Leading The Educator's Presentations
In 1968, Michael became one of the first students with disabilities to be fully mainstreamed into the British Columbia public education system. Alongside mastering the academic curriculum, he faced profound challenges, such as learning to hold a pencil, overcoming speech difficulties to engage socially, and earning equal opportunities in extracurricular activities—all while encouraging his peers to see beyond his physical differences and embrace him as a friend.
Michael uses his life experience of living with Cerebral Palsy to capture the attention of his audience and hold them encaptured while he provides an amazing message of social inclusion, kindness, respect, diversity, equity, and building resiliency. His audience members leave his presentation as better people.
Geoff Manning, Superintendent, Campbell River School District
The key benefits each audience will learn.
Empower people to see and understand adversity not as a challenge, obstacle, problem, or difficulty – but as an opportunity to learn, expand your awareness, and strengthen your resilience. When perspective shifts, adversity becomes the foundation upon which a person can build success, and unlimited future possibilities are created.
Support people in developing a self-leadership mindset, by educating them to adopt and apply a Positive Rebel’s frame of mind – enabling them to move beyond their own negative thoughts, ideas of limitations, false conditioning, and self-imposed fears.
Living with Cerebral Palsy, Michael understands the societal labels placed on individuals with disabilities and the critical need for social inclusion, diversity, and equity in education. With over 5,200 school presentations, he has dedicated his life to fostering inclusive environments that benefit not just those with special needs but all students.
Drawing on his personal experiences and academic expertise, Michael shares actionable insights on why and how students can cultivate social inclusion for everyone. He offers strategies to help schools create environments that foster meaningful social inclusion, cultivate diversity, and promote equity amongst students and faculty alike.
Michael’s conference and professional development day keynote presentations are engaging, thought-provoking, and designed to transform perspectives. Tailored for administrators, principals, teachers, special needs educators, teacher assistants, and P.A.C. members, his talks inspire audiences to embrace and implement practices that build truly inclusive school communities.
School Admin. & Principal Presentations
How Can I Best S.E.R.V.E. You?
“Leadership begins with self-leadership.” This engaging presentation empowers District Administrators and Principals to strengthen their own self-leadership while inspiring and guiding educators throughout their schools. Through five inspirational and educational stories, attendees will be able to foster vision and collaboration within their teaching staff and school supporting team members.
Attendees will explore the concept of S.E.R.V.E. (Self-leadership, Educate, Resiliency, Vision, and Empower) and gain simple strategies to lead themselves and their teaching staff more effectively. By embracing these concepts, District Administrators and Principals can support their teachers, cultivate a stronger school culture, and create a more inclusive learning environment.
Why Lead For 2!
Effective leadership begins from within. This inspiring presentation challenges school principals to strengthen the most important leader they will ever manage – “Themselves” – so they can more effectively guide their teaching staff and students.
Self-leadership is about creating and building a stronger, more resilient version of yourself. Through three essential steps, principals will learn how to: visualize and lead themselves towards a more efficiently running school by focusing on their why; rebel against self-imposed negative thoughts, overwhelming feelings, and limiting beliefs; and become more effective in creating an inclusive and safe school. When principals lead themselves with vision, clarity, empathy, confidence, and purpose, they cultivate a positive school culture in which teachers feel supported and students are empowered to thrive.
Pro-D-Day Presentations
The Truth About Apples & Pineapples.
The Truth About Apples and Pineapples is a true story that highlights the benefits of fostering and maintaining a diverse, equitable, and inclusive learning environment for all students. It also addresses the drawbacks of pre-judging others based on skin colour, unique speaking accent, physical shape, gender preference, culture, race, religion, and abilities.
In this presentation, professional educators in schools, universities, and colleges will receive a six-step strategy to help students build social inclusion and create a safe, supportive environment where every student – regardless of their abilities or uniquenesses – can thrive.
Going Beyond But!
Have you ever noticed how a great idea to support a child with special needs is often met with some form of prohibiting or restricting ‘BUT! Drawing on his “Can Do Attitude,” Michael brings first-hand experiences, actionable advice, and proven strategies to help teachers, teacher assistants and their special needs students overcome the limitations of “But.” With his “Infectious Smile,” Michael explains “Why” and provides insights on “How” to empower both your child and yourself by: * Envisioning the future, while living today. * Moving beyond “But” by embracing the possibilities of “What if…”. * Turning today’s adversities into stepping stones for uncovering unlimited possibilities. * Unlocking unforeseen potential through bold and creative thinking. * Developing a “Self-Advocate-Preneur” game plan to get from the here and now to then and later.
Turning A Disability Into An Advantage & Asset.
Can a disability be transformed into an ability, an asset, and an advantage that empowers success in life and the business world? Michael will share his firsthand experiences, unique insights, and hard-earned knowledge on transforming a disability into ability through creative and innovative thinking. In this presentation, Michael will provide practical tips and mindset strategies to help guide special needs teachers, teachers assistance and students with disabilities challenge prohibitive thoughts and overcome limiting beliefs. He will also offer actionable ideas for seeing adversity as an opportunity to build resilience, uncover hidden talents, acquire new skills, and discover untapped abilities.
A Blueprint For Building Up Your Students' Resiliency.
Resilience is a lifelong journey of learning, growing, and strengthening mental and intellectual capabilities. By developing resilience, students of all ages will be able to effectively navigate and manage the challenges and stresses of adversity. Empower your students with a practical, easy-to-apply strategy to build resilience, enabling them to reduce the impact of negative thoughts and feelings so they’ll be able stay focused and committed to achieving their aspirations and goals.
Customizing A Presentation To Meet Your Needs.
Please feel free to contact him by phone – text (250-816-2989) or e-mail (michael@michaelbortolotto.com) to talk and consult with Michael on how he can customize a presentation that fits you and your audience’s requirements and needs.