Keynote Speaker Coordinator

Budget | Contract | Finding Keynotes | List of ideas | Past Keynotes

Budget:

Work with the conference coordinator and the CFO to work within the conference budget, and get approval before making any offers!

Affording expensive keynotes:

If you get someone who is local, it saves on money and energy for transportation. If the keynote is someone who would be interested in attending the conference and interacting with attendees beyond their talk, that is better. If they are willing to give a workshop or two, that is wonderful. If they are willing to sign books, that is a way we can help finance their appearance.

There are several ways you can make it happen if you want a person badly enough!

  1. Asking them to do workshops and then charging a small fee for those taking their workshops can help to subsidize an expensive keynote.
  2. Publishers often will work a deal with book signings as well—Simon Schuster offered to sell us a quantity of Byrd Baylor’s books at a discount and we can then sell them to be signed at the normal price and keep the difference. We can also return any unsold books for a refund, so there is little or no risk in this option.
  3. Of course, building the cost of the keynote into the conference cost structure is always an option—if you add $5 to everyone’s fee, that’s about $1500 for a 300 person conference.

Contract:

Here is a sample contract on letterhead, for when you find a keynote (with board approval, of course!): Sample Contract (Word 76k)

Finding Keynotes:

Don’t’ limit yourself! Think of anyone you think AEOE members would like, who would you like? Brainstorm people you think would be great, and ask the top people on your list first, because, believe it or not, they will probably accept! Be careful if you are "just looking" in your inquiries - make sure you are clear that you are shopping around for potential keynotes and just gathering information - you may end up with someone accepting before you have decided if not.

Be sure to have other board members check your communications with potential keynotes, whether email or other, for typos and accuracy before sending to make sure AEOE is well-represented.

A great way to find a keynote is through publishers - who has just written a book they'd like to promote? Another is to check out the conferences of other state EE associations and see who they have had speak - you can contact them to find out how they were, too! If you read something that inspires you somewhere, see about getting the author as a keynote. If you hear about an organization or project that would be instructive to AEOE members, see about getting someone from there as a keynote.

If you get someone who is local, it saves on money and energy for transportation. If the keynote is someone who would be interested in attending the conference and interacting with attendees beyond their talk, that is better. If they are willing to give a workshop or two, that is wonderful. If they are willing to sign books, that is a way we can help finance their appearance.

NEW: EcoSpeakers.com - great resource for finding speakers!!

For Speakers to Inform and Inspire - EcoSpeakers.com

Below are a few other ideas - feel free to add to them! (email ideas to the webmaster)

Keynote Ideas:

Parker Palmer - Author of The Courage to Teach and The Active Life: A Spirituality of Work, Creativity, and Caring
Article in the National Teaching and Learning Foundation website: Teaching in the Face of Fear has some contact information for him.

Ruby Payne - Author of Understanding Poverty

David Sobel – Wrote Beyond Ecophobia: Reclaiming the Heart in Nature Education and Place-Based Education: Connecting Classrooms & Communities
Co-Director Center for Place-based Education www.anei.org
http://faculty.antiochne.edu/EDfac/DSobel/homepage
http://www.yesmagazine.org/article.asp?ID=803
http://www.oriononline.org/pages/ob/nls/index_nls.html
http://www.haven.net/deep/council/sobel2.htm

Here is his reply to our information request:

Thanks for considering me as a keynote speaker at the AEOE conference in spring, 2006. Not the best time of the year for me to do something like this, but it's a possibility.
My parameters are:

Best wishes-
David
David Sobel, Director
Teacher Certification Programs
Education Department
Antioch New England Graduate School
40 Avon St.
Keene, NH 03431
603-357-3122, x358
Co-Director Center for Place-based Education www.anei.org

Gary Paul Nabhan – Author of The Geography of Childhood: Why Children Need Wild Places and Cultures of Habitat: On Nature, Culture, and Story
Northern Arizona University
http://www.nau.edu/~envsci/faculty/gary_nabhan.htm
Director of the Center for Sustainable Environments at NAU. here's his bio
Article in Orion: Listening to the Other: Can a Sense of Place help the Peacemaking Process?
His latest books are Cross-Pollinations: The Marriage of Science and Poetry (Milkweed Editions) and ¡Tequila! A Natural and Cultural History (University of Arizona Press). Yay Tequila! Oh, I mean, Yay Science and Poetry! :-)

Stephen Trimble – wrote The Geography of Childhood with Gary Paul Nabhan http://www.stephentrimble.net/biography/
He links to AEOE! http://www.stephentrimble.net/bc/take_action.asp (therefore he must be cool!)

Alfie Kohn - http://www.alfiekohn.org/ would be great!

Shelton Johnson - http://www.shadowsoldier.org/
Shelton is a Park Ranger in Yosemite, has spoken at a northern AEOE fall campout before (doing a living history program), and has just completed a novel (awaiting publication) on the African-American history in National Parks through the Buffalo Soldiers. He is a ~wonderful~ interpreter and a great person, and has found a powerful way to connect African Americans and wild places - "there's no story in the United States that has a greater potential to reach African-Americans and bring them into wilderness parks, than this history of the 24th Infantry and 9th Cavalry in the Sierra Nevada, so consequently the story is much bigger than just Yosemite and Sequoia, and bigger even than the N.P.S. because it stands as a model of land and wilderness stewardship that cuts across national, state, federal, and civil authorities..."

Stuart Brown, MD, of the Institute for Play: (Carmel, CA)
http://www.instituteforplay.com/11speakers_consultants.htm
Dr. Brown speaks to organizations, corporations, universities, and public policy makers about the importance of play in our lives, and the unexpected, serious consequences that occur when play is neglected.
His background in psychiatry, evolution of species, and animal play, as well as his clinical research into the causes and prevention of violence, have shown him that authentic play is a state of being which can be accessed and used by everyone. Dr. Brown believes that play adds vitality to the life, regardless of age or personality type. By revealing the nature and language of authentic play, he opens his audiences to a deeper experience of it's wonderful rewards, including: a fresh perspective on life; broadened ability to trust and learn; and natural optimism, perseverance, and flexibility.
To book Dr. Brown as a speaker, workshop leader, or consultant, call him at 831-659-1740, or e-mail him at .

This is from the website of the Institute for Play, from their "Playing to Learn" page: Scientist or Child?
It can be said that inside all children there is a scientist observing, formulating, and testing theories. It can also be said that inside all scientists, there is a child playing with the world and making surprising discoveries with much the same wonder that babies have when first meeting the world. Mitch Cotter, a noted scientist who researches the properties of light says “You have to be testing, searching, looking. . . that is what stimulates mental neural development, and without it you don't get that development.

In our culture, play has a pejorative, puritanical connotation. I would say play is the highest form of work and it is also essential for human development.” Brian Swimme, noted cosmologist, says that the universe is best understood through play. “We tend to think of play as being just something children do, but when a Chinese philosopher was asked the meaning of civilization, he said that all of human education is about one thing, recapturing the mind of a child.”

Here is his response to our information request:

Thanks for the inquiry re my availability and fees for providing a keynote. For a non-profit in the Western Time Zone, my usual fee is $2500,plus travel, incidentals and lodging. (For a for-profit or large national organization, I usually charge from $5-10,000).
I am available for the dates you mentioned, and would be glad to discuss other particulars should your interest in me continue. As an enlightened view of education is your game, I am sure you have the awareness that play is the gas that drives learning and helps provide a fun context for same.
Cordially,
Stuart L. Brown MD
The Institute for Play

Olga Loya - Storyteller, suggested by Paul Grafton: http://www.olgaloya.com/ Has given keynotes on Storytelling and Diversity. She sounds wonderful, but perhaps for an adjunct keynote, or keynote performer - since her topics are not necessarily environmental education, but can definitely be tied in. Would be good for a conference focusing on Storytelling and Games - along with Stuart Brown, perhaps, or even other storytellers. Or for a storytelling weekend seminar/retreat!!

Zenobia Barlow, Center for Ecoliteracy (Berkeley): http://www.ecoliteracy.org/about/board.html
Interview from SUN: http://www.derrickjensen.org/barlow.html

Ocean Robbins - YES! (Santa Cruz) http://www.yesworld.org/ (not available for 2006 conference - already booked that weekend)

Julia Butterfly Hill seems never to have time to answer the messages that we've left, let alone speak at our conferences. We've been trying to get her for the past 4 years. http://www.circleoflifefoundation.org/ (Oakland)

Michael J. Cohen of Project NatureConnect: http://www.ecopsych.com/index.html Doesn't want to travel to California - had alternate idea - click here to see his email

Howard Gardner – Multiple Intelligence Theory and keynote at the Service Learning conference

Arundhati Roy - http://www.arundhatiroy.org.uk/

Mike Weilbacher (Pennsylvania EE Association)

Terry Tempest Williams

Lynne Cherry (author of The Great Kapok Tree and A River Ran Wild) http://lynnecherry.com/

Jane Goodall would be wonderful, but she is very expensive, so we haven't been able to get her. Roots and Shoots Foundation

David Suzuki - Canada - http://www.davidsuzuki.org/
Since 1990, the David Suzuki Foundation has worked to find ways for society to live in balance with the natural world that sustains us. Focusing on four program areas – oceans and sustainable fishing, forests and wild lands, climate change and clean energy, and the web of life - the Foundation uses science and education to promote solutions that help conserve nature.

David Orr - Author of Ecological Literacy: Education and the Transition to a Postmodern World (Suny Series in Constructive Postmodern Thought) ; The Nature of Design: Ecology, Culture, and Human Intention; The Sustainability Revolution : Portrait of a Paradigm Shift (Foreword) ; The Last Refuge: Patriotism, Politics, and the Environment in an Age of Terror; Earth in Mind: On Education, Environment, and the Human Prospect; A Natural History of Place in Education (Advances in Contemporary Educational Thought Series)

Nice Orr quote: "Our goal as educators is to present a sense of hopefulness to students, and the competence to act on that hope."

Articles from Resurgence: "THE LEARNING CURVE - All education is environmental education"; "LOVING CHILDREN - Ecological design offers a gift of life, harmony and beauty to our children"; "THE CASE FOR THE EARTH - We need new strategies to preserve the habitability of the planet," "BEAUTY IS THE STANDARD - We must love our children enough to design a world which instructs them towards community, ecology, responsibility, and joy"

Articles from In Context, a Quarterly of Humane Sustainable Culture: What Is Education For? Six myths about the foundations of modern education, and six new principles to replace them"

Ancestry and Influence: A Portrait of David Orr, Oberlin online;

Interview in with David Orr in Grist Magazine

Satish Kumar (England - so probably too far?) - brief biography

Books:
You Are Therefore I Am-A Declaration of Dependence
The Buddha and the Terrorist-The Story of Angulimala
NO DESTINATION: an autobiography

Articles from Resurgence:
• CHILDREN'S CHARTER The first principle of a new charter for children is to have schools which are caring communities and not knowledge factories. (Issue 226)
• CARING FOR OUR PLANET We can make the world a better place, but it is up to all of us to effect change and make our voices heard
• MAHATMA GANDHI Gandhi held no office, pursued no career, yet, millions of people around the world are captivated by his life and his achievement
• MY FAVOURITE WALK From Shipload Bay to Spekes Mill Mouth Contribution for BBC Wildlife Magazine
• JAIN RELIGION All living beings, human and other-than-human, have an equal right to life
• LEARNING FROM NATURE When human beings consider themselves to be the masters of the earth and have dominion over it they are more likely to abuse it and exploit it.
• E. F. SCHUMACHER Schumacher encapsulated an alternative world-view in his collection of essays, Small is Beautiful
• WORLD OF SHAPES (Interview) The works of Ynez Johnston are cohesive, organic and magical. (Issue 213)
• BREAD OF SORROW The act of breadmaking connects us to our ecological roots. (Issue 207)
• TO BE KIND - Margaret Harrison - 7,000 Home-Start volunteers are helping 40,000 families and children. (Issue 200)

Stephen R. Kellert - a social ecologist at Yale and E.O. Wilson's collaborator, is recognized as the world's foremost authority on human relationships to animals. The New York Times has featured his work in various articles and his work has been recognized by a number of awards including the Distinguished Individual Achievement Award of the Society for Conservation Biology. Author of Children and Nature: Psychological, Sociocultural, and Evolutionary Investigations; The Value of Life: Biological Diversity and Human Society; co-editor or The Biophilia Hypothesis with Edward O. Wilson; The Good in Nature and Humanity: Connecting Science, Religion, and Spirituality With the Natural World (Editor); Kinship to Mastery : Biophilia in Human Evolution and Development; Ecology, Economics, Ethics: The Broken Circle (Editor); Building for Life : Designing and Understanding the Human-Nature Connection. Kellert's Research Statement (pdf); Interview with Kellert from Sustainable Ways (Prescott College); Values and Vision: A Profile of Stephen R. Kellert, from Sustainable Ways (Prescott College)

Gary Ferguson - http://www.wildwords.net/ Author of Spirits of the Wild: The World’s Great Nature Myths, The Sylvan Path: A Journey Through America’s Forest, Hawks Rest: A Season in the Remote Heart of Yellowstone, Through the Woods: A Journey Through America’s Forests, and Shouting at the Sky: Troubled Teens & The Promise of the Wild. Keynote speech given for the Montana Education Association in 2003: "Sustaining the Fire of Environmental Education"

Selected comments on his past talks:

Richard Louv - http://www.richardlouv.com
He lives in San Diego, and is an author – he is quoted in the June 2005 LA Times article about the AB 1330 research on outdoor education in California: "An outside chance for schoolkids: Environmental courses improve science scores and build confidence, a study finds"
Another article: "No child left behind in the woods"
Another article relating to his new book - sent in by Dan Allison: "Go play outside: Author worries that 'nature-deficit disorder' in kids can lead to problems for body and soul"

More of his San Diego Tribune articles can be found at http://www.thefuturesedge.com/
I got his permission to reprint an article in the southern newsletter several years ago:
"Nowadays we idolize nature–or fear it"
Here is his contact information from that article:
fax, (619) 293-2148; mail, P.O. Box 12091, San Diego, CA 92112-0191; or e-mail,


He JUST published a new book in April 2005:
Last Child in the Woods : Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder
He also wrote: "The Web of Life: Weaving the Values That Sustain Us" and Flyfishing for Sharks
Here's his bio: http://www.thefuturesedge.com/RichardLouvBio.html
And another bio with speech topic info: http://www.citistates.com/assocspeakers/r_louv.html
"PBS NewsHour with Jim Lehrer,"http://www.pbs.org/newshour/gergen/july-dec00/louv_7-4.html

We got him for our 2006 Conference!! Yay!!


Past Keynotes:

(see the detailed conference history page for more - many of these would be great to have again!)