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About Greg
Chicago Magazine calls Greg Schwem “America’s favorite corporate funnyman.” The Chicago Tribune proclaimed Greg “king of the hill” in the growing world of corporate comedy. Indeed, Greg’s client list includes such corporate heavyweights as McDonald’s, Microsoft, Motorola, IBM, Verizon Wireless, United Airlines and Cisco Systems. If your company or association wants to laugh at today’s fast-paced business world, look no further than Greg Schwem and “Comedy With a Byte.”
A graduate of Northwestern University’s prestigious Medill School of Journalism, Greg never envisioned a career in comedy. Instead, he settled in Florida, becoming an award-winning reporter for NBC-owned WPTV in West Palm Beach. But the comedy bug bit Greg hard and he returned to his hometown of Chicago, where he honed his act in clubs. When he began inserting material about business and technology into his nightclub act, audience members approached him and said, “you really should come down to my office and tell those jokes.” Behold! Comedy With a Byte was born.
Greg’s show provides a hilarious look at today’s corporate environment and the latest tools used to conduct business. What sets Greg apart from other corporate comedians is his ability – and willingness – to customize material for his audience. When Greg hits the stage he already has perused the company’s Internet site, combed the internal message boards and even sifted through numerous PowerPoint presentations. “There is no such thing as too much information,” Greg says. “I know corporate audiences like to laugh at themselves so the more ammunition I get, the funnier it will be. Just don’t give me a 10-K report. There is NOTHING funny about that.”
Greg’s preparation always includes a conference call with company executives and, in some cases, an onsite visit. The personal touch strikes a chord with clients. “The fact that you came up to our facility beforehand to get a feel for our culture and how we operated proved to be very beneficial, “ said Skyline Display Sales VP Bill Dierberger. “I have never seen some of our corporate folks laugh as hard as they did.”
After a
performance at the MultiFamily Educational Conference, Marketing Director R.
Leigh Curry said, “My
sides actually hurt by the end of your performance. Based on the
feedback I received from
other attendees in the audience, it was a mutual feeling.”
Besides customized
material, Greg entertains audiences with stories about tedious business
meetings, Blackberry addiction, “frequently” asked questions and his
embarrassing experience with the American Girl Doll company.
Today Greg performs close to 100 corporate dates a year. In addition to corporate stand-up comedy, Greg emcees multi-day events and writes custom videos for clients. Back home Greg coaches softball for daughter Natalie, 11, and cleans up after daughter Amy, six. In his precious spare time, he enjoys tennis, golf and any music from the Counting Crows, Coldplay and Death Cab for Cutie.
Speech
Topics
Programs include:
Comedy With a Byte
Laughter Never Needs an Upgrade
Eight Simple Rules of Survival
Need
someone to fire up your workforce when times are tough? Greg Schwem believes
a good motivational speech doesn't include "rah rah" catchphrases or self
help CDs that can be purchased after the presentation. Greg motivates
through humor. His hilarious program "Eight Simple Rules of Survival"
encourages employees to look inside themselves and see how they can perform
more efficiently. Along the way Greg tackles the pros and cons of social
networking sites, why using photos to tout your product can backfire and why
Costco is much better at customer service than Sam's Club. (Hint: It has
something to do with death).
Full of hilarious examples from real company
websites, this multi-media presentation will have employees laughing even in
the most challenging economic times. And Greg won't make them hold hands,
recite slogans or fall backwards into each other's arms.
Testimonials
Reviews
"The
feedback I received from the entire group was that you were one of the best
comedians that they have ever seen. Not only did you keep them in stitches
for over an hour, you brilliantly customized the program to identify with
their industry and with our company. It was obvious that you prepared for
the performance and did your homework. Overall, it was a five star
performance and I would recommend you to anyone."
Butch
Bauscher, Integrated Distribution Solutions
"I
appreciate the time you took to customize your comments about our industry
and your audience participation segment was extremely well done. In this
complex world of telecommunications you had our members laughing at
themselves and really enjoying our convention."
Doug
Dougherty, Illinois Telecommunications Association
"The
promotional segment of the BellSouth Sales Kickoff for Florida was
considered a complete success by all involved. A substantial portion of this
accomplishment was due to your unsurpassed creativity. You not only composed
a script for the BellSouth presentation that showed great insight regarding
the needs and expectations of our team, but your performance left the
audience in stitches. It was absolutely hilarious!"
Janet
Craft, BellSouth Business Systems
I just
wanted to let you know how much we appreciated having you at our event! In
tallying our evaluations for the event, your session received some of the
highest praise for the event – it seems that people really appreciated any
opportunity to relax a little and laugh at us and themselves, which was
great, and exactly what we were looking for. So, thanks again, you were
hilarious!
Heather
Smoot, Logility
I really
enjoyed the show you did for us yesterday, and more importantly, the large
amount of work you obviously did to research our company and "personalize"
the show. If you ever need an endorsement from a happy customer, please feel
free to give them my contact info.
Tom Van
Laan, PE, President/CEO
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