Help your students and student leaders make the most of their educational experience from day one. This session will show them how to create a step-by-step program to achieving their academic and collegiate goals. Dave lays out a strategy for personal leadership that moves the incoming first year student smoothly into the academic flow and puts them well on their way to becoming a successful college graduate. Students leave this program with a refreshed idea of what they should expect out of the higher learning experience. They’ll learn to be focused, results oriented and exhibit personal leadership. You’ll see more student involvement on campus and an increased retention rate as more of your students will be prepared for success.
Leadership Skills, Student Leadership, Teambuilding
Click on any program title for more detail.
Building Leaders Through Service: From Going Green to Implementing Change
Put your community service project into overdrive with an experienced volunteer leader! Your student leaders will learn and experience: developing a local and global impact statement that defines who’ll benefit from your community service project and how; organized methods for brainstorming, strategic planning and community service project implementation; how to use team building, communication and conflict resolution skills to manage volunteers, coworkers and team members; the budgeting process and assessing risk management for their project; managing time and delegating duties among their team; and more.
Campus Organization Leadership Training (COLT)
As America’s Student Leadership Trainer, Dave Kelly has developed this comprehensive retreat as his premier student leadership training program. As the name implies, the program combines seven of Dave’s most powerful student leadership modules into the definitive program for student leaders. This program is perfect for any campus club or organization, but is most effective when all of the leaders and advisors for your campus’ club and organizations attend so that every organization on campus will be on the same page. They all have the same understanding of how to run the organization effectively, they’ll reduce the number of complaints about ineffective methods, and they’ll all have written guidelines instead of relying on someone’s opinion or the classic “that’s how it’s always been run!”
Character and Leadership Fundamentals for College Students
Leaders are made not born, and in this seminar students will learn about many of the leadership skills and character traits that will make them a more effective leader – guaranteed! This talk addresses the world of leadership, character and soft skills such as punctuality, table manners, and listening. Students and student leaders come away with an understanding of the basic leadership skills that can have an immediate impact on how they deal with and lead others. They will also see how fundamental leadership skills are a necessity for leading a successful life after college.
Conducting Great Meetings: What Every College student Should Know
The basics of planning, conducting and administering great meetings are all covered in this workshop from Dr. Paul’s 29-page booklet of the same name. You’ll learn about meeting pre-planning, setting agendas, staying on topic, handling unruly attendees, making sure everyone is heard, Roberts Rules of Order, meeting follow-up and more. Great for conducting better campus club meetings or preparing for your future career as a manager or entrepreneur. You’ll learn to manage great meetings, get everyone on board and get results.
Confidence in Leadership
When your student leaders approach their roles and responsibilities with confidence, their chance for success multiplies immeasurably. Inspired and motivated student and organization leaders spell success for your campus organizations, your students and your institution. With this program Dave instills the confidence in your students that they can lead and lead successfully. After Dave shares his keys to confidence in leadership roles and eight tips for achieving excellence they will come away knowing how to create a vision for themselves and their team and how to overcome the barriers and obstacles to success in leadership.
Everyday Leadership
While not everyone is a natural-born leader, core leadership skills can be cultivated. In this revealing session students will learn Dave’s five secrets to personal leadership that will serve them every day and for a lifetime. Dave guides your students through such important areas as creating a vision, setting goals to make that vision a reality, using time effectively, effective communication skills, delegating authority to others, and keys to personal motivation. As an experienced speaker, he also shares his six keys to successful public speaking for the shy and nervous. Your students will love this session and come away feeling as though Dave is talking directly to them. He’ll give them practical tools they can use right away in their personal lives, college experiences, and in planning for their professional careers. This “taste” of leadership could be just the thing to motivate many students to get more involved and increase their participation on campus.
Everything I Ever Wanted to Know About Leadership I Learned from Sports
The leadership skills 3-Time Super Bowl Champion Steve Wallace shares are based on the real life leadership lessons he learned as member of three Super Bowl winning teams. In talking with students and student leaders, Steve takes the approach that “Everything you ever need to know about life can be learned from sports.” And that includes leadership, teamwork, responsibility, loyalty, goal-setting, communication and much more. He uses those lessons to instill and strengthen basic leadership and teamwork skills among the leaders of student-led organizations.
Fun and Exciting Meetings!
“We’re always meeting but nothing’s getting done!” Sound familiar? If your campus clubs and student organizations seem to be spinning their wheels or can’t get members to show up for and participate in your meetings, then this is the session for you. Your clubs and organizations can run great meetings and your students will leave this session confident of that fact! Especially after seeing Dave model how it’s done! Your student leaders will learn to run their meetings in a way that is efficient, enjoyable, energizes the group, and makes everyone want to keep coming back.
Leadership Coaching: Harriet Tubman Style
Leadership Coaching: Harriet Tubman Style infuses drama, music and movement with the spoken word—all working toward the concept of leadership in today’s world. Harriet Tubman’s remarkable life holds many treasures which span the centuries. An interactive participatory workshop, your student leaders will listen, laugh and learn with a historical icon. Attendees of this high-energy workshop see the following demonstrated through Harriet Tubman’s words and actions: the characteristics of a great leader; how to skillfully lead; building an empowered team, honing negotiation skills; managing difficult people and situations and more.
Leadership Dogs: Dealing with Conflict and Personality Styles
How you deal with conflict says a lot about how you approach leadership. Based on conflict styles research, this funny, engaging, and insightful program illustrates a variety of leadership styles, from the assertive and powerful Bulldog, to the happy-go-lucky Black Lab, and everything in between. Discover your “inner dog” and find out how to apply that knowledge in honing your leadership skills. Learn some new tricks on how to recognize other breeds of leaders, and how to adapt your leadership style so you can ultimately become “Best in Show.”
Making The Most of Your 24/7
Time management is one of the most important skills any leader can possess. In this session students will learn how to effectively use and schedule their time and to manage their many different responsibilities of classes, co-curricular activities and ‘having a life.’ Dave will share his easy to understand keys to establishing priorities and will help your students focus on what’s most important. Dave also engages the students in discussion about the distractions they encounter (socializing, the Internet, television, text messaging, dating, etc.) and how to either avoid or manage them. Instead of blowing through life like a leaf in the wind your students will know how to use time to their advantage and determine what direction their lives will take.
Member Retention: How to keep ‘em after you get ‘em
Once you’ve effectively recruited enough members to your campus club or organization, the next step in success is to GET them involved and KEEP them involved. This hands-on workshop from Gonzo’s Leadership University covers the A to Z of member retention. After working with hundreds of clubs and organizations Dave has encountered all of the reasons students choose not to stay involved. This workshop will ‘head them off at the pass’ before your students can make the same mistakes. Already making these mistakes? Dave is here to save the day!
Orientation Leader Training
Teach your orientation leaders the facilitation skills they need to make sure every group ROCKS! Orientation, Welcome Week, and other new student events can form the base of lifelong (or at least, semester-long) friendships and connections and is linked to academic success. Orientation leaders, then, are an integral part of the orientation and retention process on many college campuses. A skilled, enthusiastic, well-trained group of orientation leaders can spell the difference between a hugely successful orientation season, and one that is merely adequate. The core of this training focuses on facilitation/presentation skills.
Orientation Leaders Training Workshop
This workshop will prepare your Student Orientation Leaders to do the best job they can. As America’s Student Leadership Trainer Dave Kelly knows that the best leaders are developed from day one. You’ll arm your current leaders with new skills and teach them to identify potential new leaders through the orientation process.
Play To Win: A Game Plan for Success
This program presents a step-by-step goal-setting approach for use by individuals as well as newly formed and established teams that will get your student leaders motivated and energized. By the end of this session, they’ll develop a realistic game plan that’s ready for implementation. Dave shares his story of moving beyond growing up in a trailer park on the side of an interstate highway to becoming one of the most in-demand speakers in the United States today. He has done it by using what he teaches in this program: a defined approach to pursuing dreams through concrete goals and plans. This is a fun and energizing program that will guide students to success and satisfaction in their college life, careers, work, and family lives.
Playing Well With Others: Dealing With Conflict in Student Organizations
When conflict arises between your student leaders of members of student clubs and organizations – and they will – you’ll want to prevent things from exploding and keep your organization from imploding. Most of us were graded on our ability to ‘play well with others’ in kindergarten or grade school, but Dave’s leadership experience on campuses, in organizations and in the business world lets him know that it’s a life-long process to get it right. Dave has trained and mentored thousands of college students and student leaders as both a leadership expert and the most honored District Administrator in the history of Circle K International (the student arm of Kiwanis International). There isn’t a source of conflict or type of problem that Dave hasn’t seen.
The Power of Boldness: How to Get What You Want
Will you do what you love or will you go for the big payday? Whatever you decide, fuel your own personal achievement with drive, desire and action. This program leads students to make effective career choices. Dave will show them how to succeed regardless of their background or circumstances, how to overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles, and ways to ignite their passions and develop a winning mental attitude. This program is perfect for students who are looking to take bold steps forward in their collegiate experience, their organizational leadership positions and their future careers. They’ll develop a winning mental attitude and use it to energize their goals.
Public Speaking: How You Can Be Successful
Taken from the 21-page booklet authored by Dr. Paul, this workshop is full of tips and techniques to make you a better speaker… guaranteed! In making the connection between college and life, being able to speak effectively in can enhance your career and add an important talent to your life. You’ll learn the basics of speaking like a pro with tips on what to do, what not to do, how to prepare, what to wear, the speaking jitters, your introduction, opening your speech, speaking techniques and practices, gestures, humor, using props and more.
Recruitment Techniques for Student Organizations
The first step in the success of any campus organization is recruiting and involving dedicated members. Dave ‘Gonzo” Kelly, America’s Student Leadership Trainer, has participated in over 100 student club days and activities fairs over the past 10 years and still participates in 6-8 recruitment tables per year. Dave will show your students how to make this their best recruiting year ever! Dave will demonstrate – step-by-step – the most effective way to manage the recruitment process from recruitment table to the informational meeting to retaining the members who joined. His proven techniques have been taught on college campuses throughout the U.S. and student participation has dramatically increased at those schools.
Respond-Ability; Don’t Let Life Live You
Do you control the situation or does the situation control you? As a student leader you are constantly interacting with people, and challenges arise. How you react is up to you. You have the ability to choose your response and make things happen. Through experiential activities and discussion, you’ll learn how to show up in your life in the best possible way in your every action. You’ll learn about using your experiences to move toward success rather than being controlled by circumstances.
The Secrets of Motivation
In this session student leaders will learn the basics of encouraging and leading others to peak performance. Using Dave’s practical, easy-to-implement tips, they’ll find more success in working with others. Dave walks students through an examination or the reasons why people join groups and organizations and discuss why we should motivate others in the first place. He’ll share seven tips to motivating others; lead students to discover eight keys to motivating others; and help them become skilled at recognizing the five indicators of motivational success. Participants will also learn how to use visualization to achieve personal and group objectives and about using rewards to inspire team members.
Student Leaders’ Roles and Responsibilities: Get Back To Basics
You’ll get your organizations running smoothly, they’ll get their goals accomplished and your officers and individual clubs will start working together for maximum results. It’s a dream come true… everyone will actually know what their job is, which is the first step to actually getting them done! They’ll not only learn what their responsibilities are but those of the other leaders in the organization as well. They’ll know who to look to for help and how the organization should function as a whole. This is another one of Dave’s programs that works well for one campus organization but has its maximum impact when all of the leaders and advisors from all of your student-led organizations attend together.
Take a Deep Breath…and Relax
Does work stress you out? That’s a rhetorical question because working in Student Life can be exciting yet often stressful. This program works well for both students and advisors. Come learn ways to relax and rejuvenate that are completely healthy and stimulant-free. Topics include nutrition, sleep needs, and exercise tips, all based on brain-based learning models. You’ll learn to breathe and learn a technique that combines slow, graceful movements and special breathing to boost our “Vital Energy.” Based on the teachings of Qigong (pronounced “Chee-gong”), it only takes minutes each day to do and the benefits are profound: enhanced whole body circulation; accelerated metabolism; weight loss; better energy; bolstered immune system; enhanced mental acuity, focus, and concentration; and the list goes on. The Chinese have known about the healing and regenerative power of Qigong for thousands of years as it helps us to calm down, relax, and become more peaceful.
Urban Line Dance: Team-Building for Student Leaders
Music floods the room—the moving tempos and beats of hip hop, Latin, jazz and neo-soul. Students are engaged with practical teachings on team building while their bodies reenact the lessons their minds just learned. Together, minds and bodies are challenged as concrete lessons for teambuilding begin to emerge amidst the music. Student leaders, within the context of dance, will learn: the definition of a team (and how to get them on the dance floor); how to include everyone (no wallflowers here!); the coordinated steps of team development; how to lead—positively; creating new strategies for team success; resolving team conflict; and more.
