The Zeff effect : A national humorist raised the roof at a Bentonville manufacturer’s annual meeting.
Posted on Friday, January 4, 2008
BENTONVILLE - There were plenty of smiling faces among the crowd of more than 200 employees at Bentonville-based Outdoor Cap, one of the largest manufacturers of headwear in the United States.
Tuesday marked the annual kickoff meeting for the manufacturer. The company has produced several million caps through its many licenses, which include the likes of major league baseball, minor league baseball, General Motors, Yamaha, Ducks Unlimited, Gore-Tex, Teva, Remington Arms, the Indy Motor Speedway and most major colleges and universities.
It was a record year for the company, and each employee was handed a bonus check as a reward.
But the bonus checks weren't the only reason employees were up in spirits on Thursday. For many, the highlight was watching company executives bounce around on stage like a colony of penguins.
Outdoor Cap hired Joel Zeff, a national speaker and humorist, to raise the roof at the meeting. And that's exactly what he did.
Zeff has stood before more than 1, 000 companies, ranging from Wal-Mart, Clear Channel and Sonic Restaurants to Microsoft, Dell and Marriott Hotels, but Thursday was the first time he delivered his interactive performance in a warehouse that was, quite honestly, a couple of degrees above freezing. The temperature did nothing to distract attention from the main stage, however, as employees absorbed Zeff's humorous messages about striking a work / life balance, getting along with difficult co-workers and renewing passion for a job, without even knowing there was a message to be had.
"It was hilarious the way he worked ethics and a real message into all of that," Outdoor Cap employee Justin Burton said. "It was a lot of fun. There wasn't anyone here who could stop laughing."
That's Zeff's message every time he steps on stage, whether it's in a big-time corporate auditorium or a chilly warehouse.
"I use fun and humor as my tool to create that energy that I'm trying to get injected into the workplace," Zeff said. "Use humor and get people into it, and they're going to retain the message. Look at what it did. By the end, everyone was having fun. They were being creative and supportive. They were having fun, but this is the way it can be every day at work."
Zeff's message was of opportunity and support, something he claims companies and co-workers rarely give enough of. It was about focusing on making others better, rather than on yourself. It was about managing stress, being creative and remaining in the moment.
Rather than saying that, Zeff set up a series of interactive games and improvisation skits. Employees were moving each other like puppets, creating sound effects to go along with co-workers' movements. And of course, executives attempted to communicate various words to each other without using their voices. Try describing - when mute - a penguin, a lion tamer and a space ship in outer space.
It was going to take something special to generate even larger smiles than 200 bonus checks could, but Zeff got it done.
"It's amazing what happens when you reach out and engage people," he said.
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