Global Advisor for the International WELL Building Institute, Award-Winning Author & Renowned Resilience Expert

Heidi Dening is an award-winning author and renowned resilience expert who has transformed the lives of thousands of people around the world with her inspirational presentations. Having gone through harrowing ordeals such as suffering from a paralysing illness which led to her losing the use of her legs, gunpoint kidnappings, tsunami terror and narrowly escaping being burnt alive when petrol bombs were thrown at her room, she has developed extraordinary courage which has allowed her to move forward. Now Heidi is a globally respected speaker who helps overwhelmed professionals become high-performing individuals through her revolutionary presentations on topics such as resilience, self-leadership, and wellbeing.

Heidi’s educational background is in Health and Physical Education/ Fitness. After graduating from the Australian College of Physical Education, she began her career as a Personal Development Teacher with the NSW Department of Education. Then after a competitive interview process, she was selected for a prestigious job at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, where she was responsible for looking after Senior Executives of Dow Chemical and their clients. In 2002, Heidi founded Jump Start Foundation, a non-profit organisation that provided life-changing opportunities through education, with a focus on raising literacy levels among remote communities. For her exceptional efforts, she received the Australian Day Merit Award and Rotary International’s Paul Harris Fellows Award. In 2015, after 18 years, Heidi sold Jump Start Your Life, her boutique personal training studio after scaling it up.

Highly sought after as a resilience expert, Heidi frequently makes media appearances and most recently appeared on Channel Nine’s Weekend Today. She is known for delivering empowering presentations and programs to business leaders at leading companies such as Accenture, Westpac, ServiceNSW and Metcash among others. Heidi is also the proud author of the award-winning book; Her Middle Name is Courage. In recognition of her work, she was awarded Westpac’s International Women’s Day Local Hero Award. Heidi was also named Best International Keynote Speaker in the Asia Pacific region at the Influential Businesswoman Awards and was listed on the NSW Government’s Inspirational Women showcase in the entrepreneurial and empowerment category.

Since 2018, Heidi has been the Global Advisor for the International WELL Building Institute. Part of her work involves examining how workplaces affect stress levels, resilience, productivity, and mental health, allowing her to obtain cutting-edge data which she uses in her presentations to share the most up-to-date insights. Heidi stands out for combining science-based facts, her business experience, and personal anecdotes to empower others in her speeches.

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Her Middle Name Is Courage

How to hire Heidi Dening

Contact the Champions Speakers Agency to provisionally enquire about hiring Heidi Dening for your next event, today. To get in touch, simply call an official booking agent on 0207 1010 553 or email us at [email protected] for more information.

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Heidi Dening's official speaking topics include:

COURAGEOUSLY BOUNCE FORWARDS, NOT BACK

Our greatest skill as professionals during these uncertain times is being able to embrace change and extract insights from our challenges so we can keep moving forward. We know now more than ever before that adversities come in all shapes and sizes … but so do opportunities. When we find the courage to maximise the opportunities in our challenges, it allows us to continue to grow as professionals and become better leaders, better mentors, better colleagues and better humans.

You will learn about:

Mindset Management - how to quickly change from feeling overwhelmed so you can show up to the next meeting, sales presentation or performance appraisal with optimism and assertiveness.
Comfort Zone - how stepping outside what has felt comfortable and safe will allow you to find new solutions to the new challenges you are currently experiencing.
Micro-wins - how to keep your momentum going by acknowledging the small milestones along the way

This inspiring presentation is based on the insights Heidi learned from leading the planning, building (and eventual destruction) of a community library on a remote tropical island, and the impact that courage has when striving to achieve professional goals.

REPLENISH YOUR RESILIENCE RESOURCES

To have a resilient organisation we first need resilient leaders and teams. This presentation is designed to help you build your professional resilience so you can better deal with the curveballs and cannonballs that we can’t control. Whether you are experiencing changing business models, financial challenges, disengaged teams, or feelings of overwhelm in this uncertain world, this impactful session will empower you with practical strategies that you can immediately implement.

You will learn about:

Priorities - the number one daily habit you need to prioritise to ensure your professional strengths and capabilities are maximised so you can adapt to this ever-changing business environment.
Performance - a strategy on how to flip your automatic response to stressful situations and conversations into a high-performing state of flow so you can get more done, in less time, with fewer mistakes.
Perseverance - to proactively build your resilience with my signature 5-part formula that will help you to persevere when everything feels overwhelming which will mean you can bend rather than break during high-pressured times.

This inspiring presentation is based on the resilience and perseverance insights Heidi learned from hitting rock bottom after petrol bombs were thrown at her room during an overseas volunteer mission, with the intention to burn her and her team alive while they slept.

STOP. REVIVE. THRIVE: MASTER THE ART OF REJUVENATION

This wellbeing presentation is designed to show you practical micro-changes that you can make in life, to transform daily stress and feelings of overwhelm into productivity and performance. These mindset and self-care strategies will help you take back control of your physical, mental and social health even when family, flatmates, fur-babies and frequent work distractions are preventing you from reaching your professional goals.

You will learn about:

Boundaries - the five 'non-negotiable' boundaries to incorporate that will improve your mental health and ability to cope with setbacks.
Burnout Buffer - a simple yet powerful formula to ensure you can effectively create a buffer between your work life and home life (even if you WFH) so you don't burn out.
Brain & Body Reboot - structured self-care habits to help you focus and concentrate when it matters, and rest and rejuvenate when it is needed.

This inspiring presentation is based on the mindset and self-care insights Heidi learned after contracting two random viruses – one that left her without use of her legs for eight months and one that caused so much pain when she moved it felt like every bone in her body was smashing.

“We recently booked Heidi for our Annual Legal CPD Day Seminar where Heidi presented to a room full of lawyers. Her presentation skills and abilities to command a room are world class. In the modern business environment, the deep expertise and practical strategies that Heidi empowers us with is a much needed and welcome change. If you are looking for ideas to recognise the early signs of work fatigue and burnout in your profession, Heidi has strategies to combat even the darkest of storms. Heidi comes with my highest possible recommendation! - Anthony , Law Society of Sutherland

“Heidi has an incredible ability to bring fun and light to the room even when talking about her unbelievable experiences. She easily connects with the audience and her calm, composed manner helps bring clarity and gravitas to the strategies she empowers us with.” - Marnee , National Program Manager, Life Changing Experiences

“Heidi was an inspirational story-teller who came at just the right time for our team. After a year of big changes and developments, some of our resilience levels were a bit dented. Her practical tips to immediately improve our self-care and with it our focus, productivity and self-leadership have really set this fantastic team on a path to a wonderful end of year and an even better future.” - Melissa , Director, Physiocise

“We had the pleasure of Heidi Dening speaking at our Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth conferences this year. She is professional, always prepared and easy to work with. Heidi is authentic, inspirational and provides the audience with useful leadership and burnout-prevention tips that they can use in their everyday life and at work. The online scorecard that she provided for our delegates meant that they were engaged with our event before it even started, were encouraged to implement micro-changes from what they learnt, and they could then track their improvements after they went home. Feedback from our surveys was excellent and we thank Heidi for sharing her experiences and expertise with us and making a difference.” - Judith, CEO, Financial Executive Women

“Heidi deserves her reputation, as she slotted in seamlessly with our line up of speakers (senior executives and leaders from AT&T and Westpac, for example) at the Company Culture & Disruptive Leadership Summit ’17. I would recommend Heidi to not only engage and inspire an audience but get them to think differently – and actually move.” - Julie , Executive Director, Changing Change International