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larsen

Linda Larsen

travels from USA

Experienced actress and hysterically funny speaker appreciated for motivating people to improve their overall results

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About Linda

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Keynote speaker Linda Larsen’s passion and spontaneous humor stem from over 20 years as a professional actress in film, television and on the legitimate stage. Linda brings all the elements that you look for in a funny motivational speaker: high energy, laughter, interaction, customization, surprises at every turn and content you can use to transform your business and your life. Our speaker Linda Larsen always delivers her talks in a entertaining and fun way that will exceed your expectations.

Keynote speaker Linda Larsen has been helping people worldwide to upgrade their thinking, improve their communication and, simply stated, get much better quality results in life, both personally and professionally. And she does this in such extraordinarily fun, fast-paced and memorable ways which boost her reputation around the globe. Planners looking to blow people’s socks off at their annual conferences seek Linda’s services regularly. From her largest audience of 17,000 for the Future Farmers of America to her smallest group of 100 for Meals on Wheels, Linda’s goal is to make her meeting planner look like a rock star, give her audiences a phenomenal experience and be the easiest, most well-prepared speaker her clients ever work with.

Her experience and training (she holds a Bachelor of Social Work from the University of South Florida and a Master of Fine Arts from Florida State University) give her the unique ability to combine the entertaining, dynamic aspects of live theater with practical, high-value content to produce lasting, positive changes.

What makes the sought-after speaker Linda Larsen so beloved is her “Funny Factor”. Maybe it comes from performing in comedies alongside Sid Caesar, Beau Bridges or Ed Harris (OK, maybe he’s not so funny….) Maybe it comes from just having a bit of a whimsical, skewed look at the world, but Linda can find humor, comedy and hilarity in almost any situation and is more than happy to share that perspective with her audiences.

Her critically acclaimed book, True Power, is the riveting and true story of how she was kidnapped and held at gunpoint by an escaped convict for over 5 hours. Her escape, and the positive, practical strategies she used to rise above one of life’s most potent challenges led Investor’s Business Daily to feature her in its Leaders & Success column. And yes, keynote speaker Linda Larsen can even tell this story with moments of strategically placed humor.

The highly-acclaimed speaker Linda Larsen is a member of the National Speakers Association and is a Certified Speaking Professional, an earned designation awarded by the National Speakers Association and the International Federation for Professional Speakers to recognize demonstrated commitment to the speaking profession through proven speaking experience. Less than 300 women worldwide hold this designation.

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    Speaker Linda Larsen Keynote Topics

    • Women
    • Education
    • Healthcare
    • Motivation

References

You closed out our convention with a powerful, soulful, and wildly entertaining keynote that brought a full house to their feet with a standing ovation. You filled the stage, back stage, and audience with so much energy, spunk, sincerity, and joy. You are as thoughtful and engaging as you are talented. Our audience loved you. I love you. You are a sincere pleasure to work with. You symbolize the best of the best in your industry.

Dan Maddux

Executive Director| American Payroll Association

I couldn’t be more grateful for finding YOU! It was the perfect way to end our conference. Just the right mix of humor, motivational tips, heartfelt personal revelations and just pure woman-to-woman connecting. We got rave reviews on you!

Jody Thomas

Executive Director| National Foundation for Women Legislators

We were blown away… You made everyone laugh and some even cried, but the best part of it was, you made people stop and think! Every day now when I am in conflict I think of your words and it helps me slow down and regroup.

Patrick Christiano

President |Women’s Council of Realtors Rochester

You will forever go down in history as our top speaker for the best event ever!!!

Veronica Vicars

Conference Chair| eBay Women's European Leadership Initiative
04.29.2015

Interview with Linda Larsen

How do audiences generally describe your talks?

Words used by audience members to describe my presentations are things like, “hysterically funny, high-energy, inspiring, thought-provoking, fun, entertaining, full of surprises.” Meeting planners say things like, “Exceeded my expectations, highly professional and great to work with, she made me look really good for choosing her.”

What is the most unique experience you have had as a result of your job?

Probably the most unique experience I’ve had as a motivational speaker was when I did a keynote presentation for 17,000 teenagers and young adults in an annual Future Farmers of America Convention. It was a total out-of-body experience. I was on an enormous stage in terrifically bright lights. All 17,000 people were in the complete dark, in a HUGE stadium so I couldn’t see OR hear them! They were so far away from me that when they laughed, I simply couldn’t hear it. I would say something really funny and all I could hear was crickets. I just kept going – giving it all the fun and happy energy I had, hovering over myself, cheering myself on. Afterwards I was repeated told that people “never laughed so hard” in all their lives.

What is your biggest source of inspiration?

I gain most of my inspiration from regular people who have overcome huge obstacles to create joy, happiness and success in their lives. To see someone who has had circumstantial, physical, emotional or mental challenges – and who has risen above it all emerging victorious (in whatever way they define “victory” is very inspiring to me. The power of the human spirit is amazing.

How do you prepare for speaking engagements?

I prepare for my speaking engagements by first conversing at length to the person who hired me. I want to know exactly what objectives they have for me, how they want their attendees to feel when I’m done, how they want them to think and what they want them to be able to do differently. I want to know specifically what results they want. I’ll suggest a few topics I think might produce those results. I’ll then ask to speak to 3 or 4 people who will be representative of those in attendance. I want to see into their world. I want to hear from them. Things like what they love about their job, and/or their life, what they think their biggest challenges are and what they wish they could do better or differently.

I’ll then get to work on the presentation. I’ll take the topic the meeting planner wants, and tailor it to their group. Using examples that they can relate to, I’ll create a fun, energetic, content-rich presentation that will leave people inspired, energized and ready to take specific actions to create better quality results in their life. My belief is that when audience members are fully engaged, they hear more of the presentation, have a higher level of retention, and more consistently apply the ideas. And the best way to engage an audience is with fun, laughter, interaction, rich stories and examples they can relate to.

What is your best advice for overcoming obstacles? 

My biggest advice for overcoming obstacles comes from a first-hand experience I was gifted with as a young woman, and it’s this: Each and every one of us, EVERY ONE OF US, is far stronger, more resilient and resourceful than we think – in our ability to tackle life’s problems. Accordingly, if we are to capitalize on this principle, we need to change the way we VIEW our challenges. As a young woman I suffered from anxiety and panic attacks, clinical depression and a terrifyingly strong pull toward suicide. I was married, divorced, worked as a receptionist at a law office and had a 2 year old baby boy.

On a cold December morning, when I was at my absolute lowest, and felt I could not possibly make it for another day, I once again fought the feelings of hopelessness and terror and dragged myself to work. At 11:30 a.m. a man burst through the front door wearing a convict prison uniform, brandishing a .357 Magnum. It turns out he was an escaped convict from a road gang several blocks away. After taking one of the attorney’s money and car keys, he left, took me hostage and held me at gunpoint for over 5 hours. Yes, this was a nightmarish experience. Yes, I was beyond terrified. But a few very interesting things happened.

1) My “innovative problem-solving brain” kicked into high gear and helped me find a way to escape. I mentally examined, at breakneck speed, what felt like thousands of escape options before finally choosing one that worked. 2) After I escaped and recovered from the shock of the experience, I came to realize that I may not have had control over what happened to me, but I absolutely had control over how I wanted to view it all, what meaning I wanted to give the experience. I could decide that this experience was what I deserved. That obviously I was a bad person and this was what happened to bad people. I could choose to hide for the rest of my life, never trust anyone and live in fear.

OR – I could choose to view this experience as the greatest gift I would ever receive in my entire life. I could decide that if it had not been for this experience, I would have succumbed to my illness and taken my own life. I could also elect to applaud myself for how incredibly resourceful and determined I was, in terms of my escape. I could choose, from that moment forth, to tell myself, “Linda, if you could do all that, on the very day you almost killed yourself, girl, you can do anything!!!” That is the choice I made, and is the choice I encourage others to make.

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Keynote topics with Linda Larsen