One of the top one thousand popular names for girls in the U.S. is spelled N-e-v-a-e-h. Do you know how to pronounce it? This week I'm talking about tips for being a Master of Ceremonies, and my tip today is to be prepared.  It sounds simple, but there is a tendency to try to just wing it – don't. Practice the speaker’s name out loud several times fast, so it rolls off your tongue, and make sure you've got it written down phonetically.  I read a marketing study once that people would rather have a letter addressed to them generically like Dear Home Owner rather than have their name misspelled. The same goes for saying it. Also practice job titles, introductions, and pretty much anything else in your script. You don't have to read the script, but you do need to try not stumble around when you get to certain words.

So spend a few minutes preparing – it'll go a long way.  And FYI, spell Nevaeh backwards!

If you want some ideas for adding in humor when you're emceeing something, check out my comedywriterblog.com.

That's it for today. Take care and enjoy your journey.

I got to emcee a 3 day financial summit and one of the keynote speakers was Aaron Ralston – you know, the guy who got stuck under a rock in Canyonlands national park and had to cut his arm off. They made the move about him called 127 hours. He was really nice, and his speech was great. After he got off stage, I kicked off with "you know I was feeling kinda bad for Aaron for having to lay under a rock for 5 days, until he said that thing about losing 8 pounds a day. Then I got kinda jealous.  It got a huge laugh.

This week I'm talking tips on being a great Master of Ceremonies, and today's tip is Tie It all Together.  Make sure you tie all the speakers and events together. Constantly thanking the last speaker is a dismissal, not a wrap-up.  Make sure you do great transitions between speakers by mentioning something you learned, repeating a website, giving a personal fact about the speaker, or taking a silly survey.  You should tie the event together, not run speakers through on a conveyor belt.

If you want to see me in action as the Master of Ceremonies for corporate events, go to my website www.ComedyEmcee.com

That's it for today. Take care and enjoy your journey.

“Welcome to our convention!  We have a great agenda, but first, I’ve got a few dozen announcements for you. . . “  And you’re off to the races with a great event hosted by a not-so-great emcee.  As a corporate and association comedian who has mastered the art of keeping a conference moving, my tips this week will be on how to be the Master of Ceremonies for an event. You may never be the emcee in a comedy club, but you may have to be the Master of Ceremonies at something else . . . and you don't want to bore people.

My first tip this week . . is to   “Take the bullet.”  This is what they call it in comedy clubs.   The emcee in a comedy club is not hired JUST to be funny, she’s also there to sacrifice herself by going first, or “taking the bullet”.  It's important to be entertaining, she has to also focus the cold, chatty, drink-ordering crowd, so that the OTHER acts/speakers do well.  If you’re not comfortable with jokes, or you’re not hired to do jokes, then don’t do them at least at first. Instead, when you get on stage, focus on your first few tasks, which are to welcome your guests, tell them about the great experience they’re in for, and what’s on the agenda.  You can also do some housekeeping details, but don’t focus on the bathroom locations first, unless that’s the highlight.  Get the group focused and excited for what's about to happen.

If you want a copy of my 2-page article with all of my main emcee tips, send me an email to [email protected]

That's it for today. Take care and enjoy your journey.

Yes, I do have a size 12 foot. .in fact, your feet never really stop growing, so I think my foot size is even bigger now! Anyone have a connection to a show manufacturer who wants to sponsor me, let me know!

If you want to hear stories from my comedy career, check out my short podcast wherever you listen to podcasts. It's called Comedian Stories. I kick off with a joke, tell a short 3 or 4 minute story, and end with a take-away tip from what I learned. All under 5 minutes.

That's it for today. Take care and enjoy your journey.

And it's the Saturday edition of Finding the Funny, which means I'll be giving you a tip to find the funny yourself! I've written for everyone from the Tonight Show to radio, syndicated cartoon strips, CEO's, companies like wart removal cream makers, and even guests on the Jerry Springer show (my parents are proud). I now travel the country showing organizations how to use humor in business.

So here's your 60 second tip. Connect with people instantly by using self-deprecating humor. This isn't humor that puts you down, but rather find things about yourself that you can joke about that connects with others. One of my humor rules I gave out the other week was that you shouldn't make fun of a group that you aren't a member of. But remember, you are a member of many groups – like bald, or overweight, or being tall. Make a list of all the things about yourself that you can joke around about . .. these will help you connect with others and make yourself more approachable.

Listen to my self-deprecating joke tomorrow to see what I mean. I get a LOT of people coming up to me after the shows to say they have the same issue!

If you want more fast tips on coming up with humor in your communications, then check out my book on Amazon – Finding the Funny Fast. It's how to create quick humor to connect with clients, coworkers and crowds.

That's it for today. Take care and enjoy your journey.

I once heard Jay Leno say that he never looks at a tape of a bad show. He said why would I look at that, that's not what I wanted to do.

This week we're talking about how to handling mistakes, and my tip today is to ignore it. I know that sounds simple, but really, no amount of worrying about it or feeling bad about it is going to change the fact that something didn't go well. But if you keep focusing on it, you're just going to screw up the future things you're working on if you don't let it go. Instead, do what you can to make amends – like apologize – and then ignore it and move on. Comedians would never get back on stage if we didn't let go of all the bad shows. We have to go onstage every night as if we always have a great show. And you know what? The more we do that, the more we really do have a great show.

If you want to read about some of my mistakes, check out my book on Amazon Convention Comedian – stories and wisdom from two decades of chicken dinners and comedy clubs.

That's it for today. Take care and enjoy your journey.

Did you know that heintz the ketchup once came out with purple ketchup? Or that Bic actually tried to market a pen for women only . . .the big difference was that it was pink. Neither of these products worked – purple ketchup looks like a monster barfed on your fries and well, never in the history of writing has a woman run around the house screaming, I can't possibly write that letter – I can't find my lady pen.

These are examples from the Museum of Failure, and this week we're talking about how to recover from mistakes, and while companies may be able to move on from their mistakes by tossing a little money at them, it's a little harder for us. My tip today is to change your Flash Memory about the mistake. In her book Broadcasting Happiness, Michele Gielen says flash memories are those feeling we have when we walk into a similar situation. So if for example, if I have a bad show in a bar, then the next time I walk into a bar for a show, I'll feel bad about it.

She says there are 3 things you have to do to change those memories. I'm paraphrasing here, but the 3 things are – focus on the times you did well in that situation, create a feeling of succeeding in that situation so that you really feel it, and do this many times, not just once. She says then you'll re-write your flash memory about the experience. Try it!

And Yes, there really is a traveling exhibit titled the museum of failure – check to see if it's coming to your town. And check out my website www.TheWorkLady.com – I probably have some mistakes on there. . see if you can find 'em.

That's it for today. Take care and enjoy your journey.

Any comedian who says they've never bombed is lying. In fact we have a lot of fun with each other when something doesn't go right on stage. If you're a comedian and you get off stage and another comedian says, hey nice speech. That is not a compliment!

This week I’m talking about handling mistakes, and my tip today is, when you make a mistake, connect with your network. Comedians talk with each other more about the bad shows than they do about the good ones. It gives us a sense of camaraderie and a feeling of we're not alone. We've all been there. When I started out in comedy, I had my best friend Rob. And though he never left his day job, he still understood comedy and the ups and downs of it. I called him on many occasions when I hit the downs. I also shared the ups with him, but the downs were the times that he really came through to calm me down.

So right now, find one or two people that you can call any time of the day or night to connect with them when things don't go well. Make at least one person be in your profession, so you can lean on them when times are hard, and one person who is a personal friend that you can spill your private guts to.

That's it for today. Take care and enjoy your journey.

2 I've opened for some big name celebrities – comedians and singers. Usually things are good, but sometimes things are a little chaotic. I once opened for a famous singer, and it was confusion and disorientating backstage. . . nobody knew what was going on and nobody would give me the time of day. When I was sent out on stage, without any introduction or anything, I immediately realized that I wasn't there to warm the crowd up, I was there to settle them down. Because as much confusion as there was backstage, there was more in show room. Nobody was listening to me. . .they were too busy getting food and drinks and settling themselves in for the main act. This had all the makings of a horrible 30 minute for me.

This week we're talking about handling mistakes, and even though this mistake wasn't of my own doing, it was still not going well. How did I handle this? Well, I realized that no one was paying attention to me, so I had fun and pretended that I was doing my HBO special. I walked around the stage and gestured largely. Anyone watching me would've thought I was nuts. But I'm pretty sure no one was watching me. So I just had fun with it.

So the next time things aren't going well, and you can't stop it, try to make it interesting to you. At least you'll come out with a good story and maybe a funny memory.

If you're looking for something funny, check out my youtube page – jan mcinnis and see some of my videos.

That's it for today. Take care and enjoy your journey.

Comedians learn our jobs by bombing and failing a lot. We go up at an open mic, and that's where we practice our stage presence, our timing and see if our jokes work. No other profession does this? There's no open scalpel night at the hospital is there. Come on down. By day he's a plumber, but tonight he's going to try his hand at open heart surgery! And by the way, don't tell my health insurance company about this idea. ..they'll probably try it.

This week I'm talking about how to handle mistakes, and my tip today is if you make a mistake, you need to Re-categorize it in your brain immediately. . . it was a learning experience and then ignore it. Period.  If you can re-name it in your brain, you can move on easier. I once heard an interview with Richard Simmons the exercise guru. He said every day he thinks of 3 things that went well, and 3 things that didn't. He acknowledges those things, and then he moves on.

Comedians would never get back on stage if we kept a running list in our head of our mistakes. We have to re-categorize it and move on.

ACTION:  Try this for a week. At the end of the day, pick 3 things you liked and 3 things you didn't. Re-frame the 3 that you didn't like as learning exercises, and move on.

That's it for today. Take care and enjoy your journey.