2011 Scholar, Sonja Falvo
On April 2, 2011 at the 2011 NSAA Convention, the Hon Gary Nairn, the 2009 - 2010 National President David Koutsoukis CSP and the Chair of the Kerrie Nairn Scholarship Committee Dr Ann Villiers CSP, announced that the 2011 Kerrie Nairn Scholar is Sonja Falvo from Queensland. Find out more about Sonja at www.sonjafalvo.com.
Congratulations Sonja Falvo on being the 2011 Kerrie Nairn Scholarship recipient.
Kerrie Nairn Scholarship Progress Report - August 1, 2011
I can’t believe it’s already been 2 months since my last report, how quickly time goes by! I feel I have accomplished quite a bit in the last two months as far as direction and clarity on my speaking topics and future business structure will look and having a fantastic mentor has certainly helped in this regard.
In June I attended the Glenn Capelli ‘Higher Order Presentation Skills’ workshop which was just brilliant. Glenn is certainly a master of presentation skills and to be able to watch him ‘in action’ and learn from such a talented presenter was truly valuable. I gained a great insight into the practical aspects of using music and slides in a presentation so that they compliment and integrate seamlessly into a presentation as well as techniques on delivering content in different formats.
I also attended Speakers Academy at the end of June which helped to put so many pieces of the jigsaw together. Up until now I have felt like there were so many ideas and thoughts running through my head that I just couldn’t seem to get clarity on exactly who my target market were, what my key message is and how my business model would look. After attending Speakers Academy everything just seemed to fall into place and I now have a draft Business Plan that I will be working through with Catherine over the next few months to really fine tune this side of my speaking business.
I had a meeting with Mags Bell who has some very exciting plans for the future around youth leadership and there may be some synergies here that we are going to explore further. I also met up with Susie Christie (CEO Global Speakers & Entertainers) who shared some great contacts with me for when I am ready to research the student market and as always, she was a fountain of knowledge.
July has proven a little challenging with some personal circumstances taking priority, but I look forward to the future positively and I know there are some exciting things coming up for me to focus. This includes spending two days with Leanne Christie (CEO Ovations) doing coaching, attending the last day of the Allan Parker’s Facilitation Workshop, going to the RSVP Expo and watching the O2 Speakers Showcase. In October I will also be attending the Allan Parker workshop ‘Mastering the Magic of Presentation Skills’ and Matt Church’s Speakership week.
I attended the June QLD Speakers Event, but sadly was unable to make the July event; these are always both inspiring and educational and a big part of my development.
On the practical side of things, I was asked to speak at the Gold Coast SWAP meeting on ‘7 Must Know Keys to Small Business Success’ which was extremely well received and I had some excellent feedback.
Kind regards
Sonja Falvo
2011 Kerrie Nairn Scholar
Kerrie Nairn Scholarship Progress Report - October 1, 2011
Since my last report 2 months ago, I have made some great progress both in terms of education/skills training and also fine tuning my speaking topics and branding.
I had a very unique opportunity to attend the 02 Speakers Showcase in Sydney as a guest of Leanne Christie to see some of Australia’s top speakers which was just brilliant; both to gain an insight into the speaker management side of the industry but also to watch 6 amazing speakers back to back and to see their skills in action.
After the Speakers Showcase I had a coaching session with Leanne around topic selection, branding and finding my ‘hook’. We followed up this coaching session with another one last week which has really helped to fine tune the topics and branding I have been working on with Catherine Palin-Brinkworth in my monthly coaching sessions. Catherine is extremely insightful and the combination of working with both Leanne and Catherine has resulted in some exciting in-roads and over the next month I will be revamping my website and starting to work on some presentations.
The day before the showcase, I was also invited by Leanne to attend the last day of a 6 day Facilitation Workshop by Allan Parker which was extremely beneficial; I had not considered facilitation work previously and although not an area I see myself heading into, I certainly gained a much better awareness for group dynamics and Allan is just such a master at creating the right environment for encouraging group participation.
I also attended the August and September QLD Chapter NSAA meetings, which are always beneficial with the high calibre of speakers that share their wisdom to help us all improve our business and/or skills.
October is going to be a busy month as I start to prepare some strategies for presenting to schools in the new year as well as attending Matt Church’s Speakership Week and Allan Parker’s Presentation Skill’s workshop. I also have my last coaching session with Leanne, my coaching session with Catherine and I am catching up with Tony Ryan to discuss the speaking in schools.
I haven’t had much opportunity to actually get out and market myself as yet, with my time being committed to mostly learning and refining at this stage. However I have had two potential bookings through Great Expectations; one which fell through and one which I am awaiting to hear back on.
Since being awarded the Kerrie Nairn Scholarship, I have had the opportunity to work with and learn from some very amazing and inspiring NSAA speakers and trainers. I have grown both personally and professionally in ways I would never have imagined and whilst I have also had some major personal challenges during this time, I know that the development and support during this time have helped me through these challenges and I have come out the other side facing life with more clarity, purpose and passion than ever before.
As this is my last report, I would like to recap on the programs I have attended and highlight the benefits gained, so that others may gain an insight into these programs and hopefully be inspired to attend and continue their own professional development.
Glenn Capelli – Higher Order Presentation Skills Workshop
Glenn is certainly a master of presentation skills and to be able to watch him ‘in action’ and learn from such a talented presenter was truly valuable. I gained a great insight into the practical aspects of using music and slides in a presentation so that they compliment and integrate seamlessly into a presentation as well as techniques on delivering content in different formats. I believe the ability to integrate music and slides so that they add depth to a presentation is a skill that can take a presentation to a whole new level of professionalism and audience interest.
Speakers Academy
Speakers Academy helped to put so many pieces of the jigsaw together; I had felt like there were so many ideas and thoughts running through my head that I just couldn’t seem to get clarity on exactly who my target market were, what my key message is and how my business model would look. After attending Speakers Academy, everything just seemed to fall into place. Speakers Academy is a must-attend for anyone who wants to grow their speaking business; the tools, strategies and ideas generated were extremely beneficial.
Allan Parker – Facilitation Workshop (Day 6)
The day before the Ovations showcase, I was invited by Leanne to attend the last day of a 6 day Facilitation Workshop by Allan Parker; I had not considered facilitation work previously and although not an area I see myself heading into, I certainly gained a much better awareness of group dynamics. Allan is certainly a master at creating the right environment for encouraging group participation and although I attended only the last day, to watch Allan ‘in action’ and learn from a true master was invaluable. I was meant to attend Alan’s workshop ‘Master the Magic of Presentation Skills’ but was unable to attend due to personal reasons, however having spent just one day in his Facilitation Workshop, I would see great value in anyone wanting to improve their presentation skills in attending this workshop. If you haven’t seen Allan in action…you absolutely must!
Matt Church – Speakership Week
Combining 3 x 2-day workshops back to back (World Class Presenter, Speech Building Program and Workshop Building Program), this was an immersion program like none I have ever attended. The programs were extremely productive and outcome driven, full of amazing resources, tools, strategies…simply mind-blowing to be honest! For someone who could never imagine being able to learn a presentation without having to practice it ‘to death’ so it was embedded in memory for life, the practicality of the Speech Building Program was particularly useful. For both the Speech Building Program and Workshop Building Program, Matt’s intention is for everyone to complete a full presentation or workshop within the two days. So it’s not just learning, but actually ‘doing’ what you are learning as you are learning it. Speakership Week would have to be one of the most powerful skills training programs I have ever attended.
Mentoring
Leanne Christie (Chief of Everything at Ovations) was extremely generous with her time and knowledge, sharing her years of experience in the industry and greatly assisting in the understanding of bureaus and speaker management. Leanne’s ability to get me thinking as a marketing engine from the client and customer perspective, and to really think big picture was fantastic. Leanne is extremely passionate about the speaking industry and to be able to tap into such an extensive ‘knowledge resource’ was very beneficial.
Special thanks to my ‘official’ Kerrie Nairn Scholarship Mentor, Catherine Palin-Brinkworth who met with me each month. Catherine’s generosity, with her time, sharing of knowledge and giving from her heart and soul is something I will be forever grateful for. To be able share my journey with someone I truly respect and admire, both personally and professionally, was one of the most powerful experiences of the scholarship. Catherine always speaks from the heart with open-ness and honesty and I could not have asked anything more of her.
I would also like to thank Mags Bell and Tony Ryan for their time during my scholarship year as well as the QLD chapter; everyone has been very supportive and for that I will always be grateful.
