[00:00:00.610] - David
Alright. Good morning. Trivillage Chamber Partnership. This is David Polakowski, the president and CEO of the Tri Village Chamber. As I said, try village chamber. Hey, so this morning I'm excited. We have Bonnie James from Advanced reading concepts. I knew I was going to start there a minute. How are you this morning, Bonnie?
[00:00:19.520] - Bonnie
I'm good, how are you?
[00:00:20.950] - David
Good. Now Bonnie and her husband Bob are the owners. So let's just get to the how did Advanced Reading Concepts evolve?
[00:00:33.410] - Bonnie
Well, many years ago I got divorced when my son was six months and one day old. And I needed to get a job in a couple of years because of him getting anyway, I had to get a job and it was during the era of the Baby Boone Glut of school teachers, which I was, and so I'm a teacher, and they said, I'm a teacher, do you want fries with that? And so there weren't any jobs available. And I answered an ad in the paper and it ran in the airline to news. It ran one day. It was the only day I looked in the employment opportunities and it was for American Speeding Academy. And the newspaper ad said wanted part time certified teachers. And I didn't care what it was, I went to apply. And they only hired teachers because we knew how to teach. And they didn't want to train us to know how to teach. They wanted to teach us what to teach. And so it was for Speed Reading Company, like I said, and they said the people we like the most get the most hours. So I thought, okay, I'll be the best teacher they ever had.
[00:01:46.190] - Bonnie
And at that company, what we did, I never knew what Speed Reading was at all. Never heard of it except for those commercials, but I never heard of it. And we took kids who hated school and turned them into confident kids who could do something nobody else could. And I've been on it ever since. That company expanded too fast and went broke. So there some of us that had started with Americans to the academy, joined with some people who had talked for Evelyn Wood but wanted to go out on their own. So we merged those people together to form this company and then we expanded too fast and they dropped out. So I stayed there. And then my husband joined the firm when he retired from another job and became our marketing director. And so the two of us are doing it together now.
[00:02:40.080] - David
How long have you been doing advanced reading contracts?
[00:02:42.490] - Bonnie
1977.
[00:02:44.830] - David
Wow, that's a long time.
[00:02:48.310] - Bonnie
Yeah, I tell people I start this when I was two.
[00:02:51.080] - David
Yeah, I get it. I've been doing non profit almost 30 years and I say I started when I was ten. So not really, but it's an interesting no pun conversation set because I know when we first, before the pandemic, a lot of it was in person and it is in groups. And then you guys did get shifted with the pandemic and thank God you survived. So what's a day in the life of a speed reading class or a student that comes to your class?
[00:03:27.910] - Bonnie
Well, it's an evening or half day and then in the summer we have week long classes for the kids in 7th grade through seniors at several school systems. What's it like when they come to the class?
[00:03:44.510] - David
Yeah. So what does a class or entail? Is there's curriculum? How did you get the curriculum?
[00:03:54.140] - Bonnie
Well, what we did when we first merged, we took the best of both courses and combined them. Like we had better visual techniques, they had better comprehension techniques and we merged them. And then I've taken train the trainer courses and accelerated learning courses and constantly evolved into a better and better program. So that's how it evolved. And basically we teach people to see more at once and think concepts and ideas instead of individual words. So they're seeing a big picture and comprehension goes up because instead of trying to memorize little tiny details, they see a big picture and they see the details as part of that big picture. So part of this involves training the eyes with eye charts and then using a layering process to get the comprehension built up.
[00:04:46.510] - David
That's really interesting. So let's go back like students, you have the summer courses. When you look at is there a typical student that comes or is it just a broad spectrum demographics just coming for different reasons?
[00:05:09.290] - Bonnie
Some people it's really interesting. We can do it all in the same class because we get some people who just hate to read, have poor reading skills and then we get the really bright ones who want to get scholarships and we help them both immensely. The Gamut and I have to be entertaining to keep the ones who pitch it a lot. You're a good candidate.
[00:05:35.990] - David
Can I keep raising my hand? Even grown as a kid, I was never a reader. College was torture and I only read now on vacation. And it usually has to be nothing like real heavy but fun stuff or personal development. So yeah, it's an interesting aspect.
[00:05:58.610] - Bonnie
One of the things that keeps me going and I love to do is because we can take the people who dislike to read and turn them into people who like to read. That makes me most happier than anything when they say I didn't like to read before I took the course and now I do. And also to help the people who like to be able to get more red in periods of time.
[00:06:20.270] - David
So if somebody signs up for a course, how many sessions are there?
[00:06:24.980] - Bonnie
We have different lengths, courses for people's, different needs coming up very soon. We have a half day business professional class for people who would like to read faster and then sorry, I had some people come in from Cincinnati, a mother and teen daughter, and it was like a four and a half hour class. And then we have weekend classes on a Friday evening, part of a Saturday and part of a Sunday. And then we have the school classes are five mornings in one week. And then they have a lifetime skill. And we also have everybody who's listening. We have introductory sessions, which are 45 minutes, where you learn the basics and see if you want more.
[00:07:14.750] - David
Once they take a course, is there like, different levels? Is there additional course? Or is it like one time they take the course and then they should be achieving what the goals of the course are.
[00:07:29.080] - Bonnie
Unfortunately, we give them a lifetime skill, so we have to keep finding new people. But we also have this thing that we invented at the request of our graduates. We call it a whisper stick because we teach with them. That's what's in it for me.
[00:07:44.750] - David
I like that.
[00:07:48.230] - Bonnie
It's like a flash drive. And we did a survey monkey out for what do they want as a review. We have a review flash drive that people can buy as well because it's got some of the slides and the eye charts and it's even got a calculator on it. No, it's got to stop watching. It not a calculator.
[00:08:07.890] - David
And then with the transition, because I know you, bob and I had conversations, how did you transition? Because during the pandemic with your classes, because I know everything you do was small group and in person, how did you transition during that time to keep yourself going?
[00:08:33.310] - Bonnie
Didn't it's coming back a bit. Now, the other thing we did that kept us busy all the time, we did a lot of stuff with the military all over the country and that just came to a halt during the pandemic. So we're reaching out and hoping to get back in and get more students. We're gradually getting more students a little bit at a time. And all my friends told me to do virtual learning and I think after doing a lot of I thought it was going to be over sooner than it was because I teach in person, because I watch people's faces and you know that if somebody's curious about something but they're not really asking the question, I can see it on their faces. And I also make sure that I'm moving their lips, which the masks on would be rather difficult to do. But I think I could have done the virtual training. I just didn't get around to it because I was just thinking it would be over sooner.
[00:09:29.450] - David
Yeah.
[00:09:30.090] - Bonnie
And we do have little tiny classes in our classroom at home where people could be spread out really far apart and we sanitized and all that and we're getting a little bit more coming in. And I think summer will be better this year than last year when people are just afraid, and the schools didn't know what they were doing.
[00:09:49.030] - David
I think that was the thing. Nobody knew.
[00:09:52.690] - Bonnie
We're done being locked up, and I think if we get another variant and they try to do this again, as people are going to be less willing to give up their lives.
[00:10:03.700] - David
Yeah, I think we're heading in a direction, living with this wonderful pandemic, so hopefully we're on the downside.
[00:10:13.230] - Bonnie
But with doing a lot of Zoom calls, I do see people's faces, but I was afraid I wouldn't be able to see them well enough, but now I think that I'll just continue with getting back.
[00:10:24.820] - David
Yeah, it is difficult. I prefer in person because even with zoom, you can see there, but you can't feel that energy. Or I think you just have more ability to read a person not only from their face, but just by their presence and how they're acting.
[00:10:45.530] - Bonnie
Yes. With the Zoom things I go to, people are so distracted and they leave, and that's really not paying attention.
[00:10:54.850] - David
Okay, let's have some fun.
[00:10:57.750] - Bonnie
Okay.
[00:10:58.550] - David
Some funny stories. So what is one of your favorite stories and one or two of your funniest stories about people with feed reading? Do you have any?
[00:11:12.910] - Bonnie
Okay, I'm trying to remember my funniest one, but I've always got funny ones. But anyway all right, well, we have this one drill we do, and it's called a slap book, and it's hard to be just not showing you. So let's send a book. And they have to have their hand covering the page, because on each page there's a question about them, and they have to when I say, Ready to go, they raise their hand, answer the question out loud whether hand is in the air and stop it back down to hide it. But people are curious, so if they look at it ahead of time, it ruins the whole drill.
[00:11:50.260]
Right.
[00:11:51.850] - Bonnie
And I try to have fun with my teens, too, or all my classes, I guess that surprises you. But anyway, I tried to have fun with them, so I said, all right, when I turn around and I cross my arms, I said, When I turn around, I'm going to become tall and mean. So I stomp around with my arms crossed, I face them, I put on my nastiest, meanest face, and I say, okay, if you open this book before I tell you too, you're going to find a way. It's called a slap book. They all giggle, and then they don't open it ahead of time.
[00:12:33.330] - David
Right.
[00:12:34.050] - Bonnie
Well, the funny part is, at the end of the course, one of my teams said to me, you know, Bonnie, you got the mean part around really well, but you never did pull off the tall. So I chuckled up.
[00:12:48.390] - David
That a lot. Well, you know, some things we can't change. We need to get you floating or something, or get you those eleven inch high heels that you can walk around that is funny, rewarding wise, and like your favorite story of students that come, and I'm sure you hear back from them, what's one or two of those?
[00:13:14.170] - Bonnie
Like I kind of mentioned before I came here, I didn't like to read it. Now I know I can, and I'm going to go to college now. One of them. Okay. What he said he had a really brilliant, really brilliant older brother who was an intern and all this stuff for the government in Washington. And he was a good looking kid. He was smart, but his brother was outstanding, and he just really always compared himself to his brother. And he said, Before I took this, I didn't even think I graduated from high school. And now I know I'll go to college.
[00:13:53.110] - David
Isn't that the best feeling for you? I'm sure I get chills thinking and hearing about that, and when somebody responds to me with what I'm doing and such, it just really is a great feeling. And I give you and Bob Kudos for doing that and helping to change, because you are changing people's lives.
[00:14:16.900] - Bonnie
I think that's why we do it.
[00:14:19.450] - David
I think that's why we do what we do. So what's next for events? Coming concepts, reading concepts. I knew I was going to get that. Next up.
[00:14:33.760] - Bonnie
It's okay.
[00:14:34.700] - David
Thanks.
[00:14:35.400] - Bonnie
All right. Well, we don't know. It's important to me to keep it going. I would love one of the people I've worked with has talked with me to want to keep it going.
[00:14:48.990] - David
Right.
[00:14:50.210] - Bonnie
But it's got to keep going.
[00:14:53.810] - David
And, you know, you have this little thing called a weekly newsletter that you have access to to do any promotions you like. I think that's one of the things people usually forget about the chamber is the resources that we have.
[00:15:06.390] - Bonnie
Yes.
[00:15:06.800] - David
And you come to things.
[00:15:08.450] - Bonnie
Yes.
[00:15:10.190] - David
What's your favorite chamber event that you've been to? I love throwing questions at people and just making them think, thanks.
[00:15:23.490] - Bonnie
Well, I like the networking things, and I like to meet people. I like it all.
[00:15:29.690] - David
Yeah. And that's the thing, being present, and you are present at events when you're able to come, I think it's important to remember that and making those connections for someone who is interested. What are your words of encouragement to connect with you and how do they connect with you? Phone, email? What's the best way? And when someone comes to you and has that hesitation, what's that like? Convincing moment?
[00:16:05.290] - Bonnie
We really encourage them to try the introductory lessons because that is a good way to find out. And of course, our website, which is www.advancedreading.com, gives a lot of information. Also, I would encourage them strongly to look at the testimonials that are on those pages. Those are real close to real people, and then they can feel how they would fit in or relate to some of that. So that would be good.
[00:16:34.380] - David
That's wonderful. The whole concept again of helping to improve even with adults. Is there a bigger challenge with adults for speed reading?
[00:16:47.530] - Bonnie
Well, people can learn at any age. The two fastest people I ever had was the youngest one I had and one of the oldest ones I ever.
[00:16:56.750] - David
Had, and that's great. So, with reading, what's your favorite type of book to read?
[00:17:04.580] - Bonnie
Historical fiction, I think.
[00:17:06.390] - David
Really? What's your favorite book that you ever read?
[00:17:10.180] - Bonnie
Oh, there's so many, I can't even tell you.
[00:17:13.390] - David
So when you look at the historic fiction, what is your favorite era of history?
[00:17:20.830] - Bonnie
I don't think I have one. I'm just kind of open to most things.
[00:17:25.580] - David
Yeah. I go back, like, the Gilded Age sometimes. Or looking at the product of the love. Seventy s. Eighty s. Ninety s music, of course. So it just depends. But I just love history and tours and just a variety of different things like that. But yeah. So, any final words of wisdom?
[00:17:59.010] - Bonnie
Would you like me to give the people listening a hint on how to read faster?
[00:18:05.530] - David
Yes, that would be absolutely wonderful.
[00:18:09.030] - Bonnie
Okay, this is part of our introductory lesson. So you're getting it here for listening. All right, anybody got a book? Put it right in front of you. Okay. How we read right now is we look straight at the line, right. A print to be a little bit faster. Shift your eyes up just a tiny bit to the top half of the line in the space between the lines, and have your eyes go across. That way. You're still looking at one line at a time, and you still get to hear the words, but you'll see them faster, and it's smoother. Somebody referred to it as surfing, but flowing across the line. And when people don't do that, it's like somebody described it like your eyes plant themselves down on each word, one word at a time. And the slowest we ever read, when I'm not really full flight speed reading, is hearing in phrases, and that's the way we talk. If I talked like this, one word at a time, you would be bored. And with this eye technique that flows, it's easier to think in phrases, and people get at least 100 words a minute faster with that.
[00:19:24.400] - Bonnie
So thanks for listening.
[00:19:26.580] - David
Well, thank you. And I look forward to having you round at some of the events. Again, I'm so excited. We've been back in person since August. But again, Bonnie James. Advanced reading concepts. I got it right this time. Advancereading.com is the website. Go ahead and check them out. But, Bonnie, thank you so much. This is wonderful. I appreciate you being here again. Bonnie reached out to me, so if anybody's interested, let me know. Have a great day, everybody.
[00:19:57.160] - Bonnie
Thank you. Bye.