INTERACTIVE LEADERSHIP KEYNOTES
Practical leadership for people navigating pressure, change, and everything in between.
Sarah Ciavarri is a Minnesota-based leadership keynote speaker and executive coach who helps leaders navigate constant change, disruption, and the pressures that contribute to burnout. Her interactive keynotes combine a bit of laughter, memorable stories, and practical tools to help leaders stay grounded, adapt, and strengthen the connections that help people and organizations flourish
Memorable ideas. Practical tools. Real conversation.
Your audience becomes part of the experience.
MORE THAN A KEYNOTE
Sarah's keynotes are designed to get people thinking, talking, laughing, and applying what they're learning in real time. She combines research-backed leadership ideas, memorable stories, practical tools, guided reflection, and conversation so participants aren't simply listening to a keynote—they're connecting the ideas to their own work and learning from one another.
PRACTICAL
Tools leaders can use when the pressure, change, or difficult conversation is actually happening.
INTERACTIVE
Reflection, conversation, and audience participation turn listening into learning.
CUSTOMIZED
Sarah learns your organization, audience, and challenges so the keynote feels built for the people in the room.
“In the five years I’ve been here, I haven’t seen an audience as engaged as they were today.”
Lindsey Sayers
Academic Administrator, Center for Teaching & Learning
Clarkson College
Hear from a Minnesota Lottery attendee following Sarah’s all-staff keynote—an audience perspective to help you picture what Sarah could bring to your next event.
“For me it was really useful and relevant. I’m really grateful I got to do this today. I really needed it.”
Hayden B.
MN Lottery
“…using tools presented by Ms. Ciavarri in their responses to challenging conversations with their teams.”
— Ben Johnson, JD
Deputy Commissioner of Programs and Services
Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs
THE FLAGSHIP KEYNOTE
Spark Your ARRC™
An interactive leadership keynote on resilience, protecting your energy, and leading well under pressure.
Leadership takes energy. The trouble starts when leaders become the power source for absolutely everything.
In this interactive keynote, Sarah introduces Spark Your ARRC™—Awareness, Regulation, Reinvention, and Connection—and gives leaders practical ways to notice where their energy is going, get grounded under pressure, adapt when circumstances change, and strengthen the connections that help people and organizations flourish.
THIS KEYNOTE IS A GREAT FIT WHEN . . .
Your leaders are navigating relentless change, carrying competing priorities, managing difficult conversations, or simply trying to lead people well without running themselves into the ground. Spark Your ARRC™ is especially useful for organizations that want to strengthen leadership capacity while giving people practical tools they can use immediately.
PARTICIPANTS WILL LEAVE ABLE TO . . .
NOTICE WHAT’S DRAINING THEIR ENERGY
Recognize the patterns, pressures, and responsibilities consuming their attention and leadership capacity.
ADAPT TO WHAT’S CHANGING
Identify when familiar approaches no longer fit and respond to change with greater flexibility, intention, and confidence.
WHERE THE SPARK STARTED
Built from a lesson in staying grounded.
Years ago, Sarah and her husband built their own home—literally. While learning to wire the house, Sarah became fascinated by what makes an electrical system work safely: energy needs somewhere to go, and the whole system needs to be grounded.
The metaphor stuck.
Leaders carry energy, too. Under pressure, that energy can become reactive, depleted, or scattered. Spark Your ARRC™ grew from Sarah's work helping leaders become more aware of where their energy is going, get grounded when pressure rises, adapt when circumstances change, and stay connected to the people who matter.
Your energy shapes how you lead.
And how you lead shapes the energy around you.
GET GROUNDED UNDER PRESSURE
Use practical regulation strategies to regain clarity before stress drives their reactions, conversations, or decisions.
STRENGTHEN THE CONNECTIONS THAT MAKE WORK WORK
Lead conversations and relationships in ways that help people feel valued, heard, and accountable for moving the work forward.
A DEEPER DIVE INTO REGULATION
Recharge Your Calm
How to Keep Your Head While Everyone Around You Loses Theirs
An interactive leadership keynote on emotional regulation, managing stress, and making clearer decisions under pressure.
Every leader knows the moment: the conversation gets tense, the inbox delivers one more problem, someone else's anxiety enters the room—and suddenly the calm, thoughtful version of you is nowhere to be found.
Recharge Your Calm explores what happens in the brain and body when pressure rises and why our ability to think clearly, stay curious, and choose our response can disappear exactly when we need it most.
Through humor, relatable examples, and real-time practice, Sarah helps leaders recognize their own stress patterns and build a toolkit of simple regulation strategies they can use in meetings, difficult conversations, high-pressure decisions, and everyday leadership.
Calm isn’t what happens when everything settles down. It’s how you lead when it doesn’t.
THIS KEYNOTE IS A GREAT FIT WHEN . . .
Your leaders are making decisions under pressure, navigating emotionally charged conversations, absorbing the stress of the people around them, or finding it harder to access their best thinking when demands pile up.
It's particularly valuable for organizations that want leaders who can bring steadiness rather than more stress into challenging situations.
PARTICIPANTS WILL LEAVE BETTER ABLE TO:
SPOT THEIR OWN STRESS SIGNALS
Recognize the physical, emotional, and behavioral cues that tell them their nervous system is starting to take the wheel.
KEEP THINKING WHEN PRESSURE RISES
Access greater clarity, curiosity, and creativity when situations become stressful or uncertain.
INTERRUPT THE REACTION CYCLE
Use simple, practical regulation techniques to create space before responding.
BRING CALM INTO THE ROOM
Understand how their own state affects others and use grounded leadership to help create greater steadiness around them.
A DEEPER DIVE INTO REINVENTION
Reinvention Rewired™
How to Adapt When the World Won't Stop Changing
An interactive leadership keynote on navigating organizational change, adapting to uncertainty, and building what’s next.
Change used to feel like something organizations moved through. Increasingly, it feels like the environment we're working in.
New technology. New expectations. New structures. New strategies. And sometimes another change arrives before we've figured out what to do with the last one.
The challenge isn't simply keeping up. Leaders and organizations can spend enormous energy trying to preserve approaches, expectations, and ways of working that made sense in a different reality.
In this interactive keynote, Sarah helps leaders recognize when what worked before no longer fits, loosen their attachment to how things should be, and experiment with what the current moment requires. Participants learn practical ways to navigate uncertainty, conserve energy for what they can actually influence, and move toward what's next without needing to have every answer first.
How do we stop spending energy preserving what was—and start building what's next?
THIS KEYNOTE IS A GREAT FIT WHEN . . .
Your organization is navigating significant change, new technology, shifting priorities, evolving roles, restructuring, or uncertainty about what comes next.
It's particularly valuable when leaders need to help people move forward without dismissing what has worked in the past—or wasting valuable energy trying to recreate a reality that has already changed.
PARTICIPANTS WILL LEAVE BETTER ABLE TO . . .
RECOGNIZE WHAT NO LONGER FITS
Notice when familiar assumptions, expectations, or approaches are consuming energy without producing the results they once did.
EXPERIMENT BEFORE THEY HAVE ALL THE ANSWERS
Take thoughtful next steps, learn from what happens, and adjust rather than waiting for certainty that may never come.
LOOSEN THEIR GRIP ON THE OLD PLAYBOOK
Separate what is still useful from what they may be holding onto simply because it's familiar.
BUILD FOR WHAT'S NEXT
Redirect energy toward the people, possibilities, and approaches that move the work forward.
Leadership Workshops
Want more time for your team to put the ideas into practice? Sarah’s leadership workshops give participants space to work through real situations, practice conversations, and learn from one another. Keynotes typically run 60–90 minutes; longer workshops allow for deeper learning and application, with content tailored to your team’s challenges and goals.
Leading with Empathy & Accountability: It Can Be Done
How do you support people while holding them accountable for the work? In this interactive workshop, Sarah helps leaders navigate the conversations they’re tempted to avoid, clarify expectations, and follow through with both care and consistency. Drawing on the work of Brené Brown and Charles Feltman, participants explore how trust, curiosity, and clear communication help empathy and accountability work together. Through realistic scenarios, guided reflection, and conversation practice, they build skills they can use with their teams right away.
90 minutes–4 hours | Customized to your audience and goals
Participants will leave better able to:
• Clarify expectations so people understand what success looks like, why the work matters, and what they’re responsible for.
• Approach difficult conversations with curiosity and care while addressing the issue directly.
• Follow through on commitments, address missed expectations, and agree on next steps that support both the person and the work.
Dare to Lead™
Courageous leadership takes practice—especially when the conversation is uncomfortable, the outcome is uncertain, or trust is on the line.
Sarah brings experience that extends beyond facilitator certification. She has facilitated Brené Brown’s research since 2012, delivered more than 225 workshops grounded in that work, and facilitated Dare to Lead™ since its launch. Invited by The Daring Way’s senior leadership to serve as a Case Consultant, she supported national trainings and supervised candidates working toward certification in Brown’s methodology.
As a Certified Dare to Lead™ Facilitator, Sarah guides participants through the four skill sets of courage: rumbling with vulnerability, living into our values, braving trust, and learning to rise. Through honest conversation, reflection, and practical exercises, she helps leaders bring the research into everyday decisions, relationships, and the conversations their teams need them to have.
Short introductory workshops available | Full curriculum: 24 hours
Participants will leave better able to:
• Stay engaged in difficult conversations with curiosity, honesty, and a willingness to learn.
• Turn their values into observable behaviors that guide everyday leadership decisions.
• Recognize the behaviors that build or erode trust and practice recovering after setbacks.
Planning Your Event
Who are Sarah’s programs designed for?
Sarah works with emerging leaders, supervisors new to their role, experienced managers, executives, and staff teams. Her interactive keynotes and workshops help people navigate change, manage pressure, and strengthen everyday leadership skills. She brings extensive experience with healthcare, public health, government, and corporate organizations, tailoring each session to the audience’s challenges and goals.
How long are the keynotes and workshops?
Keynotes typically run 60–90 minutes. Leading with Empathy & Accountability is available as a 90-minute to four-hour workshop. Dare to Lead™ is available as a short introductory workshop or the full 24-hour curriculum.
Can Sarah customize the session for our organization?
Yes. Sarah learns about your people, the challenges they’re facing, and what you want the session to accomplish. She tailors examples, conversations, and activities so participants can connect the learning to their everyday work.
How do we book Sarah?
Tell Sarah about your event through the contact form. Include your date, audience, and what you hope people will take away. She’ll connect with you to discuss availability and find the keynote or workshop that fits your goals.