“This was by far the best off-site activity kick-off I’ve ever been involved in. We all laughed our heads off and truly got to know new things about each other. 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.”
Aaron Bratrude, TPAM Manager,
Microsoft, WA
“Jolene stood out from the rest speakers 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.
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, Worldwide Director of Technical Training
Hewlett-Packard, CA
“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, WA
“You had them up, interacting with you and each other, and basically relaxed and having fun. I believe 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
Meeting Professionals International, Pacific Northwest Chapter, WA
“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, WA
“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 an incredible 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!”
“Great…highlight of the event.”
Eric Ligman
Senior Manager, Community Engagement, US Small Business
Microsoft, WA
“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
Edge Learning Institute, WA
“Your evaluations show that the audience really loved you! It is such a treat to see you in action. You are sooo… much more than a balloon lady. 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 for games with their students from their experiences with you.”
Cathy Ashmore, Executive Director
Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education, OH
“Our team is responsible for training, advising and engaging over a thousand leaders and associates in our organization. Ironically, we are a tough group to engage in fun activities because we’ve seen and facilitated just about everything. Enter Jolene the Fun Specialist. Jolene’s lively approach to our meeting activities and unwavering enthusiasm had us rolling in the aisles. She is a master at weaving business topics into the excitement so the learning sticks with you!”
Dan Eisenman, Learning & Development
State Farm Insurance Headquarters, WA
“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, WA
“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 off our event.”
Kim Herringford, Director of Human Resources
Sound Credit Union, WA
“Your entertaining, local historian, Miss Seattleite, was exactly what we needed for our conference in Seattle. I wanted our guests to walk away and remember this event as an experience and not just another vendor cocktail schmoozing hour.
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, Spokane
“It was a rush, being the guest of honor. It was like you knew the guests and knew what appealed to them. Many of our friends say that my 50th party was the best birthday party they every attended. Your ability to engage the crowd is amazing; the three hours literally flew by and we didn’t want it to end.”
Frank Leonard, CEO
Key Mechanical, WA
