Book Melissa as Your Speaker
Melissa will charm and delight your audience, while inspiring and empowering them to take action. Here’s a little taste:
Speaking Topics
For Corporate Audiences:
The Productive Power of Play… At Work!
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, but just as important as play after work is play at work. If this sounds crazy, you won’t want to miss this talk to find out why play is your 21st Century secret weapon, and how you can use it to improve productivity and benefit your organization.
You’ll learn:
- Why play is not what you might think
- Research-backed reasons play is good for us
- The 3 ways to incorporate play at work
Format: Keynote, Workshop
Target audience: Corporate Directors, HR Directors
Secrets of Communicating for Influence and Impact
Have you ever tried to get people onboard with an idea, but gotten crickets in response? The ability to influence others, so you can make an impact, may feel like a mysterious X-factor, but really, it’s a combination of learnable skills. In this session, Melissa shares the 6 key skills anyone can develop to have greater influence in life and work, and how her F.U.N. Method™ of active-learning not only keeps learners engaged, but helps them remember better, too. You’ll walk away with tools you can use right away in life and work!
You’ll walk away:
- Understanding the skills you need to have greater influence
- More aware of your unconscious, reflexive “no” response
- With an activity you can do with your team, to help them apply empathy to communicate more effectively
Format: Keynote, Workshop
Target audience: Research Managers, Engineering Managers, Scientists, Women Leaders, or anyone with expertise that’s hard to communicate to others
Yes, Virginia, There IS an Engaging Virtual Meeting!
Virtual meetings are here to stay, but they don’t have to be something we suffer through. We’ve all experienced the bad version, where attendees fall asleep or click away (killing your bottom line!) Come learn some easy tips to help level-up your virtual experience from “awful” to “awesome!”
You’ll learn:
- The #1 key to creating a stand-out experience, even before your meeting starts
- How to ensure people engage from the moment they log onto the call
- A foolproof way to “read the room,” regardless of whether cameras are on or off!
Format: Keynote, Workshop
Target audience: Managers, Team Leads, anyone who leads virtual meetings
For Creatives & Students:
Play: The Missing Ingredient & Your Secret Weapon
Spending time on creative things is frivolous and self-indulgent, right? WRONG! In fact, it’s world-changing.
You don’t need to find the cure for cancer or end war as we know it in order to change the world for the better. Discover why your creative play and self-expression is a world-changing act, whether you’re an amateur or a professional. You’ll never look at playtime the same way again!
You’ll learn:
- 5 reasons why putting time into creative play is world-changing.
- The surprising way that creative play affects the brain.
- Simple and effective tools for breaking free of creative blocks and resistance.
Format: Keynote, Workshop
Target audience: Students, Artists, Photographers, Writers, Crafters, Makers…
Melissa’s Bio
Melissa Dinwiddie is a strategic thinking partner who uses play to help people-first and change-making organizations unleash creativity, and strengthen connection, communication, collaboration, and clarity, so their impact matches their smarts. Her background as a professional artist, trained improviser, and jazz singer help her design creative, interactive, playful experiences that attendees rave about because they acquire new skills and behaviors and build connections while having fun.
Melissa is the founder of Creative Sandbox Solutions™, and the author of The Creative Sandbox Way™: Your Path to a Full-Color Life, an interactive playbook that countless readers have sworn freed them from creative block virtually overnight.
A former “non-creative” person and recovering perfectionist, Melissa is on a mission to change the conversation around creative expression and play, because not only does creating make you feel more alive — it’s how you change the world!
If you don’t count her first oral report in fourth grade, Melissa entered the world of public speaking with a bang, when she co-delivered her undergraduate valedictory address to an audience of over 2,000 students, faculty, and families in a packed Zellerbach Auditorium at U.C. Berkeley.
A handful of years later Melissa was leading hundreds of congregants in three-hour High Holy Days services every fall for her lay-led Reconstructionist synagogue. Years of training as a jazz singer, singer/songwriter, and improviser have honed her skills as an entertainer, but her favorite performances are those that do more than entertain: they transform.
Contact Melissa today to bring her unique style of transformation to your event.
Testimonials:
“Melissa brings an irresistible energy to any stage she’s on. Her message rings true, her music connects, and her spark is contagious.”
Patti Digh
Author of Life is a Verb and seven other books
@pattidigh
“Melissa Dinwiddie speaks (and sings) with a charisma that is instantaneously inclusive, bringing her audience together in community and lighting them up. Her charm is irresistible and it is also deep.“
David Roche
International speaker and performer, author, actor, storytelling coach
“This workshop inspired me to allow myself more time to create for me, and balance that with what my customers want. The knowledge I’ve gained from this presentation is a lesson I’ll take with me wherever I go. Thank you for speaking at our school!”
Eden C.
11th Grader
“It was fantastic!“
Seshu Badrinath
VP Programming, CTPPA
tiffinbox.org
“I really enjoyed meeting with you beforehand to go over our school culture. The message you shared was really relevant to our students—we need to build in more time for creative play into our lives so it feels more real and less like a luxury. The message is incredibly important, especially for students so focused on getting good grades that they forget creative play can help them succeed in life.”
Sarah Canfield-Dafilou
Student and Jewish Life Coordinator, Kehillah Jewish High School
Contact Me About Speaking for Your Event
