Inspirational Speakers at Engage Speaker Talks Ottawa
National Speakers Bureau’s Engage Speaker Talks series made its much-anticipated Ottawa debut in 2018 and brought two inspiring keynote speakers who shared eye-opening insights, breathtaking imagery and proven leadership and resiliency strategies with the audience. For those unable to be at the event first-hand, we’ve put together a summary of all the speaker showcase highlights below:
Astronaut & Aquanaut Dave Williams‘ presentation on determination, resilience, and unconventional leadership took our audience of event professionals to space and back. This Canadian hero inspired us to live fulfilling, exceptional lives by taking on a possibility mindset – by taking out the ‘Im’ in order to make the Impossible – Possible.
Some of Dave’s key takeaways included:
• Don’t take chances; manage risks. Being ready to respond in a timely manner to unexpected challenges is all part of a corporate culture. As leaders, we must focus on developing a corporate culture that promotes continuous learning.
• Optimal teamwork requires a focus on team objectives and not necessarily individual tasks. In Dave’s space travel, the balancing of adhering to mission timelines with the importance of developing trust amongst his fellow astronauts was key in this team environment.
• Our greatest opportunity in life is to live our legacy on a day to day basis. Don’t worry about leaving a legacy. Instead live your legacy every day live your life and commit to living it the fullest. Only then will you truly get the most out of life
• As humans, we are all on this journey together. We all need to figure out how to work together, not only for the benefit of humanity but also to be able to protect our planet for future generations.
He also shared some beautiful, anecdotal evidence of the impact his exceptional life has had on those around him – one such example was of a little boy who was a patient in his hospital who wanted to meet an astronaut – as he spent a few hours with this boy, he felt a whole lifetime was shared between them. Dave Williams is a living example of pursuing possibility and living an infinite, fulfilling life by relishing the value and importance of each moment:
Dr. Rumeet Billan, an award-winning entrepreneur and learning architect, showed the audience how they can develop their PsyCap Mindset to build resilience. She brought up thought-provoking messages such as the fact that the majority of jobs that today’s children will be applying for do not exist yet. In order to future proof ourselves and our children, she advocates for a more flexible language when talking about careers. Instead of asking “what do you want to be when you grow up?” we need to ask “who do you want to become?”
Rumeet demonstrated how resilience is a capability that can be developed, measured and managed. She challenged us to become the critic of our inner critic by examining how we speak about ourselves to ourselves. Rumeet’s four key components of psychological capital were:
- Hope
- Optimism
- Self-Efficacy
- Resilience
Watch some of the most powerful takeaways from her presentation at Engage Ottawa 2018:
What our audience had to say:
“Both speakers were excellent. The presentations were very informative and very enjoyable.“
— Manager: Outreach, Ottawa Humane Society
“This was an excellent and well-organized event with amazing speakers!“
— Manager, Business Events – Ottawa Tourism
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