Sound familiar now to most professional conferences and events?

As a speaker I take the same approach whether addressing a classroom, a small corporate event, or a keynote with hundreds of attendees. I combine story, vulnerability, surprising insights, opportunity for reflection, and practical tools to craft an irresistible presentation that puts butts in seats and gets people talking with each other.

I center the attention on the audience itself and its journey to give everyone something they will take back to their lives and work.

The testimonials speak for themselves as to the results. You can also check out the video below for a flavor of what I offer.

I’d love to discuss coming to your event—whether virtual or in-person. Contact me!

Mixing hands-on instruction with motivational messages and strategies, here are some of the topics I’m most often called to speak about:

• Material Transparency: From Design & Specifications to Construction. So you’re the only person on the project that can tell between an HPD and an STD? You’ve got your work cut out, from specifications to construction administration—to getting products with Health Product Declarations, Declare, and other labels in the building. Come get expert tips to leverage your impact.

• Crisis, Comebacks, and Zombies: Lessons from Natural Models of Resilience. When natural systems undergo massive disruption, we often respond with shock, grief, and depression. It’s hard not to be pessimistic about forest fires, flooding, pandemics, and climate change. But upheaval is a part of nature, and without it, our ecosystems would have no resilience. Could nature teach us how to respond constructively when things fall apart? Learn how all life moves through big changes, whether at the ecosystem level or through personal upheavals.

• Design Process Hackathon. This session will reveal the simple truth about why we do things, and present an authentic, transparent account of what has and hasn’t worked to change the design process at firms to improve integration and achievement of sustainable and health outcomes.

• LEED Project Management. Successfully managing the LEED documentation process requires specific knowledge, tools and skills that are not covered in the LEED Reference Guide. This full day workshop is designed for professionals who are somewhat familiar with the LEED Rating System, but who are looking to go beyond the basics to gain a deeper understanding of the unique processes involved with managing a LEED project, including documenting several of the most common credits from start to finish.

• To Transform Inertia, Design Behavior. The client just cares about cost. The principal isn’t really interested in integration. Half the project team has bought into sustainability and health goals… and half hasn’t. We hear the same complaints from even the most progressive designers year after year. Ugh… inertia. In this session we’ll identify and then design the behaviors and processes that we actually want, applying novel tools from Stanford University’s labs. Not just another session about integrated design (“won’t work here”) or trickery (“what’s this broccoli doing in my chocolate?”), you’ll go home with specific, easy, fun, collaborative, momentum-building wins for your practice.

• Specifying Health AND Carbon-Smart Materials. Since organizations like Architecture 2030, AIA, and USGBC have traditionally focused on reducing operational carbon emissions, shifting some of our focus to address the more immediate challenge of embodied carbon requires widespread education on the emerging toolbox available to industry professionals.

Not seeing what you’re looking for? I’d be excited to learn about your event and customize my approach to your needs. Please shoot me an email! I usually reply the same day.

Also check out this video as a sample of my work: