5 top tips to Get the best from your corporate entertainment
- Who are they?
Ask your corporate talent for references and marketing material that back up their
sales pitch. Great corporate presenters and entertainers have great referees.
- Know your brief
Fully brief your chosen corporate entertainment on what outcomes you expect.
Communicate what you want whether it be after dinner entertainment, entertainment
with a key message, a comedy presentation or even a corporate hoax.
Top events teams offer many products - so be specific and let them
assist you to tailor the perfect event entertainment.
- If you're not sure - just ask
An expert conference organiser can be there to create your corporate
conference programme with you. It's not unusual for you to be overwhelmed
with the thought of programming a conference. Ask for input - it's their field.
Quite often just the one call can offer a one-stop shop for all your conference needs.
- Make your conference budget work for you
Inquire about package rates for several activities or shows from the one company.
Keep this in mind when you are planning and you can save many precious events dollars.
- Create a relationship
Look after your entertainers, corporate comics and talent.
Reputable events performers are in high demand and an enjoyable
experience is great to assure they will confirm with you for future events.
5 top tips for A Successful Conference
- Know what you want.
Know your event objectives. What is the key message of your conference?
What information do you need to pass onto your delegates?
- Know how to get it
Fully brief your delegates, guest speakers & your conference
organisers of your key objectives.
Utilise their skills to deliver your messages in interesting and fun ways.
- Maintain quality at every turn
Strongly advise your internal speakers to stay within their allotted speaking time.
When it comes to presentations - less is quite often more!
- The all work and no play philosophy
Be aware of how much information is too much information.
Don't overload your delegates. Down time is just as important.
Make sure you allot free time for reflection and rest.
Always book some fun corporate activities and entertainment?
- Foster the culture
Book corporate speakers, corporate events and team activities that can
offer you a follow up programme to ensure the message can be practically
applied in your work place. Conference events without practical uses in the
workplace are an indulgence.
5 top tips - Energising your Team (Leadership Skills)
With so many diverse personalities in the workplace, turning your "group" into a "team"
can be one of the biggest challenges your organisation will face.
Personality clashes, power games and those little idiosyncrasies
all add to or subtract from your team dynamic. So how do you get your employees all
fired up and working together?
- Let them go for it!
Foster an environment of cooperation amongst your employees.
With strong team support achieving results is easy.
Let the forces within the team come to decisions with minimum interference.
- Power Teams
Empower employees by involving them in decision making.
Seek ideas and input from your staff - they'll not only feel
appreciated you'll give them a reason to commit to their projects or tasks.
- Build on individual strengths
Focus on your employee's strengths. Positive affirmations are a great way to motivate
your team. Simply take the time to notice when something is good.
- Be a talent scout
Place the right people in the right jobs. Get to know your staff and you'll
identify their individual talents and get the results your organisation needs.
- Practice being a team out of the workplace
Off site teambuilding events and challenges offer a level playing field.
Here you can learn more about your team dynamic and how individual members
interact with colleagues and clients. Get this right and the sky's the limit!
Lousy Bosses Exposed!
By Candy Tymson
A study of 35,000 managers in Australia and New Zealand over the past decade by organisational development company Human Synergistics, has identified the overwhelming style of management in Australia as ‘avoidance’ which is characterised by a fear of failure, denial of responsibility and withdrawal from threatening situations or people.
Sound familiar?
Such managerial behaviour creates a negative work environment where no one is happy, and most people respond by feeling frustrated, unsupported and letdown. As a result, team members often only do the minimum amount of work to get by, rather than going the extra mile to get results.
As I move around companies, I am surprised how often managers use the stick rather than the carrot approach to ‘motivate’ their teams. Some of it clearly verges on harassment, and yet they seem oblivious to the impact they are having—until a formal complaint is lodged!
Results of Negative Behaviour
A General Manager of a large service organisation called me in to “fix his executive team”. He complained that they didn’t take any responsibility; continually hid problems rather than telling him about them and that there was constant in-fighting and back-stabbing going on among the managers themselves.
It didn’t take long for me to discover what the problem was…the General Manager! When I interviewed his team, they all talked about his humiliating behaviours of yelling at them in front of their staff, continually telling them what needed to be done and generally showing no trust or confidence in their ability to do their job.
As a result the executive team were operating in reaction and self-defence mode—there simply was no culture for innovation or learning.
But how do you tell the General Manager he is the problem? (I’ll tell you later, but first let’s look at what behaviours cause problems…)
The Ten Deadly Behaviours of a Negative Boss
Here are some common behaviours which can generate negative responses:
- Using criticism rather than giving constructive feedback
- Telling rather than involving
- Having unrealistic expectations
- Passing the buck
- Using inappropriate personal comments
- Avoiding any people-oriented solutions
- Expecting everyone to have the same approach as they do
- Loosing their temper over minor things
- Lacking humour—taking everything very seriously
- Never ever acknowledging or thanking team members
The Problem With Negative Bosses
According to American psychologist Steve Wilson, “such bosses are
a throw-back to the early days of the industrial revolution when poorly trained, unskilled labour was plentiful and treated as disposable. The boss was king. Owners and managers created layer upon layer of the hierarchical organisation, and only the managers were rewarded for results.
Under this kind of organisational structure, employees develop some of the worst possible work habits and attitudes: they lie and cover up errors and spoilage, they suffer more frequent stress-related illnesses, they don’t figure out how to do their job better, and they adopt the attitude of ‘every person for themselves’”.
But to survive, modern companies can no longer afford to have hierarchical structures—and it is now recognised that management needs to reward every employee—not only the managers—for their contribution as well as their performance.
Going Positive To Get Better Results
So how do you tell a Senior Manager that his behaviour is the problem? I find talking about “perceptions” works well. For example: “are you aware that your behaviour is perceived as creating negative results?” and “by behaving the way you are, you are contributing to the behaviours in your team. For example when you…”
SOME POWERFUL WORDS GUARANTEED TO MOTIVATE
- Thank You
- You’ve done a great job
- I value your contribution
- What do you think?
- Is there another way we could…?
Happy team members are more productive, take less time off work due to health problems and stay longer with an organization thus reducing turnover and retraining costs.
Working with a Difficult Boss
Finally, let me leave you with a couple of ideas on how to work with (and maybe even transform your relationship with) a difficult boss.
- Find Out Their Expectations. Their frustration may be valid if you are not delivering what they want. You won’t know until you ask. When I was running my public relations consultancy I believed I was getting fantastic results for a client, but he was never happy. It wasn’t until I asked “what are your expectations with this publicity campaign?” that I discovered that what he wanted was a story in the Financial Review. When that happened he sang my praises!
- Don’t Take It Personally . Some people are born difficult, others have it thrust upon them—either ignore it or speak up but try not to take it personally.
- Turn The Tables —treat them the way you want to be treated. For example if you want acknowledgement, try acknowledging them.
Candy Tymson is communications and gender differences expert with more than twenty years experience in the fields of marketing and public relations. Based in Sydney, she is the author of “Gender Games: Doing Business With The Opposite Sex”.
Read more about Candy Tymson on our Speakers page
Excerpt from “Ladies & Gentlemen” by Max Walker and Mike McColl Jones
Throw a television camera with a red light in front of most people and they will freak out. Take away the coloured light and cameraman and call it a radio studio and the circumstances change, but it is no less difficult to perform well. Both are different again from the traditional stand-up-and-deliver technique of an after-dinner speaker.
Question and answer in the media can be a minefield. Ask anyone who has been misquoted or written about out of context.
I use the word “communicator” to describe what I do for a living. Imagine the engine has four different gears.
In radio it is a constant chat, no black spots – creating word pictures. As Alan McGilvray said, ‘Imagine you are speaking to a whole bunch of blind people – keep them happy and you will be well on the way to success.’
In television the pictures are already there. I have heard it described as using the three Es: emotion, enthusiasm and education.
We have described the art of being on your feet in public. Here you have feedback from your audience, the ability to use body language, tone and eyeball contact, different methods of delivery and all the other skills we have discussed as well as audio-visual aids.
Writing is a different gear again, particularly storytelling. The written word is very different to the spoken word. In the text the creator of the story has to explain in more detail the sense of taste, sound, touch and smell to bring two-dimensional words and paragraphs to life.
All four gears are satisfying to communicate in, but it is a good start to understand that each is different. Varying skills are required to use them effectively.
Become a student of language and people. Dare to be unpredictable. Never be dull or boring. Believe in your own ability. Back yourself. Practice will not make you perfect but the exercise will make you a whole lot better. Good luck!
Television Tips
- Don’t worry about which camera, it’s their job to find you.
- The moment you sit down in front of a TV camera you will appear to be 4kg heavier than you really are. That’s why skinny people look best on TV.
- Don’t worry. Once make-up has finished with you, there is nothing you can do.
- People have a tendency to rush. Relax and slow down – consciously speak a little slower. Suck a mint before you on … it’ll clear your throat.
- Remember, the slightest move is exaggerated.
- Politicians love the ’16-second grab’. Any longer and the network won’t use it.
- Keep your hands still – together, clasped. Any gesture should be small, like a show of an open palm.
- As your interviewer researched you, you should do the same on them.
- When interviewed, don’t try to convey too much information. Short answers are always more easily understood.
- Study the other people being interviewed, and practice every day. Watch presenters and learn from the strengths and weaknesses.
- When you think you’re going to ‘er’ or ‘ah’, take a pause.
- Remember it’s natural to blink – don’t stare at the camera. It’s unnatural.
- Always have a glass of water nearby. You may dry up
- Coloured clothing will work better than white on camera.
Read more about Max Walker on our Speakers page
Business can learn from sport:
Q & A with Former Wallaby captain John Eales
How can the corporate world learn lessons from the sporting arena?
John:
Sport represents a lot of what you go through in your daily lives in your business careers. Many of the key areas for success - such as coaching, teamwork and culture are less identifiable in corporations than in sporting teams but are just as important.
For example, in sport it is widely accepted that players at all levels, including the most experienced, require coaching - but in business there's just an expectation to always perform well.
What can learn from the sporting arena when work gets hard?
John:
Corporations, like teams, need to have faith in the abilities of each of their members, particularly as they move through periods of change. And remember all change looks like a failure in the middle – so that's when you've got to have faith.
Faith enabled teams or corporations to remain composed even in the face of aggressive competition.
Or in say the case of the Wallabies staring in the face of the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team performing the haka before a match?
John
Yes. Another example of sporting faith is sprinter named Carl Lewis, who in 1991 was coming last at the halfway mark in the 100 meters final at the World Championships, and ended up winning the race in world record time.
When Lewis was asked to explain how he moved from last to first place, Lewis replied that he simply didn't run any faster.
This shows Lewis’ great faith in his own abilities - something corporations could emulate.
What about work life balance, John?
John
There is a need for balance in the lives of both sports stars and company executives - many chief executives give 100 per cent of their lives to their jobs, making promises to their spouses that they will "make it up to them in 15 years” - Although being passionate is important for success, it isn't as significant as having the right culture and teamwork.
Passion is probably about five per cent of achievement in sport. People would probably be surprised at that.
Read more about John Eales on our Speakers page
Q&A with Speaker Matt Church
Matt Church was recognized in 2003 with the National Speakers Association Nevin Award. This most prestigious honour is awarded to the one speaker each year who demonstrates exceptional skill and quality of service to the profession.
Question:
Hi Matt, I find myself to be very sleepy during 3-4pm everyday, which affects my work productively as I can't concentrate. Is this due to that I am physically unfit,and need to do more fitness exercise such as going to the gym, or go jogging?
Matt's Answer:
We get sleepy mid afternoon because of two things;
What we eat at 11.00am (mid morning), usually nothing. A breakfast cereal here may pick your mid afternoons up a bit. Our brain has a gland about the size of a pea called the pineal gland. It releases Melatonin your sleep drug mid afternoon. Scientist believe this was to let us sleep away the hot afternoons.
Here are 5 ideas that may help
Eat a cereal at 11.00am , 2 weetbix should do the trick. Keep lunch to salads and proteins (ie chicken fish, meat) Have a 30 minute power nap (love to, work for myself, but still don't) Do a 20 minute walk at 3pm and work back a little later Ensure you get enough sleep at night. You can tell you are if you don't need an alarm clock to get up in
the morning and if you take around 20-30 minutes to falloff to sleep at night.
About Matt
Matt’s sessions address the fact that every feeling you have is driven by a chemical. If you can find the chemical you can 'fix the feeling'.
Matt is so committed to providing leading edge information in his presentations that is grounded in the principles of quality and practicality, that he employs a small group of dedicated researchers to assist with this.
He has authored the popular FIX HOW YOU FEEL series which includes ''Highlife 24/7' 'Adrenalin Junkies' and 'Serotonin Seekers' published by the ABC.
Read more about Matt Church on our Speakers page
Making Spirituality Accessible by Chris Walker
We're all looking for our spirituality, and sometimes we make it sound hard. Usually, it's right where you sit. I love the quote "you won't find your heart in a temple, until you find the temple in your heart"
By linking people with the natural laws, life takes on a whole new dimension. Only 50% of what happens in life can be explained by the material world. The other is the non material. It's all about energy really.
For me, people made it all tooo complex. So I have spent the last 30 years studying the mysteries, the Eastern arts and the sciences of the mind. I looked at nature and found everything right there. Spirituality is a powerful addition to anyones life and by understanding the natural laws, you can get access to the deeepest truth, without al the hype. I hope you can join me in Real Spirit - and learn how nature can be your guide to Live with more Spirit in your life.
Read more about Chris Walker on our Speakers page
Increase your chances for success by at least 1000%
by John Lundholm, M.A. R.N.
The good life now. Your best chance for success.
As you read this article you will gain an understanding of one simple, yet powerfully effect strategy to achieve success. Apply the principles here and you will supercharge your chances for success.
What if there was one thing you could do that was proven to increase your chances for success by at least 1000%. Would you do it? It's so easy that elementary school can be taught to do it. It's so powerful that Fortune 500 executives pay thousands of dollars at workshops and seminars it order to learn it. Now I am going to reveal this one thing for absolutely free. Would you do it?
The simple strategy is this: Commit your goals to writing. Incredibly simple, yet incredibly powerful.
Certainly, you must have heard this before. Have you done it? Why not do it NOW?
There are a few things to keep in mind when committing your goals to writing:
1) Start at the end. As you consider which goal you desire sufficiently to commit to writing start with thinking about the end of your life. What are those things you want to have done, or been or acquired in order to feel like life was good? These are the BIG goals.
Then think of all the little goals that must be achieved in order to bring about the BIG goals.
2) Goals are a statement of what you want. Too often goals, especially short-term goals, are stated in terms of what is not want, "I'll lose weight", "Stop smoking", "Won't be afraid to speak in public", and so on. Better is: "I am maintaining a healthy diet and exercise routine", "I relieve my stress in healthy ways", and "I speak with confidence in public".
3) Goal has a specific set day for their accomplishment.
4) Goals are written in the present tense.
5) Goals are specific. Not "Be rich", but, "I am earning \$8500 a month..."
6) Goals include a statement of what you are willing to do in order to achieve your goals.
7) Goals are reviewed and rewritten frequently and periodically (i.e. on a planned schedule).
8) Goals are experienced as real . Enjoy your goals. Take time to do nothing other than to sit and enjoy imagining what it would be like when your goals are accomplished. This might be called directed daydreaming. Make it as real as possible in your mind.
This will motivate you to persevere. It will help you to further clarify you goals. It may even help you realize a need to change your goals.
A CHALLENGE: If you have written goals, use this as a checklist.
If you don't have written goals don't let yourself go to bed tonight until it is done. And once done, reward yourself by experiencing it as real.
There are no guarantees of success, but if you don't do the simple things, resign yourself to living a life of "quiet desperation". You don't deserve success.
Do the simple things. And success is yours.
Copyright ©2001
----------------------------------------
John Lundholm, M.A. R.N. is the author of numerous articles on health and success. A former licensed Psychotherapist, he is currently a motivational speaker, health counselor, and webmaster of The Good Life Now Success and Personal Growth Resources and Brain Power.8k.com a site dedicated to Increasing Intelligence and Personal Power. This article may be reproduced, but only in its entirety including this information on the author.
Changing Habits to Live and Extraordinary Life
by Cyndi O'Meara
“The biggest folly in the world is expecting something different without changing. Good habits are as easy to form as bad ones” .
Everyone wants to live an extraordinary life, just ask the children in the play ground what they want to be and you will find the expectations of their life is up there with being an astronaut, a famous actress, a singer or an author. Their expectations are not to be a bum in the street or someone barely making it through the end of each week without any money, too sick to get up in the morning or too tired to work. Statistics show that most teenagers have goals and dreams, by the time they get to 30 only 30% of this age group dare to have goals and dreams and on 5% of people in their 50’s have goals. This is a sad state of affairs, especially when you consider 50 is just past middle age you have the rest of your life to live and why live it in an ordinary way.
I liken ordinary to a box, with the information and habits that a person has they live within the confines of that box. But given more information then the boundaries of the box expands and it continues to expand as new information and habits are learnt and formed. What’s inside the box are habits, statistics, beliefs, comfort zone and paradigms. What’s outside the box is what you don’t know that you don’t know, new habits, new beliefs, new paradigms, possibilities, outside the ordinary statistics, new paradigms and new ways of thinking.
The way to get out of the ordinary box and into the extraordinary life is by reading, listening to people, going to seminars, in short gaining more and more knowledge. But knowledge is only the start because with all the knowledge in the world and no action you will remain within the ordinary box. By combining knowledge and action the power is exponential and change in inevitable.
To change your whole life in one day can be quite daunting, but to change bit by bit, habit by habit, action by action can make permanent changes. You cannot climb a mountain in one giant leap, you take small achievable steps, but each step gets you higher and higher with better and better views. Even from the outset the views are magnificent but the higher you get the more outstanding the view. Such is the same with making small achievable habit changes in your life, even though it’s one step the changes are dramatic and the more changes you make the more outstanding your life will become and the better the view.
Life is a series of habits, from the way you clean your teeth to the food you eat and how you react to people and situations. Our whole day consists of habit after habit.
Choose bad habits and you will no doubt lead an unhappy, unsuccessful, unfulfilled, unproductive, unfinancial, unhealthy life. Choose good habits and the reverse will happen.
Just by changing one bad habit into a better one can change your life forever. Imagine bit by bit over a year changing all the habits that hold you back from your true potential! Imagine what your life could become! All the dreams and goals you have always wanted have the potential to come true.
The first habit that you change will change your life, collectively anything is possible!
Happy Changing Habits - Cyndi O’Meara
The Best Way to Start Your Day
by Cyndi O'Meara
Breakfast is the perfect place to start your healthy living programme. If you regularly eat breakfast – great! If not, now is the time to start. But don’t just eat anything. If you want to kick-start your day and have plenty of energy all day long, you need to eat the right kinds of foods.
The breakfast habit is not an easy one to change, as it’s an embedded part of your morning routine. The tradition seems to be cereal, toast and tea or coffee. It’s only in the western world where we’re cajoled by advertising that we think it’s perfectly normal to eat rubbish from a box, or the cardboard we know as toast. Other nations enjoy a healthier start to their day.
I mean, do you really believe that a box of cereal made you an iron man? Is every mouthful as exciting as a bungee jump? Get Real. We are fools to eat these devitalised, packaged breakfast cereals. I really believe that eating the cardboard box might be a better option! Live bodies need live foods.
To show you how changing your breakfast can change your life, here’s a story about a friend of mine. From the age of fifteen she had suffered from dermatitis, arthritis and asthma. At thirty she was desperate.
I suggested that she change one part of her diet – breakfast. Her usual breakfast was cereal with milk and sugar, toast with margarine and vegemite, and a cup of tea with milk, with another cuppa every hour or so. I suggested that from the time she woke up until midday the only thing she should eat was fresh fruit, and drink only water.
She changed her breakfast habit. Within two days the pain she had been experiencing for fifteen years was gone. After a couple of weeks she made a few more adjustments to her diet, following the themes of changing habits. Within eighteen months she had reduced her use of Ventolin for asthma treatment and her dermatitis disappeared. She incorporated exercise into her life, beginning with a walk five times a week. A side benefit was that she went from size 16 to a size 8. She now runs five kilometres a day and works out at the gym three times a week. She feels alive again. Most people, who follow the changing habits programme, have similar stories.
Amazing isn’t it? This all started with one step – changing breakfast. Fruit for breakfast does work for many people, but not all. Other breakfasts to consider are porridge made from a variety of different grains, oats, millet, rice, quinoa, rye, barley and the like. Home made muffins, pancakes and Birchers muesli can also be considered. Even organic bacon and eggs can be a healthy breakfast.
In winter you can enjoy New Age Porridge, a mixture of cooked oats, grated apple, nuts, banana and yoghurt. During the summer indulge in fruit in season for breakfast or a protein smoothie made from fresh fruit, raw eggs, fresh juice, yoghurt, nuts and honey. Another summer breakfast that is very much a favourite is rolled rice, cooked and cooled, then mix in chopped mango, strawberries, banana, crushed nuts and yogurt, this is not only delicious but packed with nutrients galore. On Sundays in my home it’s pancakes, bacon and eggs served with fresh fruit and organic maple syrup.
Fruit is a great way to kick start your day, so include fruit with all breakfast suggestions – and keep the fruit bowl handy all morning. Most of the breakfasts will sustain you right through to lunchtime and if it doesn’t then have fruit to top you up. I recommend you obtain the Changing Habits Changing Lives Cookbook as this provides you with many, quick, healthy energetic breakfasts.
Another favourite that is quick and easy is breakfast on toast. This consists of a piece of toast, mashed banana, honey, pine nuts and sesame seeds. This combination has all you need for a good start to the day. If you’re not a sweet tooth at breakfast, then tomatoes and avocado on toast will do the same job.
The breakfast on toast sounds pretty easy, but bear in mind that you can’t use just any old bread. It needs to be healthy bread like Ezekiel bread (also known as biblical bread) which contains wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet and spelt. The mixture of these legume flours and grains creates a complement of amino acids to make a complete protein and very sustainable bread. Most commercial breads these days would not sustain life. They’re full of additives with very little nutrient value.
The trick is to find a good baker who uses good quality yeast and only the best quality ingredients, not premixes, so you know what’s going into the bread you eat, or buy a bread maker and do it yourself. I recommend a bread maker because then you know exactly what’s in the bread you eat. Do not use packet bread mixes! Most packet mixes contain additives and don’t have the nutritional value of Ezekiel bread. Make your own bread mix using the recipes in my cookbook. Make sure you choose organic unbleached flour (available at most grocery stores) and make up the mix of grains and legumes – then making your own nutritional bread is a two minute process.
Buying a bread maker is a bit of an outlay, but it is well worth it. If you don’t want to make your own bread then really question your bakers about what kind of flour and mixes they use. Buy sustainable bread. You’ll taste and feel the difference.
The idea behind these breakfast changes is that you start eating live foods you then become more alive with more energy and vitality. That is why fresh fruit is a big part of each breakfast suggestion and why the standard western breakfast habit has to go. Taking this one step can make a big difference to the way you feel and the energy you have, and be the beginning a new way of eating.
Action Steps for this week
- Choose one of the breakfast suggestions and stick to it for at least two weeks
- If you have children, slowly introduce fruit into their morning routine
- Enjoy the increase in energy that you feel
|
Copyright © 2004 Conference Speakers Australia | Privacy Policy | Site by Melissa Norfolk Web Design 
Today:
