February 2013 - Motivating Audiences: Ten-Minute (or less) Energizers, Icebreakers, and Activities for Promoting Teamwork, Engagement, Creative Problem Solving and Laughter

Have you ever wished you had an activity that would help make an important point in a presentation or help your group gel as a team?  Do you enjoy seeing your audience respond positively to the points you make in a presentation?  Does it frustrate you when some members of your audience seem bored when your topic is of inherent interest?  Do wish you could enjoy and be comfortable speaking to a variety of groups?  If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, this interactive workshop may be for you.

Following this workshop, participants will be able to:

•-         lead a minimum of fifteen training exercises for promoting motivation, creativity, team building, communication and humor

•-         describe a minimum of five guidelines to follow when conducting interactive exercises with groups

•-         explain the importance of debriefing all activities including three or more principles for leading a debriefing session

•-         perform two or more magic tricks that could be used with an audience and principles for performing magic

•-         identify strategies for applying the activities in ones' own work and/or personal environments

•-         have fun

Dr. R. Bruce Baum, a legend in his own mind, is a Professor Emeritus of Exceptional Education at Buffalo State College and the co-founder of Applied Learning Associates.  He received Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of Cincinnati, and a Doctorate in Education from Indiana University.  Dr. Baum has over twenty articles in professional journals and is author of How to Motivate Audiences: 121 Warmups, Icebreakers and Activities for Promoting Creative Problem Solving, Teamwork and Laughter (Bates Jackson), The Almost Wet Your Pants Book of Humor (AuthorHouse) and the MEGA TRAINING CD.  In 2012 he received the Distinguished Leader Award from the Creative Education Foundation, and in 2007 he received the President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching from Buffalo State College. He is a Colleague in the Creative Education Foundation, and received their Service and Commitment Award.  Dr. Baum is a member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians, Coordinator of the Roswell Park Cancer Institute Humor Project, a Certified Rock Balancer and Foursight and NBI certified.  He has consulted and facilitated with numerous companies, educational institutions, and organizations including General Mills, United Way Worldwide, American Steamship, Harlequin Books, the Center for Creative Leadership, Mentholatum, National Staff Development and Training Association, The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the Fashion Institute of Technology and the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.

He has presented on creativity, creative problem solving, team building, communication, stress and time management, magic, relationships, humor, laughter and other topics in Singapore, Cyprus, Jamaica, South Africa (10 times), Costa Rica, Namibia and Canada. In his spare time, Dr. Baum is a Rocket Scientist, Bronco Rider, Taxidermist, Explorer, Brain Surgeon and Gourmet.

**Program attendance supports development in the following learning and performance competencies and areas of expertise, as outlined by the ASTD Competency Model: Communicating Effectively, Designing Learning and Delivering Training.