SPEAKING

From Toastmasters to Lecture Halls...

From a handful of folks, to hundreds, give me a stage with enough room, and I will energize and inspire your audience to grow! I’ve been teaching in front of hundreds of students for over two decades now, and I love the energy of an audience looking for growth. My first keynote came as a bit of a surprise when a student asked me, with less than a week’s notice, to deliver a speech for the Golden Key organization at UF. Each item can be delivered as a talk or a workshop depending on your objectives.

There are the keynotes that I’ve perfected and enjoy delivering. I can also speak or develop workshops on a multitude of professional development topics, all designed to empower and inspire your audience or team. Confidence comes with developing the person and developing the team.

“Dennis delivered a poignant Locus of Control speech to leaders from Pi Sigma Epsilon chapters that commanded the attention of his audience from start to finish. The content resonated deeply with those whom were in the room, and Pi Sigma Epsilon chapters will reap immense benefits from the knowledge that Dennis provided them when they return to campus in the Fall of 2021.” – Sam Mischio, Pi Sigma Epsilon

“It has been six months since my students heard you in Milwaukee and they’re still talking about how they can use those concepts to be better” -Ron Poff

TAILORABLE KEYNOTE SPEECHES

This is a fun one, and my newest. Just as Jocko Willink talks about extreme ownership and taking control of your life, this talk discusses the importance of shifting one’s locus of control to themselves. This is great especially in self-starting fields such as sales, entrepreneurship, and network marketing, where folks need to hold themselves accountable in order to succeed. This talk can also work for any situation where people are used to pointing elsewhere and making excuses, and need to see that they have it inside themselves and ONLY themselves to make the changes they need to have the life they both want and deserve. Did you know that there’s a whole line of research behind this concept? This talk can incorporate that evidence along with tips audience members can use to improve their locus of control, self-efficacy, self esteem, productivity, and confidence.

After I’m introduced, I correct the speaker and announce to the audience that I’m a failure. That usually jolts the crowd to attention. This talk takes a look at my storied life and all of the screwups that got me to where I am today. Your audience will be challenged to look at the times they’ve not succeeded and see times that they might not succeed and recognize that each bump in the road is an opportunity to grow. Listeners will leave the talk feeling inspired to embrace failure and be confident to move forward in their lives with difficult challenges as a result. This is a great conversation for people who are afraid of failing, and need to know that failure is the step towards success. Entrepreneurs, salespeople, network marketing, college students from freshman to graduates, and anyone about to embark on a difficult task will find this talk inspiring.

This can be delivered either as a keynote or as a workshop. A big part of confidence is understanding oneself. Knowing what emotions are blocking a person from challenging tasks, and knowing how to cope with those blockages is critical to pushing past those challenges. Developed as a lecture first, this talk walks the audience through emotional intelligence and empowers them to think about what causes emotions to stop them from acting and how they can create a plan to develop a better sense of control of their emotions.

This talk was originally designed for my sales management class. Generally, it means that it can be applicable to a wide range of audiences with small, easy tweaks. Managers can use this talk to learn how to have difficult conversations and employ conflict management. Salespeople and entrepreneurs can use it to learn how to stifle nerves to cold call and get the deal. Emotional Intelligence is critical in business and life, and this will help your audience understand their fears to find the confidence inside once they understand the emotions that are hiding it.

Talk to DENNIS

Any of the above speeches can be tailored for your event. Simply message me so we can collaborate on how to make it unique for you.