Speaking

Here are just some of the topics I speak and train on. 

If you need something different, I’m happy to build something new for you – that’s how many of these programs started.  Enjoy!

Training Tips from Tinseltown: How Hollywood Can Save the Training Industry 

Although the training industry has evolved over the last decade, it still struggles for resources, legitimacy, and effectiveness in many organizations. Some experts have even said that the industry is on trial for its very life.

But some of the most powerful, memorable, and inspiring characters in popular culture, especially from the highest-grossing films from the past 25 years, have been trainers.

Trainers who inspire, get respect, foster change, and make a difference.  And after you watch them in action in this nationally-recognized program, so will you.

Trainer Burnout: Admit It. Spot It. Defeat It. 

Feeling burned out as a trainer? You’re not alone. A study by ASTD found that nearly half of trainers were burned out, with another quarter in danger of burning out.

You’ll learn how to analyze the three main areas in which trainers burn out, and how to spot the telltale signs of burnout in yourself and your team.  Most importantly, you’ll leave with conventional (and unconventional) skills you can apply immediately to defeat it.

Joy, Pain, and Arachnophobia: Redefining Your Success as a Training Professional 

Every day as a trainer can be filled with incredible highs, lows, and mind-numbing fear. At the end of it all, how do you know you’re successful – that you’re making a difference in the lives of the people you serve?

This session will challenge your views of what “good” training really is, help you see what your success looks like through the eyes of the clients you serve, and develop the eight skills that promote lasting success as a training professional.

Fire Your Trainers: Unconventional Training Advice for Non-Trainers 

Attention all non-trainers!  You know the moment – you’re hit with a brilliant idea that will benefit your company and your customers. You call the Training department and tell them you need a class or series of classes to train everybody on your fantastic new idea. And the Training team happily obliges.

Congratulations! You’ve just killed your idea.

This hard-hitting session will give all non-trainers a short, focused list of questions and statements to use when working with the Training team. By the end, you will learn how to keep your idea alive, keep the Training team on track, and deliver bottom-line results.  

From Scratch to Success: The Story of Motivate U 

“Create a world-class training department and corporate university from scratch.”

That was the one-sentence challenge that faced me when I started at FORUM Credit Union in 1998. It was my dream come true but also a daunting challenge.

Take a trip down memory lane to learn the challenges and successes that came with the development of Motivate U, how it helped fuel over $700 million in asset growth since 1998, and how it has translated into some incredible honors for me and my team over the last 10 years.  

Round-Table Truths: An Exercise in Ethical Business Behavior 

You’ve been asked to make a short presentation at a business meeting. You’ll be presenting to a group of eight people you’ve never met. You enter the room and find the participants are already seated at a round table.

Where do you sit? Who you talk to? What assumptions do you make about each person at the table?

Your answers can reveal a great deal about your business ethics. In fact, research featured in Harvard Business Review shows that at least 75% of managers and leaders harbor unconscious biases that can affect their business judgment. These biases can damage your ability to make ethical decisions, retain superior talent, boost individual and team performance, and work effectively with others.

See how you can bring these biases to light, and how you can reduce the flawed and unethical business decisions they cause.

Tips for Terrific Talking: Talking Terrors and the GET REAL Guide to Powerful Presentations  

Most of us harbor a fear of public speaking that ranks right up there with insects, heights, and attending Lady Gaga concerts. We’d do anything to avoid getting in front of a group and talking. After all, public speaking is best left to teachers, politicians, and famous folks, right?

Not really. We’re all “public speakers” to large and small audiences every day – to customers, potential customers, other employees, patients, even loved ones. How we speak to those people, and present ourselves and our message, goes a long way in determining the quality of our relationship with them.

The first part of the session, Talking Terrors, shows you how to send clear verbal and non-verbal messages through insights gleaned from a former president, a job fair, a fist full of dimes, and even the ill-fated ocean liner Titanic.

The second part of the session, The GET REAL Guide to Powerful Presentations, shows you the seven steps that’ll help you deliver real presentations, to real audiences, that get real results.

Love, L.E.A.R.N., and Wet Cats: Three Ways to Destroy Bad Service 

Every company out there says:

“Our customers are our #1 priority!” “Our customers are satisfied with us!” “Our customer service is the best!”

Most of them, though, are lying. Most of us feel ignored and mistreated as customers. We’re starving for true customer service. We’re surrounded by bad service on all sides.

Is it any wonder, then, that you’re less than inspired to deliver truly great service to your own customers?

If you’re ready to transform your approach to serving others, and do your part to gleefully destroy bad customer service, then this is the session for you.