Three Time Winter Olympian & Jamaican Bobsled Team Captain
Three Time Winter Olympian & Jamaican Bobsled Team Captain
For IN-PERSON EVENTS, the exact fee falls within the fee range on this page, unless this is a “Call for Fee.”
For VIRTUAL EVENTS, the fees can vary depending on how the presenter is used (example: virtual keynote, workshop sessions, multiple video messages, etc).
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As an original member of the 1988 Jamacian bobsled team and captain of the 1992 and 1998 teams; 3-time Olympian, Devon Harris achieved his grand dream. His current dream is to inspire others to achieve theirs. His real life story of preserverance and persistence combined with his powerful presence and persuasive ideas have positively impacted thousands at Fortune 100 companies, non-profits, governmental organizations, schools and universities.
At the heart of his message are the lessons he has learned of the power of persistence over all sorts of obstacles in order to live one’s best life. Whether he is speaking to a large audience, or just interacting one on one, his mission is the same—to bring this message of how everyone can “keep on pushing” and working for their dreams everyday of their professional as well as personal lives.
Encouraged by his commanding officer, Devon tried out for and was selected to the first Jamaican bobsled team which competed in the 1988 Olympic Games in Calgary, Canada. Their exploits inspired the Disney blockbuster movie Cool Runnings.
As an ex-serviceman, Devon understands the commitment, sense of duty and sacrifices made by those who volunteer to serve. As a private citizen he is cognizant of the fact that the freedoms he enjoys are paid for by the courage and sacrifice of these men and women. As a result he has also devoted time to visit the troops serving in the Persian Gulf and around the county. He is the author of the motivational children’s book, Yes, I Can! And the semi-autobiographical motivational book, Keep On Pushing: Hot Lesson From Cool Runnings.
In 2018, Devon received special recognition at the winter olympics and was inducted as an Olympian for life.
In this program Devon Harris skillfully weaves the real life improbable inspirational story of the Jamaica bobsled team with the entertaining portrayal of the Disney blockbuster Cool Runnings. He highlights some of the powerful life lessons he and is teammates learned along the way – lessons the audience can immediately apply to both their personal and professional lives. Devon engages the audience in this highly motivational, entertaining, keynote presentation
The audience will learn how:
In this inspiring message,Devon draws on his personal experiences as the Captain of the Jamaican Bobsled Team and a former Sandhurst-trained Captain in the Jamaica Defence Force, to show how working collaboratively facilitates success personally and professionally as well as collectively as a group. The key ingredients from Devon’s perspective are: defining and owning a clear vision, empowering leadership, a process of self-evaluation and persistence. Using humor, engaging stories and powerful insights, Devon easily translates the challenges and triumphs of being in the military and competing in the Olympics into easily applicable lessons and insights that will inspire your team to perform at peak levels.
The audience will learn how:
A fresh look at how diversity in the workplace is not just a legal mandate or corporate ethic – it is fundamentally practical, and brings the best teams to the international playing field. Devon Harris brings a creative and inspiring look at how at work, as in the Olympics, what really matters is performance, attitude and teamwork. With humor and understanding that comes from living what he believes. Devon delivers a compelling inspirational message about how to be more bottom-line successful by embracing and applying the innate strengths of a diversity philosophy. Suitable as an opening or closing keynote.
Devon brings his entertaining and effective message of how to ‘keep on pushing,’ how persistence is a key catalyst in any success formula. Devon’s presentation blends the need for every part of an organization to have the ability to persist, but not without good doses of wisdom, preparation, talent, teamwork, humor, passion, hard work and smart planning. Devon illustrates his presentation with his improbable story of a road that took him from the violent ghettos of Kingston, Jamaica; to Sandhurst; to the Olympics; to the hit Disney film Cool Runnings.
The experience we had preparing with Devon Harris ahead of our event was collaborative and very enjoyable overall. I could tell you how wonderful his presentation was, but what our team members have shared would be more impactful. “A remarkable speaker, very engaging, entertaining and quite the educator.” “Absolutely amazing.” “One of the best keynotes I’ve heard – Funny, engaging & motivating.” “It’s been 9 hours and I’m still thinking about it.” We are thankful to have worked with Devon.
“Devon was phenomenal. His speech was inspiring and meaningful to every person in the room. We do a survey at the end of each of our events and Devon was the “hit” of the day.”
“Excellent – Devon seamlessly tied the key themes of our meeting to his humorous and inspirational message. He received 2 standing ovations.”
“Devon Harris was really fantastic today at our recognition event. Not only did he engage the crowd and keep them laughing, Devon also wove in a few key messages that we mentioned in our prep call. Good speakers come and inspire – GREAT speakers understand the objective of the meeting and personalize their message to fit. The extra work Devon put in customizing his presentation really reinforced the goals of the meeting and went a long way in making sure our guests could relate it to their own lives. After his presentation, Devon stayed for photos and was a real pleasure to meet and work with. I highly recommend him!”
“Devon exceeded expectations and we were very pleased with his presentation.”
“The meeting ended yesterday and we had such a great, successful week because of many excellent sessions we had and Devon’s speech was certainly one of the highlights of the meeting!! People really liked the messages he conveyed in his speech and were able to relate to them at both professional & personal levels, and that was really what we were looking to get out of the guest speech for this conference, so he was the perfect match for it!”
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