Speakers and Panelists, with Session Descriptions |
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ALPHABETICAL BY PERSON — name links to her/his bio.
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Jane and Dana Abendschein
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"Humor in Medical School — From Classroom to Bedside" — Jane and Dana Abendschein
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Kenny Ahern
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"To Laugh is to Live!" — Kenny Ahern
Part of Friday's Comedy Night (additional tickets available!)
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Dale Anderson
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"Humor and Aging Panel Discussion"
- Moderater:
- Allen Klein
- Panelists:
- Dale Anderson, Hal Scholle, Jacki Kwan
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Awards Banquet
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Saturday evening:
"AATH Annual Awards Banquet"
- Presidential Address:
- Ann Weeks
- Induction of new President:
- Shirley Trout
- Lifetime Achievement Award:
- Kathy Passanisi
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Ron Berk |
"Humor as an Instructional Defibrillator" — Ron Berk
Grab those paddles. Charge 300. Clear! Ouch! Now how do your feel? Great
Humor used as a systematic teaching tool can bring students and deadly, boring course contents to life. This session presents several evidence based methods that can be integrated into handouts, examples, discussion questions, homework problems, tests and parking tickets.
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Kay Caskey
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"Play Everyday Keeps Altzheimer's Away — the Value of Play in Successful Aging" — Kay Caskey and Laurie Young
Play is our brains favorite way of learning and maneuvering. The use of play in maintaining healthy older brains is just being medically recognized. This workshop will show the uses of play and juggling as planned dendritic growth activities and demonstrate how to do it in older adult settings. FUN GUARANTEED!
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Christine Clifford
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- Free Symposium, Open to the Public:
- "Comedy, Cancer, and Caring"
- Moderator:
- Christine Clifford
- Panelists:
- Experts from Gildas Club Chicago
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Steve Cochran |
Emcee for Friday's Comedy Night
(additional tickets available!)
Steve Cochran (aka Nipsey), on loan from WGN Radio in Chicago
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Tim Davis |
"Stand up Comedy Performance Techniques for Instructors" — Tim Davis
Several significant parallels exist between a stand-up comedian performing for a live audience and a teacher instructing a classroom of students. By injecting performance techniques for live performing into the classroom, teachers will be better equipped to engage students and foster learning for all pupils, rather than just those who are eager to learn.
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Ed Dunkelblau |
Pre-Conference A — "Humor & Health"
Moderator (all day Friday) and Opening Remarks.
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AATH Main Conference —
Daily Opening Remarks with Patty Wooten.
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Izzy Gesell
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"Educating the Playful Child: Improv Theater Games for K-12 Classrooms" — Izzy Gesell
Improv games played in the classroom act as energizers and springboards for insight and discovery in verbal and non-verbal communication, participation and problem solving. Learn how to integrate these games into your classroom community.
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Robin Getman
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Panel:
"Humor and Business" panel discussion
- Moderater:
- Pam Palis-Kalisz
- Panelists:
- Cliff Kuhn, Robin Getman, Leslie Yerkes
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Gildas Club Chicago
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- Free Symposium, Open to the Public:
- "Comedy, Cancer, and Caring"
- Moderator:
- Christine Clifford
- Panelists:
- Experts from Gildas Club Chicago
- @@ [Add individual names here if known before conference.]
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David Glickman |
"Laughing Outside The Box!" — David Glickman
Part of Friday's Comedy Night (additional tickets available!)
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"Be More Funny — Make More Money" — David Glickman
The bottom line is that the funny line gets results. Raise your LPM (Laughs Per Minute) and your value in the business world will also increase. In this session, David shares specific techniques for writing and customizing humor for business presentations. You will get practical and easy how-tos that will take years off your humor learning curve.
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Roberta Gold
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"Humorizing ways to Resolve Classroom Conflicts and Build Self-Esteem" — Roberta Gold
Children who have low self-esteem do not have the tools to reduce their stress or deal with difficult people. This workshop will provide hands on experiential activities and role-playing of situations. Discover your humor bone and learn ways to humorize the classroom.
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Terra Johnson |
"Use of Humor in a Cancer Support Community" — Torrey Wilson and Terra Johnson
Gildas Club Chicago provides a place where men, women and children with cancer and their families and friends join with others to build social and emotional support as a supplement to medical care. Inspired by Gilda Radner and her belief that social support, compassion and goodwill are essential for recovery, the club provides Lunch and Laughter meetings as well as performances by Second City. This workshop discusses the use of humor in a cancer support community and offers member discussion of how humor/laughter has contributed to their well-being.
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Allen Klein
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Panel:
"Humor and Aging"
- Moderater:
- Allen Klein, MA, CSP
- Panelists:
- Dale Anderson,Hal Scholle,Jacki Kwan
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Cliff Kuhn
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Panel:
"Humor and Business" panel discussion
- Moderater:
- Pam Palis-Kalisz
- Panelists:
- Cliff Kuhn, Robin Getman, Leslie Yerkes
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Jacki Kwan |
"Art and Science of Therapeutic Humor in Long Term Care" — Jacki Kwan, LCSW
Humor programs in long term care facilities are therapeutic for the residents, their families and the professional staff. This session will teach you how to establish and run a therapeutic humor program in a long term care facility. You will learn what type of equipment is necessary as well as operational procedures, staffing requirements and budgetary factors.
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Panel:
"Humor and Aging"
- Moderater:
- Allen Klein
- Panelists:
- Dale Anderson,Hal Scholle,Jacki Kwan
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Rod Martin
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"Research on humor, health, and well-being: What have we learned and where should we go from here?" — Rod Martin, PhD
It is generally believed that there is considerable scientific evidence for beneficial effects of humor and laughter on physical health and psychological well-being. However, a close examination of the research literature reveals that the evidence is much weaker than often claimed in the media. This presentation will explore possible reasons for these relatively weak research findings, including the methodological weakness and lack of conceptual rigor in previous research. Promising questions and directions for future research will be discussed.
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John Morreall
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"Soul Laughter: The Comic Core of Spirituality" — John Morreall, PhD
- Core beliefs of the world's spiritual paths are also principles of humor as a world view.
- • First, our ordinary self-centered, practical perspective is inadequate.
- • Second, rising above it leads to enlightenment.
- • Third, enlightenment brings happiness.
- We explore these ideas in several religions and in humor, and draw implications for counseling.
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Pam Palis-Kalisz
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Panel:
"Humor and Business" panel discussion
- Moderater:
- Pam Palis-Kalisz
- Panelists:
- Cliff Kuhn, Robin Getman, Leslie Yerkes
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Kathy Passanisi |
"And Now I'd Like to Present..." — Kathy Passanisi
Do you have great information you can't wait to share, but you aren't a polished presenter? Learn to develop great content, make the room setup and AV equipment work for you, design quality educational support materials, and understands the ethics of the platform.
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Sandy Ritz
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"Chuckles in Chaos — Survivor Humor in Disaster" — Sandy Ritz
Survivor Humor is a coping and hoping strategy that is actively produced by disaster survivors and the relief workers that come to help them. This presentation will explore survivor humor in disasters, including the 9/11 terrorist attacks and hurricane Iniki in Kauai. Survivor humor that emanates from the chaos of disaster situations shows us that when we seriously need to lighten up, we can lighten up seriously.
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Steve Rizzo |
"Becoming a Humor Being" — Steve Rizzo
Whether we face problems in our personal or professional lives, by Becoming a Humor Being, we can remove ourselves from our own fears and from the labels and limitations that others place upon us. By changing how we view the daily occurrences in our lives, we can become healthier and happier individuals.
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Saranne Rothberg |
"Wellness Jokebook Workshop — A Therapeutic Community Service Project" — Saranne Rothberg
Heres an opportunity to learn how to facilitate this therapeutic ComedyCures humor project with any age group, developmental level, individual or organization. Because its hands-on, you can make a Wellness Joke Book to donate to a patient or you may send yours to someone you know needing a good laugh.
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Hal Scholle
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"Humor Research Panel Discussion"
- Moderater:
- Allen Klein
- Panelists:
- Dale Anderson, Hal Scholle, Jacki Kwan
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"Shobi Dobi" aka Shobhana Schwebke |
"Over Here and Over There! Send the Word to be Aware! For the Clowns are Coming, the Clowns are Coming ..." — "Shobi Dobi" aka Shobhana Schwebke, MA
The world is losing its sense of humor and a mighty army of clowns is forming, baring their weapons of silly stethoscopes, bubbles, balloons and nonsense. What are they doing on the battle fields, in the hospitals, in remote villages of the world? All around the world clowns are emerging to serve the wounded human spirit.
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Second City Communications
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"Improv Skills for Life and Work"
— Second City Communications
Two hours of interactive improvisation training from the renown Second City Communications Consulting Group. You'll learn, you'll laugh, and you'll leave with improv skills to listen better, think more creatively, and connect with colleagues.
Heck, after this fun-filled session, you'll be flying so high, you may not even need an airline ticket to get home.
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Susan Sparks |
"Humor and the Sacred: A Holistic Approach to Worship and Self Discovery" — Susan Sparks
As early as the 15 th century BC we have found records of laughter used in a religious context. Humor has been an intimate part of ancient Hebrew culture as well as Hindu, Buddhist, and Native American traditions. Humor was valued by the early Christian church as evidenced by Jesus' use of humor in the gospels and the Holy Feast of Fools. After the protestant reformation and puritanism, use of humor was shunned believing that it was sacrilegious, blasphemous or even disrespectful. And yet, as Conrad Hyers states: Faith without laughter leads to dogma. Laughter without faith leads to despair. The use of humor and the encouragement of laughter by the Church enhances it's humanity and honors the Christian message of joy and hope.
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Steve Sultanoff |
"Integrating Humor into Psychotherapy —
A Serious Approach" — Steve Sultanoff
In this lively workshop filled — with cartoons, anecdotes, and clinical illustrations — we will investigate definitions of humor, examine an original model which illustrates how and why humorous interventions can be integrated into psychotherapy, and explore how humor can be used for treatment and diagnosis.
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Lori J. Thompson |
"Comedy in Corporate America — Survival of the Funniest" — Lori J. Thompson
This session will focus on real applied humor skills that have been successfully used in a mid-sized company. You will learn how specific humor tactics can be applied to help you with the downsizing, fast paced growth, constant change, restructuring, and budget cuts that many companies are facing today.
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WAVELENGTH
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"Seven Habits of Highly Ineffective Educators"
— WAVELENGTH
Through the use of parody, satire, and improvisation; the award winning theatre ensemble, Wavelength, presents a live comedy revue addressing seven educational issues:
- anger management,
- teamwork,
- multiple intelligences,
- diversity,
- technological change,
- commitment, and
- the benefit of humor in the classroom.
The ensemble uses different comedic styles to model effective training techniques and presentation skills.
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Matt Weinstein |
"Managing to Have Fun — the Power of Humor in Business" — Matt Weinstein
Laughter is not only good medicine, its good business. People who have fun on the job are more creative, more productive and get along better with co-workers. Loaded with practical examples and ready-to-use ideas based on Matt's bestsellers: Managing to Have Fun and Work Like Your Dog.
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McNair Wilson |
"Humor and Spirituality: Does God Laugh?" — McNair Wilson
Why are we afraid to see God's humor? The Creator has installed built-in laughs all around us. The Bible is filled with humor and wit. Even Jesus used sarcasm, exaggeration, and funny stories to teach. "Two Pharasees walked into a bar..." If we miss God's humor, we miss his point. (We've done that a lot.)
This presentation will show our connection to the Eternal through humor and laughter.
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Torrey Wilson |
"Use of Humor in a Cancer Support Community" —
Terra Johnson and Terra Johnson
Gildas Club Chicago provides a place where men, women and children with cancer and their families and friends join with others to build social and emotional support as a supplement to medical care. Inspired by Gilda Radner and her belief that social support, compassion and goodwill are essential for recovery, the club provides Lunch and Laughter meetings as well as performances by Second City. This workshop discusses the use of humor in a cancer support community and offers member discussion of how humor/laughter has contributed to their well-being.
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Patty Wooten |
Pre-Conference A — "Humor & Health"
"Compassionate Laughter: Humor from the Heart"
Compassionate caregivers radiate a loving energy and connect to others with an open heart and a joyful spirit. Sharing laughter can increase this intimacy and communion. A humorous perspective can protect the caregiver from feeling overwhelmed by the pain and suffering they witness. Learn how the "laughing spirit" can enhance the healing partnership.
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AATH Main Conference —
Daily Opening Remarks with Ed Dunkelblau.
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Stephen Yarnall |
"How to Have a Happy Heart" — Stephen Yarnall
Based on more than 40 years of clinical practice, Dr. Yarnall will share his approaches for using humor techniques in communicating with patients of all types. He will describe his experience as a physician who becomes a patient and how humor helps heal the healer.
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Leslie Yerkes
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Panel:
"Humor and Business" panel discussion
- Moderater:
- Pam Palis-Kalisz
- Panelists:
- Cliff Kuhn, Robin Getman, Leslie Yerkes
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Laurie Young
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"Play Everyday Keeps Altzheimer's Away — the Value of Play in Successful Aging" — Kay Caskey and Laurie Young
Play is our brains favorite way of learning and maneuvering. The use of play in maintaining healthy older brains is just being medically recognized. This workshop will show the uses of play and juggling as planned dendritic growth activities and demonstrate how to do it in older adult settings. FUN GUARANTEED!
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ALPHABETICAL BY PERSON — name links to her/his bio.
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