Dallas SHRM 2008

The Groove Labs crew recently returned from the Dallas Society of Human Resource Management Tradeshow held in downtown Fort Worth. We went to the show to showcase our Corporate Rock Star Team Building Program and Play with the Pros.

We had a great number of people stop by and check us out. We saw some former clients and hopefully will make some new. People always give us a big thumbs up on the cool and fun factor. Being know as the fun company with a cool factor makes us happy. We have some core beliefs when it comes to doing what we do:

1) Follow the fun to freedom

Nice use of alliteration right? Sometimes (actually most of the time) it’s the short but sweet sayings that are on the mark. While many people try and over intellectualize the team event, we believe that people are looking for experiences that are unique and different. Rock band team building (not the video game people, but actual LIVE music with real people that play instruments) is here to stay. It’s fun, it’s robust, it’s full of creativity and raw excitement. It’s something that provides a lasting memory and brings people together.

2) As Plato says, “You will learn more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversations.” Think about that one for a minute. When we engage in playful activity we tend to act more directly from the heart of the matter. Rather than thinking too much, we just do. It’s true, play comes naturally as a child, but as we grow older, we develop rules and regulations about our behavior, especially around co-workers. By engaging in play, we actually help to recreate and refresh ourselves. People recognize when others are having fun and feed off that positive energy. You know how it feels to sit in the audience and watch a speaker who is nervous. Doesn’t it make you feel nervous too? Having fun with your co-workers is a positive experience that pays dividends.

3) Get outside of the box. In fact take a box cutter to the box and crush it. If you have not noticed, and chances are you have, America has lost some of it’s economic power on the global scale. We all hear about the rise of China, India and South America. That’s great news for us actually. All we have to do is get back onto the innovation train and create goods and services that these growing economies desire. The chance for opportunity is as high as it’s ever been. Push yourself to innovate and create for the experiential economy. That’s what we’ve done with our products and services. Our programs our licensed around the world. American culture especially our music gets lots of eyeballs, respect and money from our largest trading partners. Don’t be afraid to become a market maker.  Being a market maker is a pretty swell gig if you make it happen.

4) It’s never too late to do what you love.

I said that 6 years ago when I started groove labs. It continues to this day. We continue to produce for our clients and they keep producing for us in terms of referrals and repeat assignments. We are a classic American small business. No need to grow too fast, borrow other people’s money, or work too hard. Just keep delighting your client base and give them more than they expect. Watch the dividends grow. Reinvest in people and rock out from there.

Want to learn more about groove labs, corporate rock stars, or play with the pros? Then call us at 888-Gruvlabs or click here: http://www.groovelabs.net.

Keep it in tune.

Craig

Corporate Rock Stars: Bank of America and JPM Chase

Face it, your life could be worse. You could work for Bear Stearns. A billion here, a billion there, after a while it starts to add up. First we had the Countrywide hiccup, which Bank of America cleaned up nicely. Groove Labs went long BAC shares after that purchase. (A team building company that invests in your equity, wow?) Now you’ve got to go out and buy JPMorgan. A penny for your thoughts? How about $245 million for your $1 billion dollar piece of real estate, never mind the prime brokerage business, the derivatives business, the arbs people who can model financial risk the world over. Well, the people, oh the people. If you work(ed) at Bear and play guitar email me: we’re looking for some quant jocks to model our musicial compositions: Payme$2/share@groovelabs.net .

So what’s a main streeter to do? Sit back and gloat over the schadenfreude. Well, admit it we all enjoy dirty laundry, but that’s so pessimistic and mean. Why not profit like the big banks do? It’s easy see. Wall Street is a zero sum game. Your lose is my gain. Wish it were nicer than that, but it’s not, get over it. But this time around why not buy the common shares of the big money center banks that are scooping up these assets at less than book value. Five years from now, both BAC and JPM will be handsome winners from scooping up “distressed assets.” In the early nineties we had the Feds bail out the savings and loans. Remember the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC)? The Feds set up a quasi-governmental agency to deal with all the S&Ls that went bust. At the time I was just getting out of college and in addition to working as a “night guy” at Ardent Studios earning $3.35/hr I went to work for a (not my) family owned mortgage servicing company. This company bought servicing rights to large pools of mortgages that we’re held by these S&Ls that went kaput. So in short they ended up getting rights to mortgages for the proverbial “pennies on the dollar.” A mere 5 years later, the company was sold for $100+ million to what was know as Boatman’s Bank which then got purchased by what was Nationsbank by what is now, yup you guessed it, my new favorite position: Bank of America.

So what does this have to do with Corporate Team Building Activities? One to the two, and a two to the three: Bank of America has been a Corporate Rock Star client for the last three years. JP Morgan has been a client of Corporate Rock Stars. We actually provide our services to a significant percentage of the Fortune 500. So who’s the rock star now? Too early to tell? Nah, this story has been written before. These banks house some of the smartest minds in finance. Talk about writing the book on “buy low, sell high.” We at Groove Labs are proud to see our clients succeed in the face of adversity and bring order to the chaos. Now step up to the mic and say buy.  You’re on in 5.

Choosing to Rock

Here’s the conundrum: The conference is 4 months away and you’ve been tasked with the duty of coming up with program content including a team building event. What do you do? Well, you could hire an outside planner to assist with the task, talk to the convention services people at the resort for ideas, or you could do a little detective work yourself and see what you find out there in this free country of ours. Let’s say you searched for team building; clicked on the groove labs link; landed on the Corporate Rock Stars page; got intrigued; found the blog, and got to here. Tell you what. If you book a program with us and you mention that you read this blog, I’ll give you 10% of the program fee, because that’s how I roll (and rock).

But why should you rock when you have some many other transitive verb options? You could, for example, scavenge (High Tech Scavenger Hunt), you could timber fall (think ropes course here people), you could cook (think chili or cumquats), you could simul-kill in a fighter plan (please pass the testosterone shaker) or you could even bowl (like for dollars, cool!)

Why Should I Corporate Rock Stars thee, let me count the ways:

1) People love the creative process. Creating and writing and rehearsing and performing excite people. Our program blends all of these activities in a fresh and intelligent way. We’re not preachy or pushy. We provide the tools and the inputs and you create the beautiful result.

2 ) Any organizations most valuable asset is it’s reputation and people. We are no different. Groove Labs people are intelligent, cool and hip. We’re not here to be your yes sir or yes mam man. We are here to give you an experience that you’ll never forget and probably never have again.

3) We’ve been producing Corporate Rock Star events for 6 years and with hundreds of programs under our belt, we could stop tomorrow and move on, but we don’t because we love to see the impact we have on the teams we work with. We’ve received amazing feedback from our clients. I’m not really into the whole “sales and testimonials” thing personally, but I have included some of it on our site to appease the marketing people. Most clients find us through word of mouth, or the world wide AOLinterMicroHooGooTube web.

Give your team something to get fired up about. Have them engage in a Corporate Rock Stars experience. And please do us a favor too, if you’re interested in our programs and you want a proposal then just ask. Often times all the information you need is on our website, but we understand you’d like more. Finally, if you get a proposal from us, then we love to hear yes, but please note that our second favorite answer is no. Really.

Thanks for reading this. Now go tell someone you love them and get back to work.

Craig

Back to the Mainland

Okay, fantasy island is over, for now. Coming back to Texas after a spell in Maui is a certain prescription for depression. But there’s no need to stay down; it just takes too much energy to be down. Up, that’s where it is. That’s what Theodore Geisel, yeah, yeah, Dr. Seuss writes in his epic: Great Day for Up. Maybe the Prozac People could swipe that for a campaign… Corporate Rock Star events are popping around the Country through not only our team but other franchise partners that we’ve linked with. Interested in a franchise opportunity? Well, get off your [noun, singular] and call or email me. Our creative power knows no boundaries and we’ve got the gold.

So with CRStars and Play with the Pros busy entertaining America’s Corporate executives and managers, I’ve had the good fortune to pursue an original rock band project. Major Major (thanks to Joseph Heller, read the book, you’ll get it) released it’s first record. Well, it’s the ninth record for our main singer and writer, Jason, but that’s his problem. (Check out his other work at www.jasonic.org). Hats off to that guy. When he’s not busy building supercomputers for the State of Texas or The Swiss Supercomputing Institute, or being super dad and husband, he writes killer rock/pop tunes and rocks like Slayer. We’ve been playing some great gigs lately at Austin’s revered clubs Stubbs and Antone’s. Man, what does it take to get a sound guy that a) still hears, and b) sports an IQ greater than 16?

Check this sweet magic out. You may download the songs from this nifty little store. We get a little more than half of the proceeds, so at $0.58 per song net to us, I’m not quitting my day job, ever. Dload it here:

http://myspace.com/majormajorrocks

Buy the actual CD with the killer artwork from Guy Juke. He did this piece back in 1978 and I fell for it when I was searching for a cover for the record. Yeah, I’m the art boy in the band. Every band needs that guy. Hey, if you’re feeling the love, then maybe buy the record here: (we get all of the money from this spot. and at $15 a pop, I’m still never gonna quit my day job.)

https://groovelabs.net/store/

Mention that you saw this post and we’ll get you a signed copy. In 20 years, it will be worth, ah, let me quit while I’m ahead…

Peace, love and music. Don’t forget the sea turtles and double overheads.

Its Craig

Hanging in Haiku, HI. Thinking about 2008

Yes friends 2007 is about to be “so last season” as 2008 blows in on the tradewind gusts. Looking back 2007 provided a great year of learning and growth for Groove Labs. We produced a record number of music and team building events for clients across North America. In addition we hit some international milestones by obtaining trademarks for markets in the UK and the EU. 2007 also saw the creation of two great records which are available for sale in Groove Labs Goods, our new store which will get some much needed attention going forward. Check out Major Major’s debut record chock full with 11 original tunes ready for radio play the world over, and also check out The Monstas, killer groove, funk music helmed by Austinite Ernie Durawa and New Yorkers Brian Mitchell and Matt Smith. Buy these records, support independent music.

Corporate RockStars proved to be a big winner for us again in 2007. Whenever we get the opportunity to produce this program whether live or in the studio we receive tremendous feedback from the client. We worked with Bank America, Medtronic, Timken, Amgen and Genentech to name a few. It’s great to see corporate america have the chance to move outside the traditional realm of team building activities and mix it up with live music. Another testament to the success of the program is all the imitators now offering watered down versions of music inspired team building. Granted our program costs more than the typical chili cookoff, but it also offers memorable impact and bonds amongst participants. In fact if you look at the ROE of the firms six months to a year after a CRStars event you will see positive gains in market capitalization. Stay tuned for the pie chart and power point presentation explicating the results.