Brian MacDonald
Director of Residential Edcution
University of California Los Angeles
If status quo trainings with boring content are your thing, by all means avoid working with Paul. Our large-scale student staff training was in need of a seismic shift in philosophy, content, and methods of engagement. Upon spending significant time developing a new standard for how we onboard, inspire, and train our large team, we needed a pivotal kickoff to frame our new approach. Paul provided that kickoff. His workshop contained relevant, timely, and well-researched content. His presentation is augmented not by tired hyperbole or outdated examples, rather, personal storytelling curated from years of immersing himself in various settings of education, leadership, customer service, innovation, technology, and team development. While some presenters who specialize in education technology and other emerging fields lose touch with core messaging at the expense of the flash, Paul keeps an ethic of caring and community-building at his core. In addition to Paul’s ability to engage a diverse audience, Paul is exceptional at working in small groups in the context of consulting, presentation development, strategic planning, and advising. We brought Paul to the UCLA campus to not only present to an audience of over 350 student leaders, but to also consult with various levels of our organization on digital and social media strategy. He was able to do it all, and to do it well. We can’t wait to work with him again.
Susan Sullivan
Director of the Student Union
Longwood University
Paul Brown was the keynote speaker with Vernon Wall for Longwood University’s 4th Annual Social Justice in Action Leadership Summit and what can I say. His keynote was informative, captivating and entertaining. He kept the attention of the students through his engaging presentation and content that really made the students stop and think about their use of social media. Paul is very professional and great to work with and we would have him back in a heartbeat.
Patrick Love
Vice President for Student Affairs
New York Institute of Technology
Paul Brown is the total package. He is a future-oriented, creative, and talented speaker, who is able to connect with virtually any audience. We brought him to NYIT to address the role of social media in the work of student affairs and the audience contained the entire range from early adopters to luddites and from the evaluations Paul was able to connect with and impact just about everyone. His work in the area of social media and digital identity is innovative and important. I highly recommend him as a speaker and trainer.
Ann Marie Klotz
Dean of Campus Life
New York Institute of Technology
At NYIT we have a commitment to understanding how to use social media to recruit and retrain exceptional students, staff and faculty. As a continuation of our training on how to use social media as an engagement and affinity-building tool, we invited Paul Brown to speak to our Division of Student Affairs training session in January 2015. Paul’s engaging style, humor and understanding of our work made for a powerful session that provided tangible take-aways for our staff—many of whom are not early adopters to social media. I would strongly recommend him for groups who want to understand how to use social media as an engagement and affinity tool. You might also change your allegiance to your preferred airline. #JetBlue
Melissa Hrovatin-Bemus
Director of Student Activities and Orientation
Ripon College
Paul was the perfect speaker for our Ripon College Reading Experience event. His message of Be. Act. Do. really gave our students a simple and effective way of looking at their personal presence on social media. His personal stories and use of current media examples really drove his points home. The process of coordinating the event and all details with Paul was a breeze!
Keith Edwards
ACPA Residential Curriculum Institute Faculty Member
Paul’s keynote on digital identity and learning was great on three levels: solid content on social media, student learning, and engagement; entertainingly presented with humor & emotion; and high quality presentation techniques including images, video, and social media all well integrated to add value.
Rachel Baldwin
Dean of Student Services
American University in Dubai, UAE
I had a rare and special opportunity to welcome Paul to Dubai, where he spent time with my staff discussing outreach and engagement through social media, while sharing current practices and trends throughout the digital/technology world. Paul is a natural presenter–he is careful and intentional in understanding the needs of the group he is working with. In the case of my staff, he was mindful of their diverse experiences and backgrounds and he successfully tailored his presentation to be in alignment with cultural norms and expectations relevant to the region. My staff greatly enjoyed Paul’s balance of visual elements and talking points, and they were actively engaged throughout the presentation. This was a crucial professional development experience for the staff, and just the spark they needed to further explore meaningful ways to increase their digital presence with students. I certainly hope that Paul will have the opportunity to return to the UAE to share his vision and passion for higher education/technology with other student affairs professionals. Of course, I welcome the opportunity for him to return to AUD for a follow-up session/discussion.
Matt Suwalski
Assistant Director Business & Retail Services
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
Wisconsin Personnel Association Past-President
Paul was a pure delight to work with, flexible within the demands of our organization, easy to communicate and interact with, and a definite value-added experience for our campus. You would do your institution or organization well by having Paul for a visit. We invited Paul to come speak at both the Wisconsin College Personnel Association (WCPA) Fall Conference and Student Affairs 101 conference for undergraduates in October 2013. Our professional conference utilized a new WCPA Talks (TED talks like) keynote format and Paul’s style and message fit in perfectly. Knowing Paul’s unique understanding and applicability of social media and higher education we asked him to facilitate an in-depth session for our Student Affairs 101 conference for undergraduate students. The response was overwhelming positive as he offered a unique perspective and interactive presentation. Paul brings a fresh perspective on an ever changing array of topics as they relate to higher education bundling them in an interactive and thought provoking format that connects with participants.
Jen Ferrell
Director of Student Involvement
Keene State College (NH)
It was a joy for me to witness Paul interact with and engage our undergraduates, sharing information that he is clearly interested in and passionate about, while displaying a high level of expertise. Paul recently presented to our Future Leaders in Student Affairs undergraduate group on the importance of digital identity, personal brand creation, and nurturing and growing your reputation both in-person and online. Paul’s presentation style is easily relatable, his content is focused on interesting and relevant topics, and he is an incredibly captivating storyteller. Students shared that they deeply enjoyed and learned from Paul’s presentation and, in fact, many immediately took Paul’s advice to heart, updating their online identities and looking up resources shared by Paul for more information. It was clear to me that a few of these students experienced an epiphany thanks to Paul’s presentation. I am excited to invite Paul back to campus as soon as possible to share information and perspectives with our staff and faculty, as well. His presentation style, depth of expertise, and ability to manipulate content to a specific audience in a very engaging way make him an exceptional resource.
Todd Porter
Associate Director of Residential Life
Mount Holyoke College
I brought Paul in March of 2012 to speak to our student staff in the residence halls how they can effectively use social media as a tool for community building. The reaction to Paul’s style of presenting, the content and the experience that he brought to the conversation engaged our students in a way in which I have never seen them engage. They were highly participatory, thinking critically about how these tools can be used in their own communities and have disclosed that this is the best presentation that our department has offered to them. As a result, I asked Paul back the following August to continue the conversation with both our students, and added a session specifically focusing on professional staff in student affairs to much success. Paul engages audiences in a meaningful way, utilizing up-to-date materials and always customizes his presentations to suit the needs of the group.
Brian Novak
Director of Student Activities
Johnson & Wales University’s Denver Campus
Paul came in June 2013 to help the summer orientation staff understand how to use social media more effectively and how to facilitate with better presentation techniques. He also spoke to a group of our faculty and staff about the changing nature of higher education and how the digital world is transforming the way we must interact to continue providing developmental opportunities. Throughout the day, the various audiences enjoyed Paul’s unique style of public speaking – which combines personal interactive dialogue, high-quality digital imagery, and relevant background/supportive information.
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