An exceptional key note speaker she consistently scores maximum marks at every organisation she speaks for and displays a work ethic she can only attribute to her can do attitude and willingness to succeed. Her most popular story is her remarkable solo row across the Atlantic after her husband’s premature departure from the boat.
Atlantic rower and Adventurer
After her oarsman husband developed an uncontrollable fear of the ocean, Debra, a novice rower, continued alone and rowed 3000 miles across the Atlantic. It should have taken them 6 weeks but, to achieve her goal, Debra ended up spending 3 ½ months at sea alone, often battling against 30' waves, sharks, and force 8 squalls in a 23' plywood boat. Since this amazing feat Debra has also completed the longest canoe race in the world, sailed around Antarctica, set a new World Record in a Dragon Boat across the English Channel and completed the gruelling L’Etape du Tour cycle race in the Pyrenees Mountains.
Motivational and after dinner speaker
Debra’s positivity and optimism are contagious and through her talks she shares her highs and lows, personal battles and victories, to help illustrate in a very human way what we are all capable of. She is not a motivational speaker reliant on buzz words, hype and jargon. Her main themes are how to stay motivated, adaptable to change, overcoming obstacles, excelling outside your comfort zone, how to improve team-working through encouraging one another and how to choose the right attitude, however impossible the end goal may seem.
Not just a woman with an interesting story, Debra Searle started her first company aged 24 and her second aged 27. She is a Managing Director, the only female and youngest Trustee of The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, a published author of two books and regular newspaper feature writer.
Debra's ease in front of the camera, drive and enthusiasm has led to a number of TV presenting opportunities outside of the adventure arena. As well as presenting on BBC Grandstand, Debra has also presented Big Strong Boys and Builders, Sweat and Tears on BBC1 Daytime. She has completed work for CBBC Education, was the subject of a documentary for BBC Extreme Lives and presented ITV’s Southampton Boat Show.
Debra powerfully illustrates her speech with slides and stunning video footage and leaves her audience in no doubt of their own ability to achieve the extraordinary both individually and collectively. She sets herself apart from other speakers with her level of commitment to each project. Taking the time to ensure she fully understands the conference themes and gathering company and industry specific information allows her to tailor her presentation to the client’s exact requirements. She has had an incredible number of high profile organisations including IBM, Unilever, BT, UBS, Microsoft, Nokia, AMP and Pfizer.
Testimonials
“We held a conference for 1400 business people with Mikhael Gorbachev, Rory Bremner, Nick Leeson, Murray Walker, John Simpson and Debra as the speakers, and the delegates voted Debra Veal the best."
Mike Firth, CE of The International Business Convention.
“Debra was excellent. The time taken by Debra to understand our business really paid off. The best thing about her was her humility and also her willingness to stay and chat to the audience.”
Karen Allen, Head of Communications, Portman Building Society
“People really valued the fact that Debra is able to draw parallels between her adventure experiences and her working/daily life, having run her own companies - and that she does so in a way that is personal to her and offered simply as a thought to the group rather than drawing sweeping generalised conclusions and laying them down as law in the way some speakers do. She definitely hit the spot and took us with her all the way on her journey.”
Debra Westlake, UBS Global Employee Communications Director
Debra was excellent and very inspirational but not in a cheesy way. I really felt that I could relate her experiences to my working day.
Director, Ernst & Young
Debra’s presentation was perfectly aligned to our event objectives. Clearly Debra’s achievements are amazing and interesting in themselves. More importantly, Debra has the ‘human touch’ and connected well with everyone in the audience. She held the audience from start to finish and balanced humour with more serious messages. She scored 5 out of 5 from every one of the 170 delegates. This is unheard of!
Client Director, IBM
(IBM have booked Debra a further 8 times)
I have never heard a better speech, anywhere, in any context.
Alan Farnsworth, President, Bausch & Lomb EMEA
Atlantic rower and Adventurer
After her oarsman husband developed an uncontrollable fear of the ocean, Debra, a novice rower, continued alone and rowed 3000 miles across the Atlantic. It should have taken them 6 weeks but, to achieve her goal, Debra ended up spending 3 ½ months at sea alone, often battling against 30' waves, sharks, and force 8 squalls in a 23' plywood boat. Since this amazing feat Debra has also completed the longest canoe race in the world, sailed around Antarctica, set a new World Record in a Dragon Boat across the English Channel and completed the gruelling L’Etape du Tour cycle race in the Pyrenees Mountains.
Motivational and after dinner speaker
Debra’s positivity and optimism are contagious and through her talks she shares her highs and lows, personal battles and victories, to help illustrate in a very human way what we are all capable of. She is not a motivational speaker reliant on buzz words, hype and jargon. Her main themes are how to stay motivated, adaptable to change, overcoming obstacles, excelling outside your comfort zone, how to improve team-working through encouraging one another and how to choose the right attitude, however impossible the end goal may seem.
Not just a woman with an interesting story, Debra Searle started her first company aged 24 and her second aged 27. She is a Managing Director, the only female and youngest Trustee of The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, a published author of two books and regular newspaper feature writer.
Debra's ease in front of the camera, drive and enthusiasm has led to a number of TV presenting opportunities outside of the adventure arena. As well as presenting on BBC Grandstand, Debra has also presented Big Strong Boys and Builders, Sweat and Tears on BBC1 Daytime. She has completed work for CBBC Education, was the subject of a documentary for BBC Extreme Lives and presented ITV’s Southampton Boat Show.
Debra powerfully illustrates her speech with slides and stunning video footage and leaves her audience in no doubt of their own ability to achieve the extraordinary both individually and collectively. She sets herself apart from other speakers with her level of commitment to each project. Taking the time to ensure she fully understands the conference themes and gathering company and industry specific information allows her to tailor her presentation to the client’s exact requirements. She has had an incredible number of high profile organisations including IBM, Unilever, BT, UBS, Microsoft, Nokia, AMP and Pfizer.
Testimonials
“We held a conference for 1400 business people with Mikhael Gorbachev, Rory Bremner, Nick Leeson, Murray Walker, John Simpson and Debra as the speakers, and the delegates voted Debra Veal the best."
Mike Firth, CE of The International Business Convention.
“Debra was excellent. The time taken by Debra to understand our business really paid off. The best thing about her was her humility and also her willingness to stay and chat to the audience.”
Karen Allen, Head of Communications, Portman Building Society
“People really valued the fact that Debra is able to draw parallels between her adventure experiences and her working/daily life, having run her own companies - and that she does so in a way that is personal to her and offered simply as a thought to the group rather than drawing sweeping generalised conclusions and laying them down as law in the way some speakers do. She definitely hit the spot and took us with her all the way on her journey.”
Debra Westlake, UBS Global Employee Communications Director
Debra was excellent and very inspirational but not in a cheesy way. I really felt that I could relate her experiences to my working day.
Director, Ernst & Young
Debra’s presentation was perfectly aligned to our event objectives. Clearly Debra’s achievements are amazing and interesting in themselves. More importantly, Debra has the ‘human touch’ and connected well with everyone in the audience. She held the audience from start to finish and balanced humour with more serious messages. She scored 5 out of 5 from every one of the 170 delegates. This is unheard of!
Client Director, IBM
(IBM have booked Debra a further 8 times)
I have never heard a better speech, anywhere, in any context.
Alan Farnsworth, President, Bausch & Lomb EMEA
Adventurer, author, entrepreneur and TV Presenter Debra Seale MBE is a speaker par excellence whose story has captivated all who listen to it.
Debra's keynote speeches focus on:
Change
Motivation and productivity
Team work and positive relationships
Achieving impossible goals
Commitment and perseverance
Change
Motivation and productivity
Team work and positive relationships
Achieving impossible goals
Commitment and perseverance
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