Joel Zeff
CVP

Joel Zeff

TX, US
Hilarious interactive speaker and emcee (virtual and in person) that inspires, engages, and energizes your audience with humor. His clients hire him again. Your team will give him a standing ovation.
certified virtual presenter

Joel Zeff creates energy. He is a dynamic speaker, improvisational humorist and author. His interactive in person performances invite members of the audience to participate in hilarious improvisational exercises that illustrate Joel's central message: That organizations and individuals should CELEBRATE every day successes to increase collaboration, productivity, passion and innovation. His virtual presentations will also engage your audience with interactive surprises and present his powerful messages with humor, fun and energy.

Since 1997, Joel has inspired audiences from Wells Fargo to Samsung to KPMG and even the IRS. Yes, the IRS. Joel is a masterful public speaker and a nationally renowned motivator, lifelong humorist and improvisational actor.

His career is a search for fun and passion. He quickly realized the importance of both at his first jobs delivering the hometown newspaper and cleaning up trash at a suburban movie theater.

He started his professional career as a newspaper journalist and public relations executive. In 1994, Joel went out on his own as corporate communications specialist. He helped clients with their employee communications, media relations, strategy and customer marketing. Throughout the consulting process, Joel realized his clients – many of them high-level technology and telecommunications firms – needed more than marketing and public relations strategy. Many of his clients' employees were starving for fun, passion and new perspective on finding success.

At the time, Joel was having fun on the weekends as a comedian. Through friends, he discovered improvisational comedy. One of his clients (a large technology company) knew Joel performed comedy on the weekend. The client asked him to play some improvisational games before dinner for a group of high level executives. He brought a fellow comedian and a corporate speaking career was born.

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." Make the Right Choice is conversational, funny, and very informative. 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 and success.

As discussed in his book, Make the Right Choice, Joel believes that we all encounter choices in our careers. We always have the opportunity to make the right choice to live a more creative, passionate, and productive life. How do you "make the right choice"? You can choose to provide opportunity. You can choose to provide positive support. And along the way, you can choose to have fun. It's really that simple. Joel teaches us just how easy it is to make these choices.

When he is not speaking, Joel expresses his creativity as an actor, writer and comedian. He started performing professionally in 1992. In Dallas, he was co-host of The Movie Zone on UPN 21. He has appeared in dozens of commercials for numerous clients, including the Dallas Cowboys, Harrah's Casino, Mydiscountbroker.com, Time Warner Cable, Pizza Hut, McDonald's, Eagle Country Markets, and Extraco Bank. He has appeared in hundreds of corporate videos and has appeared on shows from CNBC's The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch to the Fox Network's Fox and Friends Weekend. His articles have been featured in The Dallas Morning News, The Houston Chronicle, The Kansas City Star, among many other mainstream media outlets.

Joel 's Virtual Presenter Certificate

Joel Zeff creates energy. He is a dynamic speaker, improvisational humorist and author. His interactive in person performances invite members of the audience to participate in hilarious improvisational exercises that illustrate Joel's central message: That organizations and individuals should CELEBRATE every day successes to increase collaboration, productivity, passion and innovation. His virtual presentations will also engage your audience with interactive surprises and present his powerful messages with humor, fun and energy.

Since 1997, Joel has inspired audiences from Wells Fargo to Samsung to KPMG and even the IRS. Yes, the IRS. Joel is a masterful public speaker and a nationally renowned motivator, lifelong humorist and improvisational actor.

His career is a search for fun and passion. He quickly realized the importance of both at his first jobs delivering the hometown newspaper and cleaning up trash at a suburban movie theater.

He started his professional career as a newspaper journalist and public relations executive. In 1994, Joel went out on his own as corporate communications specialist. He helped clients with their employee communications, media relations, strategy and customer marketing. Throughout the consulting process, Joel realized his clients – many of them high-level technology and telecommunications firms – needed more than marketing and public relations strategy. Many of his clients' employees were starving for fun, passion and new perspective on finding success.

At the time, Joel was having fun on the weekends as a comedian. Through friends, he discovered improvisational comedy. One of his clients (a large technology company) knew Joel performed comedy on the weekend. The client asked him to play some improvisational games before dinner for a group of high level executives. He brought a fellow comedian and a corporate speaking career was born.

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." Make the Right Choice is conversational, funny, and very informative. 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 and success.

As discussed in his book, Make the Right Choice, Joel believes that we all encounter choices in our careers. We always have the opportunity to make the right choice to live a more creative, passionate, and productive life. How do you "make the right choice"? You can choose to provide opportunity. You can choose to provide positive support. And along the way, you can choose to have fun. It's really that simple. Joel teaches us just how easy it is to make these choices.

When he is not speaking, Joel expresses his creativity as an actor, writer and comedian. He started performing professionally in 1992. In Dallas, he was co-host of The Movie Zone on UPN 21. He has appeared in dozens of commercials for numerous clients, including the Dallas Cowboys, Harrah's Casino, Mydiscountbroker.com, Time Warner Cable, Pizza Hut, McDonald's, Eagle Country Markets, and Extraco Bank. He has appeared in hundreds of corporate videos and has appeared on shows from CNBC's The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch to the Fox Network's Fox and Friends Weekend. His articles have been featured in The Dallas Morning News, The Houston Chronicle, The Kansas City Star, among many other mainstream media outlets.

Joel 's Virtual Presenter Certificate

The TA DA of Teamwork: Succeeding During Change and Disruption

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...

ChangeTeamwork / TeambuildingEntertainment-basedAudience ActivityInspirational / Life-changingHumorous / Funny

The TA DA of Change: Leading Teams during Change with Passion and Success

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...

ChangeLeadershipTeamwork / TeambuildingEntertainment-basedAudience ActivityEducational / InformativeHumorous / FunnyCommunication

The Spirit of TA DA: Watch What Happens When Work Becomes Play

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,...

ChangeLeadershipTeamwork / TeambuildingEntertainment-basedAudience ActivityEducational / InformativeHumorous / FunnyCommunication

THE SPIRIT OF TA-DA: A Virtual Experience of Fun, Energy, and Passion

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...

Teamwork / TeambuildingEntertainment-basedAudience ActivityEducational / InformativeInspirational / Life-changingHumorous / Funny

Make the Right Choice: Taking Ownership and Responsibility for your Happiness and Success

In Make the Right Choice, 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.

How do your employees and managers Make the Right Choice? We all must take ownership...

Entertainment-basedAudience ActivityEducational / InformativeHumorous / Funny

Make the Right Choice: Leading Teams during Change with Passion and Success

It's hard to have fun and stay passionate at work during stressful times. Your employees build stress after each media report about economic challenges. Business today means surviving and thriving during a merger, layoff or the all encompassing "restructuring." 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...

ChangeEntertainment-basedAudience ActivityEducational / InformativeHumorous / Funny

GENERAL SESSION EMCEE/AWARDS EMCEE/EVENT ENTERTAINMENT


Awards Emcee


For awards presentations, there are two goals: recognize and reward the award recipients and entertain/motivate the rest of the audience. As the emcee, I create energy, set the tone and become the ultimate hype man for the winners, sponsors, and attendees. 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....

Entertainment-basedAudience ActivityEducational / InformativeHumorous / Funny
Joel 's Virtual Presenter Certificate