Clare Desira, Keynote Speaker
-SHARED AT-
Positive thinking = boring…
Over the last 15 years I’ve had the opportunity to speak with audiences from 10 to over a thousand. My work is centered around designing, delivering and directing personal development and leadership programs for a wide range of audiences including leadership programs, universities teams, schools, small business owners, conferences, kicking off corporate team days and more.
I’ll kick off your team day, lift the energy of the mid day slump, or close your event with people fired up and ready for action.
I’m Melbourne based but hit the road regularly for work and love the travel.
See me in action
This video is a snapshot of our recent work and clients. You can check out a full version of our TEDx talk from six years ago below on this page.
Use Your Upcoming Event to Raise the Bar
I get it. As an event manager you’ve got so many balls in the air. You’ve finally booked the venue. You’ve sent out the save the date calendar invites or meeting placeholders. And there’s still a million other things you need to organise for your event.
While you’re busy pulling this event off, did you know your audience has thoughts and feelings about attending your event?
Average, Nervous, Curious.
Hopeful, Skeptical.
Anxious.
Is This Even Relevant To Me?
These are real thoughts a team at a leading Australian organisation had at the start of their team day. This is absolutely normal because we’re all busy and those inboxes don’t stop filling up just because we’re on a team day, but I’m totally used to changing people’s minds and openness to receiving new information, connecting with others and participating on days like these.
For this particular event I spoke in the morning and this is what the same people reported after just an hour of my time:
Optimistic, Encouraged, Supported, Positive.
Inspired, Engaged, Happy.
Positive And Helpful.
Relaxed.
It doesn’t matter how many RSVPs you get, each individual’s thoughts are going to creep in and really impact your event.
It’s a big investment to bring your team together and take them off the tools for the day. I know you might have big plans, opportunities or challenges to tackle for the day, too. That’s why you need your people to be fully present, energised and ready to contribute.
So how do you get the most out of your event?
Bring me in for the first hour.
I’ll cover your icebreaker and have your team positively participating in the entire day which they’ll be able to carry over into their week, their month + their year.
Let’s work together to kick your event off with something special.
Let’s instrumentally change their perspective on the day, their lives and the world.
See Clare in action at TEDx in 2012
What can Clare speak about?
Instrumental ways to shift your mindset + happiness.
In these keynote speeches or interactive workshops, Clare presents a simple but powerful way to understand the impact our thoughts have on how we feel and show up everyday. Clare also shares simple tools which has an instrumental impact on our daily mindset and health.
Independent evaluation showed that just one morning session with Clare resulted in behaviour change that was still in place six months later.
Got a business problem or opportunity? I can bet you mindset shifts will support your team to move forward.
Going through or recovering from change? I know for sure that your team or students will show up differently if they fully understand how their thoughts are affecting their own behaviour and creating a ripple effect.
Work in such a fast paced and reactive environment that it feels like there’s no time to breathe? I can promise you that understanding how to make simple tweaks to your thinking will bring more productivity, clarity and calm to your results.
I’ve delivered workshops to support various organisational challenges including recovering from a business crisis, motivating teams, priming audiences to be open and ready to contribute.
My presentations are most commonly timed:
- To kick off your event or training day to get the room humming straight away and thinking with a lens of possibility,
- As a closing session to send your audience off on a high, or
- Anywhere in between to lift energy before or after a challenging session for your team
Each + Every Presentation Is Tailored To Your Unique Event
My most requested topics include how mindset amplifies these areas of our lives/topics:
- Thriving during organisational challenges + opportunities
- Opening your team day/strategy
- Building your team’s mindset during change
- Student wellbeing, career planning + goal setting
- Help! I’m stuck and have no direction
- Your most productive year yet
- Building a purpose led business
- Leadership + career
- Social change + personal leadership
- Tools for confidence + self belief
- Health including physical + mental
- Money mindset
- Positive relationships
- Goal setting
- Excuses + procrastination
Positivity Meets Practicality
Inspiration Meets Action
Get Results
In their own words the most common actions people take after attending one of my sessions:
- Less procrastination
- We can raise the bar across our organisation with these tools
- Prioritising and delivering better rather than worrying about workload
- We’re looking at problems and opportunities in different ways than we ever have
- Build confidence, stress less, get work done
- Be fully present and more productive
- Contributing to their team’s culture in a positive, productive and helpful way
- Increased focus and sharper mindset
- Not worrying too much of what others think of them
- Look at different ways to solve problem
- Removing obstacles to progress/overcoming obstacles to progress
- Feeling confident to reach our and support a loved one who is struggling with mental health with new ideas on how to support
Each session is tailored to your event requirements. From a 20 minute presentation right through to a 90 minute interactive workshop and a half or full day workshop, every presentation is jam packed with tools and resources that any audience member can apply across their professional + personal life.
Here’s what others are saying…
“Clare opened our Apple Education team day with a workshop that absolutely left us feeling motivated and energised for the day ahead. We have team members based all over the country so it is important we use our time together openly and effectively. Engaging our team through a focus on positivity couldn’t have been timed better and allowed us to head into the rest of the day ready for productive problem solving and strategising as a team.”
“Clare’s address was an ideal start to our conference – passionate, engaging and thematically on-point. Clare told her story effectively and with humour, relating exceptionally well to her audience and leaving students inspired with simple and practical tips to take away and make change in their own lives. Clare was friendly, positive and supportive – a sincere and genuine person as well as a fantastic speaker.”
“Clare was very easy to deal with. During part of the session she gave our audience the chance to choose their own adventure on which areas of mindset they were most interested in learning about. Clare left me and our audience feeling inspired, with a positive outlook and excited to make changes in everyday life. Clare brought value through relevance to proactive leaders, easy to listen to, humorous, light hearted, engaged audience after previous “heavy” industry topics.”
“Clare is one of the best facilitators I have ever seen in action. Clare was warm, professional, entertaining and thoughtful and made each participant feel valued and ensured their voice was heard. Some of the words used by participants at the end of the session were inspired, challenged, motivated, refreshed, focused and energised.”
“As a facilitator and presenter, Clare has a way of connecting with a large group of people in an extremely genuine and personal way. Clare’s effervescent personality energises everyone in the room and her ability to draw on experiences and provide relevant examples inspires her audience to think and act in a more positive way.”
“I have listened to a lot of TED talks and Clare’s Top Five Movement talk is one of my favourites. I have recommended it to teachers I work with.”
“As a management team we needed to regroup following some organisational challenges. We planned two days together and to help us get the most of our valuable time together, Clare kicked us off with a session on mindset. After Clare’s session our team felt excited, grounded, positive, equipped and ready to focus on recovery. The framework Clare shared added to our planning sessions and has since become part of our ways of working – it has already been used by our HR and Corporate Affairs teams.”
“Clare presented a lunchtime workshop for our team and some of the other businesses that work at the White House (Dumbo Feather, Beatrix Rowe, B-lab). Clare provided useful and inspiring tools to help us change focus, shift perspective and make such a big difference to how we experience life. Clare walks her talk and is radiant and infectious – our office has a new lease on happiness.”
“I’ve booked Clare three times to support my team and a conference that brings leaders in our industry together (and I’ve already booked her in already for another event in 2018). After Clare’s workshop our team now have tools to shift their mindset during change from a fear of failure and frustration to feeling empowered, confident and ready to contribute. Any team can benefit from a mindset reboot with Clare.
Clare has a unique talent to make people feel great about themselves and truly build confidence. Clare was key in us being awarded as an Employer of Choice by the Department of Skills and Growth Tasmania.”
“We hired Clare to speak to our students about authentic goal setting and inspire them to focus on positive mindset and personal growth. Clare was superb to work with – organised, professional and spoke exceptionally well and left all feeling inspired. As a result of the presentation, students are able to better understand the purpose of goals and goal setting, as well as positive mindset. Teachers feel more equipped and confident to discuss goals and goal setting with students in an authentic way.
Clare also sent us a follow up video which we showed to keep the students motivated and working towards their goals. Clare’s service has been exceptional and invaluable to the school in setting up a new program related to student goal setting.”
“Anyone that knows me well, would know that I hate over the top self-help type activities. We’ve been through a lot change in my team and while it is important to support your team from a mindset and resilience perspective, I know that many people are very skeptical and cynical about any form of popular psychology and team activities. I’ve hired Clare twice now and the great thing about her workshops is that they are practical, insightful and entertaining, and even the most cynical staff were saying to me that they took something away from the session. Many of the team are also using the the tools to cope with negativity and change better and to reduce stress, procrastination and worry. Mission accomplished!”
“I’d seen Clare present before and knew people from across our firm could benefit from her Top Five Movement story and tools. Our people found Clare’s presentation engaging, insightful and purposeful. As a result of our engagement, we have demonstrated our commitment to the wellbeing and continued learning of our people and importantly that we value their contribution as individuals. As a client, Clare is not only professional but genuinely cares about you achieving your goals or intended purpose. She is proactive and looks to provide a seamless client experience. We look forward to working with her again.”
“I’d heard of Clare’s purpose driven work and so when I had the chance I booked her in to speak at our employee induction programs. I was impressed that Clare was focussed on how she could add as much value as possible to our event and to really complement our messages as a purpose driven organisation. Her presentation was motivating and aspirational and I know as a result our employees have had a mindset shift and will be showing up at the office with a lens of positivity and possibility! Many employees said Clare was the highlight of the day and the events Clare was involved in have had the highest overall NPS of all of our events so far.”
“I’ve created a community of Egyptian women, many of who have left their families back in Egypt. It is challenging for our community being in an unknown country and culture without our support networks and families. Having seen Clare speak at two events I felt her approach to reframing and resilience would be useful to our community. Clare walked the extra mile, tailoring her presentation to really complement our event and made herself available for more questions and discussions. Her smile and willingness to help was felt by every woman in the room. As a result of our work together, the women in our group can monitor their thoughts and have more gratitude through their hardships.”
“Clare ran a mindset, confidence and career workshop with our Year 11/12 students through our partnership with the IBM PTECH program. The students walked out of the workshop standing taller and armed with powerful tools. We’ve also been able to use Clare’s tools in a debrief with other staff after facing a challenging day and it is amazing how powerful the tools were in completely changing the atmosphere. As Clare says it’s not all sunshine and lolly pops, but it’s not all bad either and l have been struggling with how to encourage our students to see this and continue to develop a more positive, growth mindset, thanks for giving this old(er) teacher some new fuel. Fuel that will impact my work, my family and relationships.”
“This year we’ve introduced a new program for our Year 9 students and the school community. We felt the students would benefit from thinking about the mindset they had going into the year. Clare was extremely easy to work with and took the time to ask specifically about our crowd so that the messages and talk was tailored to our needs. Our students and teachers found Clare’s presentation on mindset engaging, interactive, thought provoking and useful. Through Clare’s presentation our students have been given messages and mindset tools they can use throughout all aspects of life, but importantly for us, have a message we can use throughout the year as challenges arise.”
“Clare spoke to the guests on our P&O cruise about mindset, brain hacks and the goals they really needed to set this year. Hundreds of guests turned up each day and Clare was the most popular well being speaker our entertainment team had ever seen on our cruises. Our guests were re-scheduling their activities so they didn’t miss a single one of Clare’s four sessions.”
“Having heard that Clare was a great presenter with excellent ideas around positive thinking and mindset, we invited her to help support our work in providing our Year 7 students with strong mental health routines for their high school experience. On the three occasions she has presented for us she has proved to be a well prepared, inspiring speaker and role model. Clare’s enjoyable and motivating presentations are perfectly pitched to our students and they have gained a better understanding of how to think in a positive manner and be grateful for all the wonderful experiences they have every day in their lives.”
“I brought my leadership team together for a lunchtime session with Clare to help them improve their mindset and level of team support. Clare’s style of presentation was excellent. Following the workshop as a team we felt energised, engaged and focused. Our industry is all about service and the tools Clare shared will help us create a better team and customer service environment. As a result of our work together the team are committed to lead by example and be more helpful, productive and encouraging with their team communications.”
“Clare presented during our Year 7 – 9 assembly on the power of a positive mindset. The presentation was spot on. It was simple but powerful. The ideas Clare shared are practical for our students to use and really support our school focus on wellbeing.”
“I brought Clare in to help build the mindset, resilience and productive thinking of our team. We provide accommodation and other support services to local people with a disability during a time of intense sector transition. Our staff pour their heart and soul into their work; it is very rewarding but challenging with constant change. Following Clare’s workshops, our team felt more confident in what they’re capable of achieving, have new tools to strengthen their resilience and practical ideas to keep building a more productive and encouraging culture.”
“I meet with the best employers in our state and on hearing about Clare’s positive influence on the culture of an Employer of Choice across all levels, I wanted to introduce her valuable work to other organisations. Clare’s work clearly helped staff to embrace significant change (a merger) and support each other to overcome the workplace challenges, build better relationships with each other and customers. Clare’s work brings a unique drawing together of self-care + enabling people to collaboratively build productive mindsets + creating a mentally healthy workplace. As a result of our work together, our Employers of Choice have access to insights and practical tools that can help to build supportive, productive and mentally healthy workplaces and cultures.”
“Real Estate is very demanding on your time and mind. There are highs and lows. We took a workshop with Clare as it helps to know that there are strategies to use when we are faced with challenges. Clare was very knowledgeable and calming, and we found the session insightful, helpful, guiding and positive. The workshop gave me and my team a new way of looking at our problems and situations. We now assess situations before we become angry or stressed and try to find encouraging ways of dealing with things.”
“We hired Clare to run a session to set the mindset and engagement of our CEO and executive team before a strategic planning day. Clare was engaging and her ideas were thought-provoking. Clare not only helped us get the most of our time together as a leadership team but left us with tools that the team felt would help us see opportunities and possibilities amidst complexity and confusion, be less overwhelmed and more mindful of what’s within our control, mentor different thinking in our teams and fuel another step in our positive cultural journey. I’ve already hired Clare again to partner with St Luke’s on a high potential leaders program.”
“VicHealth has a strong, positive culture, but we found that some employees were struggling during recent times of change. We recognised it was a great opportunity to help employees build their wellbeing capacity and their mental toolkit for organisational change.
Clare was very insightful as she understood the strengths and challenges of the culture here at VicHealth and proposed a program to meet those challenges. Many of the VicHealth staff commented on Clare’s style, in that she was able to meet people where they were at, taking a real life challenge currently being faced by the organisation, and providing strategies on navigating change constructively. The program Clare created for us has been insightful, relevant, engaging, timely and helpful.
As a result of our work together, our employees have key strategies to help them navigate their work life to thrive in the workplace (especially during changes). VicHealth is an organisation full of passionate and engaged people so it’s wonderful to have tools to further enhance this, support ourselves and each other through periods of change, and continue to enhance our culture and organisation outcomes.”
“Clare is an inspirational, insightful and extremely professional speaker and facilitator. Our delegates have described her as ‘infectious and motivating’ and her presentation on mindset was different to what we’d heard before on this topic and provided something that everyone in the room could take away with them. Clare is proactive and willing to accept any challenge thrown her way; at a couple of our events she has stepped in last minute and still exceed expectations delivering in an exceptionally composed and professional manner. Clare’s warm and positive personality makes her an absolute pleasure to work with and and I highly recommend her as a speaker or MC at any event”
“We first saw Clare present at an Employer of Choice launch. During a visit to our practice she was down to earth and really connected with the culture we wanted to maintain and foster within our practice. We hired Clare to run a team day and she really cared about what we wanted to achieve for each team member and our business. On the day Clare was enthusiastic and passionate and helped our employees to explore their thoughts and open up with one another in a safe environment. As a result of our work together, our team have reconnected with our organisation and its vision and we are now a stronger and more cohesive group.”
“We invited Clare to speak at our Next-Gen Community and Stakeholder Engagement event and it was a great decision. Our delegates said Clare’s take on mindset and resilience was refreshing and a great way to finish the afternoon. Clare kept the audience engaged and delivered a different message around looking after ourselves and our goals in life. Bringing in this perspective was powerful way to finish the day given stakeholder and community engagement roles are often challenging and complex. Clare was a wonderful presenter with thought provoking content and engagement and left us with a fantastic mindset challenge. We look forward to working with Clare again and recommend her as a speaker to close out your events on a (practical) high!”
“Clare was invited to close the first day of a Community and Stakeholder Engagement Summit following a day full of industry experts and technical ideas. The audience members are passionate and have complex jobs managing many stakeholders. These roles need resilience, grit and determination. Clare understood the audience well and was able to share a mindset hacks and information on how we can train our brains for a bigger impact. The audience were so engaged and it was a refreshing and hopeful way to close the day. They’ve left with practical ideas to improve their mindset, the way they show up to work everyday and their impact”
“We engaged Clare to enhance our P-TECH program by enabling the students to contribute to a discussion in a proactive and positive manner, while also having the opportunity to focus on their inner strengths and core values in the activities. Instead of being told what to do in the workshop, Clare offered the students an opportunity to give her an understanding of their mindsets by combining communication, experiences and priorities, which all led to exciting and innovative discussions. Clare understands that the needs of one group may be entirely different to another. She’s very open to suggestions and offers great advice. We look forward to more workshops with Clare as her positivity is infectious and needs to be heard.”
“I engaged Clare as I know her style and knew our business members would find her message valuable on R U OK? Day and beyond. You need resilience and productivity skills to run a business and Clare’s message covers both. Clare is easy, accommodating and fun to work with. Our members found her presentations authentic, inspiring, positive, uplifting and helpful. They left with renewed energy, encouraged to break out of existing patterns and focus on productive, helpful actions. As a result of our work together our members have been able to incorporate more gratitude and effective tips to use in both their business and their personal lives. Members also mentioned after the workshop they’ve got tools for less stress, worry and reactive behaviour. And tools for being more aware and proactive in changing mindset, building more proactive relationships, managing conflict better and focusing on more effective and productive actions.”
“We initially reached out to Clare because of her expertise in mindset and change management which aligned well with an event that centred itself around transformation in the digital age. Clare successfully MC’d this event and over the two days injected her wonderful energy, positivity and expertise. The attendees (and myself!) walked away with clear strategies to shift mindset during change and to create collaborative, innovative environments where change isn’t feared, but welcomed! Thanks Clare for your sincere, authentic and valuable content as an expert and as a speaker.”
“Clare Desira from Top Five Movement delivered a mindset leadership, resilience and career confidence building training workshop for 18 students as part of the 2019 IBM Pathways in Technology Program lead by the Ballarat Tech School in partnership with IBM as part of our Girls in STEM program. Clare’s workshop was on the first day of the program and we were conscious that our student group hadn’t met each other before, based on the Top Five session last year, we knew the girls would be in good hands! Clare’s has an ability to create a safe and comfortable place for everyone, welcoming and setting the tone perfectly for our 4-day experience. As a speaker, Clare has a great understanding of human behaviour and emotional intelligence which reflects in her presentation style. Clare’s engaging and generates interest, enthusiasm as discussions unfold.
The students found Clare’s workshop uplifting, constructive, relatable, passionate and reassuring. The workshop gave the students the opportunity to understand what they can achieve from the power of encouraging thinking. Clare also inspired our students with a willingness to explore new skills and capabilities as they made new friends. We thoroughly recommend working with Clare and Top Five to others!”
“Clare’s keynote presentation on ‘Positive Thinking is Just Not Enough’ perfectly supported our conference theme of Great Partnerships = Great Impact! Clare’s presentation was important for our providers (from various community organisations) who deal with vulnerable clients on a daily basis, to remind themselves about how to care for themselves as well as their clients. Clare came highly recommended to us. As a speaker, Clare was very organised, on top of things, easy, personable and with her experience supporting people in community roles, understood our brief very quickly. Clare’s presentation and workshop were engaging, positive, active and relatable. As a result of our work together our NILS community had the opportunity to reflect and refocus. They walked away with tools to support them, their teams and their clients to feel more confident and with a refreshed energy to try things differently.”
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