Incentive - August 2008 - (Page 40) Show Them The Funny Bill Herz of Magicorp: At meetings he has made cars magically appear (to give away to the top producer); made Bengal tigers appear, to demonstrate a company’s strength; turned the retiring CEO into the new CEO; and made money appear, to illustrate what the new product will do for salespeople’s commissions. “I haven’t been stumped yet,” Herz says, noting that most of the tricks and illusions are much smaller in scale. His sessions range from a 50-minute keynote to emceeing meetings and awards banquets. The client has all of the input on the message they want communicated. “People remember more when they’re amazed than when they’re just amused,” he says. Magicorp: (203) 698-2460 magicorp@optonline.net The Wa t e r c o o l e r s : This New York–based group appears in theaters nationwide and also delivers songs and sketch comedy to corporate, association and convention audiences. Besides their core material parodying common workplace issues (e.g. an ode to the BlackBerry), they can add in customized 10minute shows. “A major specialty retailer was preparing managers for the holidays,” says Watercoolers Executive Producer and Cofounder Sally Allen, a former management consultant. “We covered the pressure, long days, crazy acronyms and different types of customers, and got two standing ovations.” She adds: “Employees feel understood and more connected to the company and each other.” After a customized corporate awards show one attendee told them, “I’m going to win, so next year you can write a song about me.” The Watercoolers: (877) 266-5375 www.seethewatercoolers.com M ore and more meeting and incentive planners are looking for laughs when putting together sales meetings, awards ceremonies and other corporate events. Options go far beyond an afterdinner speaker: Kevin Carroll: (203) 226-6493 www.kevincarrollcomedy.com notes on how to collaborate more effectively. “People are always looking for something different to jazz up their meetings. I poke a little good-hearted fun at them, and they love it. Rather than hiring a celebrity, they become the celebrities.” The procedure can take anywhere from several months to just weeks. Carroll meets with management to get the meeting theme, key messages, and pictures, names, titles, strengths and tidbits about the attendees— their hobbies, pets, special skills or attributes. Selecting the cloning candidates is a joint process with management; he encourages clients to include senior management in the fun, both to build morale and to show that they have a sense of humor. A typical roast can run between $7,500 and $10,000; it’s well worth it, judging by the short videos and rave reviews at his Web site, www.kevincarrollcomedy.com. Although the bulk of his business is from interactive training programs for Fortune 500 companies (clients include Merrill Lynch, Microsoft, Unilever and Purdue Pharma), the “roasts” help the client release energy and bring the whole team together through laughter. Comedy at Work Carroll has now begun incorporating his training expertise to teach executives to deliver the roasts themselves, using his prepared slides and script. Teaching people to do the roast is a can’t fail proposition. “Executives who love the limelight and are comfortable with presenting love it, and executives who are less than comfortable with the limelight can carry it off. In fact, using the fully prepared script with a deadpan delivery makes the roast even funnier for the audience. It provides speakers with a bonding experience with their teams and humanizes them, especially when they are part of the cloning. “All it takes is a little coaching, not rushing the material and staying Corporate magician and comedian Josh Beckerman: A specialist in “close-up magic” with comedy, Beckerman mingles with attendees at post-meeting cocktail receptions and holiday parties, inviting even CEOs to “pick a card, any card.” (One CEO was invited to use his cell phone to call Beckerman’s father, who correctly identified the card). “Close-up magic is a real icebreaker because the audience is part of the act,” Beckerman says. Josh Beckerman: (516) 527-6659 www.joshbeckerman.com deadpan,” Carroll says. Carroll’s comedy expertise informs his approach to corporate training as well. The bedrock of his work are his interactive training programs, based on his books Breakthrough Thinking, Life’s a Boomerang! and Think Outside Your Block. “I use comedy to teach attendees to stay focused on their subjects and present them in a memorable way, by asking them to prepare a talk about an off-the-wall subject,” he says. “For instance, at Home Depot I’ll ask people to talk about paint drying—that forces them to look outside the box while staying on topic. Incorporating humor, comedy and improv engages them and makes the lesson stick in a much more memorable way…and gives attendees something to laugh about together when the session is over.” The Breakthrough Thinking program teaches people how to come up with new solutions to old problems (such as finding new markets, coming up with new products, improving processes); often Carroll’s clients combine a training session with a roast. “After the training portion of the schedule, the roasts help my clients’ employees release energy and bring the whole team together through laughter,” he says. In Make Your Point!, Carroll adds, “I tell the reader that they need to work humor into their presentations in order to make their message more motivating and more memorable.” You don’t have to start your next conversation with your CEO by saying, “So a nun and a rabbi walk into a bar,” but look for ways to add a little levity when you’re speaking to others. People who have a good sense of humor and can laugh at themselves are more interesting to listen to and are more persuasive. One client kicked off a conference by saying, “Here are the top ten reasons we decided to hold this year’s meeting in New Mexico during the summer.” s Send comments to feedback@incentivemag.com 40 | Incentive | August 2008 | incentivemag.com http://www.kevincarrollcomedy.com http://www.kevincarrollcomedy.com http://www.seethewatercoolers.com http://www.joshbeckerman.com http://incentivemag.com
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.