SPEECHES

“Practical, upbeat and supportive with a sense of fun. Terrence is a master of his craft.”
Judith Stavisky, Friends of the Children; Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

“Your two hour presentation may have changed my life forever.”
Korey Wolfe, Audubon Missouri

“Terrence is dynamite. He is in a class by himself…the consummate professional presenter.
I would work with him again in a minute and highly recommend him.”
Kathy Cobb, National 5aDay Coordinators /NIH/NCI

Scroll down for Recommendations and a List of Clients. Speeches can be customized or expanded to meet specialized client needs.

 

RECENT SPEECHES 

National Council on Aging, Wash DC
A conference plenary, The Unique Power of Storytelling

Urban Library Council, Chicago IL
Keynote on the power of story and narrative to annual national conference.

Osher Lifelong Learning Centers, Portland ME
Keynote to annual national conference, Winning Members: Attention, Engagement, Activation, and Flow

 

SPEECH CHOICES 

The Unique Power of Compelling Stories

Learn how narrative and storytelling can motivate your audiences and advance your cause. Learn the elements of good story — whether in a Hollywood screenplay or a one-to-one conversation, and how to build a storytelling culture within your organization. Develop your ability to communicate in “story packages” – combining a compelling story, a great piece of data, and a clear call to action. Finally, learn to find your roles in the many interconnecting narratives in which you work – from stories of individual clients or staff to the overarching narrative of transforming society.

Toolbox for the 21st Century: Attention, Engagement, Activation and Flow

Radio host and communications consultant, Terrence McNally draws on some of the wisest experts he’s interviewed over the years as well as the latest science, to offer ideas, principles and actions we can put to work to help us thrive – as individuals as well as organizations. He highlights four qualities or experiences that are crucial in building a meaningful and vital community among an organization’s members. But it turns out those same four virtues offer a path toward greater presence, aliveness and health in the lives of individuals.

• Attention, our most precious resource or asset, even more than time — because it is the quality of our attention that determines the value of our time.
• Engagement — what people crave and what makes us feel most alive — helps keep us young, healthy and growing.
• Activation is the process that draws people toward greater, deeper, and more rewarding engagement with organizations and with themselves.
• Flow is the state of being totally immersed in an activity. Athletes call it being in the zone. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi – who did the research and coined the term – believes we can experience this much more in our daily lives.

The Four Connecting Points of Communications

A communications campaign offers four critical opportunities to connect with a target audience. Fail to connect at any one of these four points and you may lose your audience entirely. Created by Andy Goodman.

Why Bad Presentations Happen To Good Causes

This presentation draws on Andy Goodman’s unique survey of over 2500 full-time staff at non-profits, foundations and public agencies. Although generally geared to the needs of public interest presenters, this speech offers valuable tools and lessons for anyone who makes presentations on any subject to any audience of any size.

Communications Tools, Tips, and A-ha’s

Innovative, out-of-the box, and practical advice designed to make the most of the time, energy, and funds you invest in communications. Much of the success of any company or organization is built on relationships, and relationships are built on communication. We’ll look at all sorts of communications – speech as well as written, internal as well as external – the use of language and “frames”, effective meetings, speeches, presentations, marketing messages, advertising, and even difficult one-on-one conversations. Participants will be invited to share their own best-kept secrets of communications success.

Wake Up! Your Life and Your Job are Waiting

Drawn from years of remarkable radio conversations with inspiring individuals, this interactive speech focuses on personal skills development. In it you will discover how to break some of your unconscious negative patterns and habits, and begin to replace them with new ones that will allow you to enjoy your life and work, do your best, and achieve excellence.

• Courage. When and where do we stick our necks out? What calls it forth? What does it feel like? How can we make it more a part of who we are?
• Flow. Athletes call it being in the zone, the state of being totally immersed in an activity. What are the conditions that bring it forth? How can we set up our lives and
our jobs to make it happen on a regular basis?
• Presence. We explore lessons from cutting edge science that offer potential breakthroughs to achieve freedom from patterns, habits, and ruts.
• What’s working? We introduce “effective questions” as an approach to planning and problem-solving that can be useful in a wide range of situations. Two of the keys: begin with the positive and learn from success as well as failure.

 

SPEAKING AND TRAINING RECOMMENDATIONS

Terrence is both erudite and entertaining, savvy and approachable. His enthusiasm as a first-rate story teller is infectious, elevating the most ordinary tales to extraordinary compositions. Terry’s workshop inspires hope and optimism for social change agents, and learning to tell your story well is the bedrock of moving an organization to the next level of public recognition. Practical, upbeat and supportive with a sense of fun. Terry is a master of his craft.
– Judith Stavisky, Friends of the Children; Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Terrence is dynamite. As a speaker he is in a class by himself. He is the consummate professional presenter. He worked diligently and creatively with the session planner, spending hours in background preparation – researching both by interview and lit review for our workshop. He made examples and comments about story telling relevant to our audience of 5 A Day coordinators and public health nutritionists. He received the highest speaker’s rating and our session was referred to throughout the rest of the conference. I would work with him again in a minute and highly recommend him.
– Kathy Cobb, National 5aDay Coordinators /NIH/NCI

Terrence McNally’s “Becoming A Better Storyteller” workshop was spectacular! Storytelling is a critical skill that every activist should hone and become comfortable doing, and this workshop helps you uncover your inner storyteller, understand why it is important, and most importantly how to do it effectively. Terrence’s wealth of knowledge, sense of humor and wonderful presentation style made this one of the most popular sessions in the history of our annual conference.
– Curt Coffing, State Environmental Leadership Program

Terrence McNally’s Storytelling workshop made an excellent contribution to our conference. He did his homework, learning a great deal about our project well in advance of the workshop. He then worked with us to create a learning experience tailored to our needs — even doing preparation work with our audience. His extra efforts enabled us to make the best use of our time and produced a session unique to our group.
– Betta Owens, Network for the Improvement of Addiction Treatment

The storytelling workshop was one of the best sessions I have attended at any environmental conference. As a result, one or two staff at MCEA are writing and reading a story at our weekly staff meetings and we are putting them in our story bank. It has been a great way to learn about each other’s work and some interesting history.  
— Martha Brand, Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy

 

SPEAKING AND TRAINING CLIENTS

AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION – PACIFIC MOUNTAIN AFFILIATE, Albuquerque NM
AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION New York NY
ANNENBERG FOUNDATION Los Angeles CA
ARENT FOX (Attorneys), New York NY
ASSOCIATION of FUNDRAISING PROFESSIONALS (WESTERN PA), Pittsburgh PA
ATLAS FAMILY FOUNDATION Los Angeles CA
BANK of AMERICA NEIGHBORHOOD EXCELLENCE INITIATIVE, Charlotte NC
BANNER HEALTH, Phoenix, AZ
BREAKTHROUGH COLLABORATIVE, San Francisco CA
CALIFORNIA COASTKEEPER ALLIANCE, Fremont, CA
CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION of NONPROFITS (CAN), Los Angeles California
CANADIAN CANCER SOCIETY, Toronto, CN
CERES, Boston MA
CHCF/UCSF CENTER for THE HEALTH PROFESSIONS, San Francisco CA
COCONINO COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT, Flagstaff AZ
DEACONESS FOUNDATION, St. Louis MO
DENTAL PIPELINE PROFESSION & PRACTICE, Princeton NJ
5ADAY / CDC-CENTERS for DISEASE CONTROL, Atlanta GA
ESALEN INSTITUTE, Big Sur CA
FOSTER CARE ALUMNI of AMERICA, Alexandria VA
FRIENDS of the CHILDREN, Philadelphia PA
FRIENDS of the EARTH, Washington DC
FSG SOCIAL IMPACT ADVISORS, Cambridge MA
GLAXO-SMITH-KLINE PATIENT ADVOCATES, Chapel Hill NC
GRANTMAKERS IN HEALTH, Washington DC
GREENPEACE USA, Washington DC
HAWAII STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, Honolulu HA
HEALTH RESEARCH AND EDUCATIONAL TRUST, Chicago IL
HEALTHY CAROLINIANS, Raleigh NC
INDIANA GRANTMAKERS ALLIANCE, Indianapolis IN
INTEL CORPORATION, Santa Clara CA
IOWA DIETETIC ASSOCIATION, Des Moines IA
THE ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON FOUNDATION, Princeton NJ
KPFT-FM, Houston TX
LOCAL INITIATIVES SUPPORT CORPORATION (LISC), New York NY
JOHN D. AND CATHERINE T. MACARTHUR FOUNDATION, Chicago IL
MICHIGAN DEPARTMENT of COMMUNITY HEALTH, Lansing MI
MICHIGAN PUBLIC HEALTH INSTITUTE, Lansing MI
HERMAN MILLER, Grand Rapids MI
LOCAL PUBLIC HEALTH ASSN of MINNESOTA (LPHA), St. Paul MN
MISSOURI DEPARTMENT of HEALTH and SENIOR SERVICES / LPHA, Jefferson City MO
NASA GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER, Greenbelt MD
NASD INVESTOR EDUCATION FOUNDATION, Washington DC
NATIONAL COUNCIL ON AGING, Washington DC
NEBRASKA VOLUNTEER SERVICE COMMISSION, Lincoln NE
NEIGHBORWORKS, Washington DC
NEMOURS FOUNDATION, Wilmington DE
NIATX / NETWORK for the IMPROVEMENT of ADDICTION TREATMENT, Madison WI
NEW YORK STATE ASSN of COUNTY HEALTH OFFICIALS, Albany NY
NON PROFIT FINANCE FUND, New York NY
NORTH CAROLINA PUBLIC HEALTH ASSOCIATION, Raleigh NC
OKLAHOMA STATE DEPARTMENT of HEALTH, Oklahoma City OK
OSHER LIFE LONG LEARNING INSTITUTES, Portland, ME
PACHAMAMA ALLIANCE, San Francisco CA
PALM HEALTHCARE FOUNDATION, INC., West Palm Beach FL
PUBLIC RADIO DEVELOPMENT & MARKETING CONFERENCE, St. Paul MN
RECLAIMING FUTURES, Portland OR
JOHN REX ENDOWMENT, Raleigh NC
COUNTY of SAN DIEGO HEALTH and HUMAN SERVICES, San Diego CA
SANTA MONICA, CA (CITY OF)
SISTERS OF CHARITY FOUNDATION, Cleveland OH
STATE & TERRITORIAL PUBLIC HEALTH NUTRITION DIRECTORS ASSN, Washington DC
STATE ENVIRONMENTAL LEADERSHIP PROGRAM (SELP), Madison WI
TOGETHER GREEN Collaboration of Audubon Society & Toyota, New York NY
TURNING POINT, Seattle WA
URBAN LIBRARIES COUNCIL, Chicago IL
US CLIMATE ACTION NETWORK, Washington DC
UTAH DEPARTMENT of HEALTH, Salt Lake City UT
VISTAGE EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP COACHING, San Diego CA
VOLUNTEERS OF AMERICA, Alexandria VA