our sessions
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presentations and workshops
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We have no hidden agenda. We've nothing to sell. A Push event is just that: an event. Not a lecture or dry presentation, but a form of fun 'sticky' engagement students will remember. Our mission is to help young people make proactive informed choices based on a positive future self, whilst building 21st century employability (not just an awareness of it, but the skills themselves). Our mission is to get students excited about how to make a life and not just a living. Our mission to get them to understand and build their own ‘life cocktail’: a unique mixture of knowledge, skills, experience, proof and B-A-P (behaviour, attitude, personality) to instill a self-confidence in them, an awareness of 'professional usefulness' and a resilience to get to where they want on their journey. Some of our most popular topics include ‘do what you love, love what you do’, 'make a life, not just a living' and ‘why choose higher education?’. We also run very popular public speaking, comedy and storytelling workshops, for students, teachers, outreach teams and student ambassadors.
Each of our choices sessions features our unique combination of comedy, storytelling, games, discussion, video - all grounded in the latest research into employability, choices and effective learning. We often include a worksheet too, which they use during the session but take away too (with useful follow-up links and a summary of the key points of the session) - ensuring a sustained element to any activity. For more info on our sessions within this framework, and how we can tailor it to your students’ needs, just ask@push.co.uk |
Here's a quick visual guide to our laddered framework...
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Through our unique style, we explore the options (post-16 and post-18), and how to make proactive informed choices on them, as well as getting students excited about why they would want to make a life, and not just a living. We discuss the rewards you may want from life, the rewards that different options and career paths might give you - and an understanding of what we call a ‘life cocktail’: a mixture of knowledge, skills, experience, proof and personality you will need to get what you want. Some of our most popular topics include ‘why choose higher education?’, ‘alternative choices at 18’ and ‘choosing a uni’. We also run very popular ‘Intro to 6th Form’ sessions, to kickstart students’ yr12-13 journeys in the most fun way possible.
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Each of our choices sessions features our unique combination of comedy, storytelling, games, discussion, video and the very latest research into employability. We often include a choices worksheet, which they use during the session but take away too (with useful follow-up links and a summary of the key points of the session) - ensuring a sustained element to the activity.
For more info on our sessions within this framework, and how we can tailor it to your students’ needs, just ask@push.co.uk
Each of our choices sessions features our unique combination of comedy, storytelling, games, discussion, video and the very latest research into employability. We often include a choices worksheet, which they use during the session but take away too (with useful follow-up links and a summary of the key points of the session) - ensuring a sustained element to the activity.
For more info on our sessions within this framework, and how we can tailor it to your students’ needs, just ask@push.co.uk
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Our employability sessions get students excited about the idea of becoming a rounded desirable individual, who can achieve the rewards (personal, professional) they want from life. We explore deeper ideas than just ‘employment’ skills (the practicalities of applying for / getting a job): we focus on the idea of ‘usefulness’ and how an individual builds it day by day. Inside and outside the classroom. We go through our detailed breakdown (based on our Chief Executive’s research over the last 10 years) of the 7 key elements of employability: knowledge, soft skills, hard skills, behaviours, attitude, personality, social capital.
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We believe getting, keeping and progressing up your career ladder is the sweet spot of doing what you love, using a strong mix of skills you have (hard and soft) and maximising the opportunities that become available. Each of our sessions features our unique combination of comedy, storytelling, games, discussion, video and the very latest research into employability. We often include a worksheet, which they use during the session but take away too (with useful follow-up links and a summary of the key points of the session) - ensuring a sustained element to the activity.
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For more info on our sessions within this framework, and how we can tailor it to your students’ needs, just ask@push.co.uk
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These workshops are suitable for year 9+ and shake up students’ ideas of what the brain is, how it learns, and why learning fuels how desirable they will be. We use ideas of metacognition and a growth mindset, to explore how to become a most effective sensual learner, in a wider holistic sense (memory formation, memory recall, rest, diet, sleep, when you learn, where you learn, who you learn with).
We help students improve their revision skills by applying the hear/see/do/teach model in their practice as well as by exploring what type of learner they are and how they can create bespoke memory-recall exercises for themselves. |
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We can even help them keep their cool with assessment and exam strategy skills – with our performers running them through focus, visualisation, confidence and nerve-handling techniques they use most days either in performance jobs or auditions. Each of our workshops have our unique combination of comedy, games, discussion, video, and the latest research into neuroscience. They can be tailored to your students’ needs. We often include a worksheet, which they use during the session but take away too (with useful follow-up links and a summary of the key points of the session) - ensuring a sustained element to the activity.
For more info on our sessions within this framework, and how we can tailor it to your students’ needs, just ask@push.co.uk
For more info on our sessions within this framework, and how we can tailor it to your students’ needs, just ask@push.co.uk
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Our team of professional comedians are incredibly passionate about what we do at Push, and on top of this they are all first generation in their families to graduate a degree course...and make the successful transition to a mix of careers using multiple skillsets. These interactive workshops focus on how to use comedy to develop soft skills, and are designed for groups 10-25 people, for half or whole day workshops. The overall objective is not to develop the UK's next comedy stars, but to help anyone develop self-confidence and resilience as crucial employability skills for whatever career path they take. We also want to help young people develop their wider soft skills such as initiative, problem-solving, creativity, emotional intelligence and expressing ideas - which make an individual highly desirable for any job in any industry, particularly in an ever-changing technology-based world.
If you're keen on exploring how these workshops can inspire and benefit your learners, outreach staff or employees, just ask@push.co.uk. We treat each enquiry as a bespoke booking, and tailor our framework to exactly what you need, in the time you have available. Here are the key frameworks we offer... |
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COMEDY GIGS
If you'd like to book a comedy gig with a twist, our team of comedians run a unique event for undergraduate students or parents/carers who want to best support their children with HE choices/employability. The gigs are bespoke and open to your needs, but usually include individual stand up sets on what our comedians wish they'd known in school and university, anecdotes of their times in higher education and/or the transition to work. These can be balanced with comedy sketches, improvisations, audience Q&A, panel discussions on career choices, higher education (benefits, dispelling myths, mental health)...and for this section we usually mix the comedians' panel with members of the audience. It's a funny, inspiring and informative outreach event like no other, and we've already run gigs like this for universities such as BCU, USW, University of Sussex and City College Plymouth.
Public Speaking & Presentation Skills
PUSH's presenters (who moonlight as comedians) share their experiences of years in live comedy and public speaking, to help you improve the way you present yourself, your storytelling and your ideas - whatever the audience.
A recent study shows that the thing employees fear more than anything (across a range of different topics) is delivering presentations. That's why the ability to make people laugh, to tell a story, and to express ideas becomes such a desirable skill in the workplace. We want young people to develop the skill of expression of ideas, and to do it in a humorous way.
Why?
Well, neuroscientific research reveals that humour systematically activates the brain's dopamine reward system, and various cognitive studies show that dopamine is important for goal-oriented motivation and long-term memory.
And the motivation and memory works both ways: want your ideas to be truly heard and remembered by your work colleagues or clients? Well then, be an engaging storyteller, and add a touch of humour in the right places.
Techniques we explore in this workshop:
- How to cope under pressure: breathing techniques, visualisation, mindfulness, mic technique, and interacting with an audience.
- Projection, diction and tone: how to keep people engaged in what you are saying.
- Pace, variation and movement: how to keep people focused on you, in the right way.
- How to write a story: a great skill for constructing any CV, cover letter or interview as a candidate is essentially picking relevant chapters of their own life story to express, under pressure, to an audience. On your request we can also involve our manager Aron Tennant, who moonlights as a screenwriter.
A recent study shows that the thing employees fear more than anything (across a range of different topics) is delivering presentations. That's why the ability to make people laugh, to tell a story, and to express ideas becomes such a desirable skill in the workplace. We want young people to develop the skill of expression of ideas, and to do it in a humorous way.
Why?
Well, neuroscientific research reveals that humour systematically activates the brain's dopamine reward system, and various cognitive studies show that dopamine is important for goal-oriented motivation and long-term memory.
And the motivation and memory works both ways: want your ideas to be truly heard and remembered by your work colleagues or clients? Well then, be an engaging storyteller, and add a touch of humour in the right places.
Techniques we explore in this workshop:
- How to cope under pressure: breathing techniques, visualisation, mindfulness, mic technique, and interacting with an audience.
- Projection, diction and tone: how to keep people engaged in what you are saying.
- Pace, variation and movement: how to keep people focused on you, in the right way.
- How to write a story: a great skill for constructing any CV, cover letter or interview as a candidate is essentially picking relevant chapters of their own life story to express, under pressure, to an audience. On your request we can also involve our manager Aron Tennant, who moonlights as a screenwriter.
EMPLOYABILITY THROUGH IMPROVISATION
Our interactive improvisation workshops are a fast-paced, fun and practical introduction to soft skills for young people, to build their confidence, resilience and overall roundedness for an ever-adapting working environment.
These workshops have been specifically designed and are run by professional stand up comedian Lorna Shaw who is also an experienced actor, comedian and improviser. She trained in improv at London’s leading improv theatre, The Free Association, and regular performs with various improv teams. Lorna has performed improv at The Magnet Theatre in New York and on the Boom Chicago stage in Amsterdam and has trained with some of the alumni of leading improv theatres in the US including IO Chicago and Second City. Lorna has run improv workshops for a number of businesses and charities.
As well as improvising Lorna performs regularly on the stand-up circuit. Her work has been performed at the Soho Theatre and on BBC Radio 4. In 2018 Lorna was a Musical Comedy Awards finalist and shortlisted for the Funny Women Writing Award and her acting credits include Plebs (ITV2) and Newsjack (Radio 4).
Through a mix of games, exercises and scene work the students will gain practical experience in thinking on their feet, effective communication, team work, accepting and celebrating failure, peer feedback, creativity and problem-solving.
One of the core principles of improvisation is risk and during the workshop students get the opportunity to rehearse real-life scenarios within the safety of a workshop environment with a seasoned professional improviser, and overcome their fear of failure before embarking on their journey into higher education and/or the workplace.
Learning how saying ‘yes!’ (and developing a mindset of constant self-improvement and lifelong learning) can open doors to success, and make you stand out to employers and universities.
These workshops have been specifically designed and are run by professional stand up comedian Lorna Shaw who is also an experienced actor, comedian and improviser. She trained in improv at London’s leading improv theatre, The Free Association, and regular performs with various improv teams. Lorna has performed improv at The Magnet Theatre in New York and on the Boom Chicago stage in Amsterdam and has trained with some of the alumni of leading improv theatres in the US including IO Chicago and Second City. Lorna has run improv workshops for a number of businesses and charities.
As well as improvising Lorna performs regularly on the stand-up circuit. Her work has been performed at the Soho Theatre and on BBC Radio 4. In 2018 Lorna was a Musical Comedy Awards finalist and shortlisted for the Funny Women Writing Award and her acting credits include Plebs (ITV2) and Newsjack (Radio 4).
Through a mix of games, exercises and scene work the students will gain practical experience in thinking on their feet, effective communication, team work, accepting and celebrating failure, peer feedback, creativity and problem-solving.
One of the core principles of improvisation is risk and during the workshop students get the opportunity to rehearse real-life scenarios within the safety of a workshop environment with a seasoned professional improviser, and overcome their fear of failure before embarking on their journey into higher education and/or the workplace.
Learning how saying ‘yes!’ (and developing a mindset of constant self-improvement and lifelong learning) can open doors to success, and make you stand out to employers and universities.
Our interactive webinars, run via our Zoom (or your own platform) and are designed to give some of the feel of a face-to-face Push session. As usual - they are presented in a fun (and funny) way, by professional 2 performers/writers simultaneously from their respective homes, sometimes with special guests too. Topics are different for each year group, to help resonate with where their heads are at right now, and offer useful tips. We can cover (depending on what the teacher would like) employability, options at 16, options at 18, study skills at home, and wellbeing and motivation). Over lockdown, we became proud founding members of Uni4me. You can see a breakdown of our main online offerings here.
We use 'challenge the presenter' games, interactive polls, quizzes, live comment bar discussions, all interweaved with informative slides. Sometimes there's even a cameo appearance from a cat! We conclude each session with an anonymous Q&A, and send a bespoke session summary document (including answered questions & useful links) to the teacher / outreach team - to email to attendees and those who couldn't make it. We ensure that the highest level of safeguarding is met, and aim to have a safeguarding officer from the school included in the session as a facilitator. We conclude the session with some light student & teacher evaluation in the form of some quick polls so we can measure the impact of what we are doing.
"The PUSH staff hit the perfect tone for our students joining over social media during the COVID 19 lockdown. Having the answers to questions pitched as part of an open dialogue enabled them to bring in hopes and fears as well as plans for the future. It was reassuring to see any areas needing more depth treatment or research before a final answer being held back for later correspondence rather than giving quick but incomplete or misleading responses. Since safeguarding is always a concern in any remote online activity it was good to work with experienced professionals in this field."
- Steven McArdle, Durham Johnston School
"I really do appreciate the session and the standard of the delivery was excellent, if you pass on my regards and thanks again to Aron and Moj that would be great. It was definitely useful and I think it will have hit (students) on a number of different levels from being informative of what opportunities they have around them to a more personal level of who they are and can be. It was a pleasure to be part of."
- Mike Laidlaw, Bedlington & Ashington Academies teacher (activity supported by FutureMe.ac.uk)
To ensure we create a webinar that is accurate to your students’ needs, we like to arrange a chat with you beforehand”. Just ask@push.co.uk with your interest and we’ll set up a time to talk.
We use 'challenge the presenter' games, interactive polls, quizzes, live comment bar discussions, all interweaved with informative slides. Sometimes there's even a cameo appearance from a cat! We conclude each session with an anonymous Q&A, and send a bespoke session summary document (including answered questions & useful links) to the teacher / outreach team - to email to attendees and those who couldn't make it. We ensure that the highest level of safeguarding is met, and aim to have a safeguarding officer from the school included in the session as a facilitator. We conclude the session with some light student & teacher evaluation in the form of some quick polls so we can measure the impact of what we are doing.
"The PUSH staff hit the perfect tone for our students joining over social media during the COVID 19 lockdown. Having the answers to questions pitched as part of an open dialogue enabled them to bring in hopes and fears as well as plans for the future. It was reassuring to see any areas needing more depth treatment or research before a final answer being held back for later correspondence rather than giving quick but incomplete or misleading responses. Since safeguarding is always a concern in any remote online activity it was good to work with experienced professionals in this field."
- Steven McArdle, Durham Johnston School
"I really do appreciate the session and the standard of the delivery was excellent, if you pass on my regards and thanks again to Aron and Moj that would be great. It was definitely useful and I think it will have hit (students) on a number of different levels from being informative of what opportunities they have around them to a more personal level of who they are and can be. It was a pleasure to be part of."
- Mike Laidlaw, Bedlington & Ashington Academies teacher (activity supported by FutureMe.ac.uk)
To ensure we create a webinar that is accurate to your students’ needs, we like to arrange a chat with you beforehand”. Just ask@push.co.uk with your interest and we’ll set up a time to talk.