More soon. For for now visit the page: http://www.bradmontgomery.com/ilaughoutloud

I’m proud of this bad boy.  It’s gonna be huge.  Already we’re getting great reviews, decent sales, and nice comments.  Thanks people… I can really use your help with this.

If you have an iPhone or iTouch…. buy this thing, rate it 5 stars and let’s celebrate the laughter!

Brad Montgomery

Motivational speaker, and iPhone App Developer!

The Ability to Make Others Feel Good Will Help You in Business.

Bill Clinton was famous for – among other reasons – the ability to make people feel great when he was with them one on one.  (No Monica jokes, please.  I’m making a point.)  Hundreds of people wrote about how the President made them FEEL during their interaction.

Whether or not you like him, it’s hard to argue that a two-term President wasn’t successful in some ways.  One of the reasons for his success was this undisputed ability to make others feel good about him.

Clinton reminds us that personal charm is a piece of the success puzzle.   Good news, sports fans:  I’ve got another piece for you and it will make you laugh.  If you’re lucky, that is.

JoAnne Bachorowski, a psychologist at Vanderbilt University, studies the acoustics of laughter.   Her research tells us that the acoustics of laughter (the actual frequencies and sounds of somebody laughing) makes us feel good.

It seems subtle, so maybe in case you missed it, here it is again:   science proves that the sound of laughter creates a pleasant response in others.  Wow.  You laugh;  your ‘audience’ has a enjoyable experience.

In other words, people who hear us laugh respond with a positive physical response. And making others feel good enables us to shape their behavior towards us.   It pre-disposes them to feel good towards us.

If you can make others feel good they are more likely to feel positive about us.  It’s true.  It’s science.  Just ask Professor Bachorowski.

Wow.

Why Should You Care?   We ALL want to shape other’s behavior towards us.    Whether it is as leaders, as sales people, managers, as employees, as friends, as parents, as customers…. You name it!    And one of the easiest (and coolest) techniques we can use to get what we want is to laugh more.

You’ve heard Fake It Until You Make It?   Yup, it works with laughter.  (Unless you laugh like Santa or a hyena, that is.) But if you have a reasonably good ability to FAKE laughing, that laughter will still serve you.  And if it is real, it will serve you even better.

If you WANT to be a person of influence – and we all do – then you’ll be more effective if you laugh.

Science proves it:  laughter works.

===

Book Brad For Your Meeting Or Event. Go to the contact page now.
===

Yours,

Brad Montgomery
Motivational Keynote Speaker, Lover of Laughter, Humor Expert

Technorati Tags: laughter, laugh, science of laughter

This is a note I received from a pal and High School Teacher, Lindsey Pahs….who happens to be a very funny person. I used to think he was an expert at humor by accident. But check out this note that proves him to be way deeper than I thought. And his point is right on. Check it out….

“I have thought a little about it though. Here’s what I think. Being funny (at home or work) isn’t as much about telling the joke or making the wise-crack as it is about the attitude. In order to be funny, you have to have the certain outlook on life. Try to look at things from a different perspective than you normally do. Sometimes that’s funny. Think about what would happen if you took something to the exteme–sometimes the result is funny. You have to be willing to break out of the mold. Flower pots aren’t funny. . . a flower pot on your head is funny. If you do something different or look at things from a different point of view, the results are sometimes funny. I think this is why it’s hard for me to think of funny things–it’s not really the thing that’s funny; it’s the way you approach the thing. ”

How come none of MY teachers were this clued into humor? Thanks Lindsey.

Humor and Grief & Loss

I just returned from a funeral where I experienced first hand how even a tiny dose of humor can make a huge step towards healing and health. Smiles and laughter CAN make things better.

During the funeral service for a wonderful woman who died WAY too early. The entire “audience” of 300 found themselves somewhere between sadness and total utter sobbing. (Me… I was balling.)

When the son of the woman who died spoke about his mom he made a joke. Not a huge joke. Just a small joke about his brother in law. And in a snap he flipped this audience from crying to laughing. He popped the stress balloon. With this tiny bit of humor he gave us a a much needed break from our grief. It was such a small gesture with a huge impact. What a gift. (And on a personal note I was amazed that he could be so generous in the face of his personal loss. It was wonderful.)

But it was later that night that humor delivered even more healing. We sat together and shared pasta and more wine than we probably should have. The stories about the mom — the woman we buried that day — flowed…. and flowed. Laughter and smiles were way more prevalent than tears. Yup, the tears were still there. But the laughter helped us all manage them.

I have no idea what time will bring… but I’m certain that liberal doses of humor and gladness will help us get through such sad and difficult times. Humor cannot erase our grief… it can’t make things “All Better” like our mommies did when we were little kids. But encouraging and welcoming humor into our lives will help us to at least begin to heal.

Now pass the wine.

Yesterday I was in the Salt Lake City airport going to a job in Sun Valley, ID when I stopped into Starbucks. I was chatting with the woman behind the counter. She was just a fun person with a big smile.

When she gave me BACK my credit card she held it out for me to take back. But here was the great part: when I grabbed it she didn’t let go. I pulled, but she hung on.

I looked up and met her eyes, and bingo; a huge smile was on her face.

She was doing it. She was using this tiny bit of humor on the job to help her do more than survive…. it helped her thrive. Humor in the workplace? You bet! She proved that adding (or creating) a smile or two here and there can change your day. And if you string enough of those days together….

Dateline: Ft. Collins, Colorado I just got back from Colorado’s premier magicians convention called Magic in the Rockies. What a blast. Colorado magicians converge on three days of tricks, lectures, and laughter. A couple of my favorites were comedians (yup, you can be a comedian AND a magician) Dana Daniels and comedian magician Michael Finney. They were hilarious, honed, and clean.

One interesting note was that Michael Finney received a rare standing ovation from the magicians…. for not doing a trick. He did a long set of stand up comedy and KILLED! Even magicians were amazed — and laughing ’till their faces hurt — by this corporate comedian.

The best part of the convention for me was that it rejuvenated my love for all things magical and magic. I’ve been so involved with the comedian portion of my speaker job that I’ve taken the magician part of me for granted. No more…. welcome back Magic Boy!

Check out all the info about my work as a corporate magician here.

Not at my house. But recenlty I learned that the spoken word CAN be “Family Friendly!”

When I was younger (and not yet a motivational speaker– heck, I wasn’t even a fireman which was my first goal) I spent a great deal of time in a little house in Silver Plume, Colorado. There was no T.V. up there to distract me and my sister and brother. Instead, we found entertainment in four or five Bill Cosby comedy albums my mom and dad bought. We laughed tons and tons as we listened to the albums over and over again. We could have recited the entire albums– and probably did.

Years later, to my delight, my dad gave me the very albums that had been such an escape many years ago. After some trial and error, I finally figured out how to hook up the record player to my computer and copy these albums onto CD so they would last — with the same scratches and grooves for many, many years to come.

The best surprise I got out of doing this though was that my kids love these comedy albums just as much as I did as a kid. We can listen to it together and they love it! I love the comedy recordings now as much as ever for three reasons. 1. They are old friends and listening to them is like a hug from a friend you thought you lost. 2. They are hilarious! Cosby’s stuff really holds up. And 3. It’s a hoot to listen to them with my kids. It is really special to be able to share humor like this across the generations.

Even after all the years of being a comedian, I never thought it was truly possible to have family-appropriate humor that would really be enjoyed by everyone. Of course I had done many shows aimed toward the family that included magic, but Cosby serves as such a great example of how the spoken word alone can be very funny to audiences of all ages without being inappropriate. (Can you imagine encouraging your six year old kid to listen to Chris Rock?) Family Friendly comedy? How Cool is That?!

[Yup… I have a family friendly corporate comedian and magician show too! Learn more here.)

It’s a Ten ….. Food folks fun freely.

It is one thing to speak to a group for 45 minutes (or an hour, or 90 minutes, or even a half day) and to teach them about the power of laughter, motivational humor, and just generally how to lighten up.

But it is another (sometimes much harder) thing to actually get people to do it. For them to actually change their behavior, their outlooks and their attitudes based on what I tell them.

I give my audiences a bunch of ideas about how they can take laughter with them (and how they can use it to help make their lives better.) But to be honest, I’m always unsure of how much they actually take with them. I wonder sometimes if they get it.

So, imagine how cool it was to get an email from a group of folks at the Quality Assurance Association (a bunch of food folks) with a great photo taken of a bunch of their members at dinner.

Apparently they did get it! What a blast.

Check out the letter and the photo:

Brad,

You really made a hit with our members. They kept quoting you all week,especially with “Incredible” and “ride the pony”. Some even wore their red noses to dinner. I have pictures of our group at dinner holding up 10 on napkins for our waitress who was asked to give us 16 individual checks!
I also have a sign we found at the lab we visited that everyone thought you could use in your program. I’ll fax to you if you send me your fax. I really enjoyed watching Joe Kelly , sitting opposite me in the meeting , go from no expression to actually laughing a few times. He looked like a stick in the mud most of the time.

Your motivation and humor helped a ton.. You are great and I had so many people ask how I found you.

Take care,

Ann Thompson”

(PS. They are holding up signs that say “10.” This is a very cool idea created by my mentor, Dr. Earl Reum (http://www.earlreum.com ) where you hold up a sign Olympic-Judge style after a co-worker does something cool, a new-hire finishes a first product, your spouse makes a great dinner, etc. You get the idea. It’s awewsome. Thanks Earl!)

Being a motivational humorist speaker rocks! I love my job!

I’m amazed at how often I hear it from my clients: “We just had a speaker and he (or she) told stories and jokes that were just TOTALLY inappropriate for our association.”
Well folks, I’m here to tell you that if you want your speaker to use humor… ask them whether it is clean humor. Ask ‘em how they define “clean comedy.” If you need to, ask for examples. Last thing you want is for your boss and HR director to call you in to their offices to show you the stack of complaint letters about the comic speaker who “just wasn’t funny.”

I was chatting with a meeting planner yesterday who told me the story that I think sums up meeting stupidity. A huge corporation booked a known comedian for a corporate event. This was a very well known comedian… a person who at one time had their own TV show, and had plenty of tape on HBO and the Comedy Channel. Anybody… and I mean ANYBODY who has seen even 23 seconds of this comedian gets the accurate impression that they don’t work clean.

It was more than an occasional curse word. It was the whole act. Sex. Genders. Ethnicity. Curse words. Making fun of nearly every group. Predictably (in my opinion), five minutes after the comedian started the show at the convention, the CEO walked on stage and personally escorted the act off the stage. The full fee was paid, the audience was shocked, and the CEO probably had a fit with whoever booked that act. (And the comedian probably wondered, “Why in the world did they book me if they didn’t want me to do my thing?”)

My question was this: What did they expect? There are a ton of great corporate comedians who work 100% clean and are both professional and hilarious. But it is up to the meeting planner — or whomever is booking the speaker — to check to see if they are clean. And if you have any doubts… keep asking questions until you know you have a speaker that you know will be more than funny you want a speaker who understands corporate, government and association audiences.

I am just back from a job in Omaha, Nebraska where I spoke to the staff of the
Bankruptcy Court. Everybody to support staff to deputies to clerks. The whole crew.

Yup… the justice system needs humorous motivational speakers too!
These folks are over worked, under-appreciated… and a ton of fun. We had a great time talking about the power of humor, laughter and play. And we came up with some strategies for humor in the court.

I was flattered when one of there computer support folks sent me an email
which actually beat me back to the office. This guy, Frank, really knows how to have fun. I reprint his email with his permission.

“Hey Brad,
I had a really good time at our seminar Tuesday and wanted to tell you a few things I do to break the monotony. If my wife forces or tricks me into going to Wal-mart, I’ll walk along side her down an isle and then yell ‘Look out honey, FALLING PRICES!!!’ and then push her out of the way. She hates it and calls me retarded, but I think it’s hilarious. Another thing I like to do is if we are at the mall, which I also hate going to, I’ll casually walk through a store with her and the kids and kick the back of one of my heels with the other foot and throw myself forward to simulate tripping. The kids and I laugh every time, she just rolls her eyes. While working at my first job (burger joint) I took home an empty bottle of industrial floor cleaner, cleaned it out well, and then filled it with water and food coloring to match the color of cleaner. Then, before my next shift I took the bottle back and placed in the storage area (the bottle was marked). That night, I made sure to have a “bad night” and after a huge rush, looked at the girl I was setting up for the joke, told her I couldn’t take this job or life anymore, and went to the storage area to grab the bottle. I went back into the kitchen and leaned over the huge sink. I opened the bottle, tipped it up and started to chug my “cleaner” and shake. She starting screaming, called the owner, who was also in on the joke, to which he replied, ‘better bring down that help wanted sign then’. I eventually calmed her down. It was probably a mean joke, but she now jokes about it.
Again, thanks for the great session!”

F.B.

Awwww shucks!

What a great guy. What a great note! I love my job!