My department is responsible for the customer training delivered globally to HP customers. This includes curriculum, training materials, infrastructure and all the go to market materials necessary to enable our 100+ countries to effectively meet the needs of their local customers. Given the fact we are a global team located in all geographic regions we spend much time interacting remotely using the latest in virtual collaboration tools. Recently, we had our first face to face meeting to bring the entire team together to build teamwork, celebrate our success and not forget the real people we rely on daily in all those remote virtual meetings. There was some pressure to make this a memorable and worthwhile experience for the team. Because we have only had interactions in our virtual offices, we lacked the water cooler conversations and impromptu office visits that are helpful in learning more about our teammates to drive knowledge sharing and the increased sense of a team. When we have conference calls or email exchanges, they are usually to the point to make efficient use of everyone's time. Thus it is harder to establish personal connections which come more naturally in a physical setting.
I wanted to have the element of “fun” in the team building activities for this meeting as we just ended a very successful year and the team deserved some time to appreciate their achievements and recognize it was a team effort. In searching for a solution, I found Jolene the Fun Specialist. She stood out from the rest with her vibrant, animated marketing. Her willingness to spend time understanding the need, her prompt response and custom video emails gave me the impression that she takes extra effort to personalize and impress her clients with a high level of service. Even though she had great successes with her past clients like the coffee, software, and insurance giants, there was still a level of skepticism on how she would handle my international team. Also, HP does not have a “fun budget” but it does value and invest in its most important asset, its employees and values their productivity and contributions to the company as well as the communities in which they live. So if Jolene's offering can achieve this, then it becomes justifiable at a budgetary perspective. Further discussions with her validated my confidence in her ability to deliver the desired outcome.
Jolene and I reviewed my goals for the meeting. She drafted a program that included my agenda items and integrated activities around them to induce the appropriate cadence. The morning was kicked off with energetic activities to get us mentally and physically primed. This was followed by a get-to-know-you activity, revealing our personal side that was both entertaining and unforgettable. We then transitioned to an activity requiring collaboration and communication. The last activity centered on communication preferences and learning styles. All of the activities were successful in creating a greater more sustainable sense of teaming and of enjoying your colleagues company and perspectives.
I really enjoyed my interactions with Jolene. She was easy to work with and anticipated my needs. To quote one of my team members, “I've never experienced a program like that ever!” It was well worth the travel.” The women members were proud and impressed to see a strong, young female leading with charisma. I received flattering reviews from my team and multiple thank you notes for the non PowerPoint format of the session. Jolene provides a good ROI in my opinion and I will continue to work with her and will be happy to provide referrals to my peers inside and outside the company.
Gerry Nolan, WW Director of Technical Training
HP
"This was by far the best Off-site activity-kick-off I've
ever been involved in. We all laughed our heads off, truly
got to know new things about each other, and watched our
peers work and process things throughout the morning. So
many times I witnessed a new perspective on how a teammate
approached a problem. I liked your use of really simple concepts
that engaged the entire group. Another piece of positive
feedback I'll leave you is that it was great to see your
use and command of technology to deliver immediate results. The
digital camera shots, video, power point and streaming music
were great additions considering your audience."
Aaron Bratrude | Central Region TPAM Manager - SMS&P
| Microsoft
I just wanted to drop you a note and say, "Thank you!" for
the session you put together for my team offsite last week. As
we discussed in our pre-meeting, I wanted kick-off the conference
with high energy since this event was the first time the
national team would physically be in one place together.
The goal was to get to know each other, so we could build
a stronger team and get more out of the rest of the conference. With
your spunk and enthusiasm, you definitely got my team laughing
and working together as promised. Our team had a great time
interacting as well as learning about each other. You
definitely brought out the personalities and interesting
backgrounds of the team. Now I see why you call yourself "the
Fun Specialist."
Here are just a few written quotes from the team that they
sent to me after the event about your session:
"Great idea & perfectly timed to kick off the offsite
in this manner & fun to see everyone loosen up & enjoy
themselves at the same time building relations across the
various teams..."
"I have to admit, I was very skeptical. When you come with
the title "Fun Specialist" you better come with
it! I think Jolene did a great job of mixing in fun and,
more importantly, team building."
"It was fun and provided a good way to introduce ourselves
to the new PCMs."
"This was an awesome highlight to the time spent with everyone.
We really got a chance to know our counterparts and the ways
they think through the activities and exercised she set up.
It was fun and hilarious!"
"very good...highlight of event."
Eric Ligman
Senior Manager, Microsoft US Small Business
Community Engagement
"Jolene, you truly are the Fun Specialist! Thanks so very
much for your high energy and the entertaining and motivational
hour you spent with our facilitators at the Edge Renewal
Conference. People enjoyed you, you put great energy into
it, the activities were meaningful and it was a wonderful
bonding experience for everybody. It was a great change of
pace and a great way to bring people together after lunch.
Again my special thank for your unique, but important contribution
to the success of our conference."
Bob Moawad, Founder/Chairman
Jolene, your Miss Seattleite historian was perfect. The friendly atmosphere created by Miss Seattleite helped our company network easily and build rapport with our clients. The Seattle and the Smith Tower facts and stories were both entertaining and educational.
Even though Miss Seattleite is from the 1900's and comes off formal, she was able to integrate into our hip, cool, techie culture with ease and flare, exceeding our goals and making this a unique and memorable event.
The additional presentation of the “Life Begins at 50 Club” certificate ceremony for our employee's birthday a nice touch and made us look good.
Thanks for providing our company and guests with all of the online pictures to help our clients remember us. I am happy to refer you to other companies.
Michelle Smith, Marketing Director
Cerium
Edge Learning Institute, Washington
"Our evaluations show that the audience really loved you. It was such a treat to see you in action. You are sooo... much more than a "balloon lady" as you were promoted to us in the first place. Your humor is infectious and your approach is very professional. I am impressed how you held an audience of 300 people and got them to play with you. I know our teachers took a great number of ideas from your presentation."
Cathy Ashmore, Executive Director
Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education, Ohio
"When Jolene, with all of her energy, produced active participation from everyone in the room, the momentum she ignited was remarkable. Our 115 people were asked to think about our company theme. From their brainstorm, they created hilarious, action packed, skits, songs, and re-enactments of our theme. Jolene brought our people together with positive energy, absolutely adding to the success or our first annual event with our new team. She is exactly what we needed to pull of our event."
Kim Herringford, Director of Human Resources
Sound Credit Union, Washington
"In this time of tight company budgets, Jolene was worth every penny. She knows how to engage, motivate and organized a room full of type "A" people."
Deborah L. Tom
Communications Manager Microsoft, Washington
"We had tremendous improvement in employee satisfaction-I want to say almost off the charts. At the same time, we've had tremendous increases in productivity within the department.
Wayne Robinson
CFO, Perkins Coie LLP, Washington
"You had them up, interacting with you and each other, and basically relaxed
and having fun. Everyone walked away having enjoyed your
presentation and took away how having fun can co-exist and improve learning
in their meetings."
James Christoforou, President
MPI - Meeting Professionals International, Pacific Northwest Chapter
"I still marvel at how you got all of us at the IAAP meeting acquainted so quickly. When I arrived I only knew one person. After your presentation and set of activities I felt quite comfortable around everyone."
Diana Haggen, Library Services
Bellevue Community College , Washington
"Your lighthearted whimsical talents look so easy - and I am quite sure they are not! You are like a
magician."
Justice Faith Ireland , Washington State Supreme Court Justice, Washington
