Kendall Zoller, EdD., is an author, educator, researcher, and international presenter in communicative intelligence, presentation and facilitation skills, leadership and adaptive schools.

One recent co-publication is a graphic novel on leadership, Calming the Chaos, Leading through the Ecotone.  He is also co-author of The Choreography of Presenting: The 7 Essential Abilities of Effective Presenters (Corwin Press, 2010), president of Sierra Training Associates and graduate faculty at California State University, Dominguez Hills and The University of Maine. He has authored over three dozen reviewed book chapters and journal articles on topics of communication, community, and leadership for educators and law enforcement. His work on leadership and presentation skills takes him to schools, districts, universities, state agencies, and corporations across the United States, Canada, Europe, China, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Europe. His lectures, presentations, and paper presentations include the campuses of Harvard, UC Berkeley, St. Anselm College, Boston University, University of Chicago, and Loyola University Maryland. Kendall has a doctorate in Educational Leadership a Masters in Educational Management. Kendall can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Keynote: Communicating with Authenticity when Leading Through Chaos - what   research tells us about communication and leading
Over the past twenty years neuroscience has revealed so much about the brain and the influences of communication on thinking and learning. When leading we are taking people from where they are, to where you want them to be. Along this path, values will be challenged. In this session you will experience communication skills you can use that reroute the neural highways from, as Goleman states, “the low road to the high road.” Think about times you have to deliver news people don’t want to hear whether, in a training or serving as a supervisor? What can you do, what will you do? Learn how to surface values and navigate values conflicts when leading, so you separate your professional relationship from the important issue to be discussed. Using these patterns can shift people’s consciousness so they may be more open to hearing a message that may challenge the way they think.

The Choreography of Presenting
Imagine being able to consistently present with purpose and intention in any setting. These skills can be used in any setting including on one-on-one, committee, and entire staff meetings. You may find applications of these skills in promotional interviews and even your personal relationships. This highly interactive session takes participants into the seven essential abilities. Explore credibility, rapport, reading a group, listening, acknowledging, responding and recovery with grace. Communication patterns will be introduced for you to practice and apply, including:
•      Gaining credibility
•      Using locations to influence learning
•      How to use influence and not power to get attention
•      Ways to redirect focus and energy to preserve relationships
•      How to recover with grace when things don’t go as planned.
 
Both, The Choreography of Presenting and The Presenter’s Atlas will be available for purchase onsite.

Navigating Resistance: Separating Resistance from the Relationships
In our schools, we have a culture of care committed to creating an educational environment for the success of all students. Yet, we often find conflict or resistance on topics of importance during meetings, workshops and even while supervising. How do we run meetings and workshops when resistance is present? In this session, you will learn how to choreograph your meetings in ways that address the resistance while preserving the relationships with your colleagues. Learn the essential skills of 3rd point, going visual, and paraphrasing to separate the issue from the relationship to create a healthy emotional intelligence when communicating

Using the Ecotone to Shape a Future: From Chaos to Calm
    (repeated on Saturday)
   
 Ironically, the challenges we face in schools today, we do not have answers to. If we did have answers...then the challenge would not exist. One reason for the continuation of these challenges, is because we often respond to the symptom and not the cause of the challenge. When leading, we challenge what people believe in and value. Herein lies a deep challenge.  Yet, when leading we often have to navigate shifts in what people value and when we do this, chaos can emerge. The Ecotone can be a place where effectively navigating values conflicts can take place with dignity and respect. Leading requires tolerance of chaos while simultaneously providing islands of calm where the work can be accomplished and solutions can be created. In this session, learn how to navigate chaos by taking people into a place for change, what we call the ecotone. Explore ways of surfacing values, beliefs, and resistance in ways than can facilitate leading by practicing an Itinerary For Change.

Make an Impact - Designing the First Five Minutes
This highly interactive session leads you through a process for creating openings for your professional development sessions and meetings. You will learn how to combine credibility, approachability, and location to establish an adult learning environment that balances the heart and mind of the learner. Skills include credibility, a presentation frame, use of passion, and the power of the pause. This session can support you in the work you do when facing groups that welcome you, resist you, or even have a negative perception about the topic presented.