Richard begins the presentation
with an eye opening story of when he was in tenth
grade and how challenging and sometimes difficult is was not to
only look different (birth defect his right shorter than his left
with two fingers) but also to be below average when it came to academic
skills. He explains that he gave up on himself and how he was on
the road to being the number one host of the poor poor me pity party.
He explains how his Aunt Sally (one of his many life mentors) inspired
him to keep trying and reminded him that the world was waiting,
waiting for him to share his gifts. From there he demonstrates how
he taught himself ventriloquism and that his first
life goal was to learn how to become a professional ventriloquist.
As
a quick humorous example he brings his hands to life performing
a mini skit. Then he introduces his first ventriloquist character
Babalou and shares how they used to perform in his parent’s
garage charging ten cents to get in and twenty-five cents to get
out. Following the demonstration he instructs the students to fill
out a simple handout entitled “The World
Is Waiting.” He asks them to write down: What they
like to do? Why they like to do it? How can they get better? From
there he asks selected students to share their vision of themselves
and their abilities. He explains that unless we have some kind of
definition of ourselves and what we can do we will never be able
to find out who we are.
He then explains
how life’s so called failures are the building blocks of success.
As an example he tells that if Thomas Edison and Walt Disney quit
after their first failure they would have never been able to find
out their position in life. He quotes from authors Al Ries and Jack
Trout “anything worthwhile doing is worthwhile doing lousy.”
He reminds them unless they have a vision of there future, set
goals and are willing to try they run the risk of never being
who it is they really are.
Next Peking
Duck humorously shares how a lama named Dolly taught him how to
believe in himself. As an added bonus a student is brought up to
help Richard with his funny trained flea Fredrick. Together they
demonstrate that with determination and will one can accomplish
anything.
Program
Synopsis:
