Ross Shafer

Ross Shafer Speaking Topics

• HOW TO BUILD A RELEVANT CULTURE IN 2024

  In this wildly entertaining keynote your attendees will benefit from these takeaways:

  Act with Speed

  Staying innovative is an admirable goal; but one that requires diligence because “relevance"" is an ever-evolving target. An exciting culture for your team is one that is nimble enough not to wait for perfection.  Launching new ideas, new services, and new products (before it’s too late) is invigorating for your culture.

  Don't just act like experts. Prove it.

  Relevant leaders who earn the highest level of confidence deliver World-Class expertise through their own successes and temporary failures. That kind of transparency inspires your team members to exceed their goals by curating collaboration and celebration with each other. Ross shares how to become World-Class.

  Learn what Matters to Your Teams

  Your people want to know they matter to you. Extreme curiosity shows your people you honor frequent encouragement. Team members want to know you acknowledge their contribution to the organization.  People feel more engaged when the organization strives for an ‘emotionally connected’ brand.

  Adapt (today) to your Customer's Shifting Expectations

  The buried treasure, for sustainable growth, is how well  you respond to your customer’s newest expectations. The WOW vs POW discipline does that by eliminating friction from every process and transaction. It prevents surprise gut-punches, reckless disappointment, and inexcusable blunders.

• ARE YOUR CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS BEING IGNORED?

  Wowing the Customer/Client/Member Doesn't Work Anymore

  Our research shows that customer loyalty scores go up by eliminating the POW MOMENTS from every transaction. (POWS are the gut punches the customer experiences when we fail or disappoint them). All the work we invested to create WOWS can be detailed by a single POW.

  Customers are on a Survival Mission (this can be either a Keynote or a separate Breakout Session)

  As the author of (14) Human Resource films and (4) books on the Customer Experience, Ross’s personal case studies will take you inside the organizations that succeeded, those that failed, and why either outcome happened.

  Final Moments Trigger the Stickiest Loyalty

  It’s not your product or service. It’s not your brand. Loyalty is tied to the emotional story you tell in the last seconds of the transaction. Beware of your follow up evaluations. They can destroy the perfect engagement. Ross will explain how this works.

STAYING UNSHAKABLE

How can we remain innovative, even when our creativity and energy seem exhausted. What you probably don’t know is when Ross was suffering from extreme relationship failures and financial collapse, it was the bouncing back part that drove him to develop the confidence and resilience to succeed beyond his previous heights. Ross has collected fun case studies that demonstrate how to find inspiration; even within chaos.

Serving Others…and Each Other

How we treat one another has changed dramatically since the pandemic. The paradigm has shifted from trying to temporarily over-impress people (WOW) to learning how to consistently eliminate silly errors, correcting missteps, and reducing communication blunders (POWS). Ross will show how organizations like Amazon, Netflix, Uber, and others have changed their constituents’ expectations re: “being well served.”

Culture & Collegiality

These two ideas are emboldened by securing the trust of our friends, communities, and stakeholders. Ross will talk about the collaborative powers of Extreme Curiosity, Instant Rapport, and Understanding (all from the perspective of a Network Talk and Game show host/producer). Profound and Fun.

Transparency – Doing the Right Thing

Besides his own rags to riches story, Ross has some amazing true tales of individuals (from humble backgrounds) who have gone on to influence worldwide leaders with their simple methods. EXAMPLE: Maria Garcia (a hotel maid from Havana, Cuba who became the VP of a software company). Funny and insightful.

Instilling Confidence and Security

Regardless of your job or position, developing World Class Expertise, in any profession, builds confidence in yourself and others. Ross will talk about Bill Nye, The Science Guy (whom he invented), his father, Chuck Shafer, and Dave Hopla – the World’s Greatest Basketball shooter. Funny and insightful, this discussion will assure everyone that greatness is accessible and ensures collaboration, respect, and influence.

AN INTERACTIVE VIRTUAL KEYNOTE

Think about this twist on virtual meetings…

• (Part A) You choose your own meeting Host/Emcee from within your organization.
• (Part B) You decide upon the 4 or 5 specific initiatives you want to be the focus of the session.
• (Part C) Ross studies those initiatives (ahead of time) and gives your “host/emcee” a list of questions to ask Ross.

He will deliver funny stories and enlightening case studies specifically related to achieving your teaching/coaching goals. Your host can also open the questions up to the audience. Ross is very witty on the fly.

CLEAN CORPORATE COMEDY (After dinner entertainment)

Can we just laugh again? Ross Shafer’s material is non-political, non-controversial, and completely HR safe! If you want your attendees to leave your meeting in high spirits and energized, Ross’s style is the perfect blend of animation and approachability. Your attendees will experience his misadventures and his successes…all delivered in his friendly, quick-witted style. Ross has an outrageous life story of selling fireworks on Indian Reservations (Ross is Blackfoot Indian) • to touring the world as a standup comedian • to hosting the hit TV show Match Game on ABC-TV • to speaking to over 3,000 corporate clients. Your audience will not only howl at Ross's jokes & tales…but they'll go home wishing Ross was their next door neighbor.

ROSS IS YOUR ULTIMATE EMCEE As a network talk & game show host, Ross Shafer is frequently asked to be the interactive “traffic cop” for a multi-day convention. He has interviewed world leaders and celebrities and is extremely comfortable hosting an executive roundtable or expert panel. His style is to engage the audience to set the tone of your event, review what they’ve learned, and get everyone excited for what’s coming next. He often likes to present “from the floor” so that he can thread the dialogue throughout your conference for better retention.