A few years ago, I was invited by a university to give a two-hour talk on entrepreneurship. I prepared a session to help students discover what it really takes to start a business while still in college—mindset shifts, small experiments, and the courage to begin.
When I arrived, the professors had a different expectation. They wanted me to teach students how to manage an existing business—organizational charts, financial systems, operations. The students, on the other hand, just wanted to know: “Sir, paano ba magsimula?”
We both left frustrated. The problem wasn’t the topic. It was the lack of clarity.
I see this often. Schools and organizations pick broad seminar titles like innovation, leadership, or entrepreneurship, expecting the speaker to “just cover it.” Worse, they sometimes hide behind clever acronyms—titles like E.N.E.R.G.I.Z.E. Y.O.U.R.S.E.L.F. that look cool on posters but mean nothing to the audience or the speaker. The result? Confused participants, wasted time, and missed opportunities for real learning.
Here’s what I’ve learned in more than 20 years of working with Filipino schools, companies, and government agencies: a resource speaker is not just there to talk. Our role is to inform, instruct, equip, encourage, and enable people. But we can only do that if the organizer knows exactly what they want the session to achieve.
That’s why in this article, I won’t just list the most popular seminar topics. I’ll also show you how to sharpen them, so your resource speaker knows precisely what you want, the problems you need solved, and the opportunities you want explored.
Because when you give your speaker clarity—when you say, “Help our students practice job interview answers” instead of “Career Development Seminar”—you don’t just get a good talk. You get a session that actually works.
The Role of a Resource Speaker
When schools and companies invite a resource speaker, they’re often thinking: “We just need someone to fill the program.” But a resource speaker’s role goes far beyond standing onstage and delivering a speech.
A good resource speaker doesn’t just talk. They:
- Inform – provide relevant knowledge.
- Instruct – show steps and processes.
- Equip – give tools people can actually use.
- Encourage – affirm that change is possible.
- Enable – guide participants to apply what they’ve learned.
I once worked with an NGO in Quezon City that asked me to speak on “leadership.” At first, the request was vague. After a short conversation, they admitted what they really wanted was to help their young leaders run better community meetings. Instead of giving a generic leadership lecture, I prepared a focused resource session. We practiced three concrete habits: starting meetings on time, keeping discussions within 30 minutes, and ending with clear action steps.
Afterward, one leader said, “Sir, ang laking bagay. Usually, we argue for hours. Now we know how to end meetings productively.”
That’s the real value of a resource speaker. The topic may be broad—leadership, innovation, teamwork—but the session should be specific, practical, and aligned with what participants need most.
And this is why clarity matters. If you simply tell a resource speaker, “Talk about innovation,” you’ll probably get a broad overview. But if you say, “Show our supervisors how to generate 10 new ideas in 30 minutes,” you’ll get a session that moves the needle.
Resource speakers are not fillers for your program. They are partners in solving problems and opening opportunities. The clearer you are with the assignment, the greater the value your people will get.
Popular Seminar Themes (and How to Sharpen Them)
Whenever I’m invited as a resource speaker, I often hear the same themes: leadership, teamwork, innovation, productivity, communication, entrepreneurship, values, and career readiness. These are big, important words. They also happen to be too broad.
If you tell your speaker, “Talk about leadership,” you’ll likely get a generic lecture filled with quotes, definitions, and maybe a few stories. But will your people walk away with something they can actually use tomorrow? Probably not.
That’s why when I work with clients, I encourage them to use a simple way of framing their topic request. Instead of thinking, “What title looks good on a poster?” ask:
- Who is this for? (students, teachers, supervisors, executives)
- What is their current struggle? (conflict in group work, finger-pointing, low initiative)
- What shift do you want in 30–120 minutes? (learn to run a short meeting, practice giving feedback, generate ideas faster)
This 3-part lens turns vague topics into clear assignments. It also helps the resource speaker prepare something that fits your people instead of delivering a “one-size-fits-all” talk.
I’ll walk you through the most common seminar themes in the Philippines—and show you how to sharpen them into practical, powerful topics your people will thank you for.
1. Leadership
Leadership is one of the most requested topics. Every school, company, and barangay wants better leaders. But “leadership” by itself is as wide as the ocean.
I remember an LGU that asked me to speak about leadership for their department heads. At first, the request was broad. But after a short conversation, they admitted the real issue: meetings that dragged on for hours with no decisions. So instead of a generic leadership speech, I ran a session on how to lead meetings that work. We practiced timeboxing, clear agendas, and ending every meeting with one action item per person.
The result? Leaders started saying, “Finally, we can go home on time.”
That’s the difference between a vague topic and a sharpened one.
How to Sharpen “Leadership”
- Instead of: “Leadership Seminar”
- Try: “How Supervisors Can Model Ownership Instead of Blame”
- Or: “How Student Leaders Can Run Meetings in 30 Minutes or Less”
The broad idea is leadership. The specific shift is what makes it useful.
When you choose leadership as a seminar topic, don’t ask for the ocean. Ask for the stream that waters your people today.
2. Teamwork
Like leadership, “teamwork” is another favorite seminar topic. Everyone wants stronger teams. But here’s the challenge: teamwork is too big a word. Left vague, it becomes just another PowerPoint lecture—five stages of team development, lifted from textbooks or Wikipedia. Participants nod, they understand, but when Monday comes, nothing changes.
I’ve been invited countless times to talk about teamwork before a strategic planning session. Sometimes the request is as broad as, “Sir, pakipalakas po ng teamwork nila.” But when I probe, I discover the real issues: managers avoiding accountability, staff not speaking up, or departments working in silos.
That’s when clarity changes everything.
Teamwork That Stuck
In one company, I was asked to open their strategic planning retreat. Instead of giving a lecture on “team stages,” I ran activities that revealed their struggles. One exercise showed how much time they wasted passing blame instead of solving problems together. The insight stung—but it gave us a starting point. I then introduced principles from Team First, where leaders shift from “sila” (they) to “ako” (I can do something about this).
Afterward, the CEO said, “Sir Jef, this is the first time we confronted our teamwork issues without pointing fingers. We’re finally talking about solutions.”
Thinking Inside the Box
In another conference, I shared a session called “How to Think Inside the Box.” Instead of asking teams to “break free” with abstract ideas, we looked at the resources already in their workplace—their “box”—and designed better ways of using them. That small mindset shift led to real innovations. One manager later told me, “Sir, dati ang dali naming magreklamo na kulang ang budget. Ngayon, we’re asking: paano natin masulit yung meron?”
How to Sharpen “Teamwork”
- Instead of: “Teamwork 101” or “Building Great Teams”
- Try: “How to Run Strategic Planning Without Silos”
- Or: “How Teams Can Stop Blame and Start Solving”
- Or: “How to Turn Limited Resources Into Big Wins”
Teamwork talks shouldn’t just describe problems. They should help teams practice solutions. That’s why the best teamwork sessions aren’t lectures—they’re experiences.
3. Innovation
“Innovation” is one of those words that rivals spiritual concepts. Everybody wants it. Few really know what it means. And when you invite a resource speaker to “talk about innovation,” most people expect either a vague lecture or a set of buzzwords that sound inspiring but don’t stick.
I’ve seen this firsthand. A company once invited me to teach innovation. The participants walked in expecting slides and theories. Instead, I asked them to go outside. We did a simple exercise I call Walk and See. Since this was a dive resort, I told them: “Start where your guests start. Walk through their eyes. Notice what creates magic, and what creates madness.”
At first, they looked confused. This wasn’t the kind of “innovation talk” they imagined. But as they walked, they began to see things differently: the cluttered reception desk, the warm smile of a crew member, the long wait before diving gear arrived. When they came back, their insights were raw, real, and immediately useful. One manager said, “Sir, ngayon ko lang nakita—yung simpleng delay namin sa check-in, malaking sagabal na sa experience ng guest.”
That’s innovation. Not abstract theories. Not buzzwords like “disruption” or “design sprint” without practice. True innovation starts with seeing what’s right in front of you—and then choosing to do something about it.
The problem with most “innovation seminars” is they stay at the level of definitions. Participants nod, take notes, and leave unchanged. But when you make innovation an exercise—an everyday way of seeing and doing—people realize they don’t need a 3-day hackathon to create magic. Sometimes, a five-minute walk with fresh eyes is enough to spark change.
How to Sharpen “Innovation”
- Instead of: “Innovation Seminar”
- Try: “How to Spot Small Changes That Delight Customers”
- Or: “How Frontline Staff Can Create Magic in Everyday Work”
- Or: “Walk and See: How to Turn Guest Journeys Into Breakthroughs”
Innovation is not a buzzword. It’s a practice. It happens when you move beyond lectures into experiences that let people see differently.
4. Productivity & Time Management
“Time management” is one of the most requested seminar topics in schools, companies, and government offices. Everyone wants to be more productive. The problem? Most of the talks and modules out there make people less productive.
Scroll through TikTok and you’ll see endless “time hacks”: wake up at 4:00 AM, color-code your calendar, use five different apps to track your tasks. They look impressive, but many of these so-called solutions create new problems. People spend more time managing their tools than doing real work.
Here’s what I’ve discovered in years of working with CEOs, managers, operators, salespeople, entrepreneurs, and students: time hacks don’t always work because people have different priorities and different relationships with time. What works for a startup founder doesn’t necessarily work for a student or a supervisor.
The Shift From Hacks to Habits
In one company, employees were excited to learn “time-saving tricks.” Instead of showing them hacks, I guided them to reflect on their priorities. We used the Clarify–Simplify–Multiply approach:
- Clarify: What matters most in your role?
- Simplify: What can you remove, automate, or delegate?
- Multiply: Where can you focus so your effort produces the most results?
We then applied the 80/20 principle: 20% of tasks often drive 80% of results. When one manager realized she was spending hours each week on reports no one even read, she cut them down to a one-page version—and freed up time for actual client calls. Her productivity didn’t come from hacks. It came from clarity.
Playing Your A-Game
At a leadership session, I asked participants to identify one “A-game activity”—the task that, if they did it consistently, would create the most impact. A sales leader identified prospecting calls. A supervisor named daily check-ins with her team. A student said it was reviewing notes right after class. By focusing on their A-game, each one discovered they didn’t need more hours—they needed more intentional hours.
That’s the essence of real productivity: doing first things first, not doing everything faster.
How to Sharpen “Productivity & Time Management”
- Instead of: “Time Management Seminar”
- Try: “How to Identify and Focus on Your A-Game”
- Or: “How to Apply 80/20 in Your Daily Work”
- Or: “From Time Hacks to True Productivity: Clarify, Simplify, Multiply”
Don’t give people hacks. Give them clarity, behavior shifts, and one small change they can start now. That’s what makes a productivity session worth the time.
5. Communication Skills
“Better communication” is another favorite seminar request. Schools, LGUs, and companies all know communication is important—but when they ask for a resource speaker on the topic, they usually mean different things. Some want public speaking. Others mean writing memos. Others mean handling conflict. The result? A vague title like “Effective Communication Seminar” that tries to cover everything but fixes nothing.
The Lost in Translation Session
I once spoke for a government office where the request was simply “communication.” So I prepared a mix of listening skills, feedback frameworks, and presentation techniques. Afterward, the director told me, “That was good, but what we really needed was how supervisors can give feedback without offending staff.” If they had told me that upfront, I could have gone deeper into one skill instead of spreading too thin.
The Feedback Shift
In a BPO workshop, HR clarified they wanted leaders to handle performance conversations better. We didn’t waste time on generic “active listening.” Instead, we practiced constructive feedback scripts—short, specific, respectful. Leaders role-played conversations, replacing “Ayusin mo ’yan” with “Here’s one step you can improve by tomorrow.” By the end, participants weren’t just nodding—they had phrases ready for their next coaching session.
Story: The Power of Huddles
In another company, the request was: “Help our team leaders communicate better with staff.” After probing, I discovered their problem was messy, time-consuming updates. So I taught them how to run 15-minute huddles: three questions, one round per person, no side discussions. The impact? Meetings got shorter, clearer, and staff felt more included.
These examples show why generic communication sessions fail. Communication isn’t one thing—it’s many things. And the real value comes when the resource speaker targets the skill your people need most.
How to Sharpen “Communication Skills”
- Instead of: “Effective Communication Seminar”
- Try: “How to Give Feedback Without Fear”
- Or: “How to Run 15-Minute Huddles That Work”
- Or: “How Leaders Can Speak Clearly in High-Pressure Moments”
Communication talks should be about practice, not just theory. One focused skill done well beats a long list of “tips.”
6. Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship is one of the most requested seminar topics, especially in schools and colleges. The problem is that professors, students, and organizers often mean very different things when they say “entrepreneurship.”
The Misaligned Talk
I once prepared a two-hour session to help students discover what it takes to start a business while still in college. I wanted them to learn how to spot opportunities, test small ideas, and build courage to begin. But the professors expected something else: they wanted me to lecture on running an existing business—financial systems, HR policies, and operations.
The students left with inspiration but not the tools they wanted. The professors felt the talk was incomplete. I left frustrated. The problem wasn’t the topic—it was the lack of clarity about what “entrepreneurship” meant in that context.
Start Small, Start Now
In another school, I clarified with the organizers before the event: “Do you want me to teach them how to manage a company, or how to start something while in school?” They chose the latter. So I designed a session called “How to Start a Business in College With Zero Capital.” We explored small experiments: selling online, building a service, testing ideas through side hustles. Students left excited, some even starting ventures the same week. The feedback was clear: this was the session they had been waiting for.
Why This Matters
Entrepreneurship can mean:
- For students: how to turn ideas into small ventures.
- For professionals: how to innovate inside a company (intrapreneurship).
- For communities: how to create livelihood programs.
The key is knowing which one you really want. Otherwise, the session will miss its mark.
How to Sharpen “Entrepreneurship”
- Instead of: “Entrepreneurship Seminar”
- Try: “How to Start a Business in College With Zero Capital”
- Or: “How to Spot Opportunities and Test Ideas in 30 Days”
- Or: “How to Build Entrepreneurial Thinking Inside Your Organization”
Entrepreneurship is not one topic. It’s many possible directions. Be clear which one matters most to your audience.
7. Values Formation
In the Philippines, one of the most common seminar titles you’ll encounter is Work Attitude and Values Enhancement—better known as WAVE training. It sounds nice. It promises to “enhance” people’s values and attitudes. But here’s the problem: you don’t enhance values the way you upgrade software.
Values are not plug-ins you install in a two-day seminar. They are lived out daily in the culture of an organization.
Values in a School
When I was younger, I noticed how schools talked about values formation as if values were simply taught, like math or science. Students memorized definitions, made posters about “discipline” or “honesty,” and recited mottos. But outside the classroom, real choices revealed their true values. That’s because values are caught, not taught. They’re formed in practice, not in posters.
The WAVE Misfit
A company once told me proudly, “We’re running WAVE training for all our staff.” When I asked why, the HR manager admitted, “Because it’s what everyone else is doing.” After the session, participants nodded, filled in worksheets, and left. A month later, the culture hadn’t shifted. That’s because WAVE was generic—it wasn’t connected to the organization’s mission, vision, or day-to-day realities.
Context Matters
Another company, however, asked me to anchor values in their own culture. They said: “We want to strengthen malasakit in our teams because our vision is to be the most caring service provider in our industry.” With that clarity, I designed activities where employees shared stories of when they showed malasakit to customers—and when they failed. From those stories, we created practical commitments. The session wasn’t about memorizing values. It was about living them in their specific workplace.
Why Generic Programs Don’t Work
- A canned module from Tony Robbins or John Maxwell might inspire—but it won’t necessarily fit a Filipino company’s unique mission.
- A Bible-based sermon on Sunday may bless you—but what works in church won’t always work on Monday in a BPO or an LGU.
- WAVE programs assume “enhancing” values is enough, when the real need is aligning behavior with culture.
How to Sharpen “Values Formation”
- Instead of: “Values Formation Seminar” or “WAVE Training”
- Try: “How to Practice Malasakit in Customer Service”
- Or: “Living Our Core Values: From Posters to Daily Habits”
- Or: “Pakikipagkapwa at Work: Building a Culture of Shared Responsibility”
A values session must always be contextual. It’s not about importing values. It’s about activating the values already written in the DNA of the organization.
8. Career Readiness
If there’s one seminar topic schools never tire of, it’s career readiness. And it’s important—after all, students and young professionals want to know how to land jobs, build careers, and make their mark.
But here’s the challenge: too many career readiness talks stay at the level of vague inspiration. Titles like “Career Development Seminar” or “Preparing for the Future” sound impressive on a poster, but they rarely give students something they can actually use.
The Missed Opportunity
I once gave a talk where the school asked me to cover “career development.” It was a wide-open topic, and I did my best to mix motivation with frameworks. But after the session, a student came up and asked, “Sir, paano ba talaga magsimula sa interview? What do I say when they ask, ‘Tell me about yourself?’”
That one question revealed what the students really needed: not a sweeping overview, but specific tools for the first steps of their career.
The Practical Shift
In another school, the organizers got specific: “Teach our graduating students how to handle interviews and write resumes.” So that’s what I did. We practiced self-introductions, drafted one-page resumes, and role-played common interview questions. Students left saying, “Finally, may dala kaming gagamitin bukas.”
That’s the power of sharpening a topic. A general career talk inspires. A focused career readiness session equips.
Why Career Readiness Matters
Different audiences need different angles:
- Students want to know how to get hired.
- Young professionals want to learn how to grow.
- Employees in transition want to prepare for the next step.
That’s why I built Career Nation PH—to offer dedicated programs and tools around career readiness. From “Be So Good They Can’t Wait to Hire You” to practical job hunt strategies, the focus is always on clarity and usability, not just theory.
How to Sharpen “Career Readiness”
- Instead of: “Career Development Seminar”
- Try: “How to Answer the Top 5 Interview Questions With Confidence”
- Or: “How to Write a One-Page Resume That Gets Noticed”
- Or: “Be So Good They Can’t Wait to Hire You” (one of my flagship programs at Career Nation PH).
Career readiness isn’t about inspiring students to dream. It’s about equipping them with tools they can use the next day.
Why “Cool” Acronyms Don’t Work
Let me tell you one of my favorite pet peeves: acronyms.
Many teachers—and yes, even government officials—love them. The longer and more complex, the prouder they are. Once, I attended a school division superintendent’s talk. His theme was “EMBRACE DIVERSITY.” Sounds clear, right? But each letter of EMBRACE DIVERSITY stood for the first word of a very long sentence. Every subheading was like a Step 1, Step 2, Step 3—except none of them were steps. They were just fragments of a paragraph stretched into an acronym.
By the third letter, my brain froze. I looked around the room. School principals were dutifully taking pictures of the slide, as if they were required to memorize it for the next exam. The speaker continued—proudly reciting a list so long, it sounded more like a dissertation title than a leadership guide.
And it’s not just schools. In government offices, acronyms multiply like rabbits. Programs are named after mayors, governors, or city slogans, often twisted into clever initials that look good on tarpaulins but tell you nothing about the program itself. The acronym is the star; the content is the afterthought.
Don’t get me wrong—acronyms can be useful when they simplify, like CLAP (a tool I use to teach appreciative leadership). But when acronyms make you stop and scratch your head, they’ve failed. If your audience has to decode the title before they can understand the message, you’ve already lost them.
Clarity beats cleverness. A simple title like “How to Run Meetings That End on Time” is far more powerful than “Strategic Optimization for Team Synergy” (a.k.a. SOTS).
Because at the end of the day, you don’t want participants taking pictures of acronyms. You want them practicing behaviors that matter.
How to Assign a Resource Speaker Effectively
If you want your seminar to succeed, you can’t just say, “Sir, pakitalk naman po about innovation.” That’s not an assignment—that’s a trap. A vague request forces the speaker to guess what you want. Sometimes they guess right, often they don’t.
The Assignment That Failed
A college once invited me to give a two-hour talk on entrepreneurship. That was the only instruction. Professors expected me to explain how to run an existing business—organizational charts, supply chains, accounting. I prepared instead to inspire students to start their own ventures while in school. Students wanted the latter, professors wanted the former, and no one left happy. The problem wasn’t me, and it wasn’t them—it was the assignment.
The Assignment That Worked
On the other hand, a school in Cavite was very clear. Their email said: “We want our graduating students to practice answering the top three interview questions. The session is 90 minutes long, and there will be 200 participants.” That clarity made my job easy. Instead of guessing, I prepared a focused workshop with role-playing, peer feedback, and sample answers. The result? Students left with confidence and scripts they could use in their next interview.
That’s what a clear assignment looks like.
How to Write a Good Resource Speaker Assignment
When inviting a speaker, include at least these four things:
- Audience Profile
- Who are they? (students, teachers, managers, executives)
- How many will attend?
- What’s their current struggle?
- Expected Outcome
- What should participants do differently after the session?
- Example: “Supervisors should know how to run a 15-minute huddle.”
- Time Allotted
- Be realistic. 30 minutes allows for one story and one tool. 120 minutes allows for a full workshop.
- Context
- Why now? Is this before a strategic planning retreat? During recognition day? Before graduation? Context shapes delivery.
Bad Assignment: “Talk about leadership.”
Good Assignment: “In 60 minutes, teach our new supervisors how to lead daily huddles that end with clear action items.”
Your resource speaker isn’t a magician. The clearer the assignment, the greater the transformation.
The 30-60-90-120 Minute Framework
One of the biggest reasons seminars fail is mismatched expectations. Organizers expect life-changing results in 30 minutes, or they expect a 2-hour slot to cover an entire college course. A resource speaker can do many things—but only if the time matches the task.
Here’s a simple way to frame it: What can realistically be done in 30, 60, 90, or 120 minutes?
30 Minutes: Spark + One Tool
This is best for flag ceremonies, morning kickoffs, or recognition days. The goal here isn’t mastery—it’s to plant one seed.
- Example: At a flag ceremony, I once taught the CLAP principle (Celebrate, Lift, Appreciate, Praise) for appreciative leadership. In less than half an hour, managers left with a tool they could try the same day.
- If you ask for too much in 30 minutes, you’ll end up with a rushed lecture and no takeaway.
60 Minutes: Story + Framework + Practice
With one hour, a resource speaker can tell a story, teach a framework, and let participants try it once.
- Example: A company asked me to help supervisors give constructive feedback. In 60 minutes, we covered why feedback matters, practiced one script, and role-played it with partners.
- The key is focus: one clear behavior, not five.
90 Minutes: Deep Dive + Interaction
Ninety minutes gives room to unpack a topic, add stories, and let participants practice in groups.
- Example: In a teamwork seminar before a strategic planning session, I used 90 minutes to surface real teamwork struggles, introduce Team First practices, and run activities where teams shifted from blame to ownership.
- This time frame is ideal for sharpening a broad theme into a practical skill.
120 Minutes: Workshop + Application
Two hours is enough for a full workshop. Participants can reflect, practice, and commit to actions.
- Example: At a dive resort, I was asked to talk about innovation. Instead of a lecture, we did Walk and See: teams walked through the guest journey, identified “madness and magic” moments, and designed quick fixes. By the end, they had a list of changes to implement immediately.
- This is the sweet spot when you want not just knowledge, but application.
Time is not just a slot in the program. It’s a container. Fill it wisely, and you can shift behaviors. Overfill it with too many expectations, and nothing sticks.
When you assign a resource speaker, be clear not just about the topic—but also about what can realistically be achieved in the time you give.
Practical Checklist for Organizers
Use this as a quick guide the next time you invite a resource speaker.
Before You Invite
→ Define your audience (students, teachers, supervisors, executives).
→ Clarify their struggles (conflict in group projects, low accountability, customer complaints).
→ Write one-sentence outcome (e.g., “Supervisors will learn to run 15-minute huddles.”).
→ Match the time to the task (30 = spark, 60 = one tool, 90 = practice, 120 = full workshop).
→ Avoid vague titles and acronyms—choose simple, specific wording.
When You Invite
→ Share the purpose of the session.
→ Describe the audience profile (who they are, how many, what they need).
→ State the duration clearly (30, 60, 90, 120 minutes).
→ Suggest 2–3 focus areas the speaker can sharpen.
→ Be transparent about honorarium or budget.
Before the Session
→ Brief your people on why this session matters.
→ Send 2–3 reflection questions or a short primer.
→ Prepare the venue, tech, and seating to match the format.
After the Session
→ Run a quick debrief: “What’s one thing you’ll apply this week?”
→ Share materials (slides, summaries, frameworks).
→ Reinforce tools in meetings, classes, or team huddles.
→ Send feedback to the speaker—what worked, what could be stronger.
When organizers give clarity, resource speakers can give impact.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q: What are the most popular seminar topics for resource speakers in the Philippines?
Leadership, teamwork, innovation, productivity, communication skills, entrepreneurship, values formation, and career readiness are the most common. But remember: each of these must be sharpened into a specific, practical angle to be useful.
Q: How do we know if our chosen topic is too broad?
If your seminar title can be found in a textbook or on Wikipedia, it’s probably too broad. Instead of “Leadership,” say “How Supervisors Can Run Productive Huddles.” Instead of “Innovation,” say “How to Spot and Fix Everyday Customer Frustrations.”
Q: Can a resource speaker handle multiple topics in one session?
Yes, but it’s not ideal. A 60–90 minute session works best when it focuses on one skill or framework. If you want multiple themes, plan a half-day or full-day workshop.
Q: Why are acronyms and long titles a problem?
Because they confuse more than they clarify. A title like “E.M.P.O.W.E.R. Y.O.U.R.S.E.L.F.” looks impressive on a poster, but no one remembers what it means. Simple titles (e.g., “How to Write a One-Page Resume”) help participants understand—and apply.
Q: How much content can realistically fit in a session?
- 30 minutes → one story + one tool
- 60 minutes → one framework + short practice
- 90 minutes → two frameworks with interaction
- 120 minutes → full workshop with reflection + application
Q: What makes a good resource speaker different from a lecturer?
A lecturer informs. A resource speaker equips. They don’t just explain—they enable participants to practice and apply.
Q: How do we measure if a seminar worked?
Don’t count the applause. Ask participants: “What’s one thing you’ll do differently because of this session?” Then check if those behaviors show up a week or a month later.
Q: How do we give a clear assignment to a resource speaker?
Share four things: audience profile, expected outcome, duration, and context. The clearer you are, the better the session will serve your people.
Clarity Wins Every Time
A school once invited me for a “career development seminar.” That was the title. Broad, vague, forgettable. I gave my best, but I knew the students needed something sharper.
Months later, another school called me with a different approach. They said: “Sir Jef, in 90 minutes, we want our graduating students to practice answering interview questions.” That clarity changed everything. Instead of a lecture, we did live role-plays. Students stumbled, laughed, learned, and walked away with answers they could use the very next day.
The difference? The first school got a generic seminar. The second got a life skill.
That’s the power of clarity when you choose topics and assign your resource speaker.
If you’re planning your next seminar, don’t settle for acronyms or vague themes. Be clear. Be specific. Give your resource speaker the right assignment—and watch your people walk away equipped, not just entertained.
👉 Learn more about how I can serve as a Resource Speaker in the Philippines—helping schools, companies, and government agencies design sessions that inform, equip, and transform.
Because the right topic, clearly defined, is the start of real change.
