Speaking Background

Included among the speakers on EcoSpeakers.com (John or Lisa), American Entertainment Speakers International (AEI), BME Global, we have given numerous talks about a wide range of topics at such venues as the Midwest Renewable Energy Association's Renewable Energy and Sustainable Living Fair, Upper Midwest Organic Farming Conference, National Audubon Society Conference, Green Festivals, International Ecotourism Conference, Wisconsin Library Conference (Dells, WI), Go Green Expo (Los Angeles, CA), PASA's Organic Farming Conference, Living Green Expo (Minneapolis, MN), SolWest (John Day, OR), I-Renew's Energy Expo (IA), Wisconsin Governor's Conference on Tourism, Midwest Environmental Educators Conference (IA), Living Lightly Conference (Michigan Friends; Chelsea, MI), Penn State Green Design Conference, Kickapoo Country Fair (LaFarge, WI), Pennsylvania Environmental Congress, Gathering Waters' Land Stewardship Conference, and the Midwest Birding Symposium, among many others.

Kivirist and Ivanko have made presentations at numerous universities and colleges as well as at bookstores, community festivals and for organizational meetings for non-profit organizations. From ecopreneuring to sustainable living to diversifying on-farm income, from bluebird conservation to traveling as an ecotourist, we draw from our local -- and global -- experiences, often complimented by John's professional photography.

View a speaker demo tape of Lisa Kivirst's presentations with John Ivanko.

Possible Speaking Topics

(1) ECOpreneuring: Putting Purpose and the Planet before Profits

Examine how small, sustainable, and place-based businesses and the ecopreneurs who run them are becoming the very foundation of the emerging new green economy of the 21st Century.

Drawing from over a decade of first-hand experiences as well as interviews of other rural entrepreneurs for the non-profit organization, Renewing the Countryside, Ivanko and Kivirist will delve into the practical aspects of what it means to be an ecopreneur and small business proprietor, and what it means to the health and well-being of your community. Examples feature ways businesses can be more green, how to green existing nature-based businesses (such as ecotourism enterprises), and the many benefits of being a more sustainably managed business, including becoming more profitable.

Discussion explores the changing environment of business from the perspective of:

• placing greater emphasis on the importance of local, family owned businesses (often from home offices) to the health and well-being of communities
• using powerful computers and technology
• leveraging the Internet to collapse the "friction of distance"
• capitalizing on the reality that small, human-scaled enterprises offer greater balance of life and family integration possibilities
• capturing the growing trend of creativity-based livelihoods, as evidenced in such best-selling books as Free Agent Nation, Creative Class and Cultural Creatives.

View the "BETTER, not bigger" video inspired by ECOpreneuring

View a streaming video of the ECOpreneuring presentation based on the award-winning ECOpreneuring book given on the main stage at the Iowa Renewable Energy Association in September, 2008.

(2) Achieving the Good Life

A department store goliath says you can shop for the good life. Some claim the good life comes only in retirement. Lisa Kivirist, co-author of Rural Renaissance disagrees. The good life is not about the goods of life, or waiting until you're retired to do what you love to do and live according to your values. It's about a more self-reliant, simple, and ecologically mindful lifestyle that's merged with a more meaningful livelihood that supports a living, restorative and local economy.

Join the quest to explore what more sustainable living means in the 21st century by:

• generating our own power;
• growing our own food;
• raising our children;
• building our own structures (perhaps, even, with straw bales);
• cultivating a "workstyle" that is meaningful, green and often, entrepreneurial;
• restoring the health of our community, on which our own health depends.

Drawing from Kivirist's experiences with her husband and son as well as others around the country, learn about what steps can be taken -- big or small -- that celebrate the most basic of all American rights: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

(3) Organic Eating on a Dime

Looking for practical tips for enjoying more sustainable, healthy, nutritious foods while both saving money and stewarding the environment? Grocery shopping, particularly in today's economy, requires a toolbox of strategies to both eat well on a budget while still making conscious purchase decisions. Join Lisa Kivirist, co-author of ECOpreneuring, Edible Earth and Rural Renaissance, as she shares simple ideas and seasoned experience from running her family's farm and bed & breakfast, Inn Serendipity, outside Monroe, Wisconsin.

(4) Agritourism Meets Ecotourism

Download the powerpoint presentation made at the Wisconsin Governor's Conference on Tourism, March, 2005 (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader for viewing).

(5) Sustainable Living Simplified

Despite what ad campaigns tell us, "the good life" can't be bought on a credit card. Craft your own definition of "the good life" and simplify, declutter, reduce and recycle. Lisa Kivirist and John Ivanko, co-authors of Rural Renaissance, share creative ideas and approaches to sustainable living in this "show-and-tell" format.

(6) Farm Diversification & Managing the Media

Download the powerpoint presentation made at the Upper Midwest Organic Farming Conference, February, 2005, and other venues (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader for viewing).

(7) Small is Beautiful

This century is the "Century of the Small," says Paul Hawken, author of The Ecology of Commerce. Small businesses, small towns and small cars. Join John and Lisa, co-authors of ECOpreneuring and Rural Renaissance, to examine how this transformation is already taking place in a community near you and how you can join what is quickly becoming one of the most widespread -- albeit silent -- grassroots movements in decades.

Whether you're among the 25-percent of working Americans who have started their own small business or free-lancing enterprise or the swelling ranks of home-based do-it-yourselfers who have downscaled consumption and upscaled their satisfaction with life with their family, spouse or community, small is beautiful, sustainable, economically viable, and more spiritually fulfilling. Ivanko and Kivirist will share how.

(8) Ecotourism: Wisconsin's Point of Difference/Travel Green Wisconsin

Download the powerpoint presentation made at the Wisconsin Department of Tourism Marketing Meeting, December 8, 2005 (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader for viewing).

(9) Enrichment Travel: Experiences ARE the Difference

Download the powerpoint presentation that addresses enrichment travel, ecotourism and agritourism made at the Wisconsin Governor's Conference on Tourism, March 14, 2006 (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader for viewing). 7.2 MB file.

(10) Wisconsin: A story of restoration and renewal

Download the powerpoint presentation made at the Wisconsin Library Association, May 7, 2009
(requires Adobe Acrobat Reader for viewing; 42.4 MB file.)
Since arriving in WIsconsin over a decade ago, authors Lisa Kivirist and John Ivanko have shared Wisconsin's stories of restoration, renewal, and revitalization. Living their story, the couple launched their own enterprise, Inn Serendipity, completely powered by the wind and sun. Whether serving as lead writers for Renewing the Countryside: WISCONSIN or capturing the transformative changes underway in their acclaimed books Rural Renaissance and ECOpreneuring, this duo will reveal how Wisconsin is at the forefront of our nation's emerging restoration ECOnomy.

View the "BETTER, not bigger" video inspired by ECOpreneuring not included in the PDF file: BETTER, not Bigger

(11) Opening the window onto the world for young readers

Download the powerpoint presentation made at the Wisconsin Library Association, May 8, 2009
(requires Adobe Acrobat Reader for viewing; 23.5 MB file.)
In these times of change, global awareness based on understanding, respecting and celebrating diversity is essential to successfully sharing our common home, Earth. Since 1996, the Global Fund for Children (GFC) has created books and resource guides for young readers that help expand their appreciation of the multicultural world in which they live; sales of these books support the grant-making work of GFC. For example, Ser Vecinos, the Spanish version of GFC Books' award-winning book Be My Neighbor that includes words of wisdom by Fred Rogers, celebrates the many different ways children live in a community with others. Kirkus Review described it as "a visually enticing tribute to diversity and the number of bonds that unite us in a common humanity". In 2008 alone, the GFC has disbursed 541 grants worth $3.16 million to grassroots children's programs around the world. Join co-author John Ivanko as he shares how libraries can showcase cultural diversity and build bridges to far away places based on his work with GFC.

View the "Why do just one" video created and photographed by Liam using stop-action photograpy and LEGOS, not included in the PDF file: Why Do Just One

For more about the children's photobooks co-authored by John Ivanko, including the award-winning To Be a Kid and Be My Neighbor

Fees and Scheduling

To determine availability, contact Lisa Kivirist or John Ivanko at (608) 329-7056, john@innserendipity.com, or write to 7843 County Rd. P, Browntown WI 53522. Presenter(s) honorarium, travel, lodging and meal expenses are flexible, depending on the venue and audience. Either Lisa or John, or both together, can make the presentations, depending on the needs of the conference planners.

Book Order Information Order your copy of ECOpreneuring today at a 22% discount off list price (a PDF file order form).

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