Alphabetical Listing of all Topics
Below is a listing of current training offerings by topic and the title of the program. Not all program titles have complete descriptions listed, although they can be made available for your programming needs upon request. Corresponding learning outcomes can also be made available upon request. Programming topics can be combined.
If you do not see a training topic you seek, please contact Nancy Hunter Denney directly.
ACCOUNTABILITY:
Holding Others to Higher Standards How low can you go? How hard are you willing to work to be leaders of character? What risks are you willing to take to raise the bar? This interactive and enlightening session will discuss the challenges of challenging attitudes and behaviors contrary to the ideals of being a true leader. Practical strategies for being men and women of high moral, ethical and civil standards will be offered along with the comfort in knowing YOU MIGHT JUST BE RIGHT!
ATHLETES:
How to Empower Athletes to Excel Whether a captain or a coach you need to be an effective motivator. Learn what it takes to inspire and the various small things you can do to have a large impact.
Playing to Win: Captains and Leadership Development
Staying Motivated to Coach and Lead Your Team
Zing! Your Team to Victory: Leadership for Team Captains A great way to start the season… Zing! This session inspires, educates and suggests the valuable role of role modeling. Captains have a unique opportunity to lead, yet fail to know how. Specific tips on ways to positively influence teammates and lead your team to victory are shared in a fun and motivational manner.
CAREER:
Networking Made Less Painful
Potential Impact: Considerations for a Career in Student Affairs Working with students can be an exciting and rewarding career. Learn the various ways to have daily contact with students and the steps to take to land in the “perfect” job in the field of student affairs.
Putting Your Best Foot Forward: Interviewing Preparation and Skills
Time’s Up! Career Preparation for Seniors
CHANGE:
Remarkable Turning Points What was it that made the difference? How did you know you didn’t know… or that you were sure? Learn to identify the signs that change is needed in your life and leadership and acknowledge your accomplishments.
Officer Transition and Change
Transformation Leadership and Communication
You Want Me to Do What? Change Implementation Strategies, 1 to 2 hours Change this! Not everyone embraces change. How do you get others to buy into it? How do you light a fire under those needed to make change happen? In order to inspire, educate and lead your "team" or group into action you (and your team) need to know more about the Denney Change Theory and how to apply it to your personal or professional needs. This session will present a few strategies on how to implement change and review what conditions are needed in order for others to consider implementing change. Tips on how to motivate others will be shared along with a self-analysis of how well you respond to change. Self-exploration exercises and worksheets help participants understand the "personality" of change.
CIVIC LEADERSHIP:
How to Zing! Your Life and Civic Leadership Gandhi said, "We must be the change we wish to see in this world." His words don't suggest we sit around talking about making a difference in the world, they call us to act. Zing! is the energy it takes to override competing forces to positively influence others towards a greater social good. Leadership is the making of a difference. Zing! represents a mind set for productive, intelligent and compassionate involvement by citizens of all ages, races and beliefs with the reminder one's vision of the world must be 20/20. Using personal explorations, interactive experiences, stories and shared gifts, audience members will learn what Martin Luther King, Jr. meant when he said, "There comes a time when your silence is betrayal." Various strategies for thinking globally and acting locally will be presented along with the inspiration to change the world... one person at a time. It's always Zing! time.
CIVILITY:
Civility, Leadership and College Life Is that your tray left for someone else to pick up? Did you just interrupt your professor? Is it cheating if everyone else is doing it? These are actually questions of character. As college students the expectations for positively contributing to your community include enhancing - not distracting - from a high standard of civility characterized by your integrity, intelligence and inspiration. At the core of your civility are three constructs: compassion, consideration and concept of self. Using humorous examples and a non-judgmental style of presenting, this session offers original ideas around the notion of "courteous and kind" behaviors with assessment tools and original handouts. It is designed to challenge you to fully accept the many contributions you can make to your campus community and why college is "higher" not "lower" education. Watch out! You've got potential.
Civility, Dealing with Difficult People and Building Positive Relationships
Zing! with Civility
COLLEGE SUCCESS:
The Future is Yours to Create! 1 - 3 hours Hey, wake up! This is your life we're talking about here! Do you find yourself going through your classes, relationships, leadership positions, etc. in the "uninterested student position" where you assume the "Check me off, I've shown up" personality ? Do you need a little "kick in the butt?" to re-energize and re-focus on those things in life that are important to you? This session is about YOU and what it takes to motivate yourself into action. Through a host of self-exploration and interactive exercises you will be challenged to consider the meaning IN your life not the often sought after and never found meaning OF your life. You will even be taught the "interested student position" that can change your entire outlook on life. Watch out.... you've got potential!
The Now Factors of College Success Perfect for students needing specific strategies on how to self-manage! Don’t leave your college success to chance when you can intentionally plan and act on your future accomplishments. Be good today and tomorrow works itself out!
COMMUNICATION:
A Conversation of One: Internal Dialogues and Inspiration
Believe Me... It's You! Strategies for Dealing with Difficult People Is there someone on your staff or in your life that seems hard to "get?" Does everyone else seem to be on the same page - yet this ONE person consistently appears to have their OWN agenda? Wait! Is it possible that YOU are the difficult one? Is it possible that your skills of conflict management and interpersonal communication aren't as sharp as needed? This practical skill building session will discuss why people are sometimes hard to understand while providing practical tips on how to alter your point of view around confrontation, challenge inappropriate comments and behaviors, and inspire you to see the value in "difficult" people.
Communication Skils and Dealing with Difficult People
Communication and Influence: Making the Connection
Communication and Listening
Enhanced Communication for Professionalism A position of employment where you are paid for a particular level of expertise technically makes you a “professional.” However, are you exhibiting the traits of communication and personal style on a consistent basis so you are perceived “to be professional” by those around you? This session offers “real talk” around enhanced professionalism and offers up five strategies for improvement.
Finding Your Communication Style
Getting it Right: Gender Differences in Communication Say what and to whom? Don't be silly, of course men and women communicate differently. Research on the difference between genders is shared along with important tips on how to hear what isn’t being said, communicate more directly and learn more effective means of interpersonal communication.
Gender Differences in Communication
Head Games: Internal Dialogues and Inspiration If the only one laughing at your jokes is you, then you understand the significance of "personal dialogues." Regardless of what you call those conversations that take place in your head, they are powerful. Learn how to replace unhealthy speak with productive language.
It's Not What You Say, But How You Say It , 1 to 3 hours We learn how to communicate at a very early age and then forget to keep learning this highly complicated and significant skill for enhanced happiness and influence. This session allows you to focus on a variety of skill building areas, including: assertion theory, conflict resolution, non-verbal communication, two-way communication, conversations or listening. Learning how to say what you want or what you are feeling and hear what others are saying and feeling is a significant part of this training experience. Wayne Dyer said, "People treat us the way we teach them to treat us." He is right. This session will challenge you to consider your current level of effective communication and provide you with useful tips on how to be even more effective. Is there room for improvement?
Interpersonal Influence
Non-Verbal Communication
Say IT with Style and Substance: Public Speaking and Presentation Skills Because it's your job! Because you want more Zing! in your life! Because other people might start to take you more seriously! There are many reasons for becoming more effective at giving presentations or standing behind a podium. From business professionals to educators, from students to CEOs, your ability to communicate publicly is a reflection of your mission, vision and potential leadership. Sharing personal experiences and relevant strategies, the presenter offers up her own tips (not trips) on improving your confidence, competence and learning outcomes as a speaker.
Seriously? Accountability and Dealing with Difficult People
COMMUNITY BUILDING:
RAs and The Building of Community
Community and Civility in an Age of Whatever
CUSTOMER SERVICE:
Customer Satisfaction Guaranteed! 1 to 3 hours "You want it when?" followed by hysterical laughter is not the kind of behavior human beings in the "business" of helping other human beings want to emulate. In fact, knowing how to do your job effectively while dealing with "clients" and "customers" with significantly different needs, backgrounds and expectations can be extremely difficult - not to mention frustrating! This session will take a look at the basic components of effectively doing your job. The components of effective service will be reviewed along with the opportunity to explore the "customers" you deal with on a regular basis. Techniques to better serve your external and internal "customers" will be presented along with skill building opportunities. The customer may not always be right but you can be!
Staying Motivated to Provide Quality Service in Higher Education
FOLLOWSHIP: See Leadership
GREEK LIFE: See Leadership
INFLUENCE: See Leadership
LEADERSHIP:
A Business of One: Entrepreneurial Leadership
Advancing Your Leadership Abilities
Building Your Leadership Character
Charting Your Leadership Course
Collective Leadership [SGA Executive Board Training]
Creating Your Leadership ReputationConsidering the reality: Your reputation arrives before you do! So, what does your reputation have to say about your ability to inspire others towards a common goal? Components coming together to "define" your leadership are reviewed along with numerous self-assessments.
Ethical Leadership
Extraordinary Experiences: Cultivating the Natural Leader Within
Followship for the Sake of Leadership Too many leaders without any followers makes for great vision without any movement. By understanding why others follow, leaders can more efficiently achieve their vision and accomplish group goals. Using Maxwell’s model of followship, this session encourages discussion around traits that bring others on board, instead of those which lead to a loss of enthusiasm and participation.
Instruments of Leadership
Leadership and Civility
Living and Leading with Values
Managing Upwards Being in a position of leadership doesn't make you a leader, just as reporting to someone doesn't make you a follower! Learn various strategies for contributing to betterment of the entire organization regardless of your position of influence.
The Life and Times of Eleanor Roosevelt An amazing woman way ahead of her time or was she? Learn about the life and times of this history altering first lady while examining the traits of effective leadership.
The Measurement of Leadership
Translating Your Leadership
Zing! Your Life and LeadershipUsing original concepts of being a person of greater personal magnetism, the concept of Zing! is the foundation for a one hour or full-day of training. Based on the presenter’s book by the same title, strategies for becoming more influential, self-motivated and appealing to others is used along with numerous original self-assessments and exercises to help develop a baseline for participant’s leadership reputation and potential. Additional topics can be included within this program. Leadership is defined as, “the ability to override competing forces to positively influence others towards a greater social good.” Additional programs within the Zing! framework include:
Zing! Your Life and Professional Influence
Zing! with Civility
Zing! Your Civic Engagement
Zing! for Educators
Zing! Your Greek System
Zing! and the Student Leader
Zing! and the Resident Advisor/Orientation Leader
Zing! Your Programming Board
LEADERSHIP SKILL DEVELOPMENT:
Goal Setting Skills for Leaders
It’s Personal! Recruitment and Retention for Greek Members
Not Just Any Program: The Basics of Appealing Programs
Programming and Promotion
Recruitment and Retention of Student Members
Zing! Your Programming Board
MOTIVATION:
Inspired Success – Motivation to the Finish Line
Life by Design, 1 to 2 hours — Based upon the speaker's first motivational book, Life by Design, this extended session is about YOU and YOUR life! It is about where you see yourself now (point a) and where you'd like to see yourself in the future (point b). Using a "life" to "house" analogy, the original concepts presented will assist you in identifying your definition of "having it all" and what changes you need to start working on NOW to achieve a "dream" life that for YOU is fulfilling and meaningful. Are you really content with your relationships, communities, job, health, family, financial situation, or career choice - to name a few? Do you control your destiny or do you feel that you're going through the motions - living everyone else's definition of "having it all?" Self-exploration techniques will be presented that will assist you in figuring out HOW to make the desired changes in your life not IF you will ever make them. Be careful, there just might be some work to be done on your life!
Refreshment Strategies for Advisers We all can use a dose of motivation now and again – so why not those who motivate the motivators? Using a personal approach, advisors of student groups are challenged to assess their current level of motivation and thus effectiveness in working with students. Tips on how to add more fuel to your engine are offered in a humorous and practical manner.
Staying Motivated to Work in Higher Education , 1 or 2 hoursDoes the "Just Expired" sign go up on your forehead every time a student or colleague (maybe even friend, spouse, boss, etc. ) walks into your office? Is it frustrating when you recognize that the methods, practices and policies that used to work effectively just don't get the same results? Has the push for providing better "customer service" left you wondering where "student development" fits in? This session is designed to allow participants to become re-energized by providing motivational strategies, information about reaching today's college student and tips on being student consumer oriented. You make a difference.
Taking Care of Business: Motivating Strategies for Life How's your life going? Parenting, working, running, shopping, dealing with difficult people... the stresses of every day life. Are you in need of a reality check? Take an evening to get into the moment and focus on what needs to be repaired, remodeled, renovated or rebuilt in your life. This "do-it-yourself" approach to bringing back the balance in your life is offered by the author of Life by Design: A Do It Yourself Approach to Achieving Happiness. In an upbeat, inspiring yet content driven program, a five phase process of living the life you want will be shared along with fun self-assessment opportunities and humorous takes on life. Let's face the first reality - if you aren't happy or content with your life, odds are you are making the people around you miserable. It's time to take care of business!
The Future is Yours to Create
Why Not Now? The Urgency of Your Greatness
MOTIVATING OTHERS:
Advising for Success: Strategies for Empowerment Tired of hitting your head on the desk? Gotten a bit too much "feedback" lately or feel like your efforts really don't matter? Learn how to be a more effective supervisor, advisor or mentor by empowering students to own their success, failure and future. Using concepts from First Break All The Rules, the presenter (a former student affairs practitioner turned professional educator) offers various strategies for working with today's student leaders and professional staffs through an exploration of what truly motivates and encourages productivity, customer satisfaction, profitability and retention.
Empowering the PowerfulWhen you find yourself doing all the work, it’s not because everyone else doesn’t care – it might be because you care too much!!! This session teaches strategies for delegation, inspiring others and practices of empowering others to work towards something greater. It is everybody’s job, yet nobody gets the work done… until now!
Inspiring Self and Others
Make Me! Empowerment and Motivation of Others If the leaders are exhausted, the followers must be sleeping! This is a wake up call to your life and leadership as it stresses the value and necessity in knowing how to motivate others into action. Specific tips on how to bring others into your organizations, life and leadership are shared.
ORIENTATION:
Being an OL for the Fun of it! 1 up to 8 hoursThe OL makes a Difference! Numerous exercises and opportunities for interaction provide participants with the skills needed to be more effective orientation leaders with a better understanding of the issues facing new students and parents. Depending upon the desired length of training, this session covers the profile of new students, communication skills in depth, parent concerns, motivation, and other issues as requested. Team building for OL staffs and how to do ice-breakers for new students is also available. [ALSO SEE LEADERSHIP]
PARENTS and PARENT PROGRAMMING:
For Parent Professionals: From a Parent’s Perspective Despite working with parents and being a transition professional, have you ever really stopped and asked parents or guardians what they need from you? What do they never want to hear come out of your mouth, but what do they really expect and want? This humorous and well-researched session addresses parent expectations from the perspective of the speaker who brings 30 years experience in higher education, as well as, being the parent of two college students!
A Time of Holding On and A Time of Letting GrowThis program speaks to parents in a conversational manner about the transitioning process from high school to college.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT:
Advising and Supervising for Success
Advisor Motivation
Coaching Over Advising
Dealing with Difficult People for Professional Staffs
Enhanced Communication for Professionalism
Enhanced Professionalism and Influence in Student Affairs - What’s the bigger picture? What do others see when they see you? This candid sessions takes a look at the true definition and role of professionalism in student affairs while offering strategies for enhanced professionalism.
For Parent Professionals: From a Parent’s Perspective - Despite working with parents and being a transition professional, have you ever really stopped and asked parents or guardians what they need from you? What do they never want to hear come out of your mouth, but what do they really expect and want? This humorous and well-researched session addresses parent expectations from the perspective of the speaker who brings 30 years experience in higher education, as well as, being the parent of two college students!
Leadership, Professionalism and Student Affairs
Managing Upwards with Zing!
Staff Synergy, and High Performance Team Building, 1 or 2 hours - Have you ever wondered what it would take to work in an environment that fosters personal development, provides quality services to "clients" and values team work? Sometimes this ideal isn't that far away. With minor adjustments and a greater knowledge of working "in collaboration" participants will be encouraged to evaluate their role in making a staff productive. The motivation to work towards greater group cohesiveness and better intra-group communication will be explored along with accompanying skill building lessons.
Staff Synergy and Professional Team Building
Staying Motivated to Work in Higher Education
ZING! Your Life and Professional Influence - Ever notice how some people have "it" and some wonder what "it" is? Have you started to wonder why some people get noticed and you only get passed by and passed up. In a highly humorous and engaging presentation style, Nancy Hunter Denney presents her original Zing! Impact Equation demonstrating it's never just one thing, rather a combination of the person, environment, skill level and minimization of distractions that determine the level of one's potential influence or charisma. Zing! is the thing that allows you to "override competing forces to positively influence others." Zing! is living life and leadership with an exclamation point and comes from the fundamental belief, "the energy you put out there, is the energy you get to draw from." Within the context of "professionalism" Zing! is the standard effort and attitude needed to be consistently applied in order to effectively accomplish a shared mission. Relevant "insights" ranging from self-inspection to humility offer the road map to Zing! and enhanced happiness. You always know what time it is when you accept your aptitudes as a means of demonstrating your gratitude! From this moment on: It's Zing! time...
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT:
Critical Thinking and Leadership
Fit to Lead: The Necessity of Nourishment and Self-ManagementYou can’t give what you don’t have. This session reviews various wellness and self-management strategies and offers a self-assessment tool to determine one’s current level of fitness, as well as, relevant stress reduction and self-management techniques which include goal setting, structure setting and organizational skills.
Fit to Lead: Organization and Self-Management
In Search of Happiness
Journaling and Self-Awareness [I AM Program]
Life by Design
The Competency of Self-Understanding
Money Management Matters
Not by Accident: Self-Worth and Decision Making
Remarkable Turning Points
Self-Perception VS Your Reality
Wisdom Along the Way: Lessons on Life and Leadership
RECRUITMENT:
Rules of Recruitment and Retention : Quality not quantity only goes so far! In this highly engaging session participants will learn what it takes to attract and keep volunteers focused, inspired and involved. Taking volunteers from the stage of "no bodies" to "some bodies" is a learnable skill. You can make simple adjustments to what you do and how you do it so others are attracted to your organization, mission and vision.
RELATIONSHIP BUILDING: See Team Building and Relationship Building
SENSITIVITY TRAINING:
Defining Diversity Differently, minimum 2 hoursIt's time to move beyond "tolerance" the different cultures, interests, sexual orientations, races, physical appearances, etc. found in today's society to "celebrating" such differences. This session challenges individuals to examine their level of understanding of a variety of populations through a host of individual and group exercises and experiences. How to give a caring response to inappropriate behaviors, factual information about the diversity in our lives, and the motivation to become understanding makes this training an essential component of staff development, educational programs and employee enhanced efforts.
STAFF DEVELOPMENT: See Professional Development
TEACHING AND TRAINING:
Creating Meaningful Leadership Training ExercisesWhat goes into the perfect leadership training experience? How do you design a program, leadership day or retreat weekend with intentional learning outcomes that captivate and teach? This session presents all of the components making effective training experiences and challenges presenters to be creative, yet meaningful.
Developing Student Leadership Skills
Educating with Style and Substance: How to Better Reach and Teach StudentsWhy does the “do not disturb” sign go up on the forehead of the future? Using a variety of creative teaching methodologies, this session offers ways of making yourself more personally dynamic and magnetic. Just because others are listening doesn’t mean they are hearing your message… but, knowing how to check for comprehension adds to your potential effectiveness.
Engaging and Training Today’s Student and StaffA few 3x5 cards, puzzle pieces and you’re good to go, right? Wrong. What does it take to attract the attention of your participants while achieving measurable learning outcomes? This hands on training session offers tricks, strategies, style recommendations and format considerations for effectively training and engaging your students and staff members.
It’s Not How You Teach: Student Learning Styles
Teaching to Engage
Teaching Tools with Zing!Having to compete with today’s electronics makes teaching and reaching our students difficult. So, what can be done differently to better engage students? How can you change it up and add some spice to your teaching efforts to accommodate a host of learning styles? This session demonstrates, instructs and pulls from the group personal strategies for enhanced student engagement.
TEAM BUILDING AND RELATIONSHIP BUILDING:
Staff Synergy: To Be or Not To Be
Staff Synergy, and High Performance Team Building, 1 or 2 hoursHave you ever wondered what it would take to work in an environment that fosters personal development, provides quality services to "clients" and values team work? Sometimes this ideal isn't that far away. With minor adjustments and a greater knowledge of working "in collaboration" participants will be encouraged to evaluate their role in making a staff productive. The motivation to work towards greater group cohesiveness and better intra-group communication will be explored along with accompanying skill building lessons.
Transformational Connections, Influence and Networking Making connections is simple when you understand your likability factor and reasons why people connect (or fail to connect) with others. Healthy relationships can change your life for the better while increasing your potential for influence. This session suggests knowing what you want others to see when they see you is one of the first steps in establishing quality relationships, increasing your networking and influencing others through your presence.
Work for It! Developing High Performance Teams
TRAINING: See Teaching and Training
WELLNESS: See Personal Development
WOMEN:
Celebrating the Sisterhood: Inspired Laughter
Public Speaking for Women
Communication for Success
On Becoming a Successful Woman There’s nothing more powerful than a room of woman on a mission! What are the traits that make a female stand out and most importantly, happy? Sharing words of wisdom from women around the country, this session is personal and productive as it speaks to the excellence in knowing one’s potential contributions.