Kristen Geez

When the topic of bullying is discussed among youth practitioners, everyone is quick to offer solutions and resources that might temporarily minimize the issue, but rarely ever eliminates the problem. No matter how defined expectations are in a school, the number of youth engaging in misconduct has continued to rise. Managing difficult student behaviors can make parents, educators, and city officials feel powerless. In order to create a bully-free culture, practitioners have to start implementing opportunities for troubled youth to lead. This speech will provide attendees with an opportunity to explore best practices from a former bully. This session will discuss the positive effects of schools that support the social and emotional well-being of their more challenging students. If we want to eliminate our bullying problem, we have to start asking our bullies to help us solve it!

This session is intended to provide educators and youth practitioners with knowledge, skills, and the correct attitude needed to effectively interact with students and millennial faculty. Attendees will learn how to relate and redirect at-risk youth/ young adults by learning how to become a leader they respect. This session provides attendees with an in-depth look at the way their young people might perceive their leadership abilities/skills. By discovering/ uncovering their strengths, weakness, and missed opportunities. Educational leaders and youth practitioners that attend this session would benefit from the following topics: corrective behavior, attendance, and the importance of your reputation amongst students, parents, and faculty members that could be causing a disconnect with your students/team.

Are you feeling overwhelmed by the disturbing changes that are happening in education when it comes to disciplining and nurturing 21st-century youth? Are students in your district choosing to make bad choices with no care for how their decisions today will affect them in the future? Are your teachers’ schedules being filled with parent meetings, writing office referrals, assigning detention, and submitting a transfer requests to alternative centers? No matter how defined expectations are the number of students engaging in misconduct continues to rise. Managing difficult student behaviors, truancy, lack of parental support, drama on social media, excessive amounts of drugs or sexual misconduct can make educators’ feel powerless. Attendees will have the opportunity to learn 5 essential steps (Proactiveness, Ownership, Working-together, Empowering-students, and Relationship-building) they need to embody in order to change the culture of their campuses/ districts.

There are no easy answers on how to respond to students whose social and emotional well-being are in jeopardy, and finding these answers is not helped by the fact that the subject is taboo both in schools and at home. Although we can speculate, the truth is we might never know for certain the true reasons our students are feeling a disconnect, angry, worthless, or unmotivated. We can all admit that there has been an increased number of students walking around feeling empty seeking to fill themselves up with anything, expect for help. This session will discuss the positive effects of schools that support the social and emotional well-being of their students, typically experience fewer disciplinary issues, focus more on academics, and can help their students better communicators.

Have you ever come up with the most brilliant idea or business plan that no one else has thought of it? Only to have mistakenly told your friends and family who don’t understand or support you? There will always be people or obstacles bringing you down or getting in the way of what you want to accomplish. This breakout session will inspire attendees to Believe in Themselves when nobody else does or when the journey gets difficult. Attendees will learn how to move beyond their comfort zone and start brings their dreams to fruition. Being the first isn’t always easy. During this session, attendees will have an opportunity to learn 3 essential steps (Power, Pause, Protect) they need to embody in order to successfully navigate through the highs and lows of pressuring their vision.

This session is intended to provide executives, supervisors, managers, and team lead with the knowledge, skills, and the correct attitude needed to effectively gain the respect and loyalty of their millennial team. Attendees will learn how to become a relatable leader that millennials are happy to follow, resulting in brand loyalty. This session provides attendees with an in-depth look at the way their young people might perceive their leadership/company. By discovering/ uncovering their strengths, weakness, and missed opportunities to create deeper connections with their team. Leaders that attend this session will learn how to increase millennial retention rates, corrective behavior, create company perks, and the importance of their reputation. After attending this session leaders will have millennials creating captions like #MyBossHasSause (Sophistication, Approachability, Uniqueness, Stability, Empowering).

This breakout session focuses on why it’s important for professionals to become more strategic when attempting to move up the corporate leader. Attendees will have the opportunity to discuss 5 essential steps they need to embody in order to obtain the career they’ve always wanted. Attendees will learn how to apply the PAUSE (Plan, Action, Understand, Shift, and Elevate) method to their personal and professional lives. In this popcorn generation, it’s easy to confuse momentum with spreading ourselves thin, sometimes the only thing standing in the way of achieving our goals is the fact that we are too busy to take a PAUSE.

This breakout session focuses on why it’s important for women to embrace their inner power. Women will have the opportunity to discuss insecurities and learning how to own who they are! By using group discussions, interactive activities, and creating a power name. Women will learn how to become more confident in their personal and professional lives. By attending this session, women will explore approaches on how to discover their voice, getting their confidence back, lack of support, and how to become the women the next generation of girls needs to see. All women that attend this session will receive a Lipstick Ready wristband, Poster of affirmation, and handout.

Holding students accountable for their actions and getting them to make better choices takes wisdom, consistency, empathy, and innovation. Educators have to take advantage of using technology to enchant, reach, teach, and inspire students to change. Despite the negative effects that come out of excessive technology and social media use, there is also an opportunity for schools to utilize technology to create content that will influence students’ to demonstrate more positive behaviors. Teens and young adults have been at the forefront of the rapid adoption of the mobile internet and the always-on lifestyle. It’s time we join them, by using technology to help them see how the bad choices and bad habits they make today will ultimately affect them in the future.

Are you an entrepreneur ready to hit the ground running with your business idea? Has it become more and more apparent that it’s time to quit your 9-5? Oftentimes the journey from employee to full-time entrepreneur can seem a bit scary because quitting your job means you have to fully trust your product/skill to become your main source of income. The transition to becoming a full-time entrepreneur doesn’t have to be a stressful one if you remember to TRIM. Create realistic Timelines, build Relationships, Invest in yourself, and Motivate yourself daily.