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If you thought all of America’s best commandos were clearing the caves of Afghanistan think again. We discovered two real-life commandos that are busy clearing boredom from corporate Christmas parties of America. That’s right, a U.S.Army Ranger and a retired Green Beret group commander, have made it their mission to make your corporation’s year-end event a “Total Victory”! They call themselves the Christmas Commandos. They will add spirit, enthusiasm—and a big dose of Christmas cheer and humor—that will make your corporate Christmas party one that employees will talk about in the year to come.
At a time when most American corporations are nursing their wounds, counting their losses, and firing their accounting companies, a comic-laced, in-your-face, motivational year-end event has never been more welcome. Long ago, legendary Bob Hope used to take his USO variety show to soldiers abroad to raise the their morale. The Christmas Commandos bring their own brand of variety entertainment and morale-raising to the corporate armies of America. With army cadence singing, that involves the audience, dance routines, hilarious comedy sketches, and surprises galore, the Christmas Commandos expertly camouflage a heart-warming and motivating year-end message that makes their engaging presentation so much more than just entertainment. Their mission is not only to celebrate the hard-fought business battles of the past year, but to rally the troops for the missions in the year ahead.
Many companies want to do something a little different and break the mold by introducing a fun and relaxed atmosphere to their Christmas party and other events. Event planners are realizing that events have not only become an important PR exercise to promote the company itself, but also vital for in-house relationships and staff incentives. Those companies are now booking entertaining training like the Christmas Commandos.
“Christmas is the perfect time for companies to give something back to employees as most organizations today realize that it's their people who make the difference to the company and not their products. Making employees feel appreciated is more important than ever!” - AP the Irish Sentinel
In the genre of giving back with purpose and creativity, the Christmas Commandos’ powerful production hits the target like a guided missile. Their high-energy motivational message is seasonally themed and strategically designed to deliver a humor-filled payload that will impact both head and heart. The unique variety show format will beguile and charm audiences with characters from Seuss books, movies, and real life—which in turn deliver a seasonal message that’s sure to capture every heart in the audience.
The Christmas Commando performance can include everything from appearances of squads of active uniformed commandos, improv skits, and the 6’3 half of the duo painted bright green doing a first-person rendition of the classic Grinch story. Audiences will also find themselves highly involved as they become enlisted to participate in skits or to sing U.S. Army Ranger Cadence with the Christmas Commandos.
“Audiences will not soon forget this presentation,” says Art Coombs, who has had previous experience with Commandos. “The Commandos and their presentation have a lasting impact. Where most corporate year-end events are quickly forgotten, these guys and their message will stay with your people well into the new year.”
Besides inspiring and motivating your team of employees, the Christmas Commandos have designed another event called “Grinch Giving” where corporations can send the Grinch character into the community as their corporate ambassador of good will—a great PR move!
Keith Barr, President of Echopass Corporation says, "I know people have hired the Grinch to perform at hospitals, armed forces units, and local schools, but we hired the Grinch as a way to show appreciation and give special recognition to our own people and their families. We set up a special family day where spouses and children came into the company so the entire family could share the experience and make memories together. Our people still talk about that event and how much their families appreciated them working for a company with that type of mindset."
Who are the Christmas Commandos? Kirk Weisler and Don Spradling both make their livings as professional speakers and consultants. Don is a senior consultant for the Franklin Covey organization and Kirk Weisler is most well known as the Chief Morale Officer of the customer relationship management industry. While both have very impressive histories as platform presenters, their military background is even more impressive. There combined bio, which can be found on the Christmas Commandos website (www.teamdynamics.com/cc), reads like a who's who of the Special Operations community, listing such accomplishments as Airborne Ranger and Special Forces qualifications, Commanding Officer of the 19th Special Forces Group, US Army Pathfinder, U.S. Army Jumpmaster, Master Parachutists
ratings in several countries, unconventional warfare training, counter-terrorism, and 42 years of combined Special Operations military service.
Their claim to have a world of experience between them, may just be the undersell of the year as the Christmas Commandos have a track record of success that has taken them into the culture battles of corporate America, joining forces with such clients as the CIA, Sisters of St. Josephs, Abbot Laboratories, PeopleSoft, Panasonic, Intel, Microsoft, Texaco, Nike, Ford Motor Company, Purdue University, the Environmental Protection agency, Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines to help them achieve victories in their everyday corporate battles to motivate employees and improve productivity.
When asked about why they teamed up to create the Christmas Commandos, Kirk and Don responded with one voice, “We were catching up at a monthly breakfast meeting telling each other war stories about our road warrior lifestyles when the familiar topic of doing something together came up again. This time though, we decided to do something about it, so we identified what we thought was a significant need: Year-end entertainment that wasn't lame.”
“We reviewed every corporate Christmas event that we had ever subject to and found the majority lacking anything that could said to have any real lasting impact. We decided then and there to do something about it. Whatever we did should be high energy, high impact, or what the Rangers term, ‘Hooah!’ But it should have substance; rich meaty motivational content that people could reflect on and digest long after the event was over. Since this is what we both has been doing professionally for several years anyway, we felt confident we could deliver it in a year ending theme, Christmas, New Years, or whatever.”
What exactly can you expect in the Commandos unwrap their explosive package? It is a creative and charismatic blend of humor, parody, improv, and motivational content that involves and engages the audience from start to finish. By the end of this engagement you will have laughed, cried, sang army cadence, and maybe even kissed a Grinch, and re-committed yourself to a higher standard of personal and professional excellence and achievement. These are two well-read Commandos and you can expect to hear integrated into their message war doctrine from business battle books such as, Good to Great, Shackelton's Way, Raving Fans, Execution, and many other business best sellers. Tom Peters is a personal hero of Commando Kirk Weisler who says that, "Anyone who has read Tom Peters’ series of books about making work matter will recognize right away our attempt to make the Christmas Commandos a ‘WOW’ event."
When asked about how the name “Christmas Commandos” came to be, Kirk said, It was literally the first thing that came to our minds…and we liked the ring it had. “Perhaps we should have given more consideration to the political-correctness of the Christmas Commandos, but we liked the ring of it better than the Holiday Commandos, Year-End Commandos, or anything else. We have already had some calls from the ‘PC Police’ at some organizations that want the presentation, but want to make sure we don't mention the manger scene or any religious symbolism.” I am hopeful that after all our nation has been through in this past year we can avoid getting hung up on the “Christmas” part of our tag line, and look at the intent of our mission.”
Q: So this was a military operation from the beginning?
A: Heck no, “Our original intent in choosing the Commando theme was to convey a sense of high energy, fun, involvement, and motivation. We didn't even intend to do the presentation in military fatigues, but that is the impression that most people are getting from the website. Heck, if they pay the fee, we'll dress in “almost” anything! Our mission is to make a difference, have maximum impact and lasting value, and achieve long-term results. This is about so much more than a corporation’s year-end event. Our intention is to help their units celebrate their achievements and victories of this past year. To recognize and pay respects to fallen comrades, and then to focus on the year and missions ahead… rally the troops and help these corporate commandos Take the next hill!” We will laugh with them, cry with them, sing with them, push them to push themselves, rally their fighting spirit with powerful content, focus them on the future, and kiss them goodbye with the Grinch. We think they’ll never have experienced anything like what we’re bringing.”
Without question the Commandos are two spirited men on a mission. As for bringing “Total Victory” to your year-end event, these guys could make taking Baghdad look easier than hanging stockings by the chimney with care.
To learn more about the Commandos visit their the web site they specifically designed for this mission at www.teamdynamics.com/cc
About the Author
Boyd Hooper is a web development and marketing expert who runs Fortius Group an idea studio dedicated to providing creative marketsolutions for web based advertising and promotion.
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