Annual AATH Conference

2007 Annual AATH Conference Speakers

Friday Keynote Speakers:

The Dating Doctor David Coleman: "America's Real-Life Hitch" - Finding Humor in Every Relationship

Rev. Susan Sparks: Laughing Your Way To Grace

Media panel: Humor in the media: If the news Media Struggles to be funny- How Can We Help?
Dave Lieber and media guest from Panama City Beach

Saturday Keynote Speakers & Entertainers:

Karyn Buxman: Humor as a Serious Business Strategy

Dr. Joseph Richman: Principles of Therapeutic Humor: A Personal Approach

Buzz Sutherland: www.buzzsutherland.com

Sunday Keynote Speakers:

Greg Risberg: Humor, Hugs and Hope

Carla Ulbrich: How Can You Not Laugh at a Time like This?

Paul Huschilt, Professional Speaker, Storyteller, Trainer: Seven Humor Habits for Workplace Wellness and The Ultimate Ending™

Breakout sessions

AATH Presidents, past and present: AATH 101
This associationand conference orientation sessionis a "must" for all newAATH members andconference first-timers. Learn more about your association, how it operates, and how you fit in. Enhance the rest of your conference experience by first seeing and hearing the big picture!

Don Baird, Psy. D.: Politics is Comedy
Presentation will be part history, part anecdote, learning how past, present politicians have applied humor to their campaigning and governing styles. Participants will gain more humor knowledge about applied humor, understanding of appropriate and inappropriate uses of humor, coping and when humorous attempts go wrong.

Dr. Teena Cahill: Nurturing the Nurturers-Help for the Helpers
Combining research and personal stories she speaks about understanding the workplace and the world around you, enhancing innate resilience, identifying personal strengths, developing authentic leadership styles, understanding the nexus between textbook learning and real life living and caregiving and resilient living.

Danny Donuts: Clown on Down in Panama
Participants will go out into the town of Panama City Beach to interact and play with the public. This will include clowning, application of therapeutic humor techniques, laughter and play.

Scott Endres:Teaching is too important to take Seriously!
Teaches the 5 Fingers of Laughter. Session includes discussion, written activities and games.

Cheryl Fell, Nurse FUNshine: Compassionate Laughter is What We're After
Participants will identify three characteristics of kind, compassionate laughter, list two ways you can make a heart-to-heart connection with strangers and incorporate 5 things you learned from this session in a your workplace or local community. Uses Icebreakers, mini lecture, group activity and will make a "Beat the blues kit."

Gail Hand, CLL: Hand on Heckler’s and Interactive Games to Unify Any Crowd : Gail has a special gift with crowds on winning them over with her humorous stories and interactive audience antics.

Janie Jasin, CSP: Come To Your Senses: “ Making Sense of Your Assets"
Author of “The Littlest Christmas Tree” and several other great gift books.

Clifford Kuhn, MD: Fearless Fun: Are You Out of Your Mind?
Dr. Clifford Kuhn is a 35 year psychiatrist, medical school professor, nationally recognized speaker, and personal performance coach. Over the past 35 years Dr. Kuhn has helped thousands of individuals and hundreds of companies experience amazing improvement by strengthening their emotional muscle through humor. This is his life’s work. His belief in the transformational powers of humor promises you an event like nothing you have seen before.

Dave Lieber: Dave Lieber's Self-Publishing for Fun and Profit - Step-by-step how to publish

Mary Kay Morrison: Humor is a Funny Thing
The purpose of this session is to affirm, sustain and encourage individuals in the practice of humor, not only as a personal tool to optimize a healthy life style, but to maximize the benefits of humor in everyday life. These benefits include current research-based data on the use of humor to nurture creativity, to increase memory and to build trusted relationships.

Sharron Orovan-Johnston Take the Wheels of the Worry Bus; Attack Anxiety with Humor
A fun and interactive workshop presenting the techniques used in Sharron and Adrienne's client panic education group. Explore ways to change "self talk" and learn breathing techniques, improve assertiveness and decrease perfectionism.

Lenny Ravich: Applied & Therapeutic Humor Using Gestalt Intervention
Group activity using games, humor and laughter exercise and gestalt therapy leads the participants to a new found awareness of themselves, empowerment, optimism and self esteem.

Enid Schwartz: Shocked, Scared and Survived: Breast Cancer survivors' stories of humor's coping power
Research presentation: will discuss the importance of humor for the 12 women in this study with breast cancer. Describe how health care providers can facilitate humor as a coping mechanism with women adjusting to cancer. Discuss the issue of timing and humor usage when coping with cancer.

Billy Strean, Ph.D.: How to BE (applied and therapeutically) Humorous
Hands on presentation using music and movement. Explore how lyrics, rhythms and movement can shift how we feel and experience life. Participants will develop knowledge and skills about the use of music and movement as a means to be humorous.
Participants will learn how to make more intentional use of their body to alter thinking, feeling and acting. Participants will develop more positive attitudes toward using movement and music in their personal development and professional practice.

Steve Sultanoff Ph.D.: The Therapeutic Value of Humor: Exploring Beyond Laughter
Attendees will learn four fundamental therapeutic and health promoting experiences of humor, discover the links between negative thinking and distressing emotional health and humor and learn the universal triggers of humorous reactions.

Debbie Wade, CEOP, CEOE: Greetings and Salad Dressing
Participants find new and creative ways to add zest to their own presentations using props, costumes, tricks and games.

Candy Waters, RN, MSN: Wouldn't it be easier to just get Mad@%$#%&!!
Learn realistic skills for creating a positive personal space. Develop strategies for spreading that positive personal space to others. Acknowledge beneficial nature/ value of positive personal space. Can be applied to personal and professional space.

Forrest Wheeler: "Let the Humor Begin…."
Workshop explores "humorphobia" and cultural barriers to humor. Participants will identify humor separate from laughter and comedy, identify 3 steps in dealing with Humorphobia and list 3 ways to use humor for self improvement.

Judy Young: Optimizing Laughter's Flashpoint
Results of research conducted at Prairie View, a large behavioral health center in the Midwest. The study measures the impact of purposeful aerobic laughter intrvention on employees sense of self efficacy in the workplace. Purposeful laughter is realistic, sustainable and general workplace intervention that enhances employee morale, resilience and personal efficacy beliefs.