Linda Larsen

"Hysterically funny!" "A meeting planners dream come true!" "Powerful information that people can really use!" "The whole package!"

Expert on

  • Customer Service
  • Innovation
  • Difficult People
  • Humor
  • Women’s Health
  • Motivation

Fee Range

$10,000–$13,000

Travels from

FL, US

Biography

Linda Larsen, MFA, CSP, CPAE, is on a mission – to give meeting planners and conference attendees a fun, funny, entertaining, high-energy, motivating and meaningful conference experience. From start to finish her unwaivering commitment is to be the most hassle-free, well-prepared, AMAZING keynote speaker your people have worked with. After her events, she wants ALL her clients to follow up with letters like this one from John Natishan, Brand Marketing Manger for LexisNexis:

“Thank you for your FANTASTIC kick off to our user conference in Las Vegas! The feedback was Aces across the board—’The absolute best keynote speaker in recent years!’ Your high energy level and passion were just what we needed to get everyone energized for the conference. You genuinely care about the audience, as was evident by your interaction with them before and after your session. You’re the best!”

So here’s….

The Scoop, the Whole Scoop and Nothing but the Scoop…

Linda is masterful at helping people shift their thinking and upgrade their skills – and does so in such extraordinarily fun, fast-paced and memorable ways that she has become a meeting planners dream come true.

Looking to blow people’s socks not only off but right through the roof?

“I don’t think any of us were prepared for the final serenade, but let me tell you, you brought down the house!”
Michael Honeycutt, Sr. VP, Air Conditioning Contractors of America

Hint: Does the image of a fairly professional looking white woman on the far side of 50 doing a really cool rap song pique your curiosity?

From go-go dancer to social worker, from professional actress to trial consultant, and from kidnap victim to best-selling author, Linda brings a treasure trove of experience, passion, wisdom, humor and spontaneity to the platform.

Looking to give your people useful, relevant skills wrapped in high hilarity?

“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 & Development, El Paso Corporation

Linda believes that her job is 1) to give your clients’ audiences and sponsors such an exquisite experience that they want to come back year after year; 2) to make you and your client look reeeeeeeeally good and; 3) be the easiest, most well-prepared, hassle free, home-run partner both you and your client work with.

“She was absolute PERFECTION! I’m getting incredible feedback and can’t go 5 feet without one of our $20K sponsors or registrants stopping me to say how fabulous she was!”
Kim Fuller, Conference Chair, North American Assoc. of Commencement Officers

“As a meeting planner, I truly appreciate your quick responses and for making me look like a star planner. You were fabulous!”
Anna Jenkins, Director of Education, Texas Apartment Association

And talk about riveting! Her critically acclaimed book, True Power, is the dramatic and true story of how she was kidnapped and held at gunpoint by an escaped convict for over 5 hours. Her experience, and the positive, practical strategies she used to escape led Investor’s Business Daily to feature her in its Leaders & Success column. And yes, she can even tell THIS story with moments of strategically placed humor.

Linda holds a Bachelor of Social Work, a Master of Fine Arts, and is the author of 5 national training video programs, and 2 audio programs, including the popular 12 Secrets to High Self-Esteem (over 170,000 copies sold to date.) She has also written or been featured in over 100 articles in such publications as The Chicago Tribune, Women In Business, and Personal Excellence.

SOME OF LINDA’S MOST REQUESTED TOPICS: (for detailed descriptions, click on Linda Larsen Topic Overview)

For Women’s Groups

  • Staying Right Side Up When Everything’s Upside Down – Achieving Excellence in Challenging Times
  • YOU – Super Hero! Super Star! Super Exhausted!  How to Effectively Help Others Without Frying Your Golden Goose
  • Playing to Win – It’s Not Your Mother’s Playground Any More – 

For Everyone!

  • Staying Right Side Up When Everything’s Upside Down – Achieving Excellence in Challenging Times
  • Innovate! Generate! Accelerate!  Inspiring Yourself and Others to New Heights of Creativity and Problem Solving
  • Gripers, Complainers & Whiners, Oh My! How to Deal With Chronically Cranky People
  • The Art of Providing Positively Outstanding Customer Service How to Create Unprecedented Buyer Loyalty
  • The Exponential Power of the Brand Known as YOU! Bringing the absolute best version of yourself to every aspect of your life

Speaker Videos

PLAYING TO WIN - THE WOMAN'S GUIDEBOOK TO EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

It’s Not Your Mother’s Playground Anymore

The rules in business today have changed. And yes, you can break the rules if you choose, but first you must know what they are. In this workshop participants will learn the different ways that men and women approach situations and how they can adapt to meet challenges and solve problems effectively. They will investigate how, as women, they can position themselves for success – and actually strengthen relationships with others at the same time. Additionally they will learn:

  • 25 distinct differences in how men and women think and behave.
  • How to ask for what they want in a way that works!
  • Specific communication techniques that are a MUST when communicating with the opposite sex.
  • 3 common mistakes most women make and how to avoid them.
  • 7 keys to enjoying healthy competition.
  • Which nonverbal body language undermines your message and which supports it.

STAYING RIGHT SIDE UP WHEN EVERYTHING IS UPSIDE DOWN - EFFECTIVELY MANAGING CHANGE IN TOUGH TIMES

Achieving excellence in challenging times

This is the perfect program to help people deal with all the chaos and uncertainty that they are facting right now. Here’s what we know: It is absolutely possible to achieve excellence when the world around you seems to be falling apart – IF you embrace one critically important skill – not only in how you think, but also in how you perform. In this fast paced, fun program, Linda will give participants practical ways to face any adversity, ight their own fire of excellence and motivate themselves to take positive, consistent action when they just feel like giving up. Attendees will learn what the most successful, and effective people throughout history have all known and consciously applied. They will leave knowing:

  • How to acknowledge and enhance skills they already have.
  • How to recognize, own and change behaviors that don’t serve them.
  • How to stay level, calm and professional when their instincts make them want to scream.
  • The #1 most critical skill that is needed to navigate really rough waters
  • How to take 100% responsibility for the interpretations they place on situations, circumstances and other people’s actions.

YOU! SUPER HERO! SUPER STAR! SUPER EXHAUSTED. THE ART OF SELF-CARE DURING STRESSFUL TIMES

How to effectively help others without frying your golden goose

(This high energy, fun session is particularly well suited for people in the healthcare and service industries, and for all women’s groups)

With all of life’s fast-paced, high stress demands, especially during th current global pandemic, it becomes very easy to put ourselves rock-bottom last on our own “to-do” list. 

And the result? Compromised health, exhaustion, frustration, strained relationships, depression, guilt, and acute crankiness. In this incredibly funny, fast-paced and potentially life saving session, attendees will learn practical, doable strategies that they can immediately put to use to bring more focus, mental acuity, good health and happiness into their lives. They will recognize what they have been repeatedly doing (with the best of intentions) that adds to their stress levels, and how to proactively change those behaviors. They will also leave knowing:

  • The number one thing most people do AUTOMATICALLY (many times a day) that takes them to the breaking point – and how to stop it!
  • One powerful technique to help them shift their emotional state from cranky and irritable to peaceful and relaxed within minutes.
  • How to say “no” without feeling guilty – in such a way that actually BUILDS relationships rather than compromises them
  • Why “the pursuit of happiness” is not only a worthwhile goal – but a potentially life saving one as well.
  • How to turn “shark-infested waters” into gentle pools of happy angel fish (or… how to turn cranky people into happy ones!)

THE ART OF CREATING A STELLAR CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE IN TIMES OF TURMOIL AND UNCERTAINTY

How to secure unprecendented buyer loyalty – especially when businesses and organizations are in such a state of turmoil and uncertainty.

Every single person in your organization IS your organization. Does everyone understand the vital role they have in creating and keeping customers who want to do business with you for life – AND refer all their friends to you? In this information-packed presentation people will learn very specific skills to help create the kind of environment that makes people LOVE you and your product or service, and sing your praises to anyone who will listen. Attendees will learn:

  • Three things about every human being that they MUST know before they ever interact with any customer.
  • The #1 thing people will ALWAYS remember about their experience with you.
  • The customer service words that work miracles – and the ones that create problems.
  • How to de-escalate any potential problem really quickly.
  • How to say “no” to a customer, or decline their request in such a way that actually leaves the person happy.
  • The information that customers pick up about you before you ever open your mouth – and how to make that information the right stuff!

INNOVATE! GENERATE! ACCELERATE! FINDING SOLUTIONS DURING UNPRECEDENTED CHALLENGES

Inspiring yourself and others to new heights of innovation and creative problem solving

In business today, we cannot rely on past successes to keep us going. We must be continually thinking ahead, and in different and more creative ways. In this session, attendees learn how to inspire individuals, teams (and themselves, if necessary!) to new heights of productivity by challenging old assumptions and shifting perspectives. This presentation gives people the 5 essential tools they need to break out of their comfortable little boxes and be exponentially more creative. Interactive, fun and revealing! Attendees will also learn:

  • The #1 thing that stops most people from expressing their creativity.
  • “Killer Phrases” – What they are and why they absolutely MUST be eliminated.
  • The one essential creativity ingredient that is absent in most uninspired, uncreative, lackluster workplaces.
  • Why change is resisted so fiercely – AND how to get people to actually welcome it!
  • Ten qualities of highly creative people – that you ALREADY possess. How to bring them out of hiding and put them to work for you.