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Louie Gravance    

Former Disney Institute Professor, Comedian & Customer Experience Consultant Focused on Creating the Happiest Workplace on Earth

Louie Gravance is often referred to as “the guy that can make the 'Disney Thing' actually work outside of Disney.” For over 25 years at the Walt Disney Company, Gravance enjoyed a distinguished career with Disney theme parks, designing everything from live entertainment experiences to customer service training programs through the Disney Institute in Orlando, Florida.

Following his hugely effective tenure in Orlando, Gravance left Disney to pursue other opportunities and soon amassed even more success working as a consultant, customer service speaker, and corporate culture expert. Louie has designed multi-million-dollar service campaigns for companies such as ING Financial, Choice Hotels, Microbac Technologies, Nikon, and The American Council of Independent Laboratories based on his learnings at Disney and the curriculum he wrote. Money Magazine once credited the efforts of Louie Gravance for “literally changing the consciousness of business in America” through his service campaigns and initiatives that have included Bank of America’s “The Bank of America Spirit” campaign—deemed the most successful customer service training initiative in the company’s history. In 2014, his unique entertainment and training experience was called upon to be part of the opening team of Harry Potter’s Diagon Alley expansion at Universal, Orlando, where he currently remains a "Master Wandkeeper" with the Olivander Wand Experience.

At only twelve years old, he began working in California as a stage, film, and television actor and went on to appear in over thirty-five national television commercials. In 1987 (after nearly fifteen years of playing fifteen-year-olds in show business), Gravance was offered a summer job as a singing comic at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. This began what would become an adventure at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida, which spanned three decades. It was during this time that he sharpened his skills on stage as a performer, engaging audiences with his humor and high energy that met the caliber of Disney. Eventually, the pinnacle and finale of Gravance's Disney journey was being part of the creative team that made "Disney's Approach to Quality Service" a staple of the Disney Institute curriculum to this day.

Gravance is the recipient of the Disney Partners in Excellence Award and the Spirit of Disney Award and has been recognized internationally as a Disney keynote speaker, having begun his professional speaking engagements on behalf of Disney in 1998.

Through his company, Louie Gravance Creative Content, in Orlando, Florida, he continues to offer clients unique training programs with incorporated themes such as “Delighting Customers Makes YOU Stronger” and powerful initiatives including “Service is a Superpower!” His first book, "SERVICE is a SUPERPOWER! (Lessons Learned in a Magic Kingdom)," is often purchased as a takeaway from his live presentations. The book allows clients to take home a guide for developing "The Ten Skills of the Service Superhero."

Gravance brings the professional, top-tier training he garnered from Disney as a performer to every presentation he hosts. While corporate and employee growth is serious business, humor and heart remain at the center of every Louie Gravance presentation because he also knows, from experience, that there’s no business BUT show business.

Speech Topics

Service is a Superpower

When a service employee asks the question, "What's in it for me," the honest and correct response is EVERYTHING. Your team members deserve to know that an investment OF themselves is an investment IN themselves.

It is not always easy to convey this message and convince your staff that "great service serves the server first."

Let me Louie it for you.

Just as he convinced and inspired thousands of cast members at Walt Disney World on their first day, let's illustrate to your employees how looking for opportunities to create magic for a customer can transcend their careers and lives.

When a WOW moment in customer service occurs, it doesn't happen only for the customer; it occurs for both simultaneously. Inspiring your team to make that connection is the single greatest tool for maintaining a culture of service excellence. It has been Louie's pleasure to re-ignite the passion for service excellence with bankers, nurses, claims adjusters, and casino workers, just to name a few.

This power talk explores what a WOW moment looks, sounds, and feels like and why delivering it is good for everyone involved.

Every participant will come to understand that every customer interaction is an opportunity to define not just what they're willing to do but also who they are.

Creating Wow Service Moments

ALL organizations constantly engage their internal and external customers in a narrative of sorts. Regardless of what anyone is selling or providing, a story is conveyed through every single transaction involving every single sense we possess. This narrative drives everything from customer expectations to employee satisfaction and even your very BRAND ESSENCE.

  • What do we look like?
  • What do we sound like?
  • What do we smell like?
  • What do we feel like?

Since all of your team members tell a story with every transaction, shouldn't that be the story you want to convey to your customers? Every day? Every transaction?

For over 40 years, Louie has appeared on radio, network television, film, stage, and in theme parks, as well as working with corporate trainers in medicine, retail, foods, manufacturing, automakers, and insurance companies, to name just a few. They are all, at their core, show business.

This is a lively and comedic talk that can be customized to your event and purpose.

The Ten Skills of the Service Superhero

This workshop is the perfect companion piece with the keynote, “SERVICE is a SUPERPOWER!” We further explore the delivery of “magical” service moments consistently through the use of ten basic skills.

Serving with INTENTION and serving with VISION are just two of the skills covered in this deep-dive into the practical application of the Disney service principles.

Participants will:

  • Learn ways of identifying the narrative of your business.
  • Create an intention statement aimed at supporting the goals of your event.
  • Isolate keywords that ground your customers’ experience.
  • Learn a fun exercise they can implement with their staff called “Good Show/Bad Show.
  • Create an action plan for performance improvement.
  • Laugh a lot.

Aimed at leaders and managers tasked with modeling and inspiring service excellence, participants come away with a training template for sharing what they’ve learned back home.

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