Today we’d like to introduce you to Steve Multer.
SKM Creative started as Steve & Karen Multer, two actors who accidentally made the transition from theater to trade show narration in the rise of the dot-com boom. Five years later, in 1998, our company launched to serve a wider and more discerning marketplace where event directors and global marketing executives demand a better quality of spokesperson representation. For 19 years SKM Creative has developed and delivered key messaging content for Fortune multinationals, midsize leaders, and cutting-edge startups across America and around the globe. Today SKM Creative offers the most proven, in-demand professional corporate speakers on the planet, supporting powerful brands like Cisco Systems, Panasonic, Intel, Hitachi, AGFA, HPE, Brocade, Fujifilm, Volvo, Sophos, Spirent, Xerox, SOLiD, Plixer, Signature Systems Group, MarkAndy, and many others. SKM Creative maximizes client connections in the trade show booth, creates increased ROI at customer events, improves the impact of interactive websites, and builds greater awareness in broadcast content. Visit www.skmcreative.com for more information, and to discover the best expert spokespeople, ambassadors, hosts, emcees, and corporate writers in the industry for your valued message.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
When we started speaking on behalf of corporations we were simply working actors, picking up a bit of side income. Out of dumb luck, the timing was good, and that side rapidly morphed to the center. Eventually it became the whole. Back then we had agents selling our services, but it wasn’t long before we reached a natural divergence, a choice to either maintain status quo or branch out on our own. We carefully weighed continuing on as we had been, letting others put in the effort and take their percentage of a booking, or choosing to open our own shop, in our own way, to set the pace and price and create the vital value-add we saw missing in so many of the firms that had represented us. It was a frightening and empowering choice, as anyone who’s ever faced it will tell you. The life of an independent contractor is extremely hard yet holds potential for enormous rewards. There’s dramatic inherent risk from day one as you opt to walk the daily tightrope without a net. All eyes are on you, and you’re out there alone. Nobody is selling you but you. Nobody else is there to share in your endless cycle of marketing, promotions, pitches, RFPs, contracts, logistics, bills, schedules, calls, costs, follow-ups, or client relations. If you don’t work, you don’t eat, and if you don’t earn, you’re quickly replaced or forgotten. Anyone facing the choice to be an employee or hang out a shingle must begin by being rigidly realistic. Don’t leap until you think you’re ready, but don’t wait until you’re ready to leap. You don’t have to know the future, and even the best and brightest can fail, but if you start with as much practical confidence as possible it can see you through the roughest startup patch over the first 12-48 months. By the time we chose to part ways with our agencies and go it alone we had a firm foothold in the business. We’d learned the tricks of the trade, met thousands of influencers, and plied our craft enough to hit the Gladwell 10,000 hour threshold of expertise. But that was just the foot in the door. SKM Creative was never about riding the extant gravy train, it was about upping the ante. That passion has never faded. It shows in our work and our dedication. It’s what makes us a trusted and valued partner to the top corporations in the world. Still, I never get too confident or cocky; as vendors we get hired on Sunday and fired on Thursday, week after week, year after year. Every job could be our last with that firm. Sometimes a colleague will ask how we create so many opportunities and earn the faith of so many powerful clients – I always give the same response: It’s about giving 100% in every instance, without ego or pride, staying positive, celebrating the success of others, delivering constant value, and taking genuine joy in the work and the people we have the honor and pleasure of partnering with. That’s the only sure way to thrive as an independent contractor. It’s how you build a brand, live on your own terms, set the rules, and reap the rewards. Over twenty years on and I still love what I do. SKM Creative is the result of that love.
SKM Creative – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Captivate Attendees. Cultivate Prospects. Convert Leads. SKM Creative connects your brand to your customer by telling your story with enthusiasm, credibility, energy, and strength. SKM Creative makes the message stick, turning audiences into A-level opportunities. We partner with you from beginning to end, from the first input session to final message delivery at your trade show or live event. SKM Creative speakers, hosts, emcees, and ambassadors become members of your event team, learning your products and solutions to tell the right story every time. Our clients say it best: “SKM Creative presentations are always strong, energetic, enthusiastic – and the last is always as strong as the first. Our customers view SKM Creative as members of our company because they’re so comfortable and knowledgeable with our solutions and technologies. I look forward to working with them as much as possible in the future. ” — Sonja O, Event Manager, HPE
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
I started speaking for Cisco Systems in 1997, giving tech talks, booth presentations, and hosting solution stages at trade shows and customer and partner events. In 2000 I began to represent this massive and magnificent brand internationally, in Europe and Asia as well as in the US. In 2005 my role as a preferred vendor with Cisco started to expand into media broadcasts, and in 2010 I hosted the live global CD release of The Doobie Brothers’ first studio album in a decade, World Gone Crazy, produced at Cisco headquarters in San Jose in front of a live audience of 300 with a multi-city Telepresence simulcast to tens of thousands of online viewers. It was incredible and overwhelming. Then in 2015 the ante went up again when John Chambers, Cisco’s beloved President and CEO of 20 years, a man I’d interviewed and hung out with many times, passed the torch to Chuck Robbins who’s now led Cisco the past two years. That incredible transition party was held at Levi’s Stadium, home of the San Francisco 49ers, where I had the honor to emcee a powerhouse celebration of John and welcome for Chuck, with full concert performances by Christina Aguilera and Keith Urban, in front of 40,000 guests and a world broadcast to a global audience of over a hundred thousand. It was the most fun, exciting, humbling, and proud moment of my corporate presentation career.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.skmcreative.com
- Phone: (855) 435-5050
- Email: steve@skmcreative.com
- Facebook: Tradeshow Presenter SKM Creative
- Twitter: @skmcreatives
Getting in touch: VoyageChicago is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
