Diana Taylor AM - Hire Keynote and Guest Speaker

Diana Taylor AM Book as a speaker/entertainer for your next event

Key Points for Diana Taylor AM

Diana Taylor AM has more than two decades of extensive experience across legal, business, community, and sporting sectors.
A fearless community builder, Diana's life purpose is to create better outcomes for others. Her integrity-based pursuit of leadership to support great outcomes is clear in her actions and in all her speaking engagements.
Diana made history as the first female president of a men’s metropolitan football league, the first woman on the Victorian Football League Tribunal, and the first female Vice President of the Geelong Football Club.
Recognising Diana's 25 years of service to Australian rules football and dedicated community work, she was appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia. She is also a Telstra Business Woman of the Year Award winner and has established a world-class palliative care centre at Deakin University, Geelong.

Topics for Diana Taylor AM

The female leader: Built to lead, last and create legacy
Gender matters, and women in leadership roles or aspiring to leadership should be given every opportunity to succeed. There is a playbook that every current and aspiring female leader needs to understand to build their skills, read the room, develop their talent and character, develop their networks and refine their grit. Diana guides the audience through each of these critical elements by placing no ceiling on what is possible, and on refining the art of never giving up even in the most challenging of circumstances. Leadership does not hold the hand of the status quo. Leadership demands far more, and this presentation goes to the heart of what every female leader, and those who support them, need to know for sustained success.
Audiences will learn:
- Why female leaders and aspiring leaders should be supported and the ways this can be achieved.
- How to build talent, character and leadership capability and stand out in crowded marketplaces.
- Techniques for leadership presentation, communication and managing the art of perception.
- How to build networks and open up multiple portfolio opportunities for advancement.
- The key elements of building and sustaining resilience and grit under pressure.
Planning for greatness: Mastering the elements of the strategic planning process and leading for organisational and personal greatness
People and organisations have the ability to achieve extraordinary outcomes. But greatness doesn’t happen by chance, and it is never given as an instant reward. Careful planning, a clearly defined purpose, accountability for actions and a controlled response for events inevitably not going to plan are essential. Diana has supported individuals and organisations for over two decades in high performance sport, business, legal and community environments to lead and plan for the best and hold to the course over the long term. This presentation will support the audience to lead in finding competitive advantage in the planning and execution process to achieve the ultimate success.
Audiences will learn
- How to master strategic planning to achieve elevated and sustained success.
- Why the small things and consistency matter in the execution.
- Why people and organisations fail at planning and execution and how to avoid the pitfalls.
- How to lead people to embrace their greatness and the planning process.
- To develop a greater understanding of why the short-, medium- and long-term planning horizons are all critical to achieving greatness.
Community leadership: Building a better future, one deliberate action at a time
With governments struggling under mounting weight of expectation and the cost-of-living pressures significantly affecting the way we live, there has never been a more important time in our history for strong community leadership. To be successful, community leaders need to be identified and step forward, be given the tools to succeed, to last and then pass their knowledge and skills onto the next generation of leaders. Community leaders have the ability to respond to and direct the power of their communities for good, and to deliver on expectations of community in the areas that make the most difference. As a community leader, Diana acutely understands and guides the audience through what it takes to be a successful community leader, how to prioritise action when there is so much need and how to take key stakeholders, including government, on the journey with the community.
Audiences will learn
- Why community has become the place where the care for our people is paramount and actions to support this endeavour can succeed.
- The difference between the community leader and other types of business and organisational leadership, and the superpower that exists in all community leaders.
- What community leaders need to understand about governance, running an organisation and the overlay of integrity and trust in all matters.
- The opportunities for community leaders to embrace their purpose, to find their courage and make great decisions and to grow the power of their communities.
- Why financial sustainability in community organisations is paramount and how the community leader can achieve this objective.
Sport and leadership: Applying lessons from the on field and off field sporting environment to excel in leadership
The competitive brutality of elite level sport, both on and off the field, carries with it daily lessons for leadership and life. Sport is continuously handing out learnings in multiple areas of leadership including the building of resilience, financial priorities, reputation management, working within and for a team and finding the courage to go the distance. With national, state and community sport administration experience spanning over two decades and within some of Australia’s most loved sports, Diana has been up close and personal with what matters and has led in these environments. Diana shares with the audience the factors that make the difference between success and failure, and how leaders can use the lessons of sport to take themselves and their teams to greater heights.
Audiences will learn
- Why sport is one of Australia’s greatest change agents and why sport captures hearts and minds.
- How to use the sporting experience to find the core leadership elements that matter most, and successfully deliver on those elements.
- How to use sport and its triumphs to shape the direction of the people in an organisation and what matters to them most.
- The real opportunity to use sport to find the good in everything we do and to capitalise on facets of sport that allow us to achieve greatness.
- Why sport and its health benefits should be embraced by all leaders to excel in their own arenas.

Testimonials for Diana Taylor AM

Diana has a confident, assertive and inclusive speaking style when presenting to senior operational and corporate leaders and has the ability to read the room and make adjustments in the moment to engage with participants and to enable input and full participation. Diana’s deep subject matter expertise, delivery and approach has fulfilled the FRV brief and the relevant strategic objectives and outcomes for the workshops.
Fire Rescue Victoria

Diana understands what her audience wants from the presentation; an understanding of their key drivers, clear guidance to inform their ideas, and new ways of looking at their opportunities.
Property Council of Australia

Diana speaks from the heart and is an inspiring and engaging speaker. Her core beliefs, experience, and values cross over into business, not-for-profits, and the sporting community. She leaves you with a sense of empowerment.
The Geelong College

Diana spoke meaningfully about the importance of finding a personal definition of ‘community’, and how an enduring commitment to that notion can assist us all in our personal and professional pursuits to build meaningful and impactful lives. Diana spoke with a great intuitive sense as she engaged with our audience, such that irrespective of age or gender, her words carried great impact and encouragement for all.
Victorian Women Lawyers

Our event benefited greatly from Diana’s expertise and passion for the greater
Geelong region. She brings a warmth in her delivery of her message that stems from her experience with engaging with people from all walks of life. I look forward to having Diana speak at a future UDIA Victoria event.
UDIA Victoria (Urban Development Institute of Australia)

Diana’s presentation not only provided insights into how to strategically plan for success, it challenged all in the room to look within their own lives to find their purpose and a clear direction to make every post a winner! Once again, the community benefits from Diana’s continued goal of adding significantly to her community.
Barwon Sports Academy

Diana is inspiring and authentic in her storytelling. She shared the highs and the lows of her professional journey, and highlighted that although each individual's story may differ, we all have the opportunity find success with the right supports, people and foundations in place.
The Female Athlete Network

By sharing her experiences and what she has learnt over many years, Diana was clearly able to articulate strategies that can be applied to succeed in both a personal and business sense. I highly recommend Diana for your next event as an authentic guest speaker who can capture the room and deliver a thought-provoking presentation that everyone can relate to.
Financial Advice Association of Australian