Sweat The Small Stuff originated from a chaotic opening day of Indiana’s high stakes testing, ISTEP (Indiana State Testing for Educational Progress), over a decade ago. I had just been named Director of Guidance at a large urban high school in Indiana. My principal had assured me that he had organized ISTEP and assured me “there was nothing to worry about.” But when that day arrived, he had not bothered to address the details of this ultra-important three days of assessments which would determine whether students would graduate or not. Hundreds of students and educators relied on a smooth three days to maximize their success on these important assessments. Sadly, the administrator had not “sweat the small stuff” in advance of the unmanageable and chaotic “big stuff’ that engulfed us. His only advice was, “Mr. Basham, don’t sweat the small stuff.” My silent reaction was, “If you had sweat the small stuff, we wouldn’t be in the middle of this catastrophe which could have been avoided.”
Attendees will learn:
- The importance of edutainment
- How to assess your resources to create productions rather than just more meetings, breakout session, or classes
- The importance of strategically selecting your volunteers and identifying them as your production team rather than calling them a committee
- How to use free and simple social media to market your events, creating a buzz about your upcoming events that members will want to leave their home, apartments, or offices to attend
- Include veteran members who are often overlooked to tell their stories, sharing the heritage of your organization, corporation, or school
- Celebrate the past without being tethered to it
- How to grow membership and welcome a diverse group of new members to your cause
Sweat The Small Stuff will offer simple tips to help you transport your meetings, events, or presentations from mundane to magical. You can turn your meetings into productions that will have your people coming back for more.
Own The Stage is the result of years as a speech communications teacher in a large urban high school. Year after year, I noticed a remarkable change in my students after just a semester of a public speaking class, which included strategies to organize their thoughts to be comfortable delivering an important message in front of an audience of their fellow students. I also realized that I was my own best student. My delivery improved each year; my message became pithier; my lessons were more edutaining, and my students couldn’t wait to get to my class.
Attendees will learn:
- How to overcome the fear of speaking in front of an audience
- Organize their thoughts with an introduction, body, and conclusion
- How to understand and use non-verbal communication to enhance their message
- How to use strategic storytelling to deliver a powerful message
- Some simple tips to make the public speech more enjoyable and even memorable
Studies show that public speaking is among our greatest fears. Own The Stage will provide attendees easy to use tips to enhance their own stage presentations to improve their classes, meetings, and sessions.
Better Together is a presentation about diversity and inclusion, one of the most popular current topics of professional development for schools, businesses, and service clubs. Growing up in a large city before teaching, counseling, and leading in a large urban high school has taught me how to celebrate our diversity and enjoy our multi-cultural landscape. I’ve traveled and studied around the globe. If we exclude any group from our workforce, either consciously or unconsciously, our classrooms, service clubs, businesses, and churches are missing opportunities to grow and thrive.
Better Together will share some entertaining and poignant stories to demonstrate the importance of diversity and inclusion in our lives.