Dave Keeling - Laughology Consultant of the month

Dave has been with Laughology for over four years and is without doubt Laughology through and through. You just need to spend five minutes with him and his energy, enthusiasm and general love of life is intoxicating.

He's the only chap I know that after a five and a half hour journey caused by delays and bad weather is still positive and making jokes.

Dave's expertise in motivating people is exceptional and I challenge you to give us your most cynical team so Dave can get them feeling positive about the future. You can't help but be hypnotised when Dave is presenting, he takes you on a journey, ruffles you up a bit on the way, makes you think, gets you learning without knowing it and all the while entertains. He's brilliant at team building, motivating and turning challenging groups round.

We asked Dave:

What do you enjoy about working with Laughology?

The variety. One minute I could be delivering a 1 hour keynote to business leaders on the benefits of humour and channeling your inner seven year old and the next I could doing a full working day with seven year olds and their amazing brains on how to become business leaders of the future.

I love the challenge of entering a space, working with a new audience and the excitement of attempting to shift the state of a room and flip their perspective on the world within a short period of time.

What has been your funniest moment at Laughology?

There have been some brilliant moments over the years, but something happened recently that took the biscuit. It was at a Laughology get-together where we all assemble for a day to share thoughts, feelings and ideas about Laughology.

This particular Saturday we were setting up when a very excitable Stephanie Davies ( she's always very excitable) energetically squatted to retrieve something from her bag and quite spectacularly split her trousers from front to back. It was pure slapstick from start to finish and the day hadn't even started. My only regret was that not enough people were present to witness this wardrobe malfunctioning comedy gold!!

What are your words of wisdom for personal development, staying positive and dealing with challenges?

My personal mantra has always been to love, laugh and learn (and in that order). Keep an open mind, be flexible, playful and curious. My number one remit every day is to get up and have as much of a laugh as possible, and if anything else happens besides then it's a bonus!!

What's your favourite part of being in the Laughology team?

The opportunity to collaborate with funny, warm, generous, like-minded people. The feeling of being in a team is an empowering one, but to be in a team that is unique like Laughology is a privilege.

What was the last event you did?

My last event for Laughology was working with Yr 5/6 at Ellingham Primary School in Surrey. It was the first of two sessions using the Laughology Flip model to enable the students to better understand themselves as people and learners and so motivate them to be more creative and happy in their School work.

What has been your favourite event to date and why?

There has been a lot of great events over the last few years, but the trip to Paris in 2014 has got to be right up there.

Myself and Stephanie Davies were invited to work with BNP Paribas ( an international financial investment company) We delivered a 2 hour masterclass to managers and leaders in Stand-up comedy and presenting, improvisation skills and communication in a bid to free up the minds and bodies of the delegates in front of us. Later on that day they would perform sketches and presentations (they had written and created themselves) to the rest of their workforce on a subject matter relevant to their work. It was a great experience from start to finish and the delegates threw themselves into sessions and as a result nailed their performances.

The whole adventure was a great success, so much so that Stephanie and I will have to brush up on our French as we have been invited back later on this year to do it all again.

What do you like to do best?

I love nothing more than going to go to a conference, school, or workplace where nobody has heard of Laughology and informing, empowering and entertaining an audience to within an inch of it's life!!. The joy of being a Laughology consultant is the ability to give people practical, fun, engaging and sound approaches to improving their life, work and relationships whilst at the same time shamelessly entertaining them. What could be better?

Find out more about Dave or email us find out how Dave can come to work with you and your team.