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More on Greg

A graduate of Northwestern University’s prestigious Medill School of Journalism, Greg never envisioned a career in comedy.  Instead, he settled in Florida, becoming an award-winning reporter for NBC-owned WPTV in West Palm Beach.  But the comedy bug bit Greg hard and he returned to his hometown of Chicago, where he honed his act in clubs.  When he began inserting material about computers into his nightclub act, audience members approached him and said, “you really should come down to my office and tell those jokes.”  Behold!  Comedy With a Byte was born.

Greg’s show provides a hilarious look at today’s corporate environment and the latest tools used to conduct business.  What sets Greg apart from other corporate comedians is his ability – and willingness – to customize material for his audience.  When Greg hits the stage he already has perused the company’s Internet site, combed the internal message boards and even sifted through numerous PowerPoint presentations.  “There is no such thing as too much information,” Greg says.  “I know corporate audiences like to laugh at themselves so the more ammunition I get, the funnier it will be.  Just don’t give me a 10-K report.  There is NOTHING funny about that.”

Greg’s preparation always includes a conference call with company executives and, in some cases, an on-site visit.  The personal touch strikes a chord with clients.

“The fact that you came up to our facility beforehand to get a feel for our culture and how we operated proved to be very beneficial, “ said Skyline Display Sales VP Bill Dierberger.  “I have never seen some of our corporate folks laugh as hard as they did.”

After a performance at the MultiFamily Educational Conference, Marketing Director R. Leigh Curry said, “My sides actually hurt by the end of your performance.  Based on the feedback I received from other attendees in the audience, it was a mutual feeling.”

Besides customized material, Greg entertains audiences with stories about tedious business meetings, Blackberry addiction, “frequently” asked questions and his embarrassing experience with the American Girl Doll company.

Today Greg performs close to 100 corporate dates a year.  Besides corporate stand-up comedy, Greg emcees multi-day events and writes custom videos for clients.  Back home Greg coaches baseball for daughter Natalie, ten, and cleans up after daughter Amy, five.  In his precious spare time, he enjoys tennis, golf and any music from the Counting Crows.

Greg's Programs

Comedy With a Byte
Greg Schwem takes a hilarious look at today’s work environment and the technology tools we can’t live without.  Greg heavily researches each audience and includes plenty of customized humor, and audiences hear material about “corporate” topics such as Blackberry addiction, indecipherable PowerPoint slides, and Schwem's love-hate relationship with Twitter.

Eight Simple Rules for Survival
A humorous, yet motivational talk that encourages audience members to look inside themselves and see how they can perform more efficiently. Along the way Schwem tackles the pros and cons of social networking sites such as Facebook, why using photos to tout your products can backfire and why Costco is superior to its main rival Sam’s Club when it comes to customer service. (Hint: It has something to do with death). Eight Simple Rules for Survival is ideal for sales groups and any organization looking to boost performance.

High-Tech Comedian, Low-Tech Dad
Based on Schwem's blog of the same name and his hilarious book, Text Me If You’re Breathing: Observations, Frustrations and Life Lessons From a Low-Tech Dad, this presentation takes a humorous look at the serious topic of raising kids in a confusing digital world while discussing the effects that technology may be having on today’s youth. Perfect for education groups and family organizations, Schwem makes the program interactive by asking audience members to recount their worst “parent vs. child” technology incidents and then encourages discussion.

Emcee/Host
A good emcee needs to multitask. He must keep the event moving, be adept at improvisation and work efficiently with all participants onstage. Greg Schwem has hosted everything from a one-hour awards ceremony for 200 BAE Systems engineers to a three-day conference for 6,000 McDonald’s restaurant managers, to a virtual webinar for IBM customers. He is equally at ease chatting with a company CEO live on stage, pronouncing (correctly) the names of awards recipients, or conducting humorous on-camera interviews with meeting attendees.