For Meeting Planners
Linda Larsen, CSP, CPAE
Questions & Answers
Here are some answers to some popular questions. Click on the question to reveal the answer.
What are the best ways to use Linda?
Opening Keynote
Buckle your seatbelts! Linda can open a conference with sparkling, positive energy, hilarious anecdotes and fabulous ideas on how people can get the most from their conference experience! She will set them up to EXPECT THE VERY BEST EVERY MOMENT THEY ARE THERE!
“Thank you for the fabulous kick off to our annual conference! Your energetic style and poignant stories hit all the right elements for our attendees. They were blown away by your message and the delivery.”
– Wendy Mann, Dir. Of Communications,
Nat’l Telecommunications Coop. Assoc.
Closing Keynote
Linda can send ‘em out humming the tunes and raving with joy! She will leave people laughing, and buzzing with such a positive experience that they will want to come back next year and bring all their friends!
“You had the toughest position on the agenda – last. And yet, you received the highest ratings on our evaluations of all the speakers. You left a lasting impression that will stay with our customers for a long time.”
– Joan Orentlicher, Assoc. VP Meetings & Conventions,
LOMA
Breakout Session
Yes! Linda delivers interactive, informative and practical breakout sessions on dealing with difficult people, sparking innovation and creativity to solve problems and reduce stress and communication excellence, just to name a few. So what makes her sessions different? The FUNNY FACTOR!
“Linda is so engaging and funny. I don’t think we realized that we were learning valuable lessons until the next day when our sides had stopped hurting.”
– Terry Stringer, Learning and Development, El Paso Corp.
American Payroll Association
What makes Linda different?
Three things make Linda stand out in a very crowded field.
- As a young woman, Linda was kidnapped and held hostage by an escaped convict with a .357 Magnum. She shares her dramatic, riveting escape, as a powerful example of how people can overcome ANY obstacle that life may throw in their path, keep calm in the face of a (shall we say) VERY difficult person, AND stay focused on creating a positive outcome in spite of out-of-control emotions.
- As a former professional actress, Linda is extremely funny, spontaneous and creative with her examples, as evidenced by a fall-out-of-your-chair-funny rap song that she wrote and performs to help people understand that if you want to be heard and understood by another person, speak THEIR language.
- She’s an expert in her field. Linda holds Bachelor of Social Work, and Master of Fine Arts degrees as well as the Certified Speaking Professional designation, held by less than 10% of all professional speakers worldwide. In 2016 Linda was inducted into the CPAE® Speaker Hall of Fame, joining such notables as General Colin Powell, President Ronald Reagan and Brian Tracy.She is a best-selling author, and a communication consultant specializing in customer service, leadership and persuasion, and creativity.
Our group is special. Can Linda tailor her message to us?
Linda LOVES to tailor her message to meet your specific objectives and your audiences’ expectations and needs. Just tell her what you want to accomplish and she will help make it happen. She may ask to speak by phone with a few of your attendees before the meeting in order to get an understanding of their daily experiences and challenges. When you fill out her pre-conference questionnaire that will also help her really “get” what’s happening in your world.
What AV needs does Linda have?
- Linda requests a wireless lavalier microphone.
- Depending upon your group and your objectives, she may want to use a PowerPoint presentation in which case she would need an LCD projector (with sufficient lumens to project a BRIGHT screen with houselights ON), and a screen of adequate size for the room. Linda can bring her PPT on a flash drive and will always bring it on her laptop as a backup. SHE NEEDS AUDIO OUT CABLES TO PLAY VIDEO AND/OR AUDIO CLIPS from her PPT. In her tailoring call with you, you can make the determination if she will use a PowerPoint presentation. OH! And don’t worry – her slides are not loaded with boring, dry, sleep-inducing facts! They are fun photos that make points and just a few key points to make sure the information sticks!
- If she does NOT use a PPT, she will need a CD player run through the house sound system.
What is the most effective way to set up the room?
- Coming from a professional theater background, Linda is very focused what it takes to give your audience members the BEST experience possible. All her suggestions are made with THEIR needs in mind. Happy, comfortable audience members who can see and hear well, will engage better, get more out of her presentation and be able to retain and apply her information more effectively.
- A raised platform is suggested if there are more than 65 people in attendance
- Please place a small draped cocktail table on the stage for Linda’s props
- Please put the first row of seats no more than 6-10 feet from the front edge of the platform
- People will be MUCH more comfortable if you ask the staff to put 6 or 7 inches between each chair (oh how people hate to smash up against another person for the whole presentation), AND add a little extra room between rows if possible.
- The PERFECT chair set up for maximum involvement is chevron style – with NO center aisle. Imagine your speakers standing in the center of the stage speaking directly into a big black hole called a center aisle. Fill that space with laughing, happy, receptive people! Yay!
- If you are using a head table or a lectern, please move those to the back, left or right of the platform before Linda’s presentation. She doesn’t use a lectern and needs lots of room to move around on stage in order to connect better with your attendees.
- If you have the use of a spotlight – you might want to crank those puppies up! Linda is very animated and a HUGE part of the fun of her presentations are her facial expressions. So many ballrooms have lighting that shines directly down on the stage casting scary dark shadows on your speakers, making them look somewhat zombie-like. You don’t want to frighten your audience members…
After you've booked Linda - what happens?
- Linda or her Vice-President in Charge of Making Things Happen (the Fabulous Kate Holgate – kate@lindalarsen.com) will call you for information for the agreement and then email it to you.
- You sign and send back the agreement with a 50% deposit and the date is officially YOURS!
- You then fill out the questionnaire about your group, your challenges, objectives, etc., and Linda will get to work learning as much about you as she can.
- A few weeks before your event, Linda or Kate will contact you for the names and contact information of a few of your members / employees / attendees so that she can have a conversation with them. Kate will also confirm all the travel logistics, cell phone numbers, hotel information, etc. and answer any of your last-minute questions.
- Linda will call you the minute she arrives onsite so you can take off the “Has my speaker arrived yet?” hold button.
- That’s it! Linda promises to be your most fun, easy, hassle-free, prepared, professional speaker you EVER book!
Follow, Connect, and Subscribe with Linda on Social Media!
"...YOUR EFFORTS AND STYLE... ...CULMINATED IN RAVE REVIEW..."
“From the moment you took the stage, you engaged the audience. The preparation you put into your presentation, from eliciting input from our established membership to viewing statistical information related to our Society, was phenomenal. The outcome of your efforts and style culminated in rave reviews from our attendees”
– Sandra Day, President
The Society of Plastic Surgical Skin Care Specialist
