John Graham's Most Popular Speech Topics

These topics are examples. Each presentation is tailored to the unique needs of the audience.

• ANSWER THE CALL

Your community and your country need more from you than your best wishes. What can you do to help? Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned agent of change, you’ll gain inspiration, skills and strategies for action from John Graham, author of Stick Your Neck Out—A Street-Smart Guide to Creating Change in Your Community and Beyond. Drawing on his 30 years’ experience as a political and social activist, John offers solid tools for solving public problems, laced with his dramatic and humorous personal stories.

• HOW TO LEAD-INSIGHTS FROM MANY SLIPPERY SLOPES

[Especially relevant for anyone in a leadership role—in business, government, nonprofits, team activities and much more]

You’ll gain insights and practical tips from John Graham’s 40 years of leading—on mountain-climbing teams, in Vietnam, at the UN, as an environmental activist and in the nonprofit world. The author of Outdoor Leadership, Graham says, “the core of good leadership is developing a clear picture of yourself as a leader, building trust, and inspiring others with a clear and compelling vision of success.”

• DON'T DIE BEFORE YOU'VE MADE A DIFFERENCE

Twenty-five years ago, John Graham was nearly killed when the cruise ship he was lecturing on burned and sank in the freezing waters of the Gulf of Alaska. Rescued at the last moment as a typhoon engulfed his lifeboat, he emerged with a sense of direction and purpose that hasn't wavered. "All of us want meaningful lives," he says now, "but we don't have to face death to find them. The guiding signs are all around us, most of them small and subtle—I just ignored them." No matter what your situation in life, don't settle for just taking up space—find the meaning you're looking for in service, in committing to ideals beyond your personal needs. Let Graham help you find or renew the passion for what you care about—then go after it with everything you've got.

• WHY SHOULD YOU CARE?

[For assemblies of middle and high school-age kids]

Teens pay attention when John Graham asks them what they care about. The author of It’s Up to Us, a handbook for teens, Graham uses an easy tone and style, and plenty of dramatic stories, to show students that nothing is more important than living a meaningful life, and that the surest path to that meaning is service. “You can find thousands of ways to make a difference,” he says, as he offers practical tools for the search. “Find the ones that excite you and go for them with everything you’ve got.”

• DO IT BECAUSE IT MATTERS

[A favorite keynote for conferences of associations and organizations]

“There’s tremendous joy and satisfaction in doing work you know is meaningful,” says John Graham, citizen activist and former diplomat. Hearing stories from his adventurous life, and from the lives of the heroes honored by the Giraffe Heroes Project, you’ll learn how to build and sustain meaning in your work as a source of vision, passion and strength.

• TAPPING THE HEROES WITHIN OUR KIDS

[Especially relevant for educators, parents and educational conferences]

Most kids want to be helpful and caring, but these impulses are often suffocated by a materialistic culture that values all of us for what we can buy, not for who we are. You can help your kids bring these impulses to life. John Graham, author of It's Up to Us, a mentoring book for teens, shows how telling kids the stories of real heroes prompts many of them to want to make a difference themselves. You'll learn from his speech how to help kids find and solve problems they care about—and build lives as caring and courageous citizens.