Testimonials

Our third annual SASIE (Southern Arizona Smart Inspiring Enterprise) Awards were a rousing success, thanks in no small part to Steve Pender's performance as Griff Gumshoe. During the pre-awards cocktail hour, Steve, as Griff, mingled with our guests and finalists, bestowing compliments and provoking lots of laughs. The "film noir" flavored skits Steve wrote to open and close our awards ceremony set the tone for the evening, were custom-tailored to our audience and were hilarious to boot. If you're looking to add something unique and fun to your next event, I highly recommend Griff Gumshoe.

Charles O'Dowd
Sr. V.P. Southern Arizona
Arizona Small Business Association

During our Rotary Club meeting year 2007-2008, we used Griff Gumshoe during the business part of our meetings. The club’s meetings were luncheon venues that took place each week. Our interest was to establish a sense of energy and fun as we began our meetings which would set an attentive mood for our business discussions and keynote speaker for the day. Griff’s performance was just the trick. His sense of humor and speaking style grabbed everyone’s attention and set the tone for the meeting. Soon, word got out about his performance and we began having a plethora of visitors at our meetings, a number of whom have now joined our club in the service of Rotary. Griff was always on time, always prepared, and always gave his best. I highly recommend him as a resource to stimulate and put energy into your meetings.

The Catalina Rotary Club traditionally honors its outgoing president and welcomes the incoming president at an annual “Change of Gavel” dinner. Typically these dinners have always followed a similar format, such as having speeches by members praising the outgoing and welcoming the incoming president. As this year’s incoming president, I asked a select committee, which included Steve Pender (aka Griff Gumshoe), to come up with something different, something light and humorous, such as a “roast.” Steve immediately took on the charge, and set up an interview with me to learn my story and also to collect photos of my life. He then put together an agenda and a slide show for my induction dinner. I had no idea of what to expect. How could anyone take my story and make it something that would entertain an audience of accomplished Rotarians, their spouses and other special guests? Steve, appearing as Griff Gumshoe, was truly the “Master” of the ceremony and he orchestrated, along with his team, a humorous, yet informative and tasteful “roast” of me. Many of the attendees were “rolling in the aisles” with laughter. The majority of those came up to me later to say how much fun it was and that it should set the standard for our future Rotary club "Change of Gavel" dinners.

The Catalina Rotary Club has had Griff Gumshoe, over the past year, partake in several special presentations during the business part of our meetings. Most recently he was the MC introducing the Mayor of Tucson honoring the 60th birthday year of the Catalina Rotary Club. His reputation with our club garnered him an invitation, earlier this year, to our State of Arizona Tri-District President-Elect Training Seminar in Mesa, to be an example of a typical Rotary club’s Sergeant-at-Arms. Griff Gumshoe’s sense of humor, imagination, creativity and speaking style is a wonder to behold. I cannot recommend him highly enough as a resource to stimulate your individual private events, your organization’s special events or your business sales marketing program!