Speaker

Keynote Speaker - A high energy and inspiring speaker for your next event

Celebrated Olympian, inspirational speaker and author, Silken Laumann offers her audiences insights and pathworks for reaching personal potential with her stories of courage, adversity and pursuit of excellence.

Silken has spoken to hundreds of organizations in various sectors of government, finance, eduction, health , sales, human resources and private business.
Through Silken's Olympic experiences and personal encounters with top achievers, her speeches centre around getting the most out of ourselves - finding opportunities within obstacles, challenging your limits and staying focused on a vision.
Her visionary leadership goes far beyond Olympic moments; her continued presence on the International Board for Right To Play; Kid's Champion for GoodLife Kids Foundation; and best-selling author of Child's Play support her dedication and advocacy of children and their right to play.
Silken's speeches are tailored to her audiences - for more information call 1-250-472-7644 or email office@silkenlaumann.com

The Courage To Shine: Releasing Your Inner Excellence

Building on her own remarkable experiences and those of other champions in art, music, and business, Silken shares with her audiences key strategies that lead to great performance. What is revealed is as surprising as it is sensible. From the company executive with a jar full of pennies representing the days of his life, to the Olympic athlete in tears of doubt just days before winning gold medals, Silken shows us that leaders are not fearless, nor eternally confident. Rather they have mastered the mental skills that harness and unleash human potential. Understanding the power of our thoughts and intentions, staying connected to our passions and creating the positive environment from which creativity and excellence flows are keys to releasing inner excellence. The balance between controlling our own destiny while still being receptive to the unexpected and magical are lessons shared by this very open, sharing and caring speaker.

From Agony to Ecstasy: The Olympic Story

Silken Laumann captivated a nation when she moved From Broken Bones and Shredded Muscles to an Olympic Medal in ten weeks time. World Champion Silken Laumann was just weeks away from realizing her dream of Olympic Gold when a men’s pair smashed into her, shredding muscles, breaking bones and shattering her chances of Olympic glory. Her story of defying the doctors’ prognosis that she would never row competitively again is one of courage, persistence, and belief.

Silken shares her Olympic story with the depth and experience of someone who has had many challenges and victories in addition to her Olympic successes. She takes her audience on a journey to uncover their own dreams and motivations, she challenges them to discover what limits their success and what beliefs they hold that inhibits their potential. Silken is breathtakingly honest, and in her honesty she gives her audiences permission to go deep, to shift their thinking and open up to the possibility in their careers and life. Her own battle for self-confidence and self-belief help her understand how profoundly challenging it is for any of us to “believe in ourselves” and yet how essential that is to realizing our true potential.

“ Vision and belief are needed to overcome the challenges we face in our ever changing work environments. Silken helped us find both.” --Dave Schneider, Wellington West Financial

Silken stretches her boundaries, advocates for children and keeps pushing to be the best she can be. She is educated in the field of excellence; most importantly through the way she lives her life in sport and after sport.

Competition
Excellence
Vision
Change
Overcoming Obstacles

Silver Linings: Living the Up Side of Down

Silken’s greatest mentor and coach once said to her “ every cloud has a silver lining.” This expression came in handy when she sat in a sinking boat wondering if she was going to lose her lower leg never mind compete at the Olympics in ten weeks time. Five years later, when her husband left her without warning, she remembers thinking “where the heck is the silver lining in this one.”

Silken is no stranger to adversity; living with a mom who suffered from mental illness gave her strength and resiliency that has shaped the course of her life. She believes our experiences are gifts that shape us. Challenge, loss and change are hard, but there are huge lessons in the experience. To throw away the learning of the journey is throwing away the gift that comes along with the pain. Silken shares her story with strength and honesty and inspires us all that we can not only overcome anything that life throws at us, but that we can live a life of passion, contribution and meaning.

Courage
Personal Development
Change

Silken is the author of two books, mother, a child advocate, and a frequent contributor to national magazines.