05.22.09
Posted in Humor~General at 8:35 pm by Dr. Trina Hess
Naomi Rhode, RDH, CSP, CPAE Speakers Hall of Fame, is an in-demand speaker. Why? Because her speeches follow the principle of having a strong identification with the audience’s locale.
When I do comedy shows, sometimes I’ll comment on my trip to the show. I’ll talk about where I got lost (I have a low-tech GPS. It’s called, “Go Pester Someone at Sheetz.”); the people and places I saw en route to the show; and other minor observations about the locale. But–those “minor” things are MAJOR things to the audience. Usually those are some of my biggest laughs!
Today I was susbsitute teaching in a high school music department. I read something in my room that may resonate with ”real” music teachers and their teaching locale . Here goes:
“How to Win the Scorn of Your Choral Director. Or: How to Flunk Chorus Without Really Trying.
1. When entering the room, inquire in a loud voice, ‘Do we have to sing today?’
2. Come to class late. When you do arrive, don’t appear to be in any hurry.
3. Never bring a pencil to class.
4. Ask permission not to sing at least once a week because of some illness. When you do sit out, be sure to work on homework for some other class to show how much you are really concerned about chorus.
5. Chew gum and especially while singing.
6. Say you hate a song after hearing it only once.
7. Come to class moving at a slow pace and complain about anything you can think of.
8. Say you hate sight singing or interval training and moan while doing it.
9. Ask to be excused from class for dumb things like buying carnations or making calls.
10. Write unnecessary things on books and music.
11. Complain when told to stand up and sing. Then move slowly while doing so.
12. Always question everything the director tells you to do, even if you understand why you are doing it.
13. When the director is becoming very emotional about the aesthetic value of the music, ask what time class is over.
14. Ask when the next concert is the day of the concert.
15. Miss concerts to do important things like visiting your grandmother, bathing the dog and brushing your teeth.
16. Be sure to throw away schedules of performances and concerts that are given you weeks and months in advance. Don’t show them to parents and bosses so that two days before the concert you can say you will be on vacation for the concert or have to work that night.
17. Sit on the director’s stool and steal his pens.
18. Neglect and abuse your chorus folder, robe and music.
19. Complain about never getting solos.
20. Claim that you never got a copy of the music when the director knows for sure that everyone received one yesterday.
21. Fight among yourselves as often as possible and be sure to destroy any group morale that exists. Label any group social event as ‘dumb’ but come anyway and have a good time.”
22. “Get Your SHINE Together!”
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05.21.09
Posted in Humor~General at 6:51 pm by Dr. Trina Hess
“Why do I speak? What is my passion? What do I truly have to say? Is it an honest reflection of who I am?”
These are some questions posed by Naomi Rhode in her “Alpha and Omega: Synergistic Openings and Closings for Successful Presentations” that she gave at Pittsburgh’s NSA meeting this month.
We all have a story, we are just not always encouraged to share it, or brave enough to try. I read an article today on Higheredjobs.com site by Peter Weddle, “Take Your Talent To Work Day.”
Weddle writes that, “You and every other person on this planet have an extraordinary being living inside you, waiting for a chance to perform.” But, usually, “we retire without giving our special talent a stage. We leave it unrecognized and unused because we lack either the self-confidence or the opportunity to expose it to the light of day.” One reason we don’t utilize or showcase our talent is that, “We don’t think our talent is worthy enough for others — especially our family and friends — to respect it as a career.”
But if we don’t respect our talent, we deprive others of the lessons we have learned, the truth we have found, and the person we have created.
Just as we all have a talent, we all have a story to tell. What will you talk about? I talk about how to, “Get Your SHINE Together!” Just ask me.
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05.20.09
Posted in Humor~General at 8:31 pm by Dr. Trina Hess
Naomi Rhode talked about several speeches we give–EVERY time we speak.
There’s the speech you plan.
The speech you give.
The speech you wish you had given.
The one the audience heard.
And the most important speech is the one the audience acted upon.
This is their interpretation and use of your message. We can plan our points, speak with eloquence. And the audience will make up their own minds and decide what’s important. Every time.
I’m amazed after my shows at what people remember of my act. For instance, one person told me, “I love winter, too! So when you talked about taking off your bumper sticker that read, “Winter Feels Good!” I laughed so hard!” Another was smitten by my, “I just make you take off your glasses.” She told me, “I’m going to USE that next time someone comes to my house!”
In the end, we as speakers are only as good as our message. And our audience always has the last word.
Which speech will YOU give?
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05.19.09
Posted in Humor attitude at 6:57 pm by Dr. Trina Hess
Speaker Naomi Rhode talked to us about taking risks. For those of you who’ve heard me speak, you know I talk about trying something new, and the steps to doing just that.
Taking risks is all about trying something new. Why is this so unpleasant for most of us? Because we have to CHANGE. We have to do things in a different way. Or, we have to alter our perspective to encompass a broader view of things. Maybe we have to risk being brutally honest.
Whatever it is that is required of us, it hurts. It’s unpleasant. And–it is necessary. Why?
1. It puts us far apart from the crowd. When we take a risk, we stand out, we become extraordinary–literally.
2. It makes us heard. People have heard it all, seen it all, done it all. At least twice. But if you take a risk, you can produce something so unique that people can’t help but listen to your message, buy your product, or talk about your service.
3. It exercises our trust muscles. We take a risk, not knowing what will happen. Usually this is why we hate taking risks. But by making risk-taking a habit, we learn the habit of trusting that everything will work out.
4. It boosts our self-esteem. When we, as Naomi advises, wrap our risk in something we do well, we cushion the effects of the risk. Like when we add new material into the body of our speech, or add new jokes into our act.
“Do something you have never done before, in a way you’ve never done it before,” Naomi says. And I say, “Get Your SHINE Together!”
What risk will you take today? Let’s hear about it, share it here: www.yourshiningexample.com
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05.18.09
Posted in Humor~General at 9:56 am by Dr. Trina Hess
Trina Hess with Naomi Rhode, RDH, CSP, CPAE Speakers Hall of Fame
Naomi Rhode is known in the industry as a spellbinding speaker. Why? Because she has passion for the topics she presents. In her workshop Saturday at Pittsburgh NSA, “Alpha and Omega: Synergistic Openings and Closings for Successful Presentations,” she talked about this thing called passion.
Speakers must ask themselves, “What am I passionate about?” Usually we think of a positive, moral, uplifting theme or topic. But passion can equally be something negative, something you feel you should fight against, something you want to stamp out. It doesn’t matter what it is that you’re passionate about. It is your passion, so it is legitimate for you.
And that legitimate passion is the only thing audiences will buy into. Audiences are savvy and will know when we are feigning our feelings.
The world of comedy operates in much the same way. Comedy writer and performer Judy Carter advises starting out with emotion. Investigate which things make you angry, frustrated, bored. From that point, it will be easier to discover the words to describe these events or things or people that make you mad, frustrated or bored.
Only by having this passion behind our thoughts can we deliver our comedy material with any kind of emotion. And that emotion is what will fuel the exaggeration, exasperation, and over-the-top-ness that we recognize as stand-up comedy.
It all begins with your passion. What is yours? And what will you do about it today?
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05.17.09
Posted in Comedy Around The World, Humor attitude at 9:03 pm by Dr. Trina Hess
Comedy Around the World today travels through the lifespan.
I heard something today–kids are dogs, and teens are cats. Dogs love us unconditionally (except the ones who bite us). Dogs are lovable. They do what we tell them to do.
Cats live their own lives and don’t want us to bother them. They don’t do tricks on command. They know it all.
We get into trouble when we think that our dogs are still dogs. But they have become cats. We expect them to do dog things, but they don’t. We become irate. The cats become irate.
During this span of time, we are led by misconceptions, expectations, and false information. We act on what we perceive about how dogs or cats are supposed to act. We try to predict what they will do.
But we don’t listen to their perspective.
We all have dogs and cats–and many other animals–that we deal with on a daily basis. We’re caught by surprise when our predictions are proven wrong. What if we understood change and appreciated it, without trying to control or prevent it? What if we let dogs be dogs and cats be cats?
What if we helped all the cats and dogs and other animals in our lives to, “Get Your SHINE Together!”
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05.16.09
Posted in Humor~General at 7:40 pm by Dr. Trina Hess
Trina Hess with Naomi Rhode, RDH, CSP, CPAE Speakers Hall of Fame; and her husband Jim Rhode, CSP, Past President, National Speakers Association.
We had a wonderful, educational meeting today at Pittsburgh (PA) NSA. The Rhodes offered us insight, tools, and motivation to take our speaking businesses to the next level.
Jim gave us tips on how to improve our message. Tips that sound a lot like he already knows how to, “Get Your SHINE Together!” For example, he recommends giving people a new vision and inspiring them to raise their own individual bar in life. In other words, be a Shining Example!
One of Jim’s points related to the “out of sight, out of mind” concept. If we maintain marketing materials like books, learning aids, and newsletters we can stay in the forefront of our customers’ minds.
Another essential way to accomplish this presence is to create profiles on both Twitter and Facebook. Don’t understand these new social media methods? Doesn’t matter. Just do it. Create a presence there. You will learn as you go, and people will help you. Just ask them. It’s called social networking and trust me, no one knows what the rules are. You just show up. Kind of like the “N” of the SHINE Method, offering something new, trying something new, being creative.
Stay tuned all next week as “Second Fiddle” features Naomi Rhode. I’ll explain how her tips for successful presentations relate to the steps we can use to add more humor to our lives and our presentations.
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05.15.09
Posted in Humor~General at 7:21 pm by Dr. Trina Hess
At least tomorrow it is, fo routdoor enthusiasts. Read more about it, and “Get Your SHINE Together!”
Let’s join Venture Outdoors for what is expected to be their greatest festival yet!
This FREE all day event features tons of exciting activities for the whole family including kayaking, canoeing, fishing, yoga, biking, climbing and more, plus music and entertainment throughout the day.
Please check out the Venture Outdoors link below for all available activities throughout the day: http://www.ventureoutdoors.org/vofestactivities.aspx
The festival is open from 11AM to 6PM. Point State Park (a 36-acre park that happens to be a National Historic Landmark) is easily accessed from the East and West by I-376 and I-279, from the North by PA 8 and from the South by PA 51. Parking is available in several nearby garages.
Let’s “Venture Outdoors”!
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05.14.09
Posted in Humor attitude at 8:16 pm by Dr. Trina Hess
I have a program on my computer, Microsoft Photo Editor. Lets me change pictures to make different effects. We all have this program–in our minds. We can take a perfectly normal picture and skew it into a negative. Likewise, we can blur, sharpen, soften, or otherwise mar our picture–or even despeckle and posterize it. Whatever that means. We also have the tools–like smudge, sharpen–to alter our picture in any way we want to. Point is, we are in control of the program. We sometimes forget this, and believe that our pictures alter automatically. They do not. It is up to us to decide what we want our pictures in life to look like. “Get Your SHINE Together!” and decide what you want your pictures to look like.
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05.13.09
Posted in Humor~General at 10:12 am by Dr. Trina Hess
Here is an invite from my friend Mike Pirollo, who organizes the annual April Fool’s Comedy Show for Penn Hills Rotary.
SecretDisco’s Oldies Dance, Friday May 15,
8 pm to 11:30pm at Edgewood Country Club Grand Ballroom’s Dance Floor
100 Churchill Rd, Wilkins Twp, Pa 15235
DISCO-HUSTLE, JITTERBUG, WEST COAST SWING,
SALSA, CHA-CHA, FAST FREESTYLE, & SLOW SONGS TOO www.secretdisco.info
Early 8 to 8:30 Secret discount password: say:Holiday House
Early 8 to 8:30 discount: LADies get in for 1/2 price = $5.
GUYS Say password get $2. off
Free Lesson SINGLES & COUPLES OPEN TO THE PUBLIC FOR CHARITY
Snacks & Door Prizes & FUN
Cash Bar
$10 door donation for the Penn Hills Rotary Club
Call Michael at 412 371-8181 at Dream Photography
or email dp8181@msn.com
DJ playing requests
Thanks,
Michael Pirollo 412 371-8181
Penn Hills Rotary Dance Chairman
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