March 19, 2023, 11:30 a.m.
🏖️ While Sarah's away let's play/professionally develop at a discount
The Celebrant Institute Monthly
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🏖️ While Sarah's away let's play/professionally develop at a discount
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<td style="padding: 0 1em 1em 1em;"><div>It always seemed silly to me when I'd see TV or radio adverts proclaiming that the boss was away so the staff were doing crazy deals. But here we are and my Celebrant Institute co-founder, Sarah Aird, is on a two week break at some fancy resort and allegedly offline, and I'm in the mood for some crazy professional development deals.<br /><br />I also wanted to talk about artificial intelligence in writing, marriage ceremonies, and into the future.<br /><br />Welcome to your February 2023 Celebrant Institute newsletter with Josh Withers! 👋🏼</div>
That celebrant directory
This email is delivered free to all marriage celebrants, and if you've been forwarded the newsletter and would like to get it yourself, become a free member.
But if you're a paid Celebrant Institute member you might want to know about the latest addition to your suite of membership benefits: a free listing on the new celebrant directory, celebrant.xyz.
Click the "Add me to the directory" link at the bottom of the website to get in.
And if you're already on there, make sure you're making the most benefit of your listing by completing the check list.
But if you're a paid Celebrant Institute member you might want to know about the latest addition to your suite of membership benefits: a free listing on the new celebrant directory, celebrant.xyz.
Click the "Add me to the directory" link at the bottom of the website to get in.
And if you're already on there, make sure you're making the most benefit of your listing by completing the check list.
Let's do a deal
When Sarah bought the registered training organisation formerly known as Life Skills Training a few seconds before the pandemic became a thing she realised early on that the Certificate IV curriculum would need to be remade for a new age. So between then and mid-last year she, I'd say we but I'm just comic support, made the country's best Cert IV in Celebrancy. Now all of you don't need a Cert IV I'm guessing because you're already a celebrant.
But there are elements of that Certificate IV we think you'd really benefit from, so now that there's a distinct lack of professional development in the Ongoing Professional Development Program for marriage celebrants, we've made select elements of the Cert IV available as their own PD units that you can access any time you like, as long as you like.
But there are elements of that Certificate IV we think you'd really benefit from, so now that there's a distinct lack of professional development in the Ongoing Professional Development Program for marriage celebrants, we've made select elements of the Cert IV available as their own PD units that you can access any time you like, as long as you like.
- Everything you need to know about getting a shortening of time on the NOIM
- Creating a client journey for wedding clients
- How to become a funeral celebrant
- Everything you need to know about prospective marriage visa applications
- Marriage celebrants legal refresher - available in two parts or as a bundle
- How to co-pilot a wedding ceremony with a non-celebrant
- Completing the new marriage forms
This is the same Certificate IV high level education we deliver to aspiring celebrants, but made available to you forever to access at your own pace, and re-access as you need in the future.
We're really proud of our professional development offering but I'll be real with you, we overpriced it. We priced it according to what it cost to make, to record and produce the videos, and bring in it to Certificate IV students.
So while Sarah's on holiday I've reduced the prices and would love to see you take on a course or two at your own pace and really take your celebrancy practice to a new level.
We're really proud of our professional development offering but I'll be real with you, we overpriced it. We priced it according to what it cost to make, to record and produce the videos, and bring in it to Certificate IV students.
So while Sarah's on holiday I've reduced the prices and would love to see you take on a course or two at your own pace and really take your celebrancy practice to a new level.
Artificial Intelligence in weddings
I received an interesting phone call last week from a New York Times journalist who read this article I wrote about AI writing a marriage ceremony.
The journalist is covering ChatGPT and AI writing in regards to speeches and vows.
I wish I'd read Nick Cave's latest email at the time because Nick answered the questions better than I could ever have.
I told the journo that as fun as AI writing was, in my opinion, chatbots could flatten a celebratory mood - if a computer makes the words you speak at a wedding, it’s likely to produce cliches, "things you're supposed to say" as opposed to human words, real words, that come from the heart, not from the "this is how we do things right" handbook.
I feel that the humanity of our words and the moments that make us feel love, might be at risk if a chatbot is involved. For example, when you ask someone to repeat after you "lawfully wedded" and they’re so nervous they say, I take you as my ‘awfully’ wedded something, people laugh and feel the gravity of what’s happening in front of them. Those moments are some of the most real and honest moments of a ceremony.
Nick Cave wrote:
The journalist is covering ChatGPT and AI writing in regards to speeches and vows.
I wish I'd read Nick Cave's latest email at the time because Nick answered the questions better than I could ever have.
I told the journo that as fun as AI writing was, in my opinion, chatbots could flatten a celebratory mood - if a computer makes the words you speak at a wedding, it’s likely to produce cliches, "things you're supposed to say" as opposed to human words, real words, that come from the heart, not from the "this is how we do things right" handbook.
I feel that the humanity of our words and the moments that make us feel love, might be at risk if a chatbot is involved. For example, when you ask someone to repeat after you "lawfully wedded" and they’re so nervous they say, I take you as my ‘awfully’ wedded something, people laugh and feel the gravity of what’s happening in front of them. Those moments are some of the most real and honest moments of a ceremony.
Nick Cave wrote:
Songs arise out of suffering, by which I mean they are predicated upon the complex, internal human struggle of creation and, well, as far as I know, algorithms don’t feel. Data doesn’t suffer. ChatGPT has no inner being, it has been nowhere, it has endured nothing, it has not had the audacity to reach beyond its limitations, and hence it doesn’t have the capacity for a shared transcendent experience, as it has no limitations from which to transcend. ChatGPT’s melancholy role is that it is destined to imitate and can never have an authentic human experience, no matter how devalued and inconsequential the human experience may in time become.
May you go forth and share a transcendent experience with a group of people at a wedding this month, it's the best part of this whole gig!
That said, that's another monthly newsletter. If you want support and mentorship in your celebrancy practice, our paid memberships are now available and if you're already a paid member then jump into the Ask a Question page now to get the help you need.
--
Josh and Sarah
The Celebrant Institute
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