thinking. What a crack up. Check him out. Not sure what I’m talking about…..Check out the tips how-to video:

Interested in learning how to use humor in your presentation? Check out Brad’s Got Mirth: Milking Your Presentation for all the Humor It’s Worth.

Learn more about how to be a motivational speaker with my how-to audio here.

Related:
Blog Posts:
How to Be a Motivational Speaker (Part 1) | Get a Mentor
How To Be A Motivational Speaker (2) Choose the Right Topic
How To Be Speaker (3) Format of a Keynote. A Template!
Adding Humor (1) The Act Out
Adding Humor (2): Give the Audience a Voice
Adding Humor (3) What to Do When Your Humor Bombs

For Those of you more interested in reading that looking at the speaker video, here is the transcription about how to be a motivational speaker:

Give the Audience a Voice

One of the techniques that you can use in humor is to take advantage of this rule. If you say what the audience is thinking, they will laugh. So, watch how we set up this joke about parking and then see how I follow up by giving the audience a voice. Now, the one thing you need to know to understand these jokes is just that parking at the Mayo Clinic comes at a premium and pretty much, you got to have a lot of seniority to get a parking place. All right. So, watch what we do after the joke.

I love the parking. So, how many of you had to park like 80 miles away today? Raise your hand if you have parking privileges. Okay, now everyone else, if you had your hand up, notice how everyone else is glaring at you. I hate them. I hate them. Man, if you think you can get a job here today, you got to park in Iowa. Some of you are going, I live in Iowa. Shut up. Shut up. Stop with the Iowa thing.

Did you see how he did that? Did you see how I gave a voice to the audience? If you can voice what the audience is thinking, you will get the laugh. So, how did I do that? The first time I did that was we imagined what the people who don’t have parking spaces think about the people who do have parking spaces. And I just said it. You know, I hate you. I hate you. I hate you. And I even did a little act-out where I had that glowering thing. All right. So, that was just giving them a voice and I got credit for knowing what they were thinking. Then I did it again later on when I talked about the people who drive in from Iowa. I just, you know, I said the joke and then I voiced what they were thinking, which is, shut up, I’m from Iowa, shut up.

You can use this technique, too. Imagine or find out what your audience is thinking and then give them a voice, either literally by making up a funny voice and saying it as though you were them, just like I did, or a little safer way to do it would be to back up a little bit and just say, you know, I can imagine what you’re thinking. What you’re probably thinking is. You know what? There’s a video with two Brads, with two pictures of Brad. What, is that crazy? See what I did? I just gave you a voice. Give the audience a voice. Let them understand that you know what they’re thinking and you will get the laugh.

On YouTube
Part 1. Find a Speaker Mentor
Part 2. Choose a Correct Motivational Topic (on YouTube)
How to be a Motivational Speaker (3) on YouTube
Adding Humor (1) The Act Out (On YouTube)
Adding Humor (2): Give the Audience a Voice (on YouTube)
Adding Humor (3) What to Do When Your Humor Bombs (YouTube)

Hey Re/Max! Thanks so much for inviting me to work with you last week.  We had a great time here in Denver. Here’s a quick
reminder video I created just for you.

Today can be a great day at work — for you and the people you’re leading.  But the only way to guarantee that it is great, is to make it so.   What are YOU going to do to make your leadership style, your management techniques, and your time at Re/Max fun, meaningful, and successful.

Are YOU looking for a motivational speaker who can fire up your group?  Whether or not you are from Colorado, we should talk? Contact me here.

Mobile Post: Posted on-the-go by Brad Montgomery from his iPhone.

Re/Max….what did YOU get out of our time together?  Leave a comment below and I’ll send you something for free.  (Nope…not an Escalade…but’s it’s cool.  And it’s free, so what do you have to lose?  : )

Yours,
Brad Montgomery
Colorado Motivational Speaker, Humor at Work Expert, Fan of Re/Max!

Be A Motivational Speaker!

How to be funny on the platform:   a specific technique

Here is Part 6 of the continuing series about how to be a motivational speaker. In this video, Brad Montgomery discusses adding humor to your presentation. (And if you want to be a paid professional speaker, you’ll need to be funny — if you want to get hired.)

No, you don’t HAVE to be funny or to use humor if you want to be a motivational speaker.  But boring speakers never get hired back.   You MUST have some sort of humor, lightheartedness, or levity in your program.  You don’t have to be a stand-up comedian, but you definitely want to invest some time and energy in learning how to work the crowd their happy place.

But adding humor isn’t easy.   Yet there ARE some specific ideas that are easy to learn and easy to implement.

This video covers the specific topic of the Act Out.   Check out the video:

Interested in learning how to use humor in your presentation? Check out Brad’s Got Mirth: Milking Your Presentation for all the Humor It’s Worth.

Learn more about how to be a motivational speaker with my how-to audio here.

Related:

Blog Posts:

How to Be a Motivational Speaker (Part 1) | Get a Mentor

How To Be A Motivational Speaker (2) Choose the Right Topic

How To Be Speaker (3) Format of a Keynote. A Template!

Adding Humor (1) The Act Out

Adding Humor (2): Give the Audience a Voice

Adding Humor (3) What to Do When Your Humor Bombs

For Those Of You Who Prefer to Read, here is the transcription:

What To Do When Your Humor Bombs

All right.  I want you to watch these series of jokes that bombed for me at the Mayo Clinic.  But then watch what I do about it.  So, check it out.

It’s just cool to be at the world-famous Mayo Clinic and its sister organization, the Mustard Infirmary.  I’m staying at the Relish Inn.  So, I have a condiment theme here in Rochester.  I bank at the First Bank of Ketchup.  Okay, condiment humor, not big in Rochester.  We can see that.  Did you see what the building next door, right next to the main Mayo building, the little deli?  They’re going to call it Mayo on the Side.  Free condiment jokes.  Yeah!  I mean, how cool is it you guys work for the Mayo Clinic?  It was so much fun for me when, you know, where you going this time, Brad?  I’m going to the Mayo Clinic.  Oh, I’m sorry.  No, I’m healthy!  I’m healthy!  We’re going to laugh.  A little mayo on the side.  Four condiment jokes.

I didn’t totally bomb those jokes, but clearly they didn’t go as well as I had hoped and I used a couple of techniques that you can use as well.  First, whether you’re telling stories or relating an anecdote or telling jokes, when things aren’t going as well as you hoped or horrible, let the audience know that you’ve noticed.  Acknowledge it.  There’s nothing weirder than watching a speaker that acts like everything’s going great when it’s clear to the audience that things aren’t going great.  So, don’t do that.  It’s too weird.  But the second part is equally important which is that it’s your responsibility to take care of the audience.  It’s your responsibility to let them know that you’re fine.  So, when things don’t go well, they start to worry about us and they start to fret for us and get stressed and you got to let them know that you’re fine.  So, you notice, I did just that.  First, I acknowledged the condiment jokes failed, or at least weren’t doing that great.  I even started counting the goofy, failed condiment jokes.  But, more important than that, with my body language and with my words, I let them know, hey, don’t worry about me, I’m having a good time still.  You’re going to have a good time still.  We’ve got lots of program left and things are great.  So, the audience will admire you and love you for trying humor, even if it doesn’t go as well as you had hoped.

Just remember the two rules.  One, acknowledge it, let them know.  And second, take responsibility to bring them with you and let them know that you’re totally fine.

Technorati Tags: How to be a professional speaker, how to be a motivational speaker, be a motivational speaker, speaker tips, how to be funny, how to be a comedian Del.icio.us Tags: How to be a professional speaker, how to be a motivational speaker, be a motivational speaker, speaker tips, how to be funny, how to be a comedian

On YouTube
Part 1. Find a Speaker Mentor
Part 2. Choose a Correct Motivational Topic (on YouTube)
How to be a Motivational Speaker (3) on YouTube
Adding Humor (1) The Act Out (On YouTube)
Adding Humor (2): Give the Audience a Voice (on YouTube)
Adding Humor (3) What to Do When Your Humor Bombs (YouTube)

North American Farmers Direct Marketing Association!  We’ll have a blast in Lancaster.   Check out the video below for a short welcome from me, your keynote speaker.    (I’ll also be doing the full-day session on Feb. 10th.)

What do YOU want to learn? Questions?   Topics you want to make sure we cover?   Leave a comment below and we’ll make sure to answer your questions at the program.

Get off Your CASE and Do Something!

I’m just back from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (Region VI) in St. Louis, Missouri.  We had a great time talking about how those people in the Advancement Professionals  — a job title that still cracks me up — can incorporate humor, levity and lightheartedness in work in order to achieve more at work.

Here’s my short summary and reminder video.

Hey CASE VI!   Leave a comment in the space below and I’ll send ya an Ethical Bribe.  Yup, I’ll send you something.  Nope, not a$100 bill or a Toyota Corolla, but it’s fun and you’ll like it.  Promise!

Looking for a motivational speaker for your event? Contact me here.

Brad Montgomery
Funny Motivational Speaker, Missouri Speaker, Fan of CASE VI

Mobile Post: Posted on-the-go by Brad Montgomery from his iPhone.

For those of you who prefer to read (and blow off the video) here ya go:

CASE VI

Hey CASE VI, it’s Brad Montgomery from Brad Montgomery.com.  Thank you so much.  It was so cool being the keynote speaker in St. Louis.  I promised you a quick follow up and I wanted to remind you of the three tools, the three ideas that we talked about that are going to remind you to bring levity and lightheartedness and humor and even joy back to work.  First, find happy starting right now.  Find things that remind you that life is good and my game was how cool is that.  You’re getting a follow up video from a speaker you saw just recently – how cool is that.

All right, the second thing is choice, right.  Pick happy; it’s a choice.  If you want to have a good day at work today and tomorrow; if you want your teams to have a good day at work; if you want work to be fun for you then part of it is making that conscious choice.  Remember we talked about this when we were in St. Louis.  Well, I’m telling you if it’s important to you are you willing to make that choice.  Can you lead the way.

And then finally, the third one was act happy.  What are you physically going to do today to create joy and humor for yourself, for your family, for your team, for your organization and I’m suggesting you’re going to have to do something so maybe that means something crazy like wear a clown nose at work or maybe it just means listen to funny stuff, read positive stuff, linger over the funny pages or tell a knock-knock joke to your cat.

Brad Montgomery, Brad Montgomery.com.  If you leave a comment below on this blog I promise I’ll send you something fun but let me know what you’re going to do differently based on our time together.  Thanks CASE VI, it was a blast.

Mobile Post: Posted on-the-go by Brad Montgomery from his iPhone.

How To Be A Motivational Speaker Tips   Choosing a Topic

Here’s another one of my tips on how to be a motivational speaker. Today I talk about how to choose your topic. Questions? Leave them in a comment below and I’ll answer them in a video.

How To Be a Motivational Speaker

Learn more about how to be a motivational speaker with my audio here.

Technorati Tags: How To Be A Motivational Speaker, Be a Speaker, Be a Comedian Del.icio.us Tags: How To Be A Motivational Speaker, Be a Speaker, Be a Comedian

Prefer to read the text?

Hey, this is Brad Montgomery from BradMontgomery.com.  Alright, so here’s the continuing saga, “How to Be a Motivational Speaker.”  I promised you some tips, here comes another one.

One of the big questions I get all the time is what am I going to talk about, what could I possibly talk about?  Well, when you are picking the topic for your keynote, there’s a couple of things I want you to consider.

First, if you’re going to be a professional speaker, not only do you have to be good, but you have to be passionate about something.  So what is it that you are passionate about?  You’re going to be talking and researching and marketing and everything, make sure it’s a topic that you actually love, which is my way of saying, if you think you want to speak on leadership or change or some whatever, I’m saying that’s fine, unless you don’t have passion for it.  So, if you don’t, skip it, right now.

The other thing too is make sure it’s something you’re an expert in.  So, as you’re choosing your topic, what are you good at, what are you already an expert in right now?  So for example, if you work in a hospital and you’re a genius about what’s going on with healthcare, maybe that’s your niche.  Or if you know everything there is about energy or whatever or in my case, if you happen to know everything there is about humor at work, bingo, I’m your guy.  See, I have passion about that; I’m an expert in it, that’s why it’s good for me. What are you going to find that’s good for you?

So, to sum it up, when you’re becoming a motivational speaker, if you’re asking yourself how to be a motivational speaker and you’re wondering about your topic, first, find something you have passion in, second, find somewhere where you have some expertise.

Alright, Brad Montgomery, BradMontgomery.com.   More tips on how to be a motivational speaker soon.  Thanks.

Diabetes Speaker

I was flattered to speak at a diabetes forum in Canon City, Colorado recently.  I love my job as a speaker.  And I love being a Colorado Speaker because I live here.  (Yay, no airplanes today!)

But this one was personal:  my daughter has Type 1 Diabetes.  This is a big deal, requires constant vigilance, and is a huge part of our family’s life.  I don’t have diabetes myself, but because of my daughter our family has become experts in the management and lifestyle that is diabetes.

So speaking to a bunch of diabetics was very cool — and very personal.  I spend some time researching every audience.  But when it is as part of my life as diabetes, it’s easy to share my passion.

But what was fun for me was that I have almost no wisdom when it comes to staying upbeat in spite of the disease.  Or, more accurately, all of the wisdom I do have comes from my 12 year old diabetic.  I’m fabulously proud of her and her ability to adapt to this disease.  She is a rock star.  Sure, she is well aware that she has a health issue that makes her unique from her friends.  But here ability to shrug it off and just deal with it — without complaining….. much — is astounding to her mom and I.

When I asked her what I should tell this group of people dealing with diabetes, and what she would recommend they do to stay upbeat in spite of it all she blew me away.  She said, “Tell them that you pretty much have diabetes whether or not you like it.  And the only thing you CAN do about it is to take care of yourself.”   Such simplicity.  Such wisdom.  It ticked me off that she could be so articulate at 1/4 my age.

I was to speak to a bunch of folks are facing major life style changes.  They are going to have to give up (or severely limit) some of their favorite foods and find a way to like foods they’ve never met.  They are going to have to change the way they live — and I was tasked with helping them to make this transition with humor and grace.

So I took my daughter’s message… along with my own funny stories and humor … to this forum sponsored by St. Thomas Moore Hospital. And it went well.   The message was right on.  I only wish I could take credit for it.

Thanks Canon City!  And thanks Claire.  It was a blast.

Are you looking for a health care speaker for your organization?   Whether or not you need a diabetes speaker, I’d love to be your guy.  Go to the Contact Page now.

Brad Montgomery
Proud Father of a Diabetic, Diabetes Speaker, New Fan of St. Thomas Moore

Related:

Info about how this Health Care Speaker can help your group
See a video of Brad as a health care speaker here (from YouTube)
An article about being a diabetes speaker with my daughter
Another diabetes  article

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I just got back form Richmond, Indiana (near Indianapolis, Indiana) where I spoke to the entire staff of First Bank Richmond.  They have been going through some tough times lately— and not just the general strife all of the banking industry is enduring.  They just updated some huge systems, and the process has been good but painful.  This group needed to come together as a team, celebrate their successes, and celebrate their conversion to this new complex software system.

(Check out the bribe below!)

It was a a hoot….check out a 1 minute sample:

Here’s my bribe: Hey First Bank Richmond folks!!!   What are you going to DO differently at work (and/or at home) based on our time together on Veterans Day?

I’d love to hear how you plan to “create stories” for your customers.  Sure, you probably can’t create an awesome customer service story for EVERY person who walks into your bank, but certainly you could create one awesome experience per day?

Personally, I think creating one story per day is a bit lame.   Can you do two?  Three?  Five?

And most importantly, how are you going to make the creation of these customer service stories fun for YOU?  (Remember, if it’s fun you’ll do it.  If it isn’t, you probably won’t.)  What systems or processes or rewards can you put in place so that these stories become part of your First Bank Richmond culture?

Use the comment form below to share your ideas and I’ll send you a gift.  No, not a pony, but still fun.

Thanks kids!

Do you need an outside speaker to help get your bank — or other organization — to where it needs to be? Go to the contact page now.

Brad Montgomery
Banking Speaker, Motivational Speaker, Fan of First Bank Richmond

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Years ago I did school assembly program called the Magic of Books.  It’s a motivational literacy program —

I use magic and comedy to demonstrate the cool things you can learn through reading.

I did at least 800 shows, and over 200 schools — nearly all of them in my home state of Colorado.  Recently, I donated the program to my kid’s school.  It was a hoot to have 2 of my kids in the audience, one of whom got up and did a magic trick on her own.  (My other kid was a “star” in a trick I did.)   To be honest, I thought this was the end of the story.

Check out this video we did at one of the schools here in Colorado:

But then in a fluke, a school from a nearby district called and asked me to do it.  “Yes!” I said before thinking.  (The assemblies are fun, but to be brutally honest, my corporate groups pay better.  Hey!  Kids need new shoes!)  Then I noticed that I had a spring in my step the whole day;  I was THRILLED to have booked the show because I love doing it.  Love it.

Guess what?  I’m back!  No, I’m not a school assembly guy.  But I am a motivational speaker who occationally likes doing school assemblies.  Because I love them.

I guess I could do it as an add-on to one of my corporate road trips.  But I’m assuming I’ll mostly do them here in Colorado in between speaking jobs.

Ok clients…don’t sweat it.  I’m not a kids performer.  But yeah, I love doing it and I’m gonna do maybe one school assembly per month.

Hey Colorado Schools?  Are you looking for a fun school assembly?   Offered by a guy who does it because of his passion?  Contact me here.

Yours,
Brad Montgomery
Occasional School Assembly Guy, Lover of School Assemblies, Believer in the Magic of Books

Related:
See the School Assembly program on Youtube.
More info on this School Assembly

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I dare you. Turn each guest’s visit to your hotel into a story.

This hotel is "fine."

Ok, for the rest of you, allow me to explain. I just spoke to a fine group of hoteliers in Las Vegas. LodgingHost Corporation had me come to Las Vegas to speak to their managers and administrators.

By now, you’d have to live on the far side of the moon to not know by now the hospitality industry is suffering. This economy is making it very hard, and this upcoming winter looks to be another horrible season. (Though there is much hope for Spring.)

We stayed at the Excalibur Casino. It was fine. The rooms were nice. The service was fine. Everything was fine. But as I said to the folks of LodgingHost, in this economy, “fine” is a failure. As Kevin, the president of LodgingHost told us all, “Customer service is everything.” I couldn’t agree more.

I’ve stayed in approximately 800 hotels. And I remember only a handful. And without exception, the ones I remember are the hotels where a somebody of the hotels where somebody created a story for me.

It’s that simple: when there was a story, I remembered it. Otherwise, the hotel was either lousy, or possibly even “fine.” “Fine” equals “forgettable.”

Check out the video, and pay attention to the bribe I offered the folks at LodgingHost.

First, the concept: As I told them in Las Vegas, it would be terrific, (but probably impossible) to create a memorable story for EVERY guest. But it IS possible to create a story for some of your guests.

Perhaps you could create one story for one guest every day? (Though my sense is that goal is WAY to lame. If you cannot “make the day” of several of your guests every day you just aren’t trying.)

I challenge you: come up with a technique to create stories for your guests. Maybe it’s hand delivering them a bottle of water. Or going out of your way to…. I don’t know what. But my guess is that you do. In fact, I KNOW that you have ideas how to create these superhero customer service stories.

excalibur hallway

My Bribe: Be one of the first 12 people to leave a comment below about what you will (or are!) doing for your guests to create amazing customer service stories and I’ll send you a gift. Nothing huge, but I’ll make sure it’s cool.

Thanks LodgingHost. It was a total pleasure. I can’t wait to hear your stories.

Do you need a funny motivational speaker to speak to your organization about customer service? I’m your guy. Let’s talk about making your convention or meeting special. Go to the contact page.

Yours,
Brad Montgomery
Funny Customer Service Speaker, Las Vegas Speaker, And Fan of Creating Stories

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I’m psyched to be visiting the fine folks of the National Speakers Association Houston Chapter on Nov. 8th and wanted to invite you all.  This event is open to the public, so if you have a hankering to learn more about the world of professional speakers, here’s your chance.

I’ll be covering two topics.

1)  How to Be Funny.   Every speaker needs to add humor.  That old joke is true:

One speaker asks another, “Do you need to be funny as a speaker?”

Answer:  “Only if you want to get hired.”

Do you have questions YOU want answered? Leave them as comments and he’ll cover your questions on Thursday.

Check out this video I prepared just for you!

First, at 4 pm, I’ll be teaching my program Got Mirth?  Milking Your Program for All The Humor it is Worth.  (Catchy, huh!) I’ll give some big-time strategies for becoming funnier.  I’ll also give you some tricks and jokes that you can incorporate TOMORROW to get laughs.  Yes, they are THAT easy.   (Not all of ‘em, but I’ll be giving away some cool, easy, funny stuff.)

Second, I’ll be doing a program about how to stay upbeat in this speaking business (at a time where that is harder than ever.)  We all know in our hearts that if we are able to use levity, lightheartedness, and even humor as motivational speakers, we’ll do better — both on the platform and in the business of speaking.     And lucky you, I’ll be teaching a few specific techniques that you can incorporate right away. Oh, and by the way, it’ll be funny. If you are looking for that speakers program that your spouse is interested in…this is the one.

I’m coming to Texas, baby!  On the 8th I’ll be teaching Texas speakers how to strut their stuff and get to that holy ground:  “The next level.” (Nope, I’m not exactly sure what that means, but it sounds good to me. Let’s go there together.)

See ya there!

Brad Montgomery
Texas Motivational Speaker (for a day!), Fan of NSA Houston, Teacher of Funny-ness

PS. Here is the handout. (Think of all the trees we saved by me not sending this to Kinkos!)

PPS. For those of you who asked about coaching, here are the details.

Questions? Leave them in a comment below. Or contact me here.

Dear readers:  no, I’m not on probation.  No I haven’t ever been caught up in the justice system.  But I did recently get hired to be a funny motivational speaker for a bunch of fine probation pros based in the Chicago, Illinois area.  (Though oddly we went to Wisconsin to have the event.)

It was a total hoot.

Ethical Bribe:   
Hey you probation peeps!  Leave a comment on my blogbelow and tell me one thing that you did differently based on our time together today.  And tell me what the effect was.  (Did it make your day more fun?  What happened at the meeting when you did it?  What did your kids do?) And then I’ll send you something fun.   (No, not a Ford Explorer or a $500 shopping spree, but it’s fun and cool.  And it’s my treat.)   The first 15 people who reply with how you were spurred into action will get a free gift.

You will type in your email but that remains private and is never published.   It just is for me to send you the gift.

Thanks again.  It was a total pleasure to be your probation speaker.

Are you an organization — probation or otherwise — and need a speaker to motivate in a laugh out loud funny way, I hope you’ll pick me. Contact me here.

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I was a fish out of water … and into the cow pie. It was Green Acres meets Tony Robbins. It was City-Slickers-meets-Deepak-Chopra.

Okay, it was none of the above. But it was fun.

I recently returned from Kansas where I was tasked with being a motivational speaker for a bunch of farmers — all members of Offerle Coop. I’m pretty sure that I wasn’t what they expected — fast talking jokester with a message about enjoying life. But I can tell you this: by the end of the night everybody — including me — was pumped. It was a good time.

They were celebrating their 100 year anniversary as a Grain Coop and invited me to address the Kansas group after a big dinner.

I loved it for a million reasons. Ok, maybe not a million; how ’bout five:

• I enjoyed my drive in. It’s a beautiful part of the country, and because I’m a city kid, I really enjoyed looking at the feed lots JAMMED with cattle. (Check out the video.)

Why else did I love being a motivational speaker at this Kansas event? Here are the remaining four:

• This audience wasn’t jaded. They didn’t come in with that Los Angeles or NYC attitude that they’ve seen it all. They weren’t a push-over audience; but they were open to giving the speaker a shot. That’s refreshing.

• It was a fun event, and I was proud to be part of it. Members of the Coop drove in from the entire region to celebrate, to get a steak, to meet with neighbors… and to hear little ol’ me. I think I’m not letting the cat out of the bag to say that not a Offerle Kansas doesn’t have a ton of entertainment options. So just the fact that they were having some dude from Colorado was news in itself. And we were in Dodge City… a fun trip for anybody in in SW Kansas!

• We got to poke fun at the farmers. There I was, this chatty, fast-talking speaker from Colorado clearly out of my element. So I made fun of me and how they barely let me in the door because I’ve never seen a true soybean. And I made fun of some of the men — good, hard working guys who are way more of the strong and silent type than I am. (There’s a shock, huh?) They answered my good-natured questions with one word answers which I accidentally (??) misunderstood. The women howled. The men thought it was hilarious. And I had one of the best nights of the year.

• It was a return trip for me. I had worked with Duane from the Coop a couple times in the past… years ago. It’s flattering to work for anybody. But being invited back (three times!) is five times cooler. (I know, I know. It’s weird speaker math.)

Thanks Offerle! I had a blast. And yup, the steak was delicious.

Brad Montgomery
Kansas Motivational Speaker, Fan of Coops, Fan of Offerle

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I recently blogged about how one of my clients (The Air Force) was able to make up some missing budget by partnering with their convention hotel. Read that article here.

The Renaissance Hotel in St. Louis was as happy with the arrangement as the Air Force was.   I was thrilled.

Check out this video here:

Thanks Renaissance. I’m flattered. We had fun, didn’t we?

Does YOUR organization need a motivational keynote speaker? Go to the contact page.

Brad Montgomery
Motivational Keynote Speaker, Loves help With Speakers Fees!

Related:

See the video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDipR4RjtSo
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I’m back from the Cincinnati, Ohio area where I was a motivational speaker for Perfetti van Melle. (This is the HUGE candy company that is famous in the USA for AirHeads and Mentos.)

I had a great time working with their team: we talked about ramping up the fun in the candy business, and connected that to increasing their bottom line. [Have more fun = Sell more candy.] It was a killer group of good people.

My favorite part of the program was watching this very weary, corporate group start early in the morning quite and polite. When I started, they barely laughed. Heck, they barely smiled. (This is predictable…they didn’t know there would be a funny speaker…and in fact have never had a paid professional speaker at these meetings.)

But sixty minutes later they were raucous, fun, participatory, loud, and very, VERY fun. It’s a fun process to watch; it’s a fun process to be part of.

The ONLY thing wrong with the whole event was that they sent me home with a briefcase full of their products. Mentos, Mentos Gum, (yum!), some Airheads (which my kids love) and my personal favorite, AirHeads Xtremes Sweetly Sour Belts.

Put away the crack. The heroin. The cigarettes. They mean nothing to me and never have. But HELLO MOM these things are good. Really good. I had planned on sharing with the folks on the plane, and of course with my kids. All I can say is that the kids got to try them, but the people on United Airlines had to fend for themselves.

Here’s the video:

Thanks Perfetti van Melle! I had a total blast.

Do YOU need a motivational speaker for your organization? With or without candy, contact us now. Go to the contact page.

Brad Montgomery
Motivational Speaker, Fan of Mentos, LOVER of Airheads Xtremes

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I love nurses. Not in the way you’re thinking. : ) I mean I love speaking to audiences of nurses.

I recently was in Kansas working for a group of oncology nurses (or is it a pride of nurses? A gaggle?) and had an absolute blast.

What set’s nurses apart from other audiences? Even health care audiences? Besides the scrubs, quite a bit. They are over worked and underpaid. (Ok, so that doesn’t make them unique.) And their hard work with sick and critically ill patients makes them quick to laugh and ready for a dose of levity.

They are in desperate need of a break from their lives, and are eager and ready to learn any tips and tricks you have to share about how to deal with the constant stresses and change associated with healthcare. So being a speaker is always fun. But being a healthcare speaker for nurses is double cool.

One of my favorite parts of this particular speech was that I followed a doctor who had a fairly serious program about the business of healthcare. Then, just as I started he left. So…. we…. er… I…. talked about him. I gently poked fun at doctors in general (which all nurses love!) and him in particular. I didn’t cross the line. But I may have visited it.

The audience went wild. As a motivational health care speaker, I find it fun to incorporate the audiences specifics into my program. But this doctor presenting just before my program was a gift from the Comedy Gods. It was a hoot.

Check out this video filmed RIGHT after the program:

Looking for a healthcare speaker? Feel like your healthcare audiences deserves both motivation and a deep belly laugh? Go to the contact page now!

Brad Montgomery
Funny Healthcare Speaker, Fan of Kansas, Fan of Nurses!

Technorati Tags: Health care speaker, healthcare speaker, kansas speaker, motivational speaker, oncology, nurses, wichita

I recently worked for the DAU — Defense Acquisition University — in Huntsville, Alabama. This is a hardworking group of military and civilians who need to understand the very complex acquisition process. It’s a tough and tedious job. And it’s important. (Just ask the men and women who need parts and supplies overseas.)

Happily, it went well. Really well. It was a terrific group.

The best part of the motivational speech for me was watching these men and women change during our time together. Predictably, they started out pretty wary. “What?! A funny motivational speaker at a military conference?” But after the first few minutes they began to relax and get into it — and to laugh.

It was clear to me — even as an outsider — that this group NEEDED to laugh.

Does your group (military or civilian) need a speaker who can help them with perspective, morale and attitude? Wouldn’t it be cool if this motivational speaker was funny? I think so too. Let’s talk. Go to the contact page.

Learn more about this military speaker
Brad Montgomery
Military Speaker, Funny Motivational Speaker, Fan of the DAU

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More related links:

My most popular magician speaker topic, Ordinary Magic
Comedy Magic: My Funny Magic Show Freshly Brewed
Sample chapter from my book, Humor Me
Mile High Magicians Society
A blog post about a Colorado Magician
My work as a magician speaker for IBM
Video testimonials on YouTube about my work as a magician speaker
Video of Freshly Brewed, A sample of my magician speaker work.
Video of some of my work on YouTube as a magician.

Holy Moly.  Even I can’t believe I’m writing more about how Southwest Airlines uses humor, levity and lightheartedness to improve their bottom line.  I know it.  And you know it.  Humor + work = improved bottom line.

What amazes me is how United Airlines and the other struggling airlines are the only ones NOT learning from Southwest.

Corporate espionage would never be so easy:  United should put a single employee on a Southwest flight, have them notice how the fun attitude of the employees translates to customer satisfaction, and then…. copy them!   No cloak and daggers needed.   It’s not even stealing.  It’s just common sense.

I was just on an United flight and was chatting with a flight attendant about the safety announcements, and whether she thought humor was appropriate.  I’m not at all sure what the “official” policy is, but her understanding of it is that fun is NOT encouraged… or allowed.  And she shared some anecdotal evidence about her UAL peers getting chewed out for trying to make the safety demonstration fun.   Hmmph.   Oh, and guess how her morale was?   Yeah, lousy.

She is a nice woman, but her loyalty to her employer and her customers ends at her paycheck.

I live in Colorado… and as it is a hub for United I fly them a lot.  An awful lot.  An AWFUL lot.  I’m stuck with them.   But I don’t like them.   It’s clear to me that their employee morale is rock bottom.   They are worried for their jobs and future.  They don’t feel like the carrier is on their side.  And their employee dissatisfaction comes through loud and clear to folks like me.  Their customers.  I have dozens of stories about how United could have easily earned my loyalty but instead made my life harder. It’s too bad.  Especially because it doesn’t have to be that way.

They need — to be frank — me.   Bad.  Really bad.  But they’ll never hire me to talk to their staff with ideas about how to connect enjoyment of their jobs to creating an outstanding airline.    They haven’t noticed that the ONLY thing that sets them apart from their competitors is their people.  And their people are unhappy.  Very unhappy.   Just ask that flight attendent.

I don’t hold out much hope for United Airlines.  But maybe it isn’t too late for your organization.

Does YOUR company need to invest in your people’s quality of (work) life?  Do you agree that NOW is the time to make sure they are at their best, because you simply cannot afford a staff that isn’t fully on board?

[Hey United Airlines! Honestly, you need to hire me, like, yesterday.   Give me a buzz and I'll help your folks which will help you.  Guaranteed.   Come on, I dare you!]

Go to the contact page and let’s talk about how to ramp up your groups attitudes and loyalty, and how that will create a great impact on your bottom line.

Now, for a contrast… check out what the wacky and  successful Southwest Airlines is doing on board with their customers. Do these customers look happier than those you’ve seen on any UAL flight recently. You betcha. That, my friends, is what you call “a hint.”

Do you need to ramp up the attitude in your organization? You don’t even need to sing.  Contact us now! Go to the contact page.

Do me a favor? If you liked this article, Digg it for me right here:

Digg it!

Brad Montgomery
Motivational Speaker, Humor in the Workplace Expert, Funny-ist

Related:
Brad’s Take on the Pike’s Place Fish Market
Hooked on Humor Audio Subscription Program
Laugh-O-Nomics: Brad’s Motivational Humor in the Workplace Breakout Seminar

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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!

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I’ve been on a kick lately of having fun   -  with a purpose.

I tell my audiences  that happiness is an attitude.   It’s a choice.   But an often neglected portion of the happiness equation goes beyond attitude, mind-set and emotion.   To do it right— to be your happiest— you also have to get physically involved with creating some joy for yourself.

In other words, to be happy you’ve got to DO something.  Maybe it’s goof with skate shoes and your kids.  Or play a harmless joke on your work mates.  Or take piano lessons.  Or maybe it’s to take responsibility for making somebody feel like a million bucks and act on it.

I’m lucky because I have a ton of hobbies that bring me passion and joy.  One of my latest is Heelys.   I’m tellin’ ya, put some wheels on your shoes and go shopping and … BAM!  You’re in a great mood.

Proof? I’ve got it baby!  Check out this short video of my kids and I breaking every rule in the how-to-behave-in-a-store book.

I challenge you:  find something today that gets YOU involved in creating your own joy.  Build something. Plant something. Play with something.  And then…. Do it.  Notice your mood change?  Guaranteed or your money back.

Leave a comment and let me know if you agree.

Do you agree with me that happiness at work is related to excellence at work?  Do you need a speaker to help your organization to get there too?  I’d love to work with you.  It will be fun.   Promise.  Heelys optional.  Go to the contact page now.

Cheers.

Brad Montgomery
Motivational Keynote Speaker, Passionate Player, Adult Fan of Heelys

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What are you doing today to create fun and joy in your life. I speak to groups as a motivational speakerall across the country about how happiness at work is directly related to a better work product. And I talk a lot about fun. But in this short video I talk about DOING stuff that is fun and why that’s important.

Check out this short video:

My point? My point is that the best attitude in the world is not enough. We have to actually DO something to create joy for ourselves. For you this might mean anything from walking your dog to playing a practical joke at work or sports or collecting stamps. Whatever. My point is that you need to actually do something. Go somewhere. Get physically involved.

Your life at work is never going to be great until you have a great life at home. (Yup, all that “work-life balance” stuff actually works.)

So get out there, find some passion and follow it. One of my passions just happens to be skiing. If that works for you, great! If not, no biggie. Just find something and….. DO IT!

So… I dare you. Comment. What ARE you going to do today to make your life better? Do you agree that happiness at home leads to a better quality of work life too? Leave a comment.

Cheers,

Brad Montgomery
One of Colorado’s Motivational Speakers, Skiers, Crappy Film-maker.

Comedian Lewis CK explains to Conan how spoiled the current genertion is.   I talk about this stuff in my keynote…. think Conan will call me?    (He’s a great comedian… I love him.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen him this “clean.”  — except for his last sentence… can’t imagine using that at one of my corporate clients.  Leave comment…. what do you think?

Need a motivational speaker…. Hope you’ll consider me.  Lewis CK is great… but he’d never pass the HR department.   Go to the contact page.  

Cheers,

Brad Montgomery
Comedian, Motivational Speaker, Fan of Lewis CK

Howdy USDA Farm Service Folks.  I loved being your speaker in South Dakota a short while back. I wanted to check in with you, and made a special video JUST for you.  (Ain’t that special!)

I seem a bit squished in the video… must pushed the wrong button on the video camera.  But hey, it’s easier than going on a diet.

Use the comment form below to tell me what you “took away” from our time together.  Did you have an “Ah Ha” moment?  What was it?  Let me know in the comments below.

Now, pop that corn and check out your video…

Are you interested in booking a really funny motivational speaker? Whether or not you work in South Dakota I’d love to be your guy. Call me. : ) Go to the Contact Form.

Brad Montgomery
Motivational Keynote Speaker, South Dakota Speaker, Fan of the USDA

Here is an invitation to the Women’s Realtors and Fort Collins Realtors event in February:

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Howdy Folks! I’ll be your keynote speaker speaker for the Big Shin Dig on Feb 12th at the Lincoln Center in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Check out this video I made especially for you:

I’ve been a motivational humorist speaker here in Colorado for years, and absolutely pleased as punch to be part of your event. What can you expect? You can expect to laugh and have a great time. And because I’m a magician you can expect to see a magic trick or two. But most of all, you should expect to be reminded to take yourself less seriously — while still taking what you DO seriously.

You can learn more about me over at main site.

I look forward to being part of this event, laughing with you, and reminding each other in a very fun way to lighten up.

Questions or comments? You can contact me here.

Cheers!

Brad Montgomery
Colorado Motivational Speaker, Real Estate Speaker, Fan of Realtors

Here’s a cool video to welcome my new followers and introduce myself.  (Not even 1 min. long!)

No idea what I’m talking about?  Follow me at the micro-blog site Twitter.

Brad Montgomery
Motivational Keynote Speaker, Comedian Speaker, Twitter Lover

Howdy Folks!  I’ll be your keynote speaker speaker for the Big Shin Dig on May 19th at the Crown Plaza — DIA. Check out this video I made especially for you:

I’ve been a motivational humorist speaker here in Colorado for years, and absolutely pleased as punch to be part of your event in May. What can you expect?  You can expect to laugh and have a great time.  And because I’m a magician you can expect to see a magic trick or two. But most of all, you should expect to be reminded to take yourself less seriously — while still taking what you DO seriously. You can learn more about me over at http://www.bradmontgomery.com I look forward to being part of this event, laughing with you, and reminding each other in a very fun way to lighten up.  

Questions or comments?   You can contact me here.  

Cheers!

Brad Montgomery
Colorado Motivational Speaker, Fan of Aurora Mental Health

Ok.  So it has nothing to do with the rest of my work.  But I couldn’t stop laughing.

Duck out of water? Holy Rapper, Batman. Sometimes we just have to stick with our strengths. But if this group would have followed that advice we wouldn’t have this totally great example of accidental humor. I wonder if thing was funny to them? Are they able to laugh at it too?

“Stop! Hammer Time!” Oh….. my ribs hurt!

“Take off your robes!?” Oye. I can’t breathe!!!

Check out this funny video where I break every rule in the book.  

Wearing skate shoes is a naughty nasty thing to do in a grocery store. And no, my kids and I didn’t play with them at any Denver, Colorado area Safeway’s or King Soopers. No. We didn’t.

I’ve wanted to try Heelys for some time, but was chicken. I was afraid that I’d be lousy at them. I was afraid I’d never use them and they would sit in my closet mocking me. I was afraid that even if I did wear them in public, I’d feel like too much of an idiot to actually “skate.”

But like so many things in my life recently, my kids influenced me. They looked like they were having fun… and I love playing with my kids… and … and … and…. hello Heelys!

I have used them. I learned them fairly quickly. I wear them a bunch. I notice that adults to gawk and gape when I skate, but (perhaps I’m a fool but) I think they admire me for having fun. I think they think, “That looks fun but I don’t know if I could ever do that in public.” I imagine that a few people must think, “Look at that rolling idiot!.” But I also imagine that more people think, “Cool… there’s another adult on those cool skate shoes.. I wish I had the guts to try that!”

And the cool bonus is that the skate shoes work right into my philosophy I share as a motivational speaker. Much of what I teach is mental / attitude. But I also talk about the importance of DOING things that help us ramp up the fun at work. I hate to mention the “P” word (play) but let’s face it, it makes sense. Of course the definition of “play” for a business audience is tricky, but the concept is solid.

There is NOTHING more playful than skating through a Wal-Mart. It is impossible to be bummed about the sale that didn’t happen, your over-full inbox crammed with emails, and the super-long To-Do list your fretting over. When you play, our stress goes down, our creativity goes up, and we are better able to tackle whatever comes at us.

My point? If you want to make your life — and your job — more fun, and if you believe that if you enjoy your work more you’ll be more productive, than you need to ACTIVELY search out activites that physically engage you in life. You need to find ways that appeal to you.

I’ve found one that works for me: Heelys. I don’t care if you buy these cool shoes or not, but if you don’t, I ask you this: What are you going to do today to actively ramp up the joy and fun in your life? Come on…. do something!

Brad Montgomery
Motivational Speaker, Parent, Heely Wearer, Rule Breaker

PS.  Seriously, do not wear these shoes in public.  It is against the rules.  Seriously.  Don’t do it.  Really.  I’m not kidding.

I was recently working as an Emcee for a huge technology conference in Texas. They wanted me to be both a motivational speaker and a master of ceremonies. It was a fun date, it was (happily) well received.

(By the way, check out my current avatar on the right. Yes, it’s a lumpy guy w/ fireman pants.  My pals in Second Life think I’m a total dork… which is fine by me as long as they laugh.   This screen shot is a shot of me looking in at my books in the virtual bookstore of my pals over Synapse3di.)

Check out this 40 second video so you can get a feel for what I did:

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One of my favorite parts was when I was tasked introduce some of the new ways this organization’s resources available via Second Life. I’m deeply involved in the business use of Second Life, and have spent a bunch of time figuring a way to deliver my motivational speeches via Second Life. So…. well… I knew a bunch about the concept. (Translation: I knew how to make it fun.)

It was a total hoot. Thanks ISTE for inviting me.

Are you looking for a motivational speaker, humorist or humor in the workplace expert to speak for your organization, and you want to hold your event in Second Life? I’d love to be your guy. Contact me here.

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Brad Montgomery
Second Life Speaker, Motivational Speaker, Lumpy Guy with FireMan Pants

Ok.  So the timing is off.  But this video is great.  

This is funny.   I don’t care if you voted Republican or Democrat, you have to admire the clever folks who put this humorous video together.

Click this link for the video.

Notice that I’m famous.  

In many ways, this video is like a great keynote speech:

• Interactive
• Unexpected
• Relevant
• Funny

Next time you present in front of a business audience, do you think you can use any of this principles? 

The folks at MoveOn.org made me laugh.  And that says quite a lot.

Anybody need a motivational speaker?  I’d love to be your guy.  Contact me here.  (Good Timing Not Required.)

Cheers,

Brad Montgomery
Independent Voter, Motivational Keynote Speaker, Humorist, Fan of Clever Videos

Check out my Linkedin Profile