Today we’d like to introduce you to Kevin Cloutier
Hi kevin, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
It all started at UCLA. My brother Dave and I started Feet First as a DJ business. During one of our parties, a TV producer asked us if we would be interested in making up games for one of his shows. We accepted the challenge and spent the next 10 years making television shows during the week and entertaining at events on the weekends. While we worked on dozens of shows, my favorite has to be ‘Legends of the Hidden Temple.’ ‘Legends’ was a kids’ game show on Nickelodeon, with an “Indiana Jones” feel. Kids would answer questions and then compete in a series of games. Each show was topped off with the kids running through a huge temple filled with mysterious rooms and challenges. Dave and I were producers on the show. We created all the games, designed the Temple rooms, and served as the Temple Guards on the show until it ended in 1995.
Some of the other shows we designed games for are Survivor, Endurance, & Shop Til You Drop.
Sometime around 2003, we decided to use our TV gaming experience to bring fun and excitement to corporate events. We began developing events that would not only bring people together but would keep them talking about their experiences for years to come.
We have done some pretty amazing things. We have rented out Alcatraz Island, and run a private “Escape from Alcatraz” event with teams actually shackled together, running through the prison. We have designed scavenger hunts and “Amazing Race” type events that have taken people on speedboats, trains, and even helicopters. And if you are a Hollywood fan, you will love our “Make Your Own Movie’ event, where groups get to spend the day on the backlot of a major studio actually making their own short films.
As the popularity of our events grew, we expanded our offices outside of California to Dallas, New York, and Chicago. We now produce events all over the country and have traveled to several international locations as well.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Starting a new business (not to mention a new spin on an entire industry) is never easy. When we started, corporate team building was often thought of as a bad word. Most people only associated it with trust falls and bad PowerPoint presentations. We wanted to show people that team building wasn’t something to be dreaded. It could actually be fun.
It took years to get our products out there, so people could actually see what we were doing. Since we were doing something new, we couldn’t just place an ad and get people to respond. To make people understand what we were selling, we needed to SHOW people what we were doing. As the internet evolved, we were able to reach more and more people.
Of course, COVID was a major obstacle for everyone. Imagine having a business based completely on getting people together. If we wanted to stay in business, we needed to shift our business model QUICKLY. We developed virtual versions of some of our most popular events, still focusing on what we consider to be the most important aspects of Feet First: interaction and FUN. Luckily, people really liked our online offerings, and we were able to help thousands of people connect while they were stuck at home.
We’ve been impressed with Feet First Eventertainment, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Feet First Eventertainment is a full-service, entertainment-based, team building and event company. We work with our clients to create events that will exceed their expectations in every way possible.
We are in the corporate event industry, but we see ourselves as a little different than most other companies in our field. We consider ourselves “Ambassadors of Joy,” and everything we do comes from a place of acceptance, energy, and FUN. Once we get people out of the office and smiling, anything is possible. I have seen it happen many times – a group may be skeptical at the onset of an event, but they end up laughing, cheering, and having a great time. My favorite post-event quote has to be,” I really wanted to hate you guys, but this was just too much fun.”
We have based our whole company philosophy on the old Plato quote, “You can learn more about a person in an hour of play than a full day of conversation.” Life is stressful. We truly believe that laughing and playing with your co-workers for a couple of hours is an incredibly constructive way to bring the team together. It is amazing how much more productive people can be when they realize that they actually ENJOY the people they work with!
One of our most popular events is our “Make Your Own Movie” experience. We have developed partnerships with some of the major film studios, which allows us to actually bring groups onto the studio backlots. Teams spend a couple of hours learning about filmmaking and then creating their own short films.
With escape rooms being a popular trend, we have created various forms of escapes for our clients. We have several ‘traveling’ Escape Rooms, where we can actually bring the room to our clients, and they can work through the activity in their own offices. We have also created large group escapes, involving hundreds of people simultaneously working to ‘escape’ a campus or building.
We are also very interested in helping people in any way we can. We have developed many events based on community service and providing for others. For “MichaelCANgelo” teams use canned food to create replicas of famous world structures and then donate all of the food to local food banks.
With the need for clean drinking water being such a huge problem in the world today, another one of our popular giveback events is Water Works. For this event, groups actually build water filtration systems that get donated to families and individuals all over the world.
I am proud of the reputation Feet First has developed over the years. While we offer dozens of options, we make sure to design each event around the specific client & their requests. It would be easier for us to simply steer each client to a pre-developed, “cookie-cutter” event. But we know how important it is to listen and adapt to our clients, and we pride ourselves on creating new and unique twists for every group.
Live events are a tricky business, with so many outside variables that can effect the actual day (weather, number of participants, traffic, etc.). Most days never end up exactly like we have planned. But our Feet First facilitators are experts in our ability to change and adapt on the fly, allowing us to make every event a little different and special for the participants.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
Growing up, I was always pretending and creating. As early as five years old I was “writing” shows for the neighborhood kids to perform for our families. As a Boy Scout I would create new games to challenge the other scouts. In high school, I became more interested in organizing activities & experiences for my friends. I spent my summers working at various camps, doing my best to infuse excitement and energy into every program. Dealing with all different ages and backgrounds, I learned early on how important it was to listen to multiple opinions in order design activities that would include as many people as possible. I’d say by the time I reached UCLA, I had decided that my goal in life was to bring people joy. I wanted to reach as many people as possible by creating and leading fun and entertaining activities for anyone who wanted to come along for the ride.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.feetfirstevents.com
- Instagram: @feetfirstevents
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/FeetFirstEvents/
- Twitter: https://x.com/FeetFirstEvents
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@feetfirstevents
- Other: https://www.threads.net/@feetfirstevents
