Desi Payne

Desi INSPIRES and EQUIPS audiences who work with negative people to better manage their stress.

Expert on

  • Humor
  • Stress
  • Leadership – Mid Level Managers
  • Leadership – Entry Level
  • Difficult People
  • Motivation

Fee Range

$5,000–$10,000

Travels from

IA, US

Biography

If you want your audience to still be talking weeks and months after Desi’s keynote, then you will want to book Desi Payne!  Desi is flexible and so easy to work with.

She equips her audience with the strategies they need to work with negative and difficult people or manage stress.  As an award-winning entertainer and speaker, she uses humor, illusions, and storytelling to keep the audience engaged.

Desi is a John Maxwell Certified Leadership Trainer and Nick Vujicic Certified Speaker.     She is a frequent guest on the lifestyle show, Hello Iowa! on WHO-TV 13.  

FUN FACT: She recently won third place on America’s Funniest Home Videos.

Showcasing nearly 30 years of knowledge as a business owner (4 businesses), entrepreneur, educator, author,  healthcare patient advocate, customer service and leadership trainer, her expertise will motivate your team.

*Desi’s most requested session, Do You Work with the Living Dead?,  teaches CPR for your attitude if you get infected with the “virus” of negativity.

* If you want to kick-off or end your event with laughter, The Incredible Power of Laughter keynote will not only teach you the benefits of laughter, but teach you how to be more resilient in life. 

*Give Me Some Chocolate…I’m Stressed! will teach you strategies to manage stress to make you more productive in the workplace.

*Her session, The Magic of Connecting for Leaders equips you with principles to make vital influences with your employees.

Desi is the author of Do You Work with the Living Dead? and Give Me Some Chocolate…I’m Stressed!  Her on-line course, Manage Stress without Losing Your Mind, has helped many people learn how to either manage or eliminate the stress in their life.

 

 

Speaker Videos

Ignite Your Workplace: CPR For Lifeless Attitudes

This is Desi’s Most Requested Session!

(Based on her book, “Do You Work with the Living Dead?”)

Do you work with people who

  • Drag their feet into work?
  • Growl and murmur?
  • Punch the time clock with a blank stare?
  • Aren’t engaged with their work?
  • Are retired on duty?
  • Spread negativity?

If you answered yes to any of the questions above…

Then, you will love this entertaining and engaging keynote!  Desi will teach your audience five strategies on how to rise above those workplace zombies.

Learning Objectives

Participants will learn how to:

  • Implement strategies to work with negative people
  • Ensure your attitude doesn’t catch this infectious condition
  • Understand how to work with different types of people
  • Energize and increase productivity on the job
  • Empower a culture of more cohesive teams
  • Perform “CPR” on the job on lifeless attitudes

Timeframe:  90 minutes

The Magic of Connecting for Leaders

Do you know the secret to becoming a great leader?

It begins with connections.

Truly connecting with people requires more than just being a good communicator. Good leaders know how to build a bridge to others by cultivating relationships – that is the foundation of becoming a great leader. Based on best-selling author John C. Maxwell’s book, Everyone Communicates Few Connect, participants will learn the magic of connecting.  As a certified John Maxwell leadership trainer, Desi will help show you as a leader why it’s so important to make the right connections with people.

Learning Objectives

Participants will learn:

  • The value of connecting with others
  • Why leaders MUST make connections with their employees
  • Principles of connecting
  • How to build a culture of cohesive teamwork

Timeframe: 90 minutes

Give Me Some Chocolate….I’M STRESSED!

Does stress wear you down?

Do you stay up at night due to anxiety?

Are you experiencing burn-out?

Or are you frustrated with your workload and the people you work with?

Then you definitely need this session!

Nobody is immune to stress. It affects your health, personal life, and professional life.  You will learn to be intentional about taking care of the stress that is robbing you of your happiness and joy.  This is a very educational and FUN session.

You will learn to manage stress so that you can:

  • Enjoy life
  • Have more energy
  • Be in better physical and mental health
  • Delete a bad attitude
  • Become more productive on the job
  • Get along with the people you work with 

Learning Objectives

Participants will learn to:

  • Manage, reduce, or eliminate stress out of their life
  • Learn the consequences of unmanaged stress
  • Find out what their “Stress Test” results are
  • Implement the “3-L Strategy” (Lifestyle Changes, Let Go, Laugh)
  • Make an action plan to manage stress

Timeframe:  90-minutes or 2 hours

Ignite Your Team with Incredible Communication Skills

Is your team experiencing stress due to miscommunication?

Have you noticed conflict among team members?

Would you like your team to be more productive?

Then communication training with Desi is the best solution!

KEY TAKEAWAYS from this highly interactive and fun training:

  • Understand why co-workers and clients act the way they do
  • Strengthen and improve work relationships with co-workers and clients
  • Determine the impact communication has on your team
  • Cultivate a culture of cohesive teamwork and a better working environment.

At the end of this session, participants will be able to:

  • Adapt their communication style to gain greater connection with others and reduce conflict
  • Identity four different personality traits
  • Learn their own communication style 
  • Understand how to successfully engage and interact with styles that are different than their own

ADDITIONAL RESOURCE:  This training is based on DISC. An on-line assessment and 1:1 debrief may be available at an additional cost.

Team Building with Humor

It’s the spirit of teamwork that breathes life and creativity into an organization.  This is a fun and very interactive workshop which will give team members experience in communication, problem-solving, and conflict resolution.  This team-building session is fabulous as a follow-up to any of Desi’s programs to reinforce what they just learned, or it can be done as a breakout session all its own.  This is also a great after-lunch breakout.

Learning Objectives

Participants will learn how:

  • Laughter builds trust among co-workers
  • Teamwork ignites creativity
  • One is too small a number to achieve greatness
  • It’s easier to NOT do anything by yourself
  • Accepting everyone’s ideas can breed new ideas

Timeframe: 30 minutes to 1-hour

The Incredible Power of Laughter

Would you like to kick off or end your conference with enthusiasm and fun? Or maybe you need to fill that dreaded after-lunch spot?  Then this entertaining and engaging keynote will not only have everyone laughing; this presentation will teach everyone about the incredible power of laughter.  Did you know that laughter will:

  • Boost your immune system
  • Decrease your stress
  • Lift your mood
  • Increase team morale
  • And much more!

Learning Objectives

Participants will learn how laughter:

  • Makes you resilient
  • Benefits your mind and body
  • Boosts morale and teamwork
  • Sparks creativity
  • Releases feel-good endorphins and decreases cortisol

Here’s PROOF of Desi’s humor:   

  • Award-winning professional clown, winning the prestigious “All-Around Clown” at the World Clown Convention & 1st Place in the Skit Competition in 2016
  • Guest performing with Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus as well as the Carden International Circus
  • Female “Patch Adams” at a hospital for 25 years
  • Working on Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines
  • Winning 3rd place on America’s Funniest Home Videos in 2022

Audience:  Anyone who wants to laugh and learn

Perfect for conference kick-offs, closers, banquets, and after-lunch events

Format:  Keynote

Time: 45-60 minutes