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2014 turned out to be a landmark year for self-styled Northern posh lad Tony Nicholl. He performed his first ever stand-up gig, learnt three important things from the experience, and proved his parents' right. Read on to find out more about Tony's experience.    In December I attended workshops to learn the skills of stand-up comedy. The intention was to raise...

Recently on my wanderings as a Laughology trainer, I was asked, "What is a tree", by a rather inquisitive Yr 6 student, whose preferred learning style was definitely talking, (an affliction I have since turned into my career). When faced with this seemingly innocuous question, I did, what any self-respecting adult in a position of responsibility would do, I proffered an...

...after being told by one of the delegates attending a recent Laughology FLIP event that "she loved the session and it was one of the best and most useful training days she had experienced", being a Laughology trainer really does feels like the best job in the world.

Whilst delivering a Laughology session at a primary school recently the question arose: ‘Are young imaginations becoming stunted as a result of the increased access to technology?’ The consensus in the session was a resounding ‘yes’ from the nursery school teachers. They commented that they had some children coming to school who clearly had not been communicated with much at home....

So 2015 is here; new goals are being set, ideas for the year are being communicated and budgets reviewed. The main focus of the leaders in top organisations I’m speaking to this year seems to be about creating great places to work.  Businesses are feeling more confident financially and are moving away from recession-style troubleshooting behaviour typified by efficiency savings to...

Last week I spoke at the CIPD HR conference in Manchester about the science of happiness for motivating and inspiring teams. There is no doubt that there is a thirst for well-being, happiness and humour in the workplace, as the room was packed.

The growing cost of hidden non-core school items such as school trips, extra curricula activities and learning resources is causing a greater gap between the advantaged and disadvantaged.

I was at an event recently chatting to a manager. I say chatting, but really he could have been speaking another language thanks to all the acronyms and corporate speak he peppered the conversation with. Maybe he was trying to impress me with his ROIs and his KPIs!

I was lucky enough to be invited to the closing ceremony of the Invictus Games on Sunday where I managed to literally brush shoulders with royalty in the form of Prince Harry.