Allison Graham
- Change Management
- Communications
- Leadership
- Mental Health
- Peak Performance
- Personal Growth
- Resilience & Adversity
- Women's Leadership
- Business Growth
- Business Management
- All Staff Meeting
- Board Meetings & Strategic Advisory
- Charities & Foundations
- Community Engagement Events
- Conference
- Conferences & Summits
- Consultant & Coach
- Corporate Audience
ALLISON GRAHAM BIOGRAPHY
Allison Graham has focused her career on transforming professionals’ approach to revenue generation for over a decade. She is fiercely committed to crafting and sharing resources that show ambitious professionals how to optimize performance, productivity, and profitability while still honouring mental and emotional health.
Combining lived experience, up to date research and the ability to understand the complexities and challenges that lead to stress and burnout for leaders and employees, her message is deeply rooted in the respect that the bottom-line responsibilities need to intersect with a fulfilled and engaged leadership team and workforce.
She has garnered the attention of national and international media outlets as a thought leader for the connection between work life balance, wellness and peak performance. You might recognize Allison Graham from her appearances on Global Television, CBC, Fast Company, CTV, and Breakfast Television, to name a few.
In 2009, Allison Graham faced a critical crossroads when her neurologist recommended, she go on disability due to post-surgical nerve pain. Fueled by the fear of career loss, she committed to pioneering stress-reduction techniques tailored to her unique challenges.
This crisis catalyzed a journey into comprehensive research and experimentation, leading her to innovative approaches for managing ongoing nerve pain without sacrificing her professional goals. Allison Graham navigated through substantial life challenges that have given her unique insights into the resilience, managing change and the mindset and behaviours that impact our health.
Challenging the conventional wisdom on stress management, Allison argues that the conventional approach is flawed. Despite societal awareness of increasing stress and burnout, traditional advice seems to be ineffective. Drawing from her 17 years of studying mainstream advice and her own experiences with burnout and chronic pain, she identifies what she terms as The Stress Illusion.
Her groundbreaking work urges professionals to minimize stress creation as a preventative approach to their work and personal lives. Her methodology allows clients to reclaim control over their lives, renew their passion for their work, and focus on what genuinely matters for themselves and their peers.
A dedicated researcher, Allison Graham has invested thousands of hours into reading, interviewing experts, and challenging prevailing personal development advice. She offers her refined strategies to those who are already on the self-improvement path but are seeking deeper, more meaningful conversations and solutions.
Allison Graham is the author of the influential book “From Business Cards to Business Relationships: Profitable Networking & Personal Branding Made Easy,” which has set the stage for her contributions to the fields of sales and networking. These insights laid the foundation for her second book, “Married My Mom, Birthed a Dog: How to Be Resilient When Life Sucks,” which provides actionable strategies for managing adversity without derailing one’s career.
Her forthcoming book, ‘The Stress Illusion: Defy the Lies Make Life Harder Than It Needs to Be is already being hailed as a game-changer in the conversation around stress.
Driven by client stories of burnout and stress, Allison is on a mission to simplify life’s complexities. Her approach is often described as ‘tough love wrapped in an empathetic hug.’ She has a knack for identifying behavioral patterns and helping individuals navigate their priorities with confidence.
Her ground-breaking insights and innovative techniques have connected her within industry circles as she worked with some of North America’s most respected brands and influential associations.
Allison Graham’s ongoing commitment to refining her methodologies highlights the importance of viewing personal development as a continuous journey, not a destination. Her seamless integration of professional acumen and personal resilience provides invaluable insights for anyone striving for both career success and overall well-being in complex and fast paced environments.
Videos
Podcasts
Allison Graham Topic Presentations
the stress illusion - defy the lies that make life harder than it needs to be
- Virtual PresentationKeynote PresentationWorkshop SessionHalf Day TrainingFull Day Training
In our fast-evolving business landscape, conventional stress management methods often fall short. The evidence is clear: mounting stress levels, rising burnout rates, and an alarming number of stress-induced absences are monopolizing headlines despite unprecedented access to techniques to foster well-being.
Throughout this conference, as we immerse ourselves in new learning and networking, it can feel like a refreshing escape from the daily work pressures, but soon enough, you’ll be back to the grind. During this keynote, Allison Graham will address common misconceptions about the best ways to navigate stress and introduce practical approaches that focus not on managing stress, but on stopping the stress reaction in the first place so that there is less stress to manage.
That will free capacity each day to focus on what’s important.
This session is not merely informative; it offers a proactive approach to balancing work pressures with overall well-being. Gain a clearer understanding of stress and equip yourself with strategies that prioritize both performance and well-being.
Allison will provide clear, actionable strategies that can be applied immediately, and will better prepare you to handle work-related challenges and to effectively integrate the insights gained from this conference. Additionally, you’ll be able to maintain and grow the professional relationships you establish throughout the conference.
Takeaways:
- Understand why delegating tasks, other productivity hacks, and healthy lifestyle choices are not complete answers to create breathing room in your days and discover a meaningful alternative.
- Be able to leverage empowering stress, better ride the waves of survival stress and stop creating destructive, overwhelming stress.
- Discover and easily be able to apply three simple techniques to neutralize destructive stress when it happens.
the stress illusion - defy the lies that make life harder than it needs to be (closing keynote option)
- Virtual PresentationKeynote PresentationWorkshop SessionHalf Day TrainingFull Day Training
Traditional stress management strategies are failing us. If they weren’t, we wouldn’t be witnessing escalating stress levels, skyrocketing burnout rates, and unprecedented stress-related leaves of absence.
As this conference nears its conclusion, a sense of apprehension may be settling in as you contemplate returning to the demanding rhythms of your role at work. After basking in the camaraderie and enriching learning experience of these past few days, the grind of the day-to-day may seem overwhelming.
In our closing keynote, Allison Graham will unveil three myths surrounding stress and present three fresh approaches to not just manage stress – but rather to stop creating so much of it in the first place. Be inspired as Allison redefines stress management and shares insights that you can put into practice instantly.
Equipped with these transformative strategies, you’ll not only feel prepared to handle work-related stressors, but you’ll also have the bandwidth left to implement the exciting ideas you’ve collected during the conference. And yes, you’ll also find time to sustain and develop the valuable connections you’ve made here.
This isn’t just a speech; it’s your springboard toward a less stressed, more balanced, and productive future. Don’t miss this chance to transform the illusion of stress into a reality of thriving and resilience.
Takeaways:
- Understand why delegating tasks, other productivity hacks, and healthy lifestyle choices are not complete answers to create breathing room in your days and discover a meaningful alternative.
- Be able to leverage empowering stress, better ride the waves of survival stress and stop creating destructive, overwhelming stress.
- Discover and easily be able to apply three simple techniques to neutralize destructive stress when it happens.
on the brink of burnout? don’t quit!
- Virtual PresentationKeynote PresentationWorkshop SessionHalf Day TrainingFull Day Training
It’s possible to reignite your passion for your work or to help others to do the same even when you have too much to do, too little time and too few resources!
Even when engulfed in the whirlwind of endless tasks, shrinking time, and scarce resources, it’s possible to rekindle your passion for work and life! As a professional in a high-pressure industry, your daily life is a balancing act on a tightrope.
When your plate perpetually overflows, the urge to flee the relentless pace and take a breather can be overpowering. Yet, you know the work waits for no one – and you’re passionate about your role in the industry!
If this resonates with you, remember that it is possible to do it all, without feeling like you’re suffocating on the stress of the daily grind of success. Don’t let destructive stress to chip away at your daily productivity, compromise your happiness, or threaten your emotional and mental well-being.
In this immersive session, Allison will arm you with innovative strategies to recalibrate your perspective of the surrounding whirlwind. By doing so, not only will you amplify your productivity and bolster your organization’s bottom line, but you’ll also safeguard your most valuable asset – your well-being.
It’s not about quitting when things get tough; it’s about learning to dance in the storm. Let Allison guide you in this transformative journey. The solution isn’t to escape the hustle; it’s to learn to master it.
Learning Outcomes:
- Why you don’t need to do less to feel better, but rather how to shift your relationship with stress and resilience to create mental and emotional space in your days.
- A clear path to minimize destructive stress so the day’s activities do not steal so much of your available resources.
- A strategy to address different challenges that arise each day in a way that gives you a sense of control even in times that are out of your control.
leading through tough times without the burnout - honoring the human experience while inspiring top performance from you and your team
- Virtual PresentationKeynote PresentationWorkshop SessionHalf Day TrainingFull Day Training
World events have had an unprecedented emotional toll on even the most accomplished individuals. This in turn has impacted team dynamics and left many leaders feeling responsible for propping up the mood of everyone else – while neglecting their own needs. People are tired of having to be resilient. I call the exhaustion from having to be resilient ‘Coping Fatigue.’
While nothing can be done to fix the overall situation and intensity of challenges one faces, a fresh perspective and better problem-solving strategies and a fresh approach to micro-resilience can make the experience better.
Takeaways:
- Recognize how overwhelming stress is created and know how to stop it for you and your team.
- Quickly identify different types of challenges and know how to deal with each so that each problem drains less of your available resources.
- Strategies to create mental and emotional space in your days even when it feels like you’re pulled in a million directions.
- The various ways people respond to challenges and how to inspire optimal resilience and problem-solving.
the problem-solving method: build resilience and amplify daily capacity - moving beyond solution-first thinking to solve problems better and faster!
- Virtual PresentationKeynote PresentationWorkshop SessionHalf Day TrainingFull Day Training
Each day we face a series of tasks, obstacles and adversities that need to be addressed. We’re often taught to focus on finding solutions, but after coaching and consulting for the last 17 years and being obsessed with personal development, Allison has seen how solution-first thinking can backfire when it comes to problems related to the human experience.
When challenges arise, if they aren’t approached in an effective way, destructive stress and further complications can follow. Often people are left repeating the same unhealthy patterns of behaviour. Using my problem-solving framework, participants will uncover a systematic way to approach daily challenges – whether they are related to their own personal development or operational issues at work. By solving problems more effectively, they will free their personal capacity to be more creative, innovative, and engaged in their work.
Takeaways:
- Why solution-first thinking often backfires and how to quickly find solutions that will stick.
- Allison Graham’s Problem-Solving Framework and be able to apply it to your personal circumstances immediately to minimize the impact of challenges.
- A common language to effectively identify and address different types of challenges.
take the stress out of networking to optimize human-to-human connections - creating profitable and meaningful human-to-human connections even when you're too busy to connect or loathe networking
- Virtual PresentationKeynote PresentationWorkshop SessionHalf Day TrainingFull Day Training
The greatest asset in your professional life is your network. Connecting and building meaningful professional relationships with people from various sectors and within your organization who have access to different resources and wisdom, can be a challenging obstacle.
Overloaded task lists, heavy work demands, and comfort zones can mean that relationship development is reactive at best, and, at worst, non-existent. With the right tools, you can overcome this challenge in a fraction of the time it would take others.
Allison Graham will reveal the insights that she learned when she overcame her fear of networking to build confidence. She learned exactly what the most connected people do to evolve and solidify profitable relationships that lead to opportunities, instead of just being busy. You will learn what others have done to inspire trust while moving a connection from being just known to a loyal professional relationship.
Takeaways:
- The building your network to bolster your career and making the choice to coast or soar.
- The four motivations that create relationship momentum so that you can identify the easiest way to create meaningful connections with contacts.
- The four moments in a relationship that will have the biggest influence on trust.
- Simple tips to move beyond boring small talk to create deeper, more authentic interactions and more memorable conversations, even if you don’t love networking.
- How to find the best opportunities to network in order to expand your professional circles and debunk the myth that you’re too busy to network effectively.
- Change Management
- Communications
- Leadership
- Mental Health
- Peak Performance
- Personal Growth
- Resilience & Adversity
- Women's Leadership
- Business Growth
- Business Management
- All Staff Meeting
- Board Meetings & Strategic Advisory
- Charities & Foundations
- Community Engagement Events
- Conference
- Conferences & Summits
- Consultant & Coach
- Corporate Audience
- Corporations & Businesses
- Department Meeting
- Economic Development
- Executive Leadership & C-Suite
- Government Departments & Agencies
- Guest Panelist & Guided Q&A
- Hybrid Workplace
- Inspirational
- Interactive & Experience
- Key Note
- Motivation
- Opening & Closing Keynote
- Orateur & Conférencier
- Pofessional development days (PD DAYS)
- Storytelling
- Sustainable Development
- Town Halls & Retreats
- Trade Shows & Conventions
- Virtual & Online Meetings
- Virtual engagement
- Virtual Speakers
- Women
- Workshop & Training
- Youth Leadership & Students
- Youth Leadership and Student Empowerment
Testimonials
Articles & Media
Books
How to book Allison Graham for an event?
Allison Graham keynote speaker is an expert presenter and has a wide range of experience speaking to a wide variety of audiences and organizations. Allison Graham delivers keynotes, workshops & training sessions. They may also host or emcee events. Hire Allison Graham from Toronto, Ontario for your event to inspire the audience to take action and make change in their work and their lives. Your workplace will benefit from our keynote speaker and their keynote talks and speeches will shift the mindsets or behaviours for the audience members in Canada.
Interested in booking Allison Graham for an event?
Are you looking to hire Allison Graham for your event? Allison Graham Toronto, Ontario is a dynamic and engaging speaker that offers audiences researched content paired with expertise and a dynamic speaking ability. Allison Graham is also a Canadian corporate consultant and coach and facilitates workshops and training sessions for a corporate audience. Allison Graham is an expert keynote presenter and speaks on wide variety of topics. Hiring a great speaker for your event is important and working with a thought leader like Allison Graham from Speakers Canada’s roster will engage audiences into the content of the presentation to bring awareness and a fresh perspective for their approach to their work and their lives. Book Allison Graham to educate, motivate and activate the audience through an interactive and entertaining presentation at corporate meetings and gatherings.
Known as a popular key note speaker in Canada, Allison Graham creates life changing experiences for the participants with practical insights and strategic advice they can implement right after the session. Working with a one our leading expert speaker like Allison Graham from Toronto, Ontario offers organizations a fresh perspective to assist the people of the organization. No matter if it is a government, association, or business crowd, Allison Graham is a perfect speaker for your event. Through unique practical insights for trending topics and years experience speaking to different organizations, Allison Graham focuses on changing individuals to make better decisions at work and their lives. No matter if you are holding an in person or virtual event, having an influential speaker such as Allison Graham will engage, motivate, and activate the audience to make a change in their lives and inspire action for results to meet organizational goals. Your workforce will benefit from Allison Graham’s presentations and speeches, with measurable results set to shift the people of the organization and core direction of the company. Book Allison Graham speaker for your annual general meeting, conference, summit, or convention in Canada.
How much does it cost to hire Allison Graham for a keynote presentation or virtual event?
Allison Graham is an expert professional key note speaker with a lot of experience speaking and delivering engaging talks to organizations and audiences in Canada. Each of Speaker Bureau Canada’s talent have different ways to assess their fees, and Allison Graham speaker fee ranges depending on the size of the audience, event format (in person or virtual), event location, and if the organization booking them is a non profit, association, government department/government agency or business/corporation. The speakers we work with are flexible with their fees, and it is important for us to learn more about your event before we approach them, as it is our role to work for you, and to help you find a speaker within budget.
Please contact Speakers Bureau of Canada and provide us with your event details so that we can contact Allison Graham to check availability or confirm the pricing and associated costs to hire a great speaker like Allison Graham for your event. As Allison Graham's agent and as a Canadian top speaker bureau and talent agency for speakers, we are able to propose each event opportunity from each host organization’s behalf to try to help you get in touch with Allison Graham and confirm them for your in person or online meeting/event. We can also provide and advise on the booking process and potentially negotiate their fee. Speakers Canada is a client focused speaker agency, and we work for you in finding good speakers for your team meetings and booking processes.
Allison Graham Disclaimer
When SBC receives a request to book Allison Graham we provide you with their speaker fees, travel costs and check their schedules. We work closely with the host organization’s event planning team and the speaker to handle the logistics and to relay or negotiate associated costs. Our talented team members then will work with our talent directly or their agent/manager/assistant to confirm the Canadian speaker fee and travel expenses, so that event planning teams can receive an official quote for the speaker appearing at the event. Speaker fees and travel costs vary per speaker and our role is to contact Allison Graham about your event, after we have connected with the event organizers to learn all the event details and/or conference program. Each booking request is unique since session durations and audience sizes can vary which may affect the speaker’s fees. If you are looking to hire Allison Graham, we recommend filling out the booking request form so a booking agent from Speakers Bureau Canada can get in touch with our talent to help you coordinate with your team to engage the speaker for a successful event.