Kennedy: After Dinner Entertainer, After Dinner Speaker, Dinner Party Entertainment: 01/04/2009

Don't Make These 3 Mistakes When Asking Your Boss for a Pay Rise

You work your behind off don't you? A few extra pounds a month would help make things a little easier right now wouldn't it? You deserve a pay-rise, right?

Well if you're going to ask for a wage increase then you only really get one chance. Here's a few tips of what real people have done, thinking they'd get a pay-rise and...well, you guessed it, they received something quite different:

1. Loads More Sales. Just goes to show how narrow some bad managers are. Someone I know was a little strapped for cash. Working in direct tele-sales he thought he'd work super-hard for a month and then ask his boss for a wage increase. Boss' response..."you did it for a month already on that wage so you can keep doing it." Short sighted, I think so.

2. Sleeping with the Boss' wife (or husband). Talk about reverse psychology. A bloke from London right here in the UK, thought he would get 'close to the boss' wife' so that she would put in a good word for him. The result? Boss finds out, divorces her, fires the man and our bright young hero never sees his boss' wife again.

3. Singing in the workplace. In 2007 a woman decided she wanted to 'bring some Christmas cheer' in to her place of work in an attempt to super-size her winter bonus. After singing Christmas carols for just 30 minutes she was dismissed. But why...? (answers in the comments box below or tweet your answer @mindofkennedy)

Kennedy
Corporate Event Entertainment

I May Be The First

Anyone else sick and tired of hearing the 'R' word? I'm sick of everything and everyONE being about recession and feeling like a pile of poop. So I've taken it upon myself to do something about removing that thought from your mind entirely.

Imagine the scene, me and my friend Rob are sitting in his farm-house kitchen, the smell of bacon still in the air from breakfast.

Suddenly we lean in and start discussing how we could possibly help everyone have a great time, leave their stresses firmly behind them and really relax during such tense times.

Here is the solution, but since we first announced it is filling up faster than Gordon Brown's pockets -

On May 1st Rob and I are putting on a show at the beautiful Lancastrian Suite here in the North East, the first half I'll pack with the mind-reading show that had Mars flying me to Budapest to perform, had P&G in stiches of laughter and Thompson Holidays crying when they found I wasn't available to re-book immediately after seeing it.

In the second half Rob will show you why he is the UK's freshest and busiest comedy stage hypnotist, and is booked sold until the end of the year. 60 minutes of side-splitting, hilarious hypnotic antics...and then we'll all have a dance to the disco until the wee hours where you can buy the pair of us pint upon pint of lager.

So if you want to get yourself, your family, friends and staff all out to have a really well deserved night-out, show them how much you appreciate them right now then please call 0191 460 53 53 to book your tickets (Mon-Fri, 9am-5:30pm).

OH but wait, surely it's going to be expensive, considering tickets for my shows are usually £20+ each? Well, this is about having a good time so you get all of that PLUS supper for £9.95...how amazing is that??

Kennedy
The Unforgettable Psychological Mind Reader

p.s. tickets are extremely limited and at such a fantastic price it's not wonder that they're selling out fast.
p.p.s. there are NO minimum party numbers, you could come on your own if you fancy, as a couple or book a table of 15 like some have already.

cant make this date...? click here for more live dates

Where Do I Get My Inspiration...Exposed!

The philosophies I discuss in my training sessions and speaking engagements are certainly not restricted to the platform. Among friends I'm known as the one guy they can come to to receive inspiration, to alter their perception of situations and give them new ways of looking at things.

The one question that comes up time and time again in the 'any questions' section of my seminars and key-notes is 'Who Inspires ME?' It's a great question and the answer is that I find inspiration in many things.

Yes in other speakers, my mentors (of which I have a vast range from whom to pool skills), and through every day life, art, music and as you know I am a huge fan of theatre.

I'd like to share with you one of the speakers who inspires me, this man is regarded as one of the greatest speakers of our day and the fact that to date this clip has had in excess of 1million views shows the true power that he has. Take a few minutes and enjoy Tony Robbins:

Thanks again. Oh and please do follow me on Twitter, I have over 500 people watching my ever move there right now and I'd love you to be one of them. twitter.com/mindofkennedy

Kennedy
The Entertaining Speaker

T@T - spilling my secrets all over your floor

I'm very excited that at 2:00pm on every weekday I am sharing a psychological tit-bit of 140 characters max.

I'm giddy with glee that right now I have over 200 people following my every move, thought and feeling on Twitter. So as a small way of showing my appreciation for the support I'm going to be posting some small psychological trick to improve your life, work and mind at 2pm every day, Monday to Friday.

I'm giving it the showbiz title of Tip At Two, T@T for short.

It's already started so if you'd like to join me for this and to see what I'm up to, how I like my tea, my latest hair-brained scheme and what I'm watching on telly you can join the party right now by heading here: Follow Kennedy on Twitter.

Kennedy
The Entertaining Speaker

p.s. the T@T is completely separate to the free newsletter on my website.

5 Reasons Following Me on Twitter is Better Than Sliced Bread

Over 100 lovely people are following me on Twitter, in fact so many that it's better than sliced bread because;

1. It's the perfect procrastination. There's so much important work to be done but it's damned boring.
2. Tweet your time away and use the excuse the iron-clad excuse 'there just wasn't enough time to do everything I wanted today'.
3. Tip @ Two. Every day, starting this Monday I Tweet a Tip at 2:00pm (GMT) on some psychological tactics to use on friends and your boss.
4. You'll make friends twittering, caressing your fingers across a loaf of pre-cut bread isn't renowned for building relationships.
5. You'll be trendy. You'll quickly be mistaken for a someone who knows the ways of the modern world, all the cool kids are on Twitter - even Dean Hunt!!

So you have decided that follow me on twitter now? Click to Follow Kennedy On Twitter.

Kennedy
p.s. Tip@Two starts Monday...at 2

Why Am I Pleased To Have Watched a Horse Being Killed Last Night and To Have Vomited?

First of all, the great news is that the show at the Lancastrian Suite on May 1st this year IS going ahead. Thank you for your support. The venue holds a whopping 700+ people so we look forward to filling those up now that we've passed the break-even milestone.

Why AM I in shock?

Last night on BBC2 at 10pm was a documentary on the Horse People, a bunch of folk in the east who rear and breed horses. I'm fascinated with other cultures and as you know I am seriously difficult to offend. I just love 'sick' humour. However last night really pushed my buttons.

At one point in the documentary it is decided by the Horse People that a particular member of their herd, whom they have raised since birth, was of no use because it wasn't giving young. The solution was that they'd kill it and use it for meat.

I'm cool with that. My uncle is a farmer, I know the way of the world. However the film-makers then proceeded to show the horse people chasing the terrified animal around the yard to put a noose around it's neck.

The end of the rope is tied to a pole and pulled tight to strange the horse to the point of collapse. This was horrific.

Following that she was beaten to death with an axe to the skull.

Why Am I Pleased I Watched It?
It's strange that I was talking to the Chief Executive of the 'Life' children's charity straight after the event back in March about this exact thing subject.

I think it is a good thing to see things that push your buttons, grind your gears and even upset you. It sounds strange but it's true that it is always good to see where you own personal boundries are. We live in day-to-day comfort, sheltered from things that offend and hurt us. Every now and again its good to see things and think 'i am really not comfortable with that' because then you realise that you do have boundries.

Last night really showed the edge of my comfort zone. It really does stop at the abuse of animals.

It's all a matter of how you choose to look at things. In my act for example I do try and push people's buttons a little, no I dont slay anyone on-stage but some of the jokes are near the nuckle and in particular the fact that I have a staple gun shot in to my face - that is very much about allowing people to expeirence their own comfort zones.

Think about how people regularly choose to experience these 'edges' by goign on terrifying rides at theme parks, parachuting and even spending nights in terrifying places.

What pushes your buttons?

My Numbers Up

It's a dream, you know when you're young and you're off out with your parents to 'Dad's Work Do'? You turn up in your best Garfield jumper and jeans, younger sister in a white dress with a bow. You're wearing your dad's after-shave and in you go.

You walk up the grand steps and in to the building. The room is enormous, the stage is colossal and the atmosphere buzzing.

The room is packed with party-goers all having a great time.

The entertainment starts, it's hillarious, everyone is cheering and having a ball. Then later the disco starts. you recall mum dancing to 'Baby Love' with women she's never met before but bitched about for years. Then the slow dance comes on and you see your mum and dad doing disgusting things that make you and sister alike want to puke.

I was 10 years old and that place stayed in my memory as somewhere I'd dream of performing. On May 1st this year I'm booked to do just that. The Lancastrian Suite in Dunston, Gateshead (near the metro-centre) and better still the second half of the show is my closest friend in the world, comedy hypnotist Robert Temple.

The bad news is...if we don't sell a further 200 tickets by Wednesday of this week we're cancelling the event. Yep. And myu childhood dream will be crushed.

Let's be frank now, you've been reading a few of these blogs now and you know how much performing means to me. The tickets are under a tenner and include supper, my show of psychological trickery and comedy, Rob hypnotising people and making you laugh until a little bit of wee comes out, and then a disco until the wee hours.

Like I say, I've dreamt of performing on that stage in that very room but that will be ripped from us if we don't sell 200 more seats before Wednesday.

Call 0191 460 53 53 to book now before we pull the plug.

What Did I Do...?

People were sat in shock. They're mouths were dropped open. Then they flipped back in their chairs laughing hysterically. The next minute they were covering their faces unable to watch. What was going on last month? Do you want to see it?

All of this is captured in a brand new video that is on the home-page of my website, the footage is taken from a single show in Newcastle Upon Tyne last month.

The clip is only 50 seconds, so turn up your speakers, head to the website, in the centre column of the page click the play button and see what on earth happened that night.

www.mindofkennedy.co.uk

Kennedy Saves Businesses in 2009

Businesses are downscaling. There is no getting away from this fact. However 'Happy Kennedy' is here to save the day. You see while everyone is downscaling and cutting costs in terms of numbers in their businesses, it is vital that business owners and HR managers understand the need to maintain high levels of staff moral.

We spend a lot of time focusing on those poor folk who are losing their jobs and how we can help make this as easy as possible, however there is another side to this proverbial coin as business people we must not ignore.

How are your remaining staff feeling? Are they worried, mourning the loss of their best-friend from work who was made redundant last week, are they feeling insecure about the safety of their own jobs? An anxious workforce is not a productive one, and that is the last thing we need in these times.

It is for this reason that recently I have been getting an abundance of phone calls from managers desperate to put together events to make their staff happy. These are combination events which are part motivation and partly a really fun time. As soon as people are laughing and become motivated by hearing my tales and stories they will feel safer and more secure, they feel like getting up and taken massive action and that leads to incredible levels of productivity.

It is these levels of dedication from you staff, their motivation and drive that will lead businesses to success over the next 18-18 months.

Keep your staff motivated...
Kennedy