As his friend Jay Leno put it, "Finally a motivational speaker, without the speech!" Ross Shafer didn’t start out as one of the country’s funniest motivational speakers though. He was an All-Conference football player in high school and awarded a scholarship to the University of Puget Sound – a small NCAA II school where Ross was often the player voted most likely to be “shaken up on the play.” He earned his BA in Business Marketing within four years… an achievement he's still convinced is a football team record. After college, Ross blew his savings on the “next big thing.” He invested everything (and lost it) in "SOUNDS OK, America's Only Stereo and Pet Shop." Business failures aside, Ross started getting laughs at comedy clubs and his first big break came when he won Showtime’s Comedy Laugh Off in 1983. Within a year, Ross was hosting KING-TV’s weekly comedy/talk show, “Almost Live.” With Ross at the helm, the show won 36 Emmy Awards and the prestigious IRIS award for the “Best Local Entertainment Series” in the United States. It was also during this time that Ross actually created Bill Nye, The Science Guy! Over the next several years, Ross hosted an afternoon radio program, contributed to Dick Clark's “TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes,” hosted the USA Network’s “Love Me, Love Me Not,” wrote and produced two comedy TV specials, and had a recurring role on the hit show “21 Jump Street.” He moved on to become host of Fox’s late night program (cleverly titled “The Late Show”), which competed against Johnny Carson and David Letterman. Ross continued to work on his stand-up act and regularly performed for the Improv, Comic Strip Live, the A List, and eventually moved onto a nightly entertainment magazine that he co-hosted with Matt Lauer and Spencer Christian. One of his most proud entertainment achievements, was the successful run as host of ABC-TV's “New Match Game.” The show still plays on the Game Show Network. Surprisingly, Ross is also a published author. He practically invented the genre of comedy cookbooks with "Cook Like A Stud," featuring 38 recipes men can prepare in the garage using their own power tools. He also wrote "Nobody Moved Your Cheese! - How to Ignore the Experts and Trust Your Gut" and "The Customer Shouts Back – If You Want Lifetime Customers, Listen to their Emotional Solution," which is culmination of Ross’ years as a writer and producer of human resource training films. Ross founded the Customer Empathy Institute™ because he’s convinced the reason customer service hasn't improved, is because we haven't tried to understand the customer's emotional state before, during, and after the transaction. Nowadays, Ross is in demand as a keynote speaker, seminar leader and event emcee. His clean, funny and relevant programs have made meeting planners look like heroes and he’s worked with dozens of companies and industries. When you book Ross Shafer for your event, your audience is guaranteed to laugh, see their business in a new way, be inspired to trust their gut and fulfill their own potential. Titles Nobody Moved Your Cheese! The Customer Empathy™ Solution Part I The Customer Empathy™ Solution Part II Unconventional Thinking: The Masters Course Customer Experience: Is Your Business Staying Relevant? Motivation: Masterful MC Are You Relevant? Topics Humor, Change, Customer Service, Relationships, Marketing, Entertainment, Goal-setting, Emcee Click topic above to see more speakers on that topic Speaker's Asking Fee Range $15,000 or more Click on fee range to see more speakers. This is the starting keynote fee range - other programs may be higher. State CA Click on state above to see more speakers from that state. Fees The fee range quoted means the speaker's fee starts somewhere within that range. Note that speaker's fees are subject to change and some speakers may have special fee quotes.