Do you want your company to make music?
The Story of 200 Accountants and the Drum Cafe
We arrive at the venue to prepare for the group drumming component of the conference. To the surprise of a waitress, we start unloading drum after drum and by the time we get to 50, she asks, "Who is going to play all those drums?"
We say “200 accountants!”
We unpack 200 drums and form a circle of chairs. The delegates are completely unaware that they are about to drum and are now beginning to arrive at the venue for their annual conference. We begin to play our drums announcing that the program is about to commence.
When the accountants enter the room, they are truly surprised. On each seat, is a drum, and as they move through the room and find a seat, the music continues, filling the room and creating an electric atmosphere.
Tentatively, a few brave individuals start beating away on their drums. An enthusiastic person gets carried away with the energy in the room and leaps into the middle of the circle for a quick dance to the wild applause and cheers of the group. The rhythm becomes infectious and soon everybody is tapping on his/her drum.
Then, without saying a word, our facilitator gets up and starts to orchestrate the group with a repertoire of body language signals, bringing the 200 entry-level musicians into perfect harmony. This is the beginning of the magic. Drum Cafe is in the house.
During the course of the hour, an intelligent, step-wise program ensues that almost subtley seeps into the veins of he participants, resulting in an environment in which they feel so safe and supported by one another that you won’t believe the crescendo that happens in the end! The world’s fastest transformation has just occurred, setting the stage for a rich, productive conference. No wonder the Drum Café program has been labeled in the agenda as ‘Accelerated Networking’!
At the end one hour, participants are left feeling energized and exhilarated both as individuals and as a group.
Rhythm is within all of us as a basic universal language that everyone understands, allowing dialogue among us at the most basic creative level. It is a natural aspect of the human experience. It is our heartbeat, it’s in our walk, our eating and sleeping patterns; the inhale/exhale of our breathing, the changing of the seasons, as well as the day and the night.
Africa is the Drum Continent of the world. For hundreds of years, the drum has been the dark continent’s primary voice for helping villages, communities, and tribes synchronize their energy and synthesize their sense of purpose as a Unit. Today, the Drum Café translates this powerful experience to the dynamics of organizational behavior in Corporate America, providing access to all populations with a need to improve communication, collaboration, and leadership intangibles, while gaining a greater appreciation for the value of a diverse workforce.
Since our first program in humble surroundings in Johannesburg, South Africa 16 years ago, the Drum Café has become the definitive global presence in this arena, having delivered over 20,000 events to millions of people in over 20 countries across the globe.
