Meet Dave Zamansky
Building stronger leaders and communities.
Dave Zamansky has over 25 years of experience in leadership development and experiential group dynamics. Dave will not only reconnect your team to your organizational goals and objectives, but he will also broaden their understanding of each other and their unique roles and skill sets. Teams that not only understand the mission, but also respect and empower their fellow teammates, can work unanimously towards individual, team, and ultimately community success!
Dave is a dynamic, hands-on presenter who works exclusively with you behind the scenes and is dedicated to developing a custom session that will not only achieve your goals but that will be fun and engaging too. Dave surprises even the most skeptical participants with his genuine caring and dedication to your team’s success. Dave's ability to engage and inspire your team to think in new ways and take risks in new environments sets him apart from other speakers in leadership. By the end of one of Dave’s sessions, your organization will be more connected for an improved, more efficient, and productive community moving forward.
Orientation Leaders Sessions
Community Shift from "i" to "We" for Orientation Leaders
Activities will be experienced that spark excitement within the Orientation Leader team and their first year student groups. The goals are connection, group cohesiveness, working together for a common goal rather than going at it alone, and being prepared for the arrival of first year students.
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Over 2 decades of experience facilitating Orientation Leader Trainings
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Take advantage of the hundreds of Experiential and Team Building Activities Dave has to offer for your team
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All Orientation Leaders will receive an Activity Guide with descriptions on everything experienced
Leadership in the Age of Marvel Superheroes : (2016 - NOW)
Experience clips and experiential activities connected to the most current Marvel Cinematic Universe films that help us understand the topics of community, self-awareness, organizational resilience, social justice, fear of failure, and more. Find out what Captain Marvel, The Avengers, Black Panther, Shang-Chi, 3 Spidermen, and Doctor Strange can teach us about leadership and the communities around us.
Topics Dave Covers
All topics are available in-person or virtually! Contact us to learn more about how you can bring any of these important discussions to your audience from anywhere.
Positive communities understand that their collective energy is greater than the sum of their individual energies. Experience activities that spark excitement in your community members to work together for a common goal rather than going at it alone. Everyone will walk away with new activities to bring back to their organizations/teams.
Experience clips and experiential activities connected to the most current Marvel Cinematic Universe films that help us understand the topics of community, self-awareness, organizational resilience, social justice, fear of failure, and more. Find out what Captain Marvel, The Avengers, Black Panther, Shang-Chi, 3 Spidermen, and Doctor Strange can teach us about leadership and the communities around us.
Students coming into our institutions are coming in with a ton of pressure on them to succeed and lack the tools to do so from years of isolation; they have plenty of technology knowledge, but would benefit from the skills needed for communication, social awareness, and connection. Discussion and activities will include what we have learned over the past few years, new opportunities out there, and how to keep our students motivated, involved, and connected.
The topic of integrity/ethics and leadership is an issue that is debated daily. Everyone is watching, every day. This workshop incorporates communities identifying their core values, verbalizing them, and putting them to the test. As leaders, we realize that we are in a fishbowl; everyone is watching, every day. Though it may be easy, as a leader, to say what you stand for
and what you value, it is more of a challenge to live your values and keep the trust and respect of others if you make a mistake. Even when we're committed, congruent, and responsible, mistakes happen, poor judgments are made, and ethical breakdowns are possible. Together we’ll uncover how to make good ethical decisions and what happens when something does not go as planned.
and what you value, it is more of a challenge to live your values and keep the trust and respect of others if you make a mistake. Even when we're committed, congruent, and responsible, mistakes happen, poor judgments are made, and ethical breakdowns are possible. Together we’ll uncover how to make good ethical decisions and what happens when something does not go as planned.
Find out what Captain America, Thor, Ant-Man, The Guardians of the Galaxy, and The Avengers can teach us about leadership. This unique workshop taps into the biggest pop culture phenomenon and will bring in everyone: those that always are involved to those that don’t typically involve themselves in leadership. Marvel movies have been breaking records at the box office over the past two decades. Audiences are on the edge of their seats for every epic battle and jaw-dropping plot twist, while at the same time learning important lessons on leadership. During this session, attendees will watch movie clips and partake in experiential activities that help educate on the topics of community, organization, social justice, integrity, and more.*This is Dave’s original Marvel workshop and focus on leadership development from Phases 1 and 2 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Positive communities understand that their collective energy is greater than the sum of their individual energies. They are honest and open with each other, listen to each other, and know that conflict can be a positive piece of who they are. Dave has found he gets more out of individuals in a community when they feel like they are listened to and their ideas are taken in. When this happens, communities come together and accomplish more than they knew possible. Community Realized will have participants exploring the definition and dynamics of community. Activities will be set up to create deeper relationships in communities with the understanding that we are all connected. When communities are thriving, everyone can be who they are without fear of judgment and feel they are a part of something bigger than themselves.
Warning: Attending this program will cause you to meet people and get involved in activities...beware! Experiential leadership activities are often reserved for the start of the year. In actuality, these activities provide value THROUGHOUT the year. These activities can be used to elevate events like new member orientations, retreats, weekly meetings, professional development trainings, and more. This session teaches a collection of the most unusual team builders and games that are guaranteed to make your members feel included while having fun, learning about each other, and developing in ways that create community. Every group will receive a mini-manual of the activities of the workshop to bring back to their communities. Dave knows enough activities to have four or more of these workshops!
Virtual Programming
A fun and different experiential experience that can bring communities together virtually. This will help groups get to know each other through virtual community/team building and debriefing activities. LeaderScape is part virtual leadership team challenge, part virtual escape room-esque experience. Participants will be grouped in teams to unlock different padlock levels of virtual team building experiences. The goal is to unlock all the padlock levels in the designated time while getting to know one another, having fun, and understanding what it means to be part of a community (virtually or otherwise).
The topic of integrity/ethics and leadership is an issue that is debated daily. Everyone is watching, every day. This workshop incorporates communities identifying their core values, verbalizing them, and putting them to the test. As leaders, we realize that we are in a fishbowl; everyone is watching, every day. Though it may be easy, as a leader, to say what you stand for and what you value, it is more of a challenge to live your values and keep the trust and respect of others if you make a mistake. Even when we're committed, congruent, and responsible, mistakes happen, poor judgments are made, and ethical breakdowns are possible. Together we’ll uncover how to make good ethical decisions and what happens when something does not go as planned.
Connection is needed in any situation and it can be done virtually. These experiential leadership activities can be used to elevate events like virtual orientations, retreats, weekly meetings, professional development trainings, and more. This session teaches a collection of the best virtual team builders and games that are guaranteed to make your members feel included while having fun, learning about each other, and developing in ways that create community. Every group will receive a mini-manual of the activities of the workshop to bring back to their communities. Dave can help Orientation Leaders, Resident Assistants, Professional Staff Departments, and more come together online while teaching them virtual activities to facilitate with their first-year students, residents, and student employees. Dave knows enough virtual activities to have four or more of these workshops!
Positive communities understand that their collective energy is greater than the sum of their individual energies. They are honest and open with each other, listen to each other, and know that conflict can be a positive piece of who they are. Community Realized will have participants exploring the definition and dynamics of community. Virtual activities will be set up to create deeper relationships in communities with the understanding that we are all connected. When communities are thriving, everyone can be who they are without fear of judgment and feel they are a part of something bigger than themselves. Groups will leave feeling closer, connected, and more prepared for a better future when they are eventually together in person.
