2015 Annual Conference Keynote Speaker -
Liz Brunner, Brunner Communication

Quality of the presentation:

Answer Choices – / Responses –
Excellent / 27%
Good / 32%
Average / 17%
Poor / 24%
Written comments:
  • A little longer than necessary, but helpful tips towards the end were good.
  • Although I found Liz's presentation interesting, I am not sure how appropriate some of the content was when speaking directly to individuals who work in the human service field. Liz obviously is coming from a place of for-profit and corporate work and the subject matter would be appropriate for those individuals. However, I was speaking with a colleague following the presentation who actually said Liz made her feel extremely self-conscious following her discussion and how important appearance and the way an individual dresses is. I feel as though when speaking to a group of individuals who dedicates their lives to others there are far better ways to encourage people to "be the voice" and advocate accordingly. It would have been great to hear how Liz had used her voice to advocate for others rather than how her voice helped her to succeed. Although all the things she discussed were important, the content did not leave me feeling inspired and did not feel entirely related to the rest of the day's theme.
  • Although I found the topic interesting, I felt that she was primarily sharing how she found her voice rather than offering a broader picture of how anyone can find their voice. In short, too much self-promotion.
  • enjoyed most
  • excellent examples and audience engagement
  • Excellent, very motivating
  • Felt she could have connected her experiences more with the audience. Did not relate much to the aging population.
  • Good for those inexperienced in speaking to the pubic but otherwise not helpful
  • Great ideas, Amazing women.
  • Great speaker. all about herself
  • Her resume + very, very basic advice that every leader in the room would already have known. Not a good fit culturally -- people who work in senior care are all about serving others, yet the speaker delivered an endless stream of "I."
  • I did not attend, but several individuals who did informed me that the speaker seemed very egotistical and only spoke about "me, me, me". It didn't seem to leave a good impression.
  • I did not feel she had much to offer in relationship to Elders and LeadingAge. The theme was "Be The Voice" and yes, she spoke about singing voice, etc.
  • I enjoyed hearing her speak. I felt a little like I was waiting for her to bring her content back around to our industry. Or even not for profit in general.
  • I enjoyed the presentation but for the content, it could have been shorter.
  • I expected more from her, and didn't need to hear so much about her past.
  • I felt she was not motivating at all. She seemed to talk way too much about her self and what she has accomplished
  • I felt the presentation wasn't geared well or specifically enough for the Leading Age audience. It was more of a generic sales pitch than anything.
  • I learned that Liz Brunner has a healthy ego.
  • I thought Liz was good, and her presentation was applicable to the theme of the conference. I would have liked to see how she applies her strategy more day to day, and discuss that integration. There was a lot of information about her specifically.
  • I was quite struck by her presentation & resolved to pay more attention to my appearance & practice my vocal exercises!
  • Information was good at times it seemed a lillte self serving
  • Inspiring with specific techniques to make an impression and tell your story.
  • interesting and dynamic speaker
  • It felt like an informercial for her and her business.
  • It was too much about her and her story.
  • Liz has a beautiful smile, twinkle in her eyes making her easy to listen too.
  • Liz talked a bit too much about her own accommplishments. Much of her tips most of us have heard before. She did present well.
  • Might have been a better speaker for Leadership Academy than the larger group
  • Really thought her comments were trite and banal. Seemed like she just cut and pasted comments from various pop culture topics. I didn't relate to any of her points.
  • I thought her information was very basic--having confidence, making eye contact. She is a very attractive person but it was "all about Liz Brunner."
  • She focused too much on her own personal accomplishments and when she did get to some content it was too elementary for the audience
  • She is a dynamic speaker, but only had a few "takeaways"...seemed she was more focused on telling her story - all about her!
  • She mostly talked about herself. I did not find it particularly helpful.
  • She spent too much time talking about herself rather than actually giving tips, and even when she did give tips...they were not spectacular.
  • She spoke too highly about her accomplishments with no real substance to her speech. All I learned about was how "wonderful" she thinks she is. I am not discrediting her career, it is impressive. Boasting is not the way to motivate others.
  • She talked too much about herself and I thought her content was weak.
  • She was a charismatic speaker but the content was all over the place. I waited for a long time to hear the point of the speech while we waded through her many accomplishments. It felt braggy. Not on par with many of the other general session speakers from previous years.
  • She was engaging, uplifting, and inspirational.
  • She was good, but she was not passionate about the elderly.
  • talked about herself way too much
  • The idea of "brandng oneself" seems more to fit the corporate setting however inn the realm of leadership no matter what the setting there is a need tohave a "voice" to be heard as a leader in a dept or organization.
  • The information seemed rudimentary and she seemed a little self absorbed.
  • The keynote speakers racial comment was in my opinion unnecessary, offensive, unprofessional and in poor taste. It was bad enough I had to listen to her rattle on about herself, but that was the final unnecessary straw
  • The second half of the session was very good but the was not impressed with the first half - too much self recognition.
  • Too much "self-promotion"
  • too much about Liz and not anything of value
  • Truly inspiring with great content and presentation
  • Unfortunately she did not have a good sense of her audience and seemed more of a personal journey of her career.
  • Unfortunately, I felt that she was doing more marketing for herself and for her business than providing education.
  • Very disappointed - mostly self promotion, and then segueing into an inexplicable, awkward and poorly summarized take on Sheryl Sanberg's Lean In.
  • Very good overall
  • Very inspiring and motivating speaker. Valuable information for my own personal growth.
  • Very interesting to know her personal story. How to keep motivated and present yourself and how others see you.
  • very self-promotional
  • While I enjoyed hearing about Ms. Brunner's experiences, it would have been more useful if more time had been focussed on hard advice such as how to use active words, or case studies of what she has done to help others find their voices.
  • While Liz Brunner is an excellent speaker, her content was not very useful to me. In fact, I felt she spent a lot of time talking about herself and her career journey, and there was no real inspirational story behind it. It's hard to be motivated by someone who doesn't have a very inspirational story to tell. And she showed a lot of pictures of herself, which to me, is an indication of how important she feels she is- again, making her talk about her and not about the audience.
  • While Liz spoke well, I would have appreciated her being more succinct.