NETWORKING OPPORTUNITY! Brandcenter Friday Forum – ‘Delivering Winning Presentations”

Announcements and Articles 21 September 2009 | Comments Off

Creativity / Commerce / Culture
Fall 2009
VCU Brandcenter Friday Forum
Sept. 25 / 11am – 12:30pm / VCU Student Commons Theater / 907 Floyd Ave.
Topic:
Delivering Winning Presentations
Descriptor / Delivering winning presentations requires much more than knowing how to put together a slide show. Using games and exercises (we hate lectures), we will cover skills that increase expressiveness, help you understand the fundamentals of body language, and recognize your best personal styles of delivery in order to increase your authenticity and pump up your persuasiveness. Don’t be a side show to your slide show.
Speakers:
David Leong
Chairman / Professor / Producer / Theatre VCU
David S. Leong is Chairman and Professor of the Virginia Commonwealth University Department of Theatre. David holds membership in the prestigious National Theatre Conference, considered the “think tank” of the top 120 leaders in American Theatre. His 34-year history of teaching includes faculty appointments at the Juilliard School, Brandies University, and University of Maryland. David was a finalist for the State Council of Higher Education in Virginia’s Outstanding Faculty Award and received the 2006 VCU School of the Arts Distinguished Achievement Award for Overall Excellence in Teaching, Creative Activity and Service. He holds a BA from the University of New Hampshire and an MFA from the University of North Carolina Greensboro and has conducted master classes and workshops for over 250 colleges across the United States.
David’s discovery of the connection between leadership and theatre was inspired by the realization that actors and leaders share similar goals: they must communicate with authenticity and inspiration, collaborate with purpose and connection, and work efficiently under tight deadlines. Under the umbrella of CCG, he has conducted workshops for the Federal Reserve Bank, MCV Health system departments of Surgery, Internal Medicine, Palliative Care, Nursing), Hamilton Beach Brands, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, Inc., Virginia Association of Defense Attorneys, Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, the Veteran’s Administration Medical Center, and many more. Along with his two colleagues, Drs. Alan Dow and Aaron Anderson, he received the 2008 VCU School of Medicine Award for Educational Innovation.
On stage, David has personally coached many film, stage and TV stars including Sigourney Weaver, Hilary Swank, Marisa Tomei, Joan Cusack, Stacy Keach, Kevin Spacey, Don Cheadle, Ashley Judd, and Delroy Lindo. His work has been featured in the New York Times, the Village Voice, American Theatre Magazine and hundreds of other national publications. He has collaborated on 14 Broadway productions including the 2009 Tony-Award winning musical Billy Elliot.

Aaron Anderson
Associate Professor / Theatre VCU
Take a former US Army explosive ordinance specialist and blend it with a tenured Associate Professor of Theatre at VCU and you have Aaron Anderson – a professor with a passion for blowing things up. Aaron holds an Interdisciplinary PhD in Culture from Northwestern University and an MFA in Theatre from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. In addition to theatre and drama, he also specializes in qualitative and mixed-method research design, pedagogy and curriculum design, theories of the body and methods of movement analysis. He is a recognized expert on the use of theatre training and performance studies in applied social science and has designed the curricula for several national and international teacher certification programs. His articles on the intersections of culture and media are taught around the world. In 2007 he received the VCU School of the Arts Award for Distinguished Achievement in Service.
Aaron and David are co-founders and co-owners of The Critical Communications Group; a nationally recognized program that addresses the organizational and interpersonal communication needs specific to many disciplines within the business and healthcare industries. Their work uses techniques developed from years of experience teaching in the theatre and has been featured in over 200 local, regional, national, and international media outlets (newspapers, television and radio) including the Washington Post, the Washington Times, the Chicago Tribune, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The San Francisco Examiner, USA Today, Newsday, National Public Radio, the Voice of America, American Medical News, Surgery News, Health Day, Medical News Today, BuisinessWeek.com, Forbes.com and many others. In 2008 Aaron and David, along with their colleague Alan Dow, received the VCU School of Medicine Award for Educational Innovation.



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