Speaking? Face Your Fears!

A few years ago, my company started at Toastmasers club in our retirement community for any staff member who wanted to participate. As the activities director in the community, I am one of the people who is regularly on stage introducing programs and talking in front of groups of residents. I thought,  why do I need to join this program? Well, the answer was not far from the surface, once I took a good look at myself. “Because, I can be better!”

If you are like me, it is not a problem to introduce a speaker, entertainer, or to speak to “my” residents… or even to a group of fellow staff members. I use to be fearful when my boss was in the audience, but that is not the case anymore. When I asked myself the question, “Why join Toastmasters?” I realized that I am not be comfortable in other settings except the one inside my community’s four walls. I also felt that I had another weakness that could be reduced from joining the group, and that was to be sociable in situations where I was not the leader.

Toastmasters has a section of their meetings where members are asked to speak on their feet, called Table Topics. I found that this section of the meeting to be very helpful to me, because there are many times when I feel that unless I speak to the residents about a recent activity, their health, family or community issues, that I am uncomfortable in carrying on a worthwhile conversation. And of course, in a social setting outside of work, it is the same thing.

As you start the new year, I ask you, how can you step your game up? Have you taken a look at yourself honestly and found an area where you are uncomfortable or possibly even afraid? Those are areas within you that you can address this year! I’m sure you are great already – but in 2013, you can be better! For me, I will continue to work on my public speaking and one-one exchanges, along with other things. What will it be for you?

Joining the ToastMasters club at work has been an awesome opportunity for my personal and professional growth. Here are some free resources from ToastMasters that I found on-line. Also, take a look into the Resources for Activities Directors  tab at the top of my blog for some books on becoming a better speaker, which are available through Amazon.

Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, professionals built the Titanic. - Unknown

Fun Extras

It is the first day of the year and I am thinking about work on my day off. Shows you how much I love my job as activities director.... or some would say, how I "need to get out more!".... anyway, I am always looking for new inspiration for an activity and I found, again, a few websites that show us unique days  or themes for the month.

I like Holiday Insights.com a lot because when you click on the link, it gives you information about the special day. I think if you have the background information, it helps you promote the idea of the program to your residents. Some of these ideas inspired me as I reviewed them this time, because I've been trying to find a way to get resident's names and quick facts of interest out to the community, either through the monthly newsletter or our in-house TV channel. I believe that when they see their name, or that of their friends, that they will read or watch with greater interest. Another cute site that I like to get ideas for unique days to celebrate is brownielocks.com

And here is one that is food related: http://www.tfdutch.com/foodh.htm

The ideas that I got from the sites include:

• 2/17 - Random Acts of Kindness Day - Promote the day in advance, as for submissions from residents re: who did what kindness for them/what they did for others. Promote results on TV and/or newsletter.
• 6/4- Hug a Cat Day (June is Adopt a Cat Month) - Take pictures of residents holding their cats in advance and share them with the community..... Lobby wall display or TV channel (monthly newsletter costs per photo, so that is not a good option for me.)
• 8/13 - Left Hander's Day...... Ask the month before and list their names in the monthly newsletter as a "space filler" along side the information about the development of Left Hander's Day
• 9/8 - Grandparents Day - This might be a big list... so be careful what you ask for on this one.
• 9/21 - World Gratitude Day - Promote the day in advance, as for submissions from residents what they are thankful for, and promote the results on TV and/or newsletter.
• 10/7 - World Smile Day - Take random pictures of residents with great smiles - but just of their smiles, post them in the Lobby. Assign each photo a number and have a contest to see who can determine the most correct identifications of each smile. A prize can be an item with a yellow smiley face on it.... those are easy gift items to find
• 11/16 - Button Day - Ask residents to wear items with lots of buttons.....the most buttons is the winner, or maybe they have a large button that they never get to wear, encourage them to add it to their outfit. (ie. "Birthday Boy," or "Kiss Me, I'm Irish.")  It could be very funny. Or, make craft items with buttons and have them for sale by your craft group as a fund raiser for the craft group or your favorite charity. See my Pinterest page for some more pictures of crafts with buttons.

Source: Uploaded by user via Recharging Retirees on Pinterest

So there you have it, a few bits of inspiration. I hope they make you think of ways that you can add something fresh and simple to your calendar. Set your plan in motion now. These are fun add-ons to a calendar and newsletter that tends to be predictable at times.  If you don't follow through this year, there is always next year, and no one will know if you did them or not since they are fun extras! 

If you have any ideas that are along these lines, "fun, extras," please take a minute to post them in the comment section below so that we can all benefit from one another.

More Movies

Seems like we have been taking our residents to the movie theater more lately because of the great selection of movies that are available. They've enjoyed The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, The Queen, The King's Speech, and more in the theater. As activities director's this sounds like an easy outing to plan, but it usually is not. We like to plan programs in advance and put them onto our calendars with a specific date and time..... and they should be accurate, of course. But with most theaters, they do not announce their show times until the middle of the week for the upcoming week. Because of this, most of the announcements that I put out to sell a moving outing are an addition to the calendar, promoted usually with "time to be announced," and then followed up by phone calls to those signed up to tell them the correct bus departure time. It is more work than the average outing.

 

As an activities director, you can tell by the previews when something looks good for your resident population. You don't have to wait until it comes out on DVD to show it, just know that it is alright to have an addition to the calendar that does not have all the facts, because that is the nature of this kind of outing. It has taken me awhile to understand that I don't have to control every activity 4 weeks ahead of time in order to be successful.

 

Speaking about DVDs, I have been using DVDs that residents have loaned me for my Monday Matinee shows. They have been  The Great Courses series. These are educational in nature, with a professor speaking to us as if we are in the class room. Based upon the subject matter, they have been well attended. Subjects have included art history, American history, World history, music appreciation, etc.. The value of borrowing from residents is two-fold. First, if they own it, means that they are interested in the subject and most likely other residents will be too. I find this helpful because what interests me usually does not interest them because of our age difference.  And secondly, the series are expensive to buy. Saving money is always a plus in a non-profit organization looking to provide the most for less!

 

I do use Netflix to select my movies for the Friday night movie series. These movies are the types of movies you watch for entertainment, as apposed to the educational ones mentioned above. When searching for movies, I did find a whole lot more educational DVDs that I will be able to use on Mondays. In the upcoming year, I will be adding biographies and documentaries to the schedule. It will take a little bit more research and time on my part to put together a "series" that has a complete theme, but I think it will be nice for a change of pace. I don't know about you, but I rather see a "movie" and learn something than to sit in a room and be taught by a professor lecturing. Different people, different styles of learning, so.... it is time to mix it up.  

 

Can you add something new to your calendar this year? Can you acknowledge that as an activity director that you don't have to have all the details on your calendar at the beginning of the month to have a successful program? I know that you CAN!

 

Interested in reading more about movies in retirement communities? Here are other posts I've written:

Movie Scheduling

Movies in Your Community

Here is a link to find movies @Amazon that we've enjoyed 

 

I found a good and legal website to watch classic movies and documentaries on your computer, IPad, Iphone or Android device. Check out Fullmovies.com This would be great to have on a community Ipad that you can take from room to room for those needing that service 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dance Lessons for Activities Directors

Seniors going Gangnam Style makes the news because of the trendy moves they are doing in their retirement community! I love it when the world gets to see that seniors are not all sitting in their rocking chairs knitting!

This week at my community, we had our annual holiday gala dance. I had received a call from my entertainer for the night saying that he was sick and was sending someone else in his place. My thoughts went from "oh crap" to "oh yea" to "uh oh." The fear of the unknown performer on one of the most popular high-end events of the year! Well, turns out that I learned two lessons this week when preparing for the event.

The first thing that I learned is, that if you have a good working relationship with a professional entertainer, he will take good care of you, even if he is not there. I had an entertainer cancel earlier in the month, but he did not find a replacement for himself and left me with nothing. The difference that I can see is that the first one that I mentioned for my gala dance is a professional performer who I've worked with for years. The other man is a church organist, who also works in an organ store, and performs on the side. This was the second time that I contacted him to play for us.... since he is one of the few in the area who can actually tackle our fancy organ!  I think I will try to include something in the contracts in advance about getting replacements and see how that goes over.......

The second lesson that I learned is, that just like at the parties that you go to, there needs to be a fun person that gets things started. The dance floor was full the whole night thanks to the dance host that I hired, but when the Twist came on there was nobody! I will tell you that I can not dance the way the residents do with the Swing, Fox Trot, Rumba, Waltz, etc., so they almost never see me on the dance floor... unless it is doing the Electric Slide or the Chicken Dance.  But the Twist?!?  I couldn't let that pass. I grabbed one of my younger, single ladies and got started with her and then Twisted my way around the room and got others out on the floor until it was full. It was the perfect way to end the night and we all had a blast. 

If you have dancing skills, don't let them go to waste. Yes,we are there to "work" and make sure that there is enough to drink on the table, that the air conditioner is right for the dancers, but not freezing for the listeners, etc., but then take time to really make the party a success - and that is with your own personal connection to it! I love to take time to go from table to table and sit down. "How are you enjoying the party?" is a good opener or "I haven't had a minute to talk with you lately, how are you?"  Residents love to have the personal contact that only you can offer. 

National Eye Month Activities for Seniors

January is National Eye Month and as the Activities Director in an independent living retirement community, I  like to draw attention to it due to the fact that there are residents living in our community with eye issues.  Yes, we can recognize each month's health focus and that might come across as "not real fun activities," so pick and choose the ones that will work in your community and then make it great. 

For National Eye Month, there are a few different programs that will benefit your community and they are:

• Invite a local area's eye doctor to come give a lecture to your residents about eye care/eye health
• Ask an organization like The American Foundation for the Blind to provide a speaker who would come to the community and share the tools that can help low-vision residents with their daily living tasks. See the Resources for Activities Directors for some low vision game aids that will help your residents stay "in the game."
• Provide a bus to a store that sells the items that will help the residents with poor vision.  Make sure to call ahead and tell the store that you will be coming so that they have plenty of staff available to help. Give the group enough time to be served and don't allow the group size to be to big. 
• Ask your local area's eye doctor's if they have an eye screening van that can come to your community and provide the testing required for a healthy eye.
• Highlight the special services that are available though your community's library or the local library for those with low-vision.
• Check out the National Library Service Talking Books information that is available for all U.S. residents. You can pass this information along to those in need in your community.
• And, as I am thinking about what else might be good to add, I was thinking....you can also scheduling a bus to a store that sells prescription eye wear. This might be a store that they already go to, like Walmart, but during the month of January, you might want to highlight that it has an optical department.

"You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand." Woodrow Wilson

Look Ahead & Schedule An Event!

FaceBook for Seniors

The senior adults living in my retirement community are using electronics to stay in touch with their families and their friends more and more these days. Even one of our active 100+ resident understands how amazing the Internet is. She was interviewed this election year and saw and heard herself immediately on-line - as did her family when the links were shared. Residents are using their home computers,their laptops, Kindles, and smartphones to stay connected without having to travel to visit. They are using Skype and Facebook and having a great time.

I found a very good article about seniors using Facebook. It addresses the long term health and social benefits of staying connected. This article also shares another cool aspect..... the inter-generational connection that can be created with high school seniors working with senior adults.

I found this video showing seniors attending a workshop about Facebook. I'm sharing it so that you can see the value of Facebook to our residents. I am not supporting the source of the video, as I don't know anything about them.  And, here is a funny one showing residents working on their own home computer trying to learn Facebook.

Here are some other articles that I wrote about seniors and technology that have good resources and links also:

Seniors Using Computer

IPad and seniors

Seniors Keep in Touch with Technology

Now more than ever, seniors do not have to be isolated from their loved ones when they move into a retirement community. As the activities director, I feel it is important to keep the residents in touch with the world around them through current events programs, college professors sharing their knowledge, etc.

One of the other areas of interest is the World Wide Web, aka, the Internet. In my community, we have a wonderful computer club that was started by a resident. He trained more residents so that they could teach others, and the club has grown each year. They have guest speakers (some from our company's own Information Technology department), group meetings, and one-on-one tutoring. 

It is a fact that baby boomers and those who came before them are more interested in technology then ever before. Many of them have IPads, IPhones, computers, tablets, e-readers, smartphones, etc. Here is a great article about gadget going grandparents that is right on the mark. I also wrote  blog posts about seniors using IPads  and one on seniors using e-readers that you might find interesting.

If you do not have a program in your community yet that teaches your residents about technology, now is the time. Here are a few ways that you can facilitate the process:

1. Do it yourself. Take it a class at a time.... a subject at a time...... Look on-line or in your local library for more information if you need to. I also have noted some helpful books on another blog post re: computers and seniors. 
2. YouTube.com can be your assistant.
3. See if a resident is willing and able to lead the class(es) for you. Be their support by arranging the time and place for the meetings, advertising it, & get the supplies needed for their success
4. Encourage a Technology Club concept like mentioned above 
5. Ask your Information Technology department for their support. Can they direct you and/or  volunteers? Can they teach a class periodically?  
6. Speak to the area high school technology club and see if the students will come teach. Most likely the students need service hours. Residents may really enjoy the inter-generational interaction with this program.
7. Hire a professional company to come in. This might mean a fee to the students in the class

One of the subjects that you could teach would be digital ways to keep grandparents in touch with their friends and families. When most of us hear about grandparents staying in touch, we think of email. That is no longer the case. Here is a terrific article about 5 ways to stay in touch with today's advanced technologies. How wonderful is this, especially for those who may have physical problems that make it difficult for them to type or see well.

Be the facilitator and help a resident learn something new that will surely enhance their life!