Joel Zeff

We are all improvising. We face challenges, disruption, change, and obstacles without a script or rehearsal. To find success, we need to work together, build trust, and create opportunity. During this session, Joel will discuss how the tenets of improvisation create successful teams during change and disruption. Joel has spent the past 30 years performing and teaching the lessons of improvisation. This interactive, engaging and hilarious session will focus on staying in the game; facing fear; building trust, and asking the important question, “How do I help the people around me be successful?” Joel will also bring his famous TA DA energy as he discusses the importance of opportunity, positive support, and active listening in collaboration. Yes, you will have fun and laugh during this session. You will also learn how to collaborate more successfully as a team, and navigate change. Are you ready for the TA DA?

This session will focus on:

1. Creating opportunity and positive support for your team.

2. Making the choice to “be in the moment.”

3. How to Stay in the Game when faced with challenges, change and disruption.

4. Thrive during change by making the choice to be prepared and open and flexible.

5. Fueling your passion and reducing stress.

How do your employees and managers embrace the Spirit of TA DA? We all must take ownership of our work environment and create a foundation of opportunity and positive support. We can choose to be patient, supportive, and more flexible to change. We can choose to have fun in the workplace and still be productive. Joel teaches us just how easy it is to make these choices. In The Spirit of TA DA, Joel shares his experience and insight on creativity, communication, teamwork, passion, and fun. With wit, a sharp observational eye, and playful irreverence, he discusses the choices we all encounter in our careers. We each have the ability to take initiative and make the right choice to live a more creative, passionate, effective, and productive life. He connects to his audience with humor that has them laughing so uncontrollably that their mascara runs, their cheeks hurt, and their bellies ache. And he doesn’t do it alone. Volunteers from the audience join him on stage and play an integral role in an improvisation game in front of hundreds or thousands of people—something the audience members have never done. He expects nothing less than their success. He expects the volunteers to focus and work together as a team; communicate effectively; positively support each other; and take responsibility. Joel makes his audience laugh so hard that they forget about the corporate nonsense of conference calls, “strategic deliverables,” PowerPoint presentations with upside-down triangles, or “paradigm shifts in a cross-functional organization.” Yes, Joel will make you laugh, but he’ll also make you think. This presentation delivers a combination of inspiration, essential business knowledge, and significant ideas to help audience members reconnect with their own passion, creativity, and success.

Seven Lessons Learned:

1. Learn to celebrate work and create a positive environment.

2. Learn to improve teamwork and help all partners find success.

3. Learn the three keys to leading change: be prepared; be focused; be open and flexible.

4. Learn the key to success: staying in the game and keeping your passion.

5. Learn to promote ownership and accountability.

6. Learn to encourage innovation by creating opportunity.

7. Learn to enhance communication.

Change and disruption are constant. Your teams must navigate the chaos and disruption to find success. Too often, we become stressed, frustrated and impatient. Improvisation is finding success during that constant change, chaos and disruption. How do managers continue to motivate and energize employees during difficult times? Managers must help employees stay in the game; work in the moment; and take ownership of their happiness. Joel leads the audience through a series of exercises that demonstrates how easy it is to continue working creatively, effectively and productively while dealing with change. Improvisation teaches us to embrace change. Joel will focus on the key choices that improvisation teaches us: be prepared for change; be open and flexible to change; be present and in the moment with change. In improvisation, there is not script, no plan and no rehearsal. Joel focuses on the famous TA DA spirit of creating positive support and opportunity during change. Just as important, managers must allow employees to create ownership. Ownership and responsibility will allow the employee to care. And once the employee starts to care, the next step is passion. Change happens. We can either be open and flexible to it or let it steamroll us. Most change is completely out of our control. We only control how we react to change. We choose our attitude. We choose to stay in the game. We chose to be positive and supportive.

The session will focus on:

1. Embracing change and finding success.

2. Creating opportunity to lead change.

3. Being open and flexible to change; being prepared for change; being in the moment during change.

4. Making the right choices to be an effective leader during change

5. Asking the most important question of a leader: How do I help the people around me be successful?

Sometimes we just need to laugh, recharge and refuel. Joel’s session will bring the energy and fun. And hopefully, he will make you laugh.

Joel Is a national speaker, author, workplace expert, emcee, humorist and improvisational comedian. He has presented more than 2,000 keynotes to companies, organizations and associations. Thousands of audience members have joined him on stage to improvise, create and collaborate. The volunteers faced their fear, dealt with change, and found success.

During this virtual program, he will share the secrets that improvisation has taught him. We will explore dealing with change; facing your fears; creating opportunity and positive support for your team; staying in the game; being in the moment; and successful collaboration.

He focuses on the simple choices to increase passion, reduce stress, and overcome the challenges of change.

He also just wants you to laugh. Yes, we are virtual. We still need to laugh, connect, and have fun with our peers, friends and colleagues. Joel promises this will probably be the greatest virtual event you have ever attended or the most recent.

Joel uses a unique blend of improvisational and traditional comedy for his event entertainment. His comedy is clean, relevant, interactive, and suitable for any corporate audience. Joel uses the same dynamic energy and audience interaction for his entertainment performances as for his keynotes. Joel can also customize his presentation to include custom themes, key ideas, or specific products and personnel. His entertainment is ideal as a quick energy burst in between conference sessions, or after dinner to reinforce the key messages of the day.

Joel Zeff: Keynote Emcee

Not just an emcee, but a KEYNOTE EMCEE. More clients are asking me to use my humor, improvisation skills, and entertaining games as an emcee for award programs and general sessions. Think of me as a Keynote Emcee. As an emcee, I use my message and improvisation exercises as mini-keynotes. Think of it as splitting up a powerful keynote into small modules spread out during the event. Some of the modules can be short (5 minutes) or a little longer (10+ minutes). Of course, there are going to be times where I don’t present a game and just move the event forward as a traditional emcee. Each module includes some short message, but nothing too extensive.

I bring to my clients a different perspective on the emcee experience. Using my messages and improvisation exercises, I can deliver more in the same amount of time. I believe the emcee can engage, entertain, motivate, inspire and deliver powerful messages. So, the ROI increases tremendously. Yes, I do all of the typical emcee duties. And frankly, that is quite easy. I bring more. The ability to add message, engage the audience with interactive experiences, and partner with the client and use my meeting expertise (2,500+ events) to create a memorable event. Everything I do is based on my foundation tools of humor and improvisation. I believe in the power of fun. To me, the improvisation games are the perfect form of comedic entertainment for a corporate environment. Comedy is a shared experience. I do not rely on stand-up comedy bits that may or may not work. The improvisation games are successful 100% of the time because the humor is based on three levels: the uniqueness of the game; watching your peers play the game; and my ability and interaction with the audience and volunteers. For awards presentations, there are two goals: recognize and reward the award recipients and entertain/motivate the rest of the audience. During award programs, my humor comes from the moment, audience, surroundings, and everything that is happening. I customize each emcee award experience with the client. Some clients want me to do everything. Others want me to share duties with the CEO. I work with clients to determine how best to use my skills. My job is to do the heavy lifting and create a fun, energetic and memorable awards evening.