Claifornia Head Start Association

Rob Peck provided the intelligent yet entertaining breath of fresh air that we needed for our Annual State Conference. It seems more difficult every year trying to secure  a speaker for our numerous events whose both informative and engaging.  Yet Rob proved to be both. The theme of his performance/keynote was Keeping All of the Balls in the Air; How To Cope With Constant Change... And Still Stay Sane!

What made it so special was how he customized his performance specific to not only our field (Head Start: Early Childhood Educators) but our specific attendees as well. I have never had a speaker that was so thorough in learning about who his audience was.  The content was truly an amazing blend of entertainment and training for coping with life’s challenges. My colleagues and I  are still quoting his anecdotes in the office. My favorite being “Don’t Complain… Reframe.”

I would recommend Rob for any group looking for an insightful, enjoyable, and customized presentation for their events.
Sincerely,

Christina Hake, Manager of Events & Corporate Relations
 
Community Action Partnership of Mid Nebraska Head Start Central Office Kearney, NE 68848-2288 Phone (308) 865-5690 or 865-5694

Rob Peck provided our Head Start and Early Head Start staff with his presentation KEEPING ALL THE BALLS IN THE AIR (How to Cope with Constant Change... And Still Stay Sane!). Rob takes time months prior to the training to understand your program's demographics and uniqueness, so he can tailor his presentation to meet your needs, challenges and/or expectations.

Rob combines a well-researched Head Start specific motivational speaking format with innovative juggling using real performance standard messaging. His presentation has content area specific information while keeping the delivery humorous, fast paced as well as entertaining. His use of verbal wit and visual imagery demonstrates his creativeness in using empathetic humor as an ice breaker while building audience rapport. Staff learns more effectively if training presentations are fun, hands-on, and energizing. Rob also tells inspiring true life stories and communicates key messages applicable to Head Start which uplifts and inspires his audience.

I appreciate some of his key themes: "Don't complain, reframe"; "Pits are also seeds". Rob leaves the audience with a sense of how important their work is for children, families, and the communities. I believe, "the power of success is within each individual person to be the best they can be", so his presentation reflected my personal values and expectations of all of our personnel.

Lois L Butler, CCAP Head Start/Early Head Start Director  www.communityactionmidne.com
Administration
 
Illinois Head Start Association Alton, IL 62002-0250 (618)463-5946

At our annual Head Start In-Service we had one primary goal: Inspire Our Staff. Rob Peck helped us achieve that goal in ways beyond measure.  This is no easy feat since our Head Start teachers, administrators, family service workers and case managers have high expectations of themselves and their trainers.

Peck’s knowledge of Head Start’s standards and procedures was impressive.  His ability to motivate staff to accept them with grace and push through their pressure was an inspiration.  His messages of Teamwork, Tolerance & Tenacity in the face of rapid change were internalized by every staff member. Those who missed his Left Brainers, Right Brainers & No Brainers session were deeply disappointed after hearing about it from their peers.

On a scale of one to five with one being “Of Little Value,” 29 out of 40 gave it a five. The other 11 gave threes and fours.  Here are some comments from the evaluation:
Good ideas to use for the children in the classroom.
Bring him back!  Made you realize how important teamwork is.
Awesome information.

Peck’s breakout session called “Keeping All the Balls in the Air!” could not have hit home harder for our staff. This year we are expecting a federal review. We don’t know when or where they will visit, but we are in a better position of preparedness thanks to Peck’s inspiring messages.  While letting us know that he “feels our pain” he encouraged us to keep our eyes on the ball and do our best work with a sense of humor.  It was as though our staff simply needed that permission to laugh along the way. We’ve had an excellent school year so far. 

Here are some more of the evaluation form comments:

This was the best presentation I’ve ever heard. He is excellent in all ways.
Made coming back to work enjoyable.
 Outstanding, best in-service!”

My staff would recommend Rob Peck to any institution looking for a way to teach, inspire or refresh its troops. 

Anita Rasch Head Start Director Riverbend Head Start & Family Services
 
Florida Department of Children & Families

Dear Mr. Peck:
The Child Care Program Office would like to thank you for your wonderful and uplifting presentation at the Statewide Child Care Licensing Meeting. Your presentation was inspirational and fun and just what we needed to close out the 3 day training session.

Your presentation reinforced the overall message of the meeting, which was the difficulty of managing multiple responsibilities; and emphasized our ability to succeed through teamwork, tolerance and tenacity, not to mention passion. Our Child Care Licensing walked away refreshed and energized.

Once again, thank you for taking the time to share your talents and making this year's Statewide Meeting a success.

Deborah Russo, Director Child Care Program


ROCKY MOUNTAIN SER HEAD START

To Whom It May Concern:
Rob Peck attended our annual planning retreat in Alamosa, CO. His presentation “Keeping All The Balls In The Air (How To Cope With Constant Change…. and Still Stay Sane”, was received with enthusiasm and a willingness from staff to participate in his activities.

Rob offered a fresh approach to our business session and kicked-off attendees first day feeling energized, uplifted, & inspired.  His unique delivery combining motivational speaking and innovative juggling (funny, fast paced blend of verbal wit and visual imagery), was appreciated by staff who had just finished a challenging program year in Head Start. Rob got everybody engaged in fun, hands-on learning, and outside the box partner interactions.

I appreciated Rob keeping in close communication with me beforehand, getting to know our program and the challenges we were currently facing.  His approach to the training utilized input for topical humor from a fun comedy quiz instead of a typical boring questionnaire.Staff still remember Rob’s succinct sayings/easy to recall key themes: “don’t complain, reframe” “pits are also seeds”, leaving them with good points to ponder.

I would recommend Zestworks to any Head Start program seeking new ideas in motivating staff to seek humor in their  workplace.  I find Rob’s approach to stress management refreshing and just plain fun.  He reminds us all to remember to be a “kid”.

Sincerely,
Judy Lopez, Head Start Director, Rocky Mtn. SER  Grand Junction, CO 
 
                                             Polk Count Preschool Programs HEAD START

Dear Rob,
            I would like to take the opportunity to thank you again for your hard work and brilliant performance for our Head Start Pre-K faculty during our End-of –the-Year Celebration. I thought some of our ladies were going to “bust a gut” from laughing so hard! 

Your juggling abilities were captivating, but I think your true-to-life story about the toll both really put you over the top!!  I still cannot believe that really happened to you!  It was a really great way to illustrate your motivational message. We are constantly using, “Don’t complain, reframe!” in our office.

I really enjoyed speaking with you in the weeks prior, and appreciate the time you took to really understand our culture, demands, obstacles and successes.  Much of what we discussed made its way into your monologue and I truly believe it was a delight and a surprise to everyone to hear things that really rang true to our everyday working environments.

Overall, I just want you to know that you were the topic of conversation for several days, and I believe it was because your unique style of delivery and upbeat message was just what we needed.  I am very pleased that several of our school principals and even a member of our district’s school board highly commended the rich educational content of your presentation. 

We left feeling honored and energized. I look forward to working with you again!

Lori Allen, TRST Professional Development Polk Count Preschool Programs HEAD START Woodlake, Florida (863) 648- 3051 ext. 253
 
TEAM, INC. COMMUNITY ACTION

Rob,
Thank you so much for your remarkable presentation to our staff. It was a performance that has not been matched in my 32 years in Community Action agencies for its accuracy, pure enjoyment, and positive impact on my staff. (We’re still doing “fist five’s/thumbs up” a week later!)
Please feel free to use this letter as a recommendation.

Each year, TEAM Inc. holds an employee training day, which includes a staff appreciation lunch. We recognize longevity with gifts, discuss past year accomplishments and identify future challenges. This year we invited Rob Peck for a two hour motivational presentation. We were stunned by his humor, mesmerized by his juggling, and enthralled by his messages.

Rob was incredible, capturing every job and foible about TEAM, and the angst of living on State grants. His preparation was meticulous and he ‘nailed’ the dynamics of the company. No sacred cow was left untouched, but all were handled with respect and humor. One key message was ‘don’t sweat the small stuff and care for yourself’, but his philosophical and psychological riffs had staff enthralled and learning for the entire time. He adroitly managed group exercises and had the CEO and agency leadership hamming for the conclusion.

It was an amazing, funny motivating performance that is transferable to any community action agency or grant-funded nonprofit.
My recommendation is without reservation. You won’t be disappointed! 

Richard Knoll, President & CEO

OREGON WIC 

We hired Rob Peck to be our closing general session speaker for our State Conference. A choice we made based in large part on the good reviews we’d heard about the highly customized programs he’d delivered at both the Massachusetts and Maine WIC conferences the year before.  We were not misled!

Rob's presentation "Keeping All the Balls in the Air - How to Cope with Constant Change and Still Stay Sane!" completely wow-ed our Oregon WIC staff.  Rob really did his homework ahead of time and his conscientiousness clearly paid off. Everyone felt as if Rob really understood their jobs and job stresses and was talking directly to them. 

The combination of topical humor and targeted insights on how to keep problems in perspective and develop high trust relationships kept everyone laughing and learning for a solid 90 minutes. Participant’s positive feedback in our follow up survey certainly confirmed that Rob’s presentation was both highly enjoyable and highly educational- especially when it comes to picking up valuable new stress management coping skills.

In short, Rob prove the perfect presenter to get our staff laughing and inspired at the same time. So if you’re looking to do the same at your next State conference I highly recommend you include Rob Peck on your agenda

Sincerely,
Susan Woodbury, MBA, RD,  Director, Oregon WIC

PS  Thanks again Rob for such an upbeat and truly memorable presentation.  I continue to pass your name and website on to anyone looking for a fun motivational speaker for a meeting.  Good luck and I hope our paths cross again.

YOU, iNC. COMMUNITY ACTION

Dear Rob,
Your program was such a one of a kind experience it was worth waiting five years for!   I’m so glad we finally found a date that worked when you weren’t already booked. You hit it out of the park!  Our staff clearly just loved your poignant presentation. Which is a huge accomplishment since our staff are, shall we say “highly selective customers”

In fact, your 90 plus minutes of motivation mixed with topical humor was so totally captivating, this is the first annual staff day we’ve ever had where not a single person left- even to check their messages. People not only stayed for the entire program, they actually paid rapt attention. Even in the back of the room, all eyes and ears were focused on your riveting juggling and inspirational stories, with none of the side conversations that normally occur!

Our C.E.O. was so impressed by the amount of inside information you wove throughout your talk, that on several occasions he looked over at me and said, “This guy really did his homework!  He couldn’t have found that out just by looking at our website.” He later told me that you did the most thorough job of preparation AND turned it into the most dynamic blend of comedy and content, motivation and uplift, of any outside speaker we’ve ever brought in.

In sum, your speech KEEPING ALL THE BALLS IN THE AIR (How To Get A Grip On Overload And Stay Up In A Down Economy!) was a smashing success!”
Here are some sample quotes from attendees:

“I LOVED watching and listening to Rob talk and juggle at the same time!”, “I can’t believe how much the Juggler/Speaker guy knew about Y.O.U., Inc.!”
 “THAT was the BEST Staff Day EVER!”  “Rob’s insights into Y.O.U., Inc.’s strengths and weaknesses, and his ability to customize his comedy just for us was amazing!”
 “That was SO much better than anything we ever did before!!!  
“Rob’s stories about persistence and finding the bright side really held my attention and gave my spirits a big lift!”

Thank you for being so caring and knowledgeable about our organization and for delivering such a timely message in such a truly memorable fashion.   From start to finish you were a total pro and a real pleasure to work with. I know we’ll team up on another event down the road, and I’m sure you will hear from some of my colleagues- as I promise not to keep your stellar program a secret!

Laura L. Peterson, M.A., SPHR, Director of Human Resources

 Norwich School Readiness Preschool Programs

Dear Mr. Peck;
On behalf of the School Readiness Program for Norwich, I want to thank you for your exciting and amusing presentation at the 3rd Annual Provider Forum held on March 5th.I was surprised by the amount of time you put into preparation for this audience and your desire to make your presentation relevant to the attendees. 

Several people assumed you were from Connecticut and were a “local” entertainer because of the way you wove pertinent and ‘inside’ jokes and comments into your address.These people were surprised that you came “all the way from Massachusetts.”  A couple of people asked that you come back next year and one woman said, “This show came in a difficult week, my spirit needed this.” 

It had been my intention to attempt to relieve some of the stress and anxiety early care providers were feeling as a result of the current economic situation, and through your amazing juggling and funny repartee, I think we were successful.

Rob, it was a pleasure to work with you and I hope to have the opportunity to do so again in the future.
M. Anne Jerome, Ph.D. School Readiness Liaison, Norwich, CT  06360 (860) 823-3782 ajerome@cityofnorwich.org
 
 Massachusetts WIC Nutrition Program,

I am delighted to recommend Rob Peck as a keynote and seminar speaker. Rob is a motivational speaker who punctuates his insights into human behavior with his skills as a professional juggler and humorist in presentations that are amazing to watch, listen to, enjoy, and learn. Rob served as our keynote at the Massachusetts WIC Statewide Conference, “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!”

Rob agreed to take on the arduous task of tailoring a keynote based on his 60 minute presentation “Keeping All The Balls In The Air!!” Rob promptly sent us all the information we needed to help him customize his speech based on our needs.  With just a few paragraphs and a couple of phone calls, Rob produced a speech that was so comprehensive; it left us thinking he had worked at WIC since its inception!

Rob’s keynote did exactly as promised on his website, leaving the audience with “less stress and more zest”! His customized speech drew in the audience and helped them relate to his message on more than a basic level; he provided concrete examples and situations pertaining to WIC that really touched the audience on both a professional and personal level.  This was evidenced by the standing ovation Rob received upon completion of his keynote!

In closing, I highly recommend Rob Peck for your next speaking engagement. Rob’s commitment, attention to detail, promptness, and upbeat attitude made him an absolute joy to work with. If you would like more information, please contact me at the information listed below.

Sincerely,
Mary Kelligrew Kassler Director, MA WIC Nutrition Division
Boston, MA 02108 617-624-6100 mary.kassler@state.ma.us