Sally Gunnell OBE offers a dynamic Wellbeing keynote to her audiences and they are being extremely well received.

It’s Olympic year and Sally Gunnell OBE will be stationed in the UK when the Olympics are on. A constantly top performing and hugely popular inspirational keynote speaker, Sally is also much in demand for her ‘Wellbeing’ keynote. See below for further details. Her goal in life is simple ‘To thrive in work and life, and help others be the best they can be!’

Nothing inspires others like a true success story

Expertise, mentality and resilience are the three factors that shaped Sally Gunnell OBE’s career. Utilizing all three she hit some incredible highs and recovered from some devastating lows. There are many similarities between high performance in the worlds of sport, business, and life. Furthermore the topics Sally addresses in every keynotes include:

• Change Management
• Overcoming Adversity
• The space between talent and performance – mental attitude
• Need to achieve Vs Fear of failure
• Leadership
• Teamwork
• Synergy – surrounding yourself with talent
• Importance of wellbeing

Here are in Sally Gunnell Obe’s words some of the types of speeches she delivers.

Inspiration & Motivation

“I explore the fundamental traits of winning, particularly focusing on mental attitude and goal setting. And how learning how to emotionally perform at a high level does not come overnight. I share my own experiences which the audience are able to translate into their own lives.

Once goals have been reached, it’s important to understand how to sustain this high level and to cope with setbacks and disappointment. This all requires resilience and a positive mindset and that in itself is a great challenge. I talk about how I coped after my Olympic gold and what I learnt about performing under pressure.

In this keynote, I tell my story how as a professional athlete I realised the skills which helped me become an Olympic champion are just as relevant in helping me succeed today. Both as a businesswoman and also supporting me on my personal journey. For example, at my first public speaking engagement I was absolutely petrified. However, I quickly realised that as an athlete I was a performer and therefore standing on stage was actually not that different from standing in the starting blocks.

Teamwork isn’t always associated with an individual sport; however, my keynote will examine the importance of team work.

I don’t believe it’s possible to achieve your goals without the support of others. A poignant moment in my journey to ‘Gold’ was putting a team around me who supported and prepared me for the moment when it was just me. The audience will see that the same can be applied to their own life and that we don’t have to do things by ourselves.

Finally, I will discuss the importance of visualisation. This skill can be easily learnt and is often the last and most important piece of the puzzle when it comes to reaching our goals.

I love the synergy between sport and business. The five big lessons that I learnt from running I use in my everyday life, both at work and at home. I hope that the audience will be able to take these lessons and transfer them to their own situations. Like the audience, I am simply trying to be ‘the best I can be’ in my business, at supporting my family and staying healthy.”

Resilience & Sustaining Performance

“Sustaining high performance and resilience is a popular topic. One that I am very passionate about and an often asked about. In today’s fast-moving world, just when you think you have achieved what is required of you, someone moves the goal posts and you have to find a little bit more. More often than not this is a recurring theme in life.

In this keynote I focus on what it took for me to stay at the top of my game. It’s about how I utilize those skills now, in business and day to day life. Having achieved my dream of standing on the podium at an Olympic Games winning gold, I asked myself ‘What’s next?’

I loved that sense of achievement so I decided to see if I could secure further major championship titles. Soon I came to realise that in order to do that it took a slightly different skill set. I still had to maintain the basics but now there was a stronger focus on my mental strength and managing expectations. Furthermore, there was a greater understanding of how to take care of myself to avoid injuries and setbacks.

Resilience was the key to my further success

I believe that resilience is something that everyone should have, and can have. It enables you to deal with life when things don’t go to plan, when you hit those bumps in the road. When I talk about the lessons, I learnt in high performance sport, the audience will be able to evaluate where their resilience levels are. In addition, they can learn how to improve them.

There are four key areas that are pivotal in achieving and sustaining a performance and a healthy level of resilience. I will look at each of these areas, providing understand on how to improve and maintain them. With simple tips and tricks to take away from my keynote the audience will understand that building up your resilience won’t stop problems occurring. They will however certainly make it easier to cope when they do.

When I look back on my career, I consider myself very lucky to have been able to achieve the goals I set myself. Most importantly I do appreciate that my story would have been very different had I not realised the importance of maintaining a high level of resilience. In the present I regard myself to be in the fortunate position to be able to pass on those valuable skills and experience to my audiences.”

Health & Wellbeing

“This keynote explores what I have learnt about nutrition, goal setting, and building resilience during my time as a professional athlete. I share how I continue to use this knowledge in both my personal life and in my new career.

Furthermore, how important maintaining my wellbeing is.

I will explain how putting simple boundaries in place can help you focus on different areas of your life. To help increase productivity and reduce stress.

I discuss the importance of:

• Exercise
• Eating Well
• Sleep
• Meaning & Purpose
• Leadership
• Managing Stress

And explain how with these factors in place, mental resilience improves. This enables you to handle the stress and demands that come with day to day life. It also helps prevent your physical and mental health spiraling when challenges occur.

I look at my life like a wheel.

If one of these things is out of place then the wheel cannot turn smoothly. They are all vital to keep me going.

During this keynote, I encourage the audience to look at their own lives. How by using simple questions and exercises they can try and work out where the balance is off. As a result they can identify what changes need to made to find wellbeing both at work and at home. The audience will leave the event with not only practical tips for increased wellbeing, but with inspiration and motivation to put these tips in to practice.”

Testimonial Example

“What an inspiration Sally Gunnell OBE is. Hearing her talk about the life-changing journey she undertook, as she evolved from a 15-year-old runner dreaming of greatness into an Olympic gold medal-winning champion, was both empowering and moving. Here at BT, we are on a transformational journey of our own and it was a thrill for over 1,000 of us to hear Sally relate her experiences of overcoming setbacks and embracing change to the pioneering work we are doing as a technology company. “Run your own race” was Sally’s parting message: wise words from a fantastic role model, who also took the time to speak personally with as many of us as possible, helping to turn our day into a memorable occasion that will stay with us all for a very long time.”
BT

Further Testimonial Example

“Sally Gunnell OBE was brilliant from start to finish and the perfect conclusion to what had been an informative day for our delegates. Her account of the leadup to her 1992 gold medal triumph, gave us something to think about, with clear takeaways that we can all implement in order to achieve our goals. Be that, setting a clear meaning and purpose for each day, recognising the importance of marginal gains or getting out of your comfort zone in order to succeed, there was something that resonated with everyone. Sally even took time after her speaking slot to take photos with delegates and had even brought along her winning medal too. I would highly recommend Sally to inspire, engage and motivate any audience and hope to see her at another event soon.”
British Parking Association

To book Sally Gunnell OBE for your next event, contact us today.