NSA-Oklahoma Monthly
Meeting Information

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Waterford Marriott  6300 Waterford Blvd.  Oklahoma City, OK 73118

NSA Oklahoma proudly presents Avish Parashar straight from the national NSA Fall Workshop.  His workshop was one of THE most talked about MegaSessions at the Fall wokshop – and we’re bringing it to you on Saturday March 13.

Unleash Your Inner Comedian! Learn the Art of Being Funny Without Telling Jokes

Guess what? You (yes you) are funny! You just may not know it yet…In this interactive program, you will use ideas and exercises from improvisational comedy to remove your “humor blocks,” discover and develop your own natural senses of humor, and then learn techniques to weave that humor into your presentations.

By the end of this session, you will be able to:

1) Develop and use appropriate humor that is authentic and natural for you
Some topics are inherently funny; many aren’t. By learning how to add appropriate humor to serious topics, you become a more powerful and more marketable speaker.

2) React to unexpected interruptions with humor and speed
Things will go wrong. How you react in those moments can be the difference between huge success and massive failure.

3) “Find the funny” in every situation and story automatically and without struggle
By conditioning yourself to look at the world in a certain way, you move from needing to “write jokes” to simply “being funny.” This makes life a lot easier and it is not an innate skill. It can (and will be) taught!

4) Practice multiple exercises that continue to develop your humor and improv skills after the session is over

Humor is a process. The more you practice the better you get. In this session, you will get many exercises you can easily do for the weeks and months following the conference.

5) Build your “humor foundation”
All the comedy techniques in the world will be useless if you haven’t cultivated your natural humor and figured out what your “comedic gift” is. Once you have discovered those things, everything else comes much easier

Shari’ Alexander, NSA Oklahoma’s 2010 President-Elect, had this to say when asked about her experience attending Avish’s presentation at the NSA 2009 Fall Workshop:

“Avish’s program is one of the most interactive sessions I’ve ever attended. He does an excellent job of demonstrating improvisation techniques and applying the lessons for the professional speaker. I learned how to handle the unexpected events in my presentations as well as bringing in some extra humor into my presentation. You don’t have to be a humorist to benefit from this program. “

About our speaker:

Avish Parashar is an experienced, innovative, energetic, and humorous speaker who uses his 15+ years of experience performing, directing and teaching improv comedy to deliver unique and refreshing presentations to a variety of audiences.

Weaving together humorous stories, jokes, audience interaction, and improv comedy games, Avish keeps the audience engaged while imparting a key lesson: Planning is Important, but Improvising is Essential! No matter how well you plan, things will go wrong, surprises will arise, and the Universe will throw you a curveball. Your success and sanity are directly related to how you respond these challenges. By the end of one of Avish’s presentations you will have key tools to flow with all that life throws at you.

Avish has spoken to the very creative (actors and directors), the very un-creative (accountants), the very casual (college students), and the very business-like (sales professionals). The end result is always the same – smiles, laughs, and a new way of looking at life and business.

Avish graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1995, created, managed, and directed Polywumpus Improv Comedy from 1996-2002, and currently performs, teaches, and directs improv with Full Circle Theater. Avish is an active member of the National Speakers Association, Toastmasters, and the Network of Indian Professionals. When not speaking, Avish reads, writes, plays basketball, and has been known to make a short film or two…

Meeting Information:

• When: Saturday, March 13, 2010
• Registration: 8:30 AM; Program: 9:00 AM to Noon
• Where: Waterford Marriott  6300 Waterford Blvd.  Oklahoma City, OK  73118
• Cost for this meeting: $50 for guests; FREE! to prepaid members/preferred guests
• RSVP: Kristine Sexter, VP Membership, kristine@kristinesexter.com
• Program information: Dr. Deb Potter, VP Programming, deb@potterandassociates.com

Please note that you must RSVP by Friday, March 12, 2010. 

FOR OUR FAST TRACK MEMBERS:

AVISH will present a special afternoon session for our Fast Track members.  In this hands-on bonus session, we will use the lessons from the morning program to work on improving and adding humor to your presentations in real time. This session will be a combination of hot seats, live examples, group collaboration, and additional interactive exercises all designed to have you walking out the door with tighter, funnier, and more engaging material in hand!

 For more information, contact Shari’ Alexander at shari@presentingmatters.com.