GO HOLLYWOOD -- COLLABORATE!

In Hollywood, it takes hundreds of talented people, all working together, to create a great movie. What works in Tinsel Town can also bring big benefits for NSA members.

I often brainstorm with David Garfinkel, copy writing genius and budding screenwriter, and John Cantu, the San Francisco comedy legend. John can find something funny in anything. Garfinkel has a great mind for inserting a sales message or a dramatic Hollywood scene. My talent is creating a great opening line, highlighting the key points, and suggesting what to say and how to say it.

The three of us got together one Boxing Day (that's December 26th, for you non-British). John was just out of the hospital after serious cancer surgery. We asked him to describe his experiences. He told us about his first symptoms and being sent for a blood test. John, who is 6'2", said, "The first thing I noticed was that I was the shortest man in line. I was also the only one not wearing high heels and lipstick. 'That's because it's," the doctor told me. 'Tuesday is transgender night.'"

Two minutes into John's account, we were laughing so hard that I stopped him. "John, this is going to be your next speech. Let me get the tape recorder and start all over!" As we listened, David Garfinkel kept adding dramatic effects. When John finished, we had the foundation for a speech called, "Laughing All the Way to the Hospital." It was full of human interest, funny and poignant. John Cantu, like Charlie Nichols, is the Everyman who takes what life hands him with good humor and no complaints.

John told about lying on a gurney, waiting to be wheeled into surgery. "I'm a street-smart blue collar guy," he said, "and I've never been in a situation I couldn't talk my way out of. Then a woman comes up and asks if I'm okay. 'To be honest, m'am, I'm a lot more apprehensive than I thought I would be.' She took my hand. 'Don't worry. We're going to take really good care of you.' Suddenly, I felt better."

"Whenever you give this speech to health care workers," I told him, "call it 'The Touch of Her Hand'!"

John had created a whole busload of people: a hospital full of medical workers, an hallucinatory spaceship full of aliens in green hospital scrubs, drag queens, family, friends, and an eccentric hospital roommate. And his lesson learned: Nothing is so bad that it can't be funny!

Our collaboration on John's speech was so exciting that we transcribed the tape and turned the experience into an NSA seminar. We used some chairs on the stage to represent my living room and re-enacted the whole thing while moderator Jenelle Barlow pointed out all the things we could do. It was an incredible learning experience.

Another NSA star, Hope Mihalpa is one of the most brilliant natural humorists I've ever met. Her audiences adore her down-to-earth, everyday insights. Nonetheless, she came to me to collaborate on a problem. "My clients sometimes say how much they love my stories, but couldn't I weave in their sales pitch? How can I do that?" Hope is one of the first to admit she doesn't have a business bone in her body.

So Hope and I collaborated. I had her give me the first four minutes of her hilarious story about buying a girdle. As she spoke, I pointed out eleven spots where she could tie in a sales pitch. For example, she could repeat the saleswoman's humiliating comments, then ask, "What could you say to keep your customers from feeling like I did?" Her audiences would be learning a valuable lesson while laughing.

Hope also needed some new PR materials. I suggested that she collaborate with a sales trainer friend, providing him with some of her terrific funny lines in exchange for his preparing her handouts.

ARTICLE TAGLINE FOR PATRICIA FRIPP, CSP, CPAE

Patricia Fripp, CSP, CPAE is a San Francisco-based executive speech coach, sales trainer, and professional speaker on Change, Customer Service, Promoting Business, and Communication Skills. She is the author of Get What You Want!, Make It, SoYou Don't Have to Fake It!, and Past-President of the National Speakers Association. Meetings and Conventions Magazine named Fripp "one of the country's most electrifying speakers!" PFripp@Fripp.com, (800) 634-3035, http://www.fripp.com

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