Joel Zeff

business SPEAKER • Joel Zeff

Reigniting teams' inner spark to skyrocket performance, collaboration, and success.

Work Culture Expert  •  Event Energizer  •  International Keynote Speaker

Based in: 🇺🇸

Speaker Fee: Contact for fee

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About Joel

Joel Zeff creates energy. His spontaneous humor and vital messages have thrilled audiences for more than 25 years. As a national speaker, work culture expert, author, and humorist, Joel captivates audiences with a unique blend of hilarious improvisational comedy and essential ideas on work and life. He has shared his experience and insight on collaboration, leadership, change, communication, innovation, fun and passion at more than 2,500 events.

His book, Make the Right Choice: Lead with Passion, Elevate Your Team, and Unleash the Fun at Work, is consistently listed as one of the top work/life balance books on Amazon. He has appeared on CNBC and been featured in the Dallas Morning News, Houston Chronicle, The Kansas City Star, and more.

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The TA DA of Teamwork: Succeeding During Change and Disruption

We are all improvising. Every organization faces rapid change, evolving goals, and unexpected challenges. The teams that thrive are the ones that know how to collaborate in real time, even without a script or rehearsal. In this high-energy session, Joel teaches how to build trust quickly, create opportunity in the moment, and support each other through disruption. Your audience will walk away with practical tools they can apply immediately.

This session will focus on:
  • Creating opportunity and positive support for your team.
  • Making the choice to be present and "in the moment."
  • Staying in the game when faced with change, challenge, or disruption.
  • Thriving during change by being prepared, open, and flexible.
  • Fueling passion and reducing stress through improvisational thinking.

This session isn't just entertainment, it’s a mindset reset that leaves your team more connected, creative, and ready to win together.

The TA DA of Change: Leading Teams During Change with Passion and Success

Change is a constant—and leaders must know how to navigate it with clarity and energy. Joel uses lessons from improvisational comedy to help managers and teams embrace change, take ownership of their reactions, and lead with purpose. This session is both fun and deeply relevant, with exercises that drive home the power of mindset, collaboration, and emotional intelligence in times of uncertainty.

This session will focus on:
  • Embracing change and finding success, even without a script.
  • Creating opportunity to lead change with intention and confidence.
  • Being open and flexible to change, while staying grounded in the moment.
  • Making smart choices to be an effective leader during uncertainty.
  • Asking the most important leadership question: How do I help others succeed?

It’s not just about navigating change, it’s about owning it, leading through it, and turning it into your competitive edge.

Awards & Publications

Books published

Author of the Best-Selling Book: Make the Right Choice: Lead with Passion, Elevate Your Team, and Unleash the Fun at Work

Media Features

CNBC
The Dallas Morning News
The Houston Chronicle
The Kansas City Star

More About Joel

Joel Zeff creates energy. He is a dynamic speaker, work culture expert, improvisational humorist, and author. His interactive performances invite members of the audience to participate in hilarious improvisational exercises that illustrate Joel's central message: That organizations and individuals should CELEBRATE their successes to increase collaboration, productivity, passion, and innovation.

Since 1997, Joel has inspired audiences from Wells Fargo to Samsung to KPMG and even the IRS. Yes, the IRS. Joel is a masterful keynote speaker and a nationally renowned motivator, humorist, and improvisational actor. His spontaneous humor and vital messages have thrilled audiences for more than 25 years, and he has shared his insight at more than 2,500 events.

His career is a search for fun and passion. He quickly realized the importance of both at his first jobs delivering the hometown newspaper and cleaning up trash at a suburban movie theater. He started his professional career as a newspaper journalist and public relations executive. In 1994, Joel went out on his own as a corporate communications specialist. He helped clients with their internal communications, media relations, strategy, and customer marketing. Throughout the consulting process, Joel realized his clients -- many of them high level technology and telecommunications firms -- needed more than marketing and public relations strategy. Many of his clients' employees were starving for fun, passion, and a new perspective on finding success. At the time, Joel was having fun on the weekends as a comedian. Through friends, he discovered improvisational comedy. One of his clients (a large technology company) knew Joel performed comedy on the weekends. The client invited him to entertain and speak to a group of executives
before dinner. A corporate speaking career was born.

He connects to his audience with humor that has them laughing so uncontrollably that their mascara runs, their cheeks hurts, and their bellies ache. And he does not do it alone. Volunteers from the audience join him on stage and play an integral role in an improvisation game in front of hundreds or thousands of people -- something the audience members have never done. He expects nothing less than success. He expects the volunteers to focus and work together as a team; communicate effectively; positively support each other; and take responsibility.

Joel makes his audience laugh so hard that they forget about the corporate nonsense of
conference calls, "strategic deliverables," PowerPoint presentations with upside triangles, or "paradigm shifts in a cross-functional organization." Joel will make you laugh, and he will make you think. His keynotes deliver a combination of inspiration, essential business knowledge, and significant ideas to help audience members reconnect with their own passion and success.

As discussed in his book, "Make the Right Choice", Joel believes that we all encounter choices in our careers. We always can have the opportunity to make the right choice to live a more creative, passionate, and productive life. How do you "make the right choice?" You can choose to provide opportunity. You can choose to provide positive support. And along the way, you can choose to have fun.

He has appeared on CNBC and featured in The Dallas Morning News, The Houston Chronicle, The Kansas City Star, and many other media outlets.

Reviews

Excellent!

- John Doe

Joel was hilarious. But more than anything he provided practical application to help me become a stronger leader with my team.

Humor That Delivers a Powerful, Memorable Message

- Sarah Gehring

Joel spoke at our annual Employee Conference this week. He is a gifted speaker with a unique ability to connect with his audience. He used humor to engage and entertain, as he delivered a powerful message that resonates with people from all walks of life. In his presentation, he shared his insights on how to create a more positive and productive work environment and used humor to provide tips on how to deal with change. Joel's presentation was not only informative but also highly entertaining. He had the audience laughing and engaged from beginning to end. I highly recommend him to anyone looking for a speaker who can deliver a powerful message with humor and charisma.

Memorable event!

- Jane Smith

Joel created a memorable event. I will never forget seeing my colleague, Sari, imitate a ballerina and a kangaroo! His messages of passion, energy and teamwork struck a chord with our department

A Laugh-Filled, High-Energy Celebration of Passion and Teamwork

- Steve Kislow

We hired Joel as our keynote speaker for our annual Firebirds Managing Partner and Chef of the Year Conference. Not only did we celebrate our teams and their countless achievements, but we also celebrated our company's 25th anniversary. A record attendance of about 250 amazing people engaged in an interactive TA DA experience with Joel, and he had us laughing so hard that it hurt, while sharing important messages about passion, being in the moment, and staying in the game.

In One Word: Uplifting!

- Kristin Goins

Joel Zeff brought the perfect mix of energy, laughter, and insight to the 2025 AANC CONNECTed Conference. His keynote didn't just entertain—it resonated. Joel’s message about embracing change, building trust, and supporting each other hit home for our industry. He reminded us that while we may not have a script for every challenge, we can still show up, collaborate, and create our own “TA DA” moments. His interactive style had everyone engaged, and his humor made the learning stick. Joel set the tone for the entire conference, and we’re still talking about it.

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