by
Patricia Fripp, CSP, CPAE
If you want people to be creative, innovative, and flexible,
it helps to make your meetings fun. Here are three examples.
A QUIZ SHOW - Before I spoke at a small meeting for USA
Today, the organizers conducted a "quiz show." This
was a great icebreaker and also served to educate their
employees, using questions like: "Who writes the editorial
column on page 26?" "What is our distribution in Cleveland?"
"What was the headline on the Life Section last Tuesday?"
Small prizes like USA Today pens and note pads were awarded.
This got the audience laughing while learning (and had them
fully warmed up when I came on).
THE PRIORITIES GAME - Another time I was speaking at Levi
Strauss. There were six tables, each with eight salespeople.
Each table received copies of the same thirteen examples
of typical paperwork that crosses a salesperson's desk each
day. They then debated the priority for handling them. This
was a great way to find out how the salespeople thought
and for management to teach them priorities. I was as amazed
as management was at how many different opinions there were
on handling the same thirteen items.
"OSCARS"
- A Pacific Bell meeting was held around the time of the
Academy Awards. The creative meeting planner set up an awards
ceremony and asked the managers to wear formal evening dress.
This sounded so creative to me that, even though my speech
was later in the day, I wanted to be part of it (at no extra
cost to the client). "Oscars" were given out in categories
like customer service, sales, and money-making ideas. Wearing
an evening gown, I sashayed across the stage to deliver
the envelopes containing the names of the winners. As the
nominees in each category were announced, a giant video
screen showed their photos. The first two were always famous
movie stars, the third an employee. Would you believe it?
Pacific Bell employees beat out the movie stars every time!
Everyone who accepted an Academy Award had to give a short
speech. It was innovative, memorable, and fun. This gave
me the idea for my fifteenth speech for the Continental
Breakfast Club (CBC). The year before, my talk had been
"Wonder Woman: A Mythical Character or State of Mind?" which
I delivered wearing my Wonder Woman costume.
One of my more creative clients, Dan Maddux, Executive Director
of the American Payroll Association, heard about my Wonder
Woman performance and booked me to do a similar presentation
at his next conference, called "Are You a Wonder Woman or
a Superman in Payroll?"
For Year Fifteen, a few weeks after the Academy Awards,
my speech was called "Oscars Come to CBC: My Love Affair
with the Movies and Life Lessons From Movie Stars and Hollywood."
Starting with my youthful fascination with stars, then coming
to America and actually meeting real movie stars, I went
on to tell about the three valuable lessons I had learned:
A model for business, the importance of costume, and the
importance of collaboration.
Many people were involved in the program and plenty of notice
was given about the theme, so 70 percent of the audience
of 120 came in evening clothes. The walls were decorated
with movie posters, Oscar-type music was played, and the
tables with actual strips of film curving around gold comedy
and tragedy masks. There was a red carpet up to an entrance,
and, as the tuxedo-clad recording engineer announced each
arriving "celebrity" (portrayed by a member), we told inside
jokes about them: Ladies and Gentlemen, our next celebrity
is so-and-so, the genius who thought up the title for the
film Titanic." An Oscar-type lifetime achievement award
was presented to me, and my subsequent talk took the form
of an acceptance speech. I had made notes of expressions
and situations during the actual Oscar telecast and put
them into our script.
This meeting has gone down in history as one of the Continental
Breakfast Club's most successful events. (An English gentleman,
part of my online community and on vacation in the U.S.,
traveled two hours to be there for my 7:00 AM presentation.
He'd read about my Wonder Woman routine and wanted to see
how I would top it.)
I sent Dan Maddux a tape of this event, and he eagerly hired
me to create a similar "Oscars" for the American Payroll
Association. Here's a sample of the script we used.
ANNOUNCER: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to
the 7 1/2th Annual Academy Awards! The Dorothy Chandler
Pavilion is buzzing with the sounds of Hollywood. The crowd
is getting excited. Limos are three deep outside, and the
celebrities are beginning to arrive.
Our first celebrity, famed producer Gary Butler, nominated
for this year's comedy sensation, "Absolutely Digging Payroll."
And here comes three-time nominated actress Maureen Reed,
up this year for Best Actress in her starring role as Rebecca
in "Saving Sunny Brook's Farm Through a New Payroll System
Installation."
First-time nominee Carol Franket, for her roll as Dolly
the Payroll Manager who clones herself to accomplish and
80-hour work weed in this year's sleeper, "Nine to One."
Susan Darring, famed B-movie actress and game show hostess,
who is making her comeback as Payroll Hughie's Momma in
this year's blockbuster, "It's All in A Day's Pay."
And the winner is...
WINNER: The Brits really cleaned up at the Oscars this year,
didn't they? And this afternoon we are going to honor yet
another one of merry old England's superstars, Good Queen
Fripp.
It has just been announced that Steven Spielberg is optioning
her bestselling book, "Get What You Want," and Julia Roberts
has tentatively accepted the role of Fripp. You can see
that Fripp is causing the same excitement in Hollywood that
she's generated here with the APA for the past three years.
It is my honor today to present Patricia Fripp with the
APA Oscar for Lifetime Achievement. Ladies and gentlemen,
put your hands together for Patricia Fripp!
As you can see, topping yourself year after year may not
be easy, but it's a real challenge and always exciting and
fun.
(1025 words)
Patricia
Fripp, CSP, CPAE is a San Francisco-based executive speech
coach, sales trainer, and award-winning professional speaker
on Change, Customer Service, Promoting Business, and Communication
Skills. She is the author of Get What You Want!, Make
It, So You Don't Have to Fake It!, and Past-President
of the National Speakers Association. She can be reached
at: PFripp@Fripp.com, 1-800 634-3035, http://www.fripp.com
We
offer this article on a nonexclusive basis. You may reprint
or repost this material as long as Patricia Fripp's name
and contact information is included. PFripp@Fripp.com, 1-800
634-3035, http://www.fripp.com
