Melanie Drake
MA
Free
Motivational Speakers and Custom-Designed On-Site Training Expert
Melanie Drake Quick Facts
- Main Areas
- Web Marketing
Melanie L. Drake focuses on the publishing and marketing sides of the AchieveMax® company, which provides professional, motivational speakers to custom-design seminars and keynote presentations to meet an organization's needs. Seminars can be scheduled for half-day, full-day, or multiple-day sessions. Keynote presentations and break-out sessions for conferences and conventions can be scheduled according to an organization's needs.
Additional experts from the AchieveMax® company include:
Motivational Speaker Harry K. Jones
A straight-forward, "tell-it-like-it-is" approach to current issues coupled with more than 30 years of management and leadership experience makes Harry K. Jones a dynamic and much sought-after motivational speaker. Harry has appeared all over North America addressing topics such as change, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork and time management. During his career, he has worked in and consulted for a number of industries, including education, financial, health care, government, manufacturing, radio, retail, television, transportation, and sales. As one client so aptly said, "Harry may not tell you what you want to hear, but he'll certainly tell you what you need to hear!"
Motivational Speaker Jeffrey W. Drake, Ph.D.
With more than 30 years of experience in the management, psychology, and training fields, Dr. Jeffrey W. Drake is an exceptional motivational speaker. Jeff has made presentations on subjects such as communication styles, creative problem solving, goal setting, leadership, project management, stress management, teamwork, and time management. As a trainer and professional speaker, Jeff has been characterized as motivational, unique, informative, practical, inspirational, enjoyable, and fun.
Motivational Speaker Kathleen J. Wheelihan
Combining enthusiasm with an energetic speaking style, Kathleen J. Wheelihan is an inspirational and motivational speaker. Kathleen has made presentations on topics such as creativity, customer service strategies, employee retention, leadership, project management, and teambuilding. Kathleen has worked in and/or consulted for the credit union, education, financial, government, health care, manufacturing, and real estate industries.
Inspirational Speaker Shelley R. Riebel
With more than 20 years of experience working in positions from management, customer service/sales, and training, Shelley Riebel teaches from experience. Her energy and enthusiasm makes Shelley a motivating and inspiring speaker. Shelley makes presentations ranging from supervisory skills to sales to professional development topics. She helps businesses develop business plans, training plans and resolve internal conflict. Shelley is instrumental in developing sales cultures and helping to improve company morale, motivation and productivity.
Free Articles & Book Excerpts
Articles by this expert
SelfGrowth articles and saved writing connected to this expert.
Article
Motivational Speaker: A Misnomer?
Working in the consulting, seminar and keynoting business, we receive a good number of calls from clients looking for a "motivational" speaker. I often struggle with that terminology. Very early in my career, I attended a number of programs which featured a "motivational speaker." I was very fortunate to sit in the audience as a vast number of iconic characters took the stage to stimulate, motivate, and change lives.
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Tips for Choosing a Great Book
Over the holiday break, I received a call from a client who wanted to chat about our book reviews. She said her husband used our reviews to determine the best books to purchase for his key clients as gifts for special occasions. During our conversation, she asked me a question that actually caught me a bit off guard. She asked, "How do you decide which books to spotlight on your web site?" I really hadn’t given that much thought before. I started sharing some of the factors I took into consideration and soon had an interesting list.
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How to Select a Training Consultant
In times of rapid change, both small and large businesses today are increasingly viewing training as an investment, not a cost. If your business uses outside training consultants, you will want to maximize your return on this training investment. Qualified training consultants and seminar leaders will have these characteristics: Training consultants will help you determine your specific training needs. Prior to selecting a training consultant, it is good to have at least a general idea of what your training needs are.
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Communication Keys for Success
Improving communication is a major need for many organizations. Whether you are a manager, supervisor, or frontline employee, there are always opportunities to improve communication. Often, communication problems occur when people don’t pay attention to the basics. Here are five keys to better communication. Focus on the Situation or Behavior When communicating, focus on the situation or the behavior occurring, not the person. This allows you to better communicate with the other person, rather than to seemingly pick on them.
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Article
Employer of Choice - Just Another Buzzword?
There's a certain point in your business life where buzzwords become a nonentity. You've heard them all a million times. They soon mean nothing and actually become an annoyance. The list is endless...quality, empowerment, walk-the-talk, open-book management, win-win, Y2K, out-of-the-box, yadda, yadda, yadda. Growing tired of a buzzword certainly doesn't demean the actual concept, program, or movement described by the buzzword. In fact, it originally gained prominence by virtue of the value it provided to the masses. Why even discuss buzzwords?
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Dealing with Conflict
Dealing with conflict is a frequent conce for many organizations. Managers and supervisors have to deal with conflict on a daily basis. Many times conflict happens when people see situations differently. Often the potential conflict can be defused by understanding the other person’s point of view. Much has been written on different personality or behavioral styles. A very positive way to deal with conflicts is to gain an understanding of the four different behavioral styles. For example, some people are the no-nonsense, get-the-job-done type.
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Does MBWA (Management By Wandering Around) Still Work?
Tom Peters, alumnus of the management consulting firm of McKinsey & Company and one of today's best known and highest paid management gurus, first came to prominence in 1982 as he "knocked our socks off" with his eye-opening best-seller In Search of Excellence. This thought-provoking classic provided us with many valuable lessons from America's Best-Run Companies. Today, 20 years and ten best sellers later, Peters is still on the cutting edge of the on-going business revolution that never seems to end.
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Life-long Learning
"Life-long learning" is a popular trend that continues to offer vast opportunities to all those who recognize its value. It also applies to more than a single segment of your business. For instance, consider its application in a key area such as customer service and satisfaction. Do your customers know what good service is? Companies that give poor service hope their customers don't know the meaning of good service. Companies that provide excellent service help them find out.
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Tired of Hearing about Southwest and Wal-Mart?
In a recent conversation with a college professor friend of mine, he mentioned a growing phenomenon that occurs in most every one of his sessions with his students. He happens to teach Leadership and Organizational Development, and his classes include students in their late teens as well as adults pursuing advanced studies.
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Favorite Quotes & Thoughts from Melanie Drake
Words of Wisdom
- Random Thoughts on Attitude
- Random Thoughts on Change
- Random Thoughts on Chaos
- Random Thoughts on Creativity
- Random Thoughts on Customer Service
- Random Thoughts on Employees
- Random Thoughts on Empowerment
- Random Thoughts on Enthusiasm
- Random Thoughts on Execution
- Random Thoughts on Fear
- Random Thoughts on Gender
- Random Thoughts on Goals
- Random Thoughts on Leadership
- Random Thoughts on Mentoring
- Random Thoughts on Motivation
- Random Thoughts on Networking
- Random Thoughts on Passion
- Random Thoughts on Persistence
- Random Thoughts on Politics
- Random Thoughts on Potential
- Random Thoughts on Random Acts of Kindness
- Random Thoughts on Reading
- Random Thoughts on Repetition
- Random Thoughts on Sales
- Random Thoughts on Sense of Urgency
- Random Thoughts on Teamwork
- Random Thoughts on Time Management
- Random Thoughts on Women
Contacting Melanie Drake
Other highlights
Top 10 Seminars and Keynote Presentations
1. Productive Chaos: Riding the Wave of Change
Are your organizational arrows aligned to prepare you for the chaos awaiting you? Will you be a victim or a benefactor of this inevitable trend? The choice is yours! This seminar or keynote provides participants with specific hands-on techniques to break out of old traditional thought patterns and develop new ways of thinking and responding. It examines and integrates the very latest research, development, and theories into a simple, easy-to-use formula for success at a time when we're all being asked to accomplish much more with less.
2. Becoming a Choice Employer: Attracting & Retaining World-Class Talent
Business success and growth in any industry is clearly linked to the attraction and retention of talent. In fact, there is no issue with greater urgency, or more far-reaching consequences. It has been identified by numerous resources as the #1 business issue of the 21st Century! In this seminar or keynote, examine solutions and examples of how Choice Employers deal with this most vexing problem!
3. Leadership Boot Camp
This leadership boot camp educational seminar is action-packed and filled with practical tools that will help leaders create a more effective team. Throughout the sessions, activities will help participants apply what they have learned. They will also have valuable networking opportunities to help them learn from each other.
4. Creative Innovation: Out-of-the-Box Thinking
Today's leaders are in the business of creative innovation. Whether the creativity is expressed in new products and services, new public relations approaches, new programs, or new marketing or merchandising methods, success in the long run depends on creativity and innovation! This creativity seminar or keynote shows how to generate ideas alone or in a group, how to brainstorm for increased productivity, and how to encourage a creative organizational climate.
5. The "I Hate Time Management" Seminar
This time management seminar or keynote was not designed to sell a daily planner, a diary or a new philosophy. It was, however, created to provide participants with tips, guidelines, time-proven methods, systems, surveys, and analysis to establish a plan for improved task and time management. This time management seminar or keynote is essential for anyone who might benefit from better task and time management.
6. Customer Satisfaction Strategies
A powerful wave is shaking the already turbulent business world. It is a wave of service-or more specifically, an intense interest in quality of service and satisfaction. This customer service seminar or keynote provides knowledge, methods, and expert guidelines to help you establish the competitive edge as we prepare to face a truly challenging marketplace.
7. On Your Mark, Get Set, Goal!
Today, we live in a microwave, throw-away, live-for-the-moment society. Successful goal setting is the continual process of making a goal and achieving it, and making still more goals and achieving them. This goal setting seminar or keynote helps you take control of many areas in your life so that you can determine where you're going, how to get there, when you'll get there, and what you want to do when you arrive.
8. Stress: The Ultimate Paradox
Do you thrive on stress? Or does stress make you anxious? The critical difference between positive and negative stress lies in the way we perceive and deal with each potentially stressful situation. Stress management is, simply, effective coping. This stress management seminar or keynote provides a practical presentation of time-tested techniques to reduce both our perception of stress and its harmful consequences.
9. Project Management
In today's workplace, the ability to manage projects is an essential skill. Effective project managers are increasingly in demand, while people without those skills will be left behind. Whether you realize it or not, everyone manages a project at some point. Almost every employee, regardless of job title, will spend more and more time focused on projects. In fact, everyone will soon be expected to be project completion experts.
10. Developing Empowered Teams
The emergence of empowered teams isn't just another management fad "here today and gone tomorrow." Empowerment renders obsolete the traditional management methods used in organizations for the last century. This team building seminar provides participants with the skills, knowledge, and guidelines to develop winning teams by improving each person's team leadership and team membership skills.