WORKSHOPS, TALKS, KEYNOTES 

With a combined 20,000 hours of teaching, workshop leadership, broadcasting, and speaking in front of organisations, conventions, conferences, TEDx Edmonton, and crowds in the tens of thousands, Minister Faust creates the ideal mixture of the humourous, wise, technical, and inspirational. Contact him regarding topics for workshops, speeches, and keynote addresses, and rates, availability, and travel plans.

To read what people are saying about Minister Faust as a speaker and instructor, scroll down or visit the endorsements page.

Scroll down for: Public Speaking | Creativity + Leadership | Workshops for Teachers | Creative Writing

 
Public Speaking, Communication + Creativity
<span style="font-weight: bold;">The Cure for Death by Smalltalk&nbsp; </span>
The Cure for Death by Smalltalk 

Who loves talking about the weather? Who panics that a "conversation" is running out of ideas about two minutes in? Who knows the hidden trap of the question, "So, what do you do for a living?" Who'd like to engage in real conversations that improve work places and relationships and can turn casual connections into meaningful ones?

Join Minister Faust for a fun, funny, provocative, and lively workshop that he began at TEDx Edmonton 2011 with a video that has been viewed more than 800,000 times. Learn a better way to converse... and connect.


CONVERSATION + CONNECTION WORKSHOP
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Master Public Speaking</span>
Master Public Speaking

So many people are afraid of public speaking, and yet almost everyone knows that if you want to succeed in your job, get that promotion, get investors, help your community, win friends, or simply get a date, you need to be able to speak with confidence, clarity, and style. And here's the great news: you, too, can master those skills.

Become an outstanding communicator--whether it's for speaking with a small group or a giant crowd--using the Diamond Method, the proven method taught to cabinet ministers, legislators, government staff, community organizers, and students. Conquer your fear, impress the people you need to impress, and speak your way to success.

PUBLIC SPEAKING WORKSHOP: MASTER THE DIAMOND METHOD
 
Creativity + Leadership
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Rebooting Creativity </span>
Rebooting Creativity

Some people marvel at how creative other people are, as if they possess some secret magic we could never gain… or never wield in the first place. But we all started life being creative, so when did it begin to crumble? But what if your creative life is just about to be reborn? Extensive brain research into creativity, combined with the tools that real artists and thinkers use to accelerate their work, are freely available. All you need in your busy life is someone to distill them for your success in career, hobbies, relationships, and community.

Join video game writer, sketch comedy writer and actor, improv comic, novelist, cartoonist, teacher, and youth leadership coach Minister Faust to understand what neuroscientists and artists know about the creative mind. In his dynamic workshop exercises, re-activate your creativity so you can achieve at the next level.



CREATIVITY WORKSHOP
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Get S.M.A.R.T. to Win<br></span>
Get S.M.A.R.T. to Win

Magical thinking never helped anyone but Gandalf. When you’re facing a major problem or a major opportunity, a fuzzy notion of what’s wrong or what’s right won’t deliver you the results you want.

If you want a great breakthrough, then you need a great plan providing a clear, testable, revisable pathway to victory. But how?

Join veteran teacher and community organiser Minister Faust in a dynamic workshop to learn how to create specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timed plans to turn your dreams into reality.








LEADERSHIP + COMMUNITY ORGANISING WORKSHOP
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Become a Leader... or Become an Even Better Leader<br></span>
Become a Leader... or Become an Even Better Leader
Forget about unanswerable questions such as “Are leaders born, or are they made?” You’re reading this because you already are a leader, you need to become a leader, or you need to become a more effective leader.

Here’s the great news: Leadership is a set of skills, and if a skill exists, you can gain it and get better at it.

Join veteran leadership trainer, workshop leader, community organiser, speaker, and author Minister Faust for a dynamic training workshop that will train you to attain three key powers of effective leaders:

1. A robust vision of ethical, engaged,
accountable leadership

2. Social-emotional intelligence and communication skills for learning from and connecting with team members to inspire them to peak performance

3. Creativity and iteration skills to break through stale patterns and achieve best results




LEADERSHIP TRAINING
 
Workshops for Teachers + Organisations
<span style="font-weight: bold;">The Africa They Never Show You</span>
The Africa They Never Show You

Why do you need to know anything about Africa, the “dark continent” of starvation, civil wars, and no history? Such lies and stereotypes endure thanks to bad journalism, Hollywood, and do-gooderism. They’re a major obstacle to helping Canadians make the best investments in and forge political, financial, intellectual, and artistic partnerships with one billion citizens of 55 countries with a higher per capita GDP than India or China.

Join award-winning journalist/broadcaster/novelist Minister Faust for a dynamic audio-visual session on the ancient civilizations and modern realities of millions of students, scientists, innovators, and world-changing entrepreneurs.

Lesson plans available for teachers.

Potential audiences: Businesses seeking clients, investments opportunities, and expanding markets in the 55 countries of Africa Recruiters seeking professionals from the 55 countries of Africa Social service agencies helping new Canadians Teachers in any discipline working with students of all backgrounds . 

PRESENTATION
The <span style="font-weight: bold;">African Art They Never Show You</span>
The African Art They Never Show You

To the limited extent that media and school display any African styles art from any of Africa’s 55 countries, the depiction is usually stereotypical and degrading: poorly-made wooden carvings and amateurish street paintings.

But what about the stunning range of ancient art from Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia, to the medieval genius of Nigerian, Beninese, and Ghanaian sculptors? What about the dazzling array of contemporary painters, installationists, digital artists, animators, and illustrators? 

Join writer, journalist, and graphic novelist Minister Faust for a visual tour of global African artists from 5000 years ago to those making the future today.





 

PRESENTATION
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Afritopianism in the Age of Wakanda: How Africentric Science Fiction + Fantasy Changes Worlds<br></span>
Afritopianism in the Age of Wakanda: How Africentric Science Fiction + Fantasy Changes Worlds

While many people think that Africentric science fiction and fantasy are new, they stretch back to the 19th century as a liberationist genre depicting better tomorrows to inspire revolutionary change today. In the early 20th Century, major African intellectuals such as W.E.B. DuBois used science fiction as a means to communicate key political and social analyses. Onward through Octavia Butler and Samuel Delaney to Nalo Hopkinson and the global blockbuster Black Panther, African creators are exploring the meanings of our past and present to design the minds that will create the future.

Join internationally acclaimed contemporary SF novelist Minister Faust for a discussion on select classic and current Afritopian works on the page and on the screen, with projects and assignments for teaching them to today's tech-immersed students.  

PRESENTATION
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Why Teach <span style="font-style: italic;">To Kill a Mockingbird</span> When You Could Teach <span style="font-style: italic;">Black Panther?</span><br></span>
Why Teach To Kill a Mockingbird When You Could Teach Black Panther?
Remember when the only female characters that male writers wrote were wenches, saints, and simpletons so helpless that it took a big strong man to save them? Those “leg-clinging” females of the male imagination gave a big (and fake) self-esteem boost to male readers by making them vicariously become heroes… and at the real-world expense of women.

But which African characters in the canon suffer under the same victim role for European readers, and what does teaching them do to African and non-African students?

Join award-winning Can-Lit author and journalist (and veteran English teacher) Minister Faust to learn about critical concepts such White Saviours and Super-Duper Magical Negroes, and the books, films, and graphic novels you could be teaching that would thrill you and your students.


PRESENTATION
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Shakespeare and Social Studies Go Better with Memes<br></span>
Shakespeare and Social Studies Go Better with Memes
How many times have you been trying to explain what you thought were straightforward ideas to students only to realize that to kids, you might as well have been explaining quantum physics while speaking Latin?

Instead of driving yourself crazy getting students to understand, how about getting them to do the explaining themselves using memes?Memes are one of the most effective communication tools in existence, used to simply and make memorable countless ideas from history, politics, culture, and more.

Join veteran school teacher, award-winning author and journalist, and communications professional Minister Faust to learn and use the art and science of memes for English, Social Studies, and more.
PRESENTATION
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Teaching About Fascism to Prevent its Return<br></span>
Teaching About Fascism to Prevent its Return
We’ve all wondered, “What would we do if we had lived back when the Nazis were seizing power in nation after nation?” Yet today, the resurgence of fascism is all around us—not just in hate crimes and terrorist attacks in Charlottesville, Quebec City, Toronto, and more, but in the growing power of fascist gangs and parties across the West.

For teachers who want to ensure that history does not repeat itself, the classroom is an ideal place to teach values of pluralism, democracy, and justice.

Join veteran school teacher and award-winning author and journalist Minister Faust to discuss, practice, and innovate upon classroom strategies and projects that embrace what all WWII Canadian soldiers risked their lives to do: counter fascism in the name of freedom.
PRESENTATION
 
Creative Writing
<span style="font-weight: bold;">So You Want to Be a Writer? Stop Stalling &amp; Start Today</span>
So You Want to Be a Writer? Stop Stalling & Start Today

You might think writing is a mysterious process you either "get" or you don't, but it's not true.You can improve your writing, whether your aim is self-discovery, personal expression or publication. Whether you want to write the next YA breakout, a memoir of family or career, or the Great Canadian Novel, with the correct guidance, you can enhance your understanding of structure and technique to write like a professional.J oin former English teacher and internationally acclaimed and award-winning novelist Minister Faust for a fascinating session to take you from wishing wannabe to real writer.


Turn your literary dreams into reality. 

CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP
<span style="font-weight: bold;">World-Building: Raise Your Cities Without Blocking the Stars</span>
World-Building: Raise Your Cities Without Blocking the Stars

The biggest difference between books that failed and the most beloved high fantasy epics and space opera mega-books? The best-developed worlds are multi-layered, drawing upon anthropology, politics, ecology, psychology, technology, and more… and their authors knew that just because they’d imagined something, didn’t mean they’d have to put it in the book.

Join award-winning science fiction and fantasy author Minister Faust to learn how to create dynamic, unforgettable worlds… and ensure your readers never get so blocked by your cities that they can’t see the stars.


CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP
Make Worlds, Make Heroes, Make Doomsday: Harnessing the Archetypes <br>
Make Worlds, Make Heroes, Make Doomsday: Harnessing the Archetypes

What do Katniss Everdeen, Luke Skywalker, Avatar Korra, and Bilbo Baggins all have in common? It’s more than just being heroes—it’s that they’re archetypal heroes.

But what are archetypes? They’re patterns, formulas, or algorithms that exist in all stories and religions and lives. If you understand them, you can make heroes that are exciting, the kind people dream of being, the kind that you want to talk about forever and ever with friends and fans to debate what you hate and what’s great.Join award-winning science fiction and fantasy author Minister Faust to learn these formulas and how to apply them to your next mega-awesome story! 

CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Giving Birth to People: Creating Unforgettable Characters</span>
Giving Birth to People: Creating Unforgettable Characters

You can have the most amazing plot in the world, but without magnetic characters, we’ll have a tough time caring. And unless your characters exist inside dynamic social networks of cause-and-effect, they'll never truly live in the minds of your readers.

But if you sharpen your skills and master these concepts, you'll create unforgettable characters who will ive forever.

Join novelist Minister Faust for a dynamic craft-and-draft intensive workshop drawing upon psychology, sociology, and mythology to create characters so vibrant and three-dimensional that your readers will want to write them love letters.


CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Rainbow Writing: Dynamically Diversifying with Dignity</span>
Rainbow Writing: Dynamically Diversifying with Dignity

So you want to “do the right thing” by diversifying your work? How do you do that and still write an engrossing story with engaging characters? Doesn’t making your work inoffensive mean removing everything that makes it great?

Nope—unless all you like is stereotypes. And shouldn’t every writer be better than clichéd plots and hackneyed characters?

Join award-winning novelist Minister Faust to learn how to find and delete the stereotypes falling into your stories and replace them with fresh, vibrant people and plots. Lift your stories and novels from the asphalt… all the way to the rainbow.



CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Plotting with Your Enemies (and Heroes)</span>
Plotting with Your Enemies (and Heroes)
 

Face it: without an engrossing plot, your book isn't getting read. The best characters, language, world-building, or social commentary can’t make a closed book connect with readers.

If you’ve ever feared you simply didn’t know how to write an engrossing plot, great news! You can learn the straightforward principles and structure of plot behind every beloved story from The Odyssey to today’s bestsellers and blockbusters. And once you know the rules, you can break them all—because at last you know them!

Join award-winning novelist Minister Faust for a writing-intensive session on how to plot with your enemies (and your heroes) to make the best plots of your life.


CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP
 
ENDORSEMENTS
<span style="font-weight: bold;">ROBERT J. SAWYER</span>
ROBERT J. SAWYER

Award-winning author of Hominids

"With his background in education, his wonderfully outgoing and warm personality, and his keen, insightful mind, Minister Faust is a national treasure, a living embodiment of all the things that make Canadian literature worth reading: our diversity and multiculturalism, our innovations in style and voice, and our satiric, fresh perspective."

<span style="font-weight: bold;">CURT STEDRON</span>
CURT STEDRON

National Conference of State Legislatures

"Minister Faust's 'The Cure for Death by Small Talk' is a terrific workshop that offers concrete methods to take the pain out of those awkward social interactions that most people fear and try to avoid. His ready-to-use tips and techniques can be applied immediately by anyone, in any setting. He was a big hit at the National Conference of State Legislatures convention this summer, and I have personally used his ideas in my own life since I heard his presentation. If you want to have more meaningful conversations in life, then Minister Faust is a great place to start."

<span style="font-weight: bold;">GUY SMITH</span>
GUY SMITH

President, Alberta Union of Provincial Employees

“He was brilliant. Minister Faust shared his expertise on everything from media relations to public speaking with AUPE’s newly-elected executive. His exercises were focused on our organization’s unique needs and were done with humour, knowledge and professionalism. I would definitely recommend his services."

<span style="font-weight: bold;">NANCY MacDONALD ASHLAND</span>
NANCY MacDONALD ASHLAND

Associate, Urban Land, Stantec

"Minister Faust was a guest speaker at the October luncheon meeting of the Alberta Association of the Canadian Institute of Planner (AACIP). He passionately described some of the urban issues and challenges that planners, city builders and urban designer's all face in developing communities and neighbourhoods. He captured the diverse and detailed characteristics of the urban fabric and related this to creating better urban places.

"Minister Faust is a skilled orator, using a passionate and lively narrative to captivate his audience. He has a clear understanding of urban places and the cultural opportunities they present, and he eloquently translated this vision into words for his audience. His thought-provoking visual descriptions of Edmonton provided everyone listening with the opportunity to contemplate and ponder the marvelous possibilities waiting right in front of us. He created a completely enjoyable and enlightening experience."

<span style="font-weight: bold;">THOMAS TROFIMUK</span>
THOMAS TROFIMUK

Award-winning author of Waiting for Columbus

"As festival director, I booked Minister Faust at the Roar Spoken Word Festival 2006, as one of four featured performers at an event called the ROAR Gala. I have no hesitation in saying that Minister Faust was the stand-out. His performance, his voice, and his talent were head-and-shoulders above anything I heard at our gala. In fact, his performance was a highlight of the three-day festival.

"His mellifluous voice and the power of his writing make for a profound combination! When he read, the entire audience was drawn into his stories--we were captured, enthralled, surprised and thoroughly entertained. He is a charming, profoundly articulate, and professional performer. I have nothing but the highest praise for his talent, and his performance. It was a remarkable show that people who were there are still talking about. I would book him again in a heartbeat."




<span style="font-weight: bold;">KELSEY EVERTON ATTARD</span>
KELSEY EVERTON ATTARD

Programme Coordinator, Writers Guild of Alberta

"Minister Faust graciously agreed to speak to a group of writers at a WGA event on the topic of 'the writing life.' Minister Faust came well-prepared with an array of advice and tips for writers, including a ton of information on writing techniques, courses, query letters, agents, and much more.

"He was an extremely engaging and personable speaker, and he fielded questions from the audience thoughtfully and helpfully. Minister Faust was also recently one of our Blue Pencil Café authors, and met with several aspiring and emerging writers to offer on-the-spot feedback and give insight into the writing life."

 
Sign up for a workshop today!