Testimonials   Wonderful stuff, very relevant; good presentation, lots of energy; very entertaining. - Birmingham ASTD Member   Ms. Lee was a pleasure to work with.  She was energetic and involved the audience in her presentation.  She was able to get the audience to cheer and chant RARA. – San Antonio ARMA VP Programs   I know what you told our chapter members was information they not only could relate to and likely have experienced, but you  also gave us all some concrete methods for smoothing out meeting problems and making them run better and with higher productivity. – Fort Worth ASTD VP Communication   I came to the program thinking I already knew a lot about meetings, but I got some great tips for improving them.  Thanks. – Houston IABC Member   Thank you for your wonderful presentation to the ASTD Coaches and Consultants group.  You really got all of us in the audience thinking about meeting pitfalls and problems, then “wowed” us by providing some simple, effective meeting strategies we could all implement.  Your enthusiasm and sincerity were impressive bonuses that made for an engaging and valuable session. -– Dallas ASTD VP Special Interest Groups

Keynotes Offered by Shirley Lee 

Click to see prior open-to-public presentations

NOTE:  Most keynote speeches are for 20-30 minutes.  Interactive keynotes may run 45-60 minutes.

Communicate Clearly

• Perfecting presentations with the 4 P's 

20-30 minutes explaining how great presentations are the cornerstone to sharing information, making sales, and getting the desired results. The four P’s of presentation are the steps that can help with creating and delivering presentations. The four P’s are: Plan, Prepare, Practice, and Perform.

• Create with Plan and Prepare, which are the creative steps where you will ask yourself questions about your subject and audience in order to create the best possible presentation. (see related article)
• Deliver with Practice and Perform, which are the delivery prep-steps with suggestions that help you polish your presentation.  (see related article)

Interactive version includes 10-15 additional minutes for discussion of typical PowerPoint errors and body language expression by presenters.

• Communicate clearly (a.k.a. The 3 Aints of Texas)

Communication, whether written or verbal,  is key to success because it can effect how our initiatives and plans are perceived and carried out.  By looking at how things are pronounced and clearly understanding the importance of listening and review we can vastly improve how our future communications are received.  We will do this by looking at the pronunciation of three aints to:

1. Understand who the audience is and what the purpose of the communication to them should be.

2. Make sure the communication relates to audience using words and terms they are familiar with.

3. Insure the communication is trusted information and does not cause irritation to the intended audience.

Get Organized

• SIFT through clutter for what you need

When you organize your workspace, you accomplish things more quickly by knowing where to find necessary items when you need them.   We can unclutter by working through The SIFT recipe  to learn how to take action by:  

1. Developing a scheme how the new area should look by analyzing it's current and future use to determine a plan and schedule for reorganizing.
2. Initiating the organizing plan by sorting items to find the right place for everything you keep and eliminate what you don't need.
3. Determining the best way to format storage of the kept items and efficient use of our space.
4. Triumphing over the clutter by making a plan for keeping everything organized before we call it done and take time to celebrate.

• SIFT and SIFT2 to de-clutter

Longer interactive version of 4 points from "SIFT through clutter for what you need" with a deeper look at initiate portion with SIFT2 categories and adding discussion time on problems areas where group helps in determining potential solutions.

Manage Meetings

• Moving meetings from boring to productive (based on R.A!R.A! book)

35-45 minutes on how can we make all of our meetings be both enjoyable and effective.  We can do this by using a four part meeting management approach like RARA which stresses important elements of productive meetings.  With the RARA approach, meeting leaders and members learn to:

1. Assign appropriate roles to insure the meeting is successful and its purpose is accomplished.

2. Create an agenda to start and end meetings on-time, as well as keep meetings focused and on-track.

3. Utilize meeting records to track progress during and after the meeting, keep members focused, and to prevent redundancy or rabbit trails.

4. Initiate action during the meeting and assignment of follow-up actions with due dates to people so outside tasks are completed.

• Increasing the value of  meetings with the RARA Approach (based on R.A!R.A! book)

   

  45-60 minutes on how we can make business meetings more effective by utilizing a  process flow that emphasizes the RARA approach.  With the RARA approach, meeting leaders and members learn to:

  1. Better plan meetings to make sure the correct people attend. 

  2. Assign appropriate roles to insure the meeting is successful and its purpose is accomplished.

  3. Create an agenda to start and end meetings on-time, as well as keep meetings focused and on-track.

  4. Utilize meeting records to track progress during and after the meeting, keep members focused, and to prevent redundancy or rabbit trails.

  5. Initiate action during the meeting and assignment of follow-up actions with due dates to people so outside tasks are completed.

  6. Additionally, prepare for and evaluate meetings to improve performance, as well as identifying and resolving various types of problems that can occur in meetings.

• How do your meetings score? (see related article)

How do we know if our business meetings are a worthwhile investment of our time or just a loss in productivity?  To start with we will take a look at a formula for determining the typical cost of a meeting and what gets accomplished in an average meeting.  Then we will evaluate our typical  meeting to determine where our weaknesses lie.  Afterwards we will determine an approach that will move our next and future meetings from ineffective to productive.   This version is perfect for meeting and project leaders looking for new ideas to improve their meeting management.

• Turn meetings into pep rallies of productivity (see related article)

Longer interactive version of 4 top points from "Moving meetings from boring to productive" with the evaluation portion of "How do your meetings score?"  This version is  perfect for organizations that focus on training, coaching, or leadership.

• 10 Mistakes Meeting Leaders Make (see related article)

30-50 minutes of interactive discussion based on ten mistakes meeting leaders make.  Designed for leadership members to discuss how they can improve meetings they lead.

• 7 Meeting Blunders to Avoid  (see related article)

30-45 minutes of facilitated discussion based on seven meeting blunders participants bear.  Designed for team members to discuss how they can improve their meetings.

 Manage Time

• Time Management for the 21st Century (see related article)

Managing our time effectively is critical to our success and the success of our personal projects and  business today.  Is the old time management still working or do we need to adjust the principles to fit the work of teams and managers now?  People may try to implement some portion of a time management philosophy or program but often they only do this on the job.  So few are successful in embracing the concepts outside the business environment, which also makes them less successful at keeping on-track at work.  Is there an easier way to get a better grip on both our professional and personal time?   Yes, by utilizing the steps outlined in TAPP where individuals learn to:

1. Focus on doing the most important tasks each day in order to achieve goals.
2. Schedule those appointments that are vital to meeting their important goals.
3. Assign priorities to their tasks and appointments in order to best meet their goals.
4. Understand how working in teams and with other people can affect their time management plan in both positive and negative ways.