Presentation Proposal
(for Educational Breakout Sessions only)
2016 ICF Midwest Regional Conference
The Westin, Indianapolis, IN
June 23-25, 2016
The Crossroads of Coaching
STEP 1: Read the RFP guidelines document in full.
STEP 2: Complete this official proposal form.
STEP 3: Save your completed form as a word document and e-mail it, along with a high-quality
JPEG photo of each presenter, to John Moore, Program Chair, 2016 ICF Midwest
Regional Conference at programs@ICF-Midwest.com
All questions must be responded to and all requested information provided.
Incomplete applications will not be considered. If you have any questions, please
contact John Moore at programs@ICF-Midwest.com
Deadline to submit: 12 midnight (New York) on Thursday, October 15, 2015
NO EXCEPTIONS!
Please complete all information below for all Presenters: (limit 3 total)
ICF
Member?
First
Name
Last
Name
Address
ICF
Credential
E-mail
Telephone
Yes
Barbara
Luther
713 N. Swope
Dr.
Independence,
MO 64056
MCC
Barbara@coach2soar.com
816-2579931
Cell: 314315-5104
(If more than one presenter, please provide links for each presenter, where applicable)
Business website URL: ___WindBeneathYourWings.com_and SoaringCoachesCircle.com
2016 ICF Midwest Regional Conference Call For Proposals
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Name of
school(s
where yo
received
coachspecific
training
CoachU
Corpora
CoachU
Attractio
Optimal
Function
Institute
Facebook Business Page URL: __________________________________________________
Twitter URL: ____ www.twitter.com/BarbaraLuther _______________________
Session Title (short, compelling, accurately describes your session):
Integrating Research into a Power Tool to Support Clients Impacted by ADHD
Conference Theme: Describe how your presentation will apply to our conference theme The
Crossroads of Coaching and fit into at least one of our program tracks: The Crossroads of
Complementary Disciplines, The Crossroads of Client Growth, The Crossroads of
Research and Innovation, The Crossroads of Our Coaching Businesses, The Crossroads
of Professional Development. (see guidelines for more detailed descriptions)
I work in one of the few specialities of coaching with clients who have diagnosable conditions –
ADHD. As an ADHD coach, I work with not only the ADHD person him/herself, but also with
those folks who support that person and, often, the person’s diagnostician, therapist, teacher, and
employer. (Of course, working with these folks requires written consent from the client.) Our
work together is certainly across complimentary disciplines as we address the client’s personal
and professional opportunities.
But the program track this presentation most addresses is the Crossroads of Research and
Innovation because my job as an ADHD coach is to keep up with the exploding research around
ADHD and related fields so that I can develop tools and the best possible coaching strategies for
my clients. They count on me to keep up to date with the most recent research on ADHD brain
wiring, neuroscience, and related fields such as boredom, exercise, play, nutrition, mindfulness,
energy management, emotional regulation, compassion, strengths, habit change, impulsivity,
executive functioning, addiction, sensory processing, positive psychology, coaching, and even
sleep. I could list even more areas that I follow in my efforts to use the most current knowledge in
the service of my clients. The tool I’ve developed and which I will demonstrate in this
presentation is a result of bringing together as much of this knowledge as I can to support my
clients as they work toward their goals.
I believe a session discussing the formation of this tool, demonstrating it, and hopefully inspiring
attendees to create new tools for their own clients would be appropriate for the Crossroads of
Research and Innovation track.
Sound Level of Session:
___
Quiet (primarily lecture or demonstration, reflective activities such as journaling,
meditation, visualization)
_XX_ Moderate sound levels (includes paired shares or coaching, small group activities)
___
Loud (includes music, large group activities, lots of movement)
Method of Delivery:
___
Panel & Activities
___
Lecture & Activities
_XX_ Demonstration & Activities
Other ____________________________________________________________
ICF Core Competencies This Session Addresses: (check all that apply)
2016 ICF Midwest Regional Conference Call For Proposals
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√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
Meeting Ethical Guidelines &
Professional Standards
Establishing the Coaching
Agreement
Establishing Trust & Intimacy with
the Client
Coaching Presence
Active Listening
Powerful Questioning
Direct Communication
Creating Awareness
Designing Actions
Planning & Goal Setting
Managing Progress & Accountability
What percentage of the educational offering time is devoted to training directly related to ICF
Core Competencies (instruction on coaching skills or ethics, or applying technical skills or ethics,
or applying technical skills as a coach)?
25%
50%
75%
100%
The following questions are what the Program Committee will focus on in their evaluation
and consideration of your proposal. Make sure your response is completely representative
of the “essence” of your proposal -- impress us! We are particularly looking for creative,
innovative presentations that go beyond basic coach and business trainings.
Short Session Description (200 words or less): Must be compelling and clearly indicative
of the topic and content of the presentation. This will be used on the conference website and
in the program to market the session to attendees and drive attendance to your session. Please
use word count. Descriptions that exceed 200 words will be edited.
As coaches, we are continually learning about new research understandings and practices that
would benefit our clients if we could only figure out how to incorporate all the knowledge. ADHD
coaching is one area where research from many, many fields especially needs to be incorporated
into our coaching to serve our clients as knowledgeably and effectively as possible. Since so
many people (85% of over 2 million in the U.S. alone) are impacted by ADHD yet are not
diagnosed, every coach probably has ADHD clients in their practices and would benefit from
having a tool designed specifically to support those clients.
In this session, Barbara will demonstrate how she has brought together over 15 areas of research
to develop a power tool for coaching ADHD clients. We will then apply the tool to an ADHD client
scenario to see ways you might use it with clients and to experience using it within a coaching
conversation. Once we’ve worked with the tool, we will explore attendees’ ideas and questions,
recap what we’ve learned, and share resources. We will conclude by encouraging development
of new tools for your clients.
Long Session Description: Provide complete and detailed information about the session.
● Reference the points provided in the Call for Presentations under “General Requirements,
Advice and Direction”.
● Explain how your presentation will assist coaches in their understanding of coaching.
● Include complete and specific details on the framework of your session: what tools,
exercises, techniques and specific steps will be used to engage the audience in learning and
growth.
● Clearly define what is being proposed and the key elements that will be delivered within the
90-minute session. Be realistic about what you’re able to cover within this timeframe.
2016 ICF Midwest Regional Conference Call For Proposals
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20 minutes: Introduce the research areas and knowledge incorporated into the tool we’re
studying today. Discuss applying the knowledge from an understanding/appreciation of
ADHD.
20 minutes: Review the tool and apply it to an ADHD client scenario. Point out the
importance of Active Listening and Powerful Questioning to Create Awareness with this
tool. Discuss the example and answer questions.
25 minutes: Break audience into pairs or triads. Give attendees another ADHD client
scenario and invite them to role play using the tool in that scenario.
15 minutes: Bring group back together to explore what they learned from using the tool,
how using it can enhance their listening and questioning, and discuss the value of the tool
specifically for ADHD clients as well as for general clients.
10 minutes: Answer questions about the process of developing a tool based on research.
Ask for take away’s. Offer resources about ADHD, and encourage/challenge attendees to
develop their own tools.
Coaches today have access to a tremendous amount of new research in many
complementary fields as well as coaching, and we are continually challenged to keep up
and apply that knowledge for the benefit of our clients. You might say that we live at the
crossroads of our past training and wisdom, overwhelming amounts of new research and
knowledge, and the practical need to coach clients in the moment on whatever they bring
for coaching.
Working at this intersection, it is very natural to always be creating new tools and
approaches for our clients as we also develop and expand our coaching skills and
capabilities. I believe that every coach has some clients in their practices who are
impacted in some way by ADHD, and often the clients don’t know to even tell their
coaches. Therefore, it behooves every coach to have at least some fundamental
knowledge to help them recognize where clients might be experiencing the impact of
ADHD and how they might best support such clients.
Using the opportunity of demonstrating an ADHD tool built from current research, this
session will also help attendees to gain some basic understanding of ADHD so that they
can better serve all their clients. In this way, we can accomplish several objectives within
this 90 minute session: learning some basics about ADHD, obtaining some recent
research insights, identifying some of the many fields coaches can draw upon for
knowledge to assist their clients, exploring how such new knowledge can be brought
together into a new tool, and actually using the tool within a coaching conversation to
strengthen the coach’s skills and competency.
This session can support both newer and advanced coaches as we build upon what they
already know.
Objectives: List at least 3-5 specific, clearly-stated learning objectives that answer the following:
 What will participants learn or be able to do differently as a result of this session?
 What new tools/techniques, knowledge/theories, or new resources/information will
participants take away?
 Understand how research information from 15 or more areas can be brought together to
inform development of a coaching tool.
 Have a tool they can use to more effectively support any clients who may have ADHD
and/or ADHD traits.
2016 ICF Midwest Regional Conference Call for Proposals
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



Appreciate the importance of Active Listening to inform our Powerful Questioning when it
comes to assuring that our clients can take full advantage of their coaching to learn about
themselves so they can reach their goals. (Presence, Direct Communication, Creating
Awareness, Designing Actions and more of the competencies are incorporated and
referenced.)
Have practiced using the tool in a client scenario.
Feel empowered to support clients impacted by ADHD or have resources for clients they
suspect are impacted by ADHD.
Feel inspired that they, too, can develop coaching tools and strategies based on new
research.
Describe your motivation for presenting:
Last year at the ICF Midwest conference when I presented on developing a picture of possibility
with our clients, I used examples from working with my ADHD clients. I was surprised to field
questions from the participants primarily about ADHD-related issues they experienced with their
clients. That pointed out to me once more that general coaches all have ADHD clients in their
practices, whether they know it or not (I would say 30+%), and they truly do not know how to
most effectively work with those clients. That is a topic very close to my heart because I regularly
field inquiries from those with ADHD seeking a coach who can help them. They come to me
saying that they’re not sure they are coachable because their last coaches fired them. That
breaks my heart, and it is one of several reasons why I helped found the Professional Association
of ADHD Coaches. While I cannot train attendees in all that they should know to work
successfully with ADHD clients, I can offer one powerful tool I developed from research I’ve
studied coming from 15 or more areas related to ADHD. My student and mentee ADHD coaches
tell me this tool is a foundational part of their coaching. If I can educate even a few more coaches
to make a difference for clients impacted by ADHD, then I am furthering my personal mission of
making the world more neurodiverse-appreciative.
Education & Experience: Indicate overall education and/or professional experience of all
presenters.
I am Director of Training for the ADD Coach Academy where I’ve been training for 10
years. Prior to that, I trained for CoachU and Corporate CoachU. It’s been my honor to
have taught thousands of coaches since 1997. I present regularly at ADHD and ADHD
coaching conferences, and I presented at this conference last year in KC. I’ve been an
MCC since 1999 and an ICF assessor since 2000. I wrote the ADD Coach Academy’s
training curriculum (over 1200 pages), and I run the Soaring Coaches Circle as a learning
community for coaches who have completed their formal coach training. We only discuss
coaching topics around the competencies when we meet twice a month. I served as ICF
conference bookstore chair for six years, and I presented a few times at annual
conferences. In November, 2015, I am presenting at the annual CHADD conference on
how coaches can help with ADHD and sleep issues.
Brief Biography for Each Presenter: (no more than 120 words per presenter). This will be used
with the short description to promote speaker(s) on the conference website and in the program.
One URL for each speaker's primary website may be included. Please use word count. Bios that
exceed 120 words will be edited, and links and URLs beyond the one allowed will be removed.
Barbara Luther is an MCC and Master Certified ADHD Coach who specializes in helping adults
and families impacted by ADHD to rewrite their “what’s not working” stories into appreciative and
empowering stories about their unique brain wiring and strengths. As her clients put more play
2016 ICF Midwest Regional Conference Call for Proposals
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and fun in their lives, they are delighted to find that their ADHD becomes less pervasive. Barbara
is Director of Training at the ADD Coach Academy (addca.com). She is also a speaker and
mentor coach. Barbara has a learning community for coaches at SoaringCoachesCircle.com and
her ADHD coach web site, WindBeneathYourWings.com. Barbara is also President of the
Professional Association of ADHD Coaches (paaccoaches.org). You can reach Barbara at
Barbara@coach2soar.com or at 816-257-9931 (Central).
By submitting an application, you are indicating your availability and willingness to
present a breakout session at your own expense, if selected. You are also giving your
permission to be placed on our conference mailing list (you may unsubscribe at any time).
2016 ICF Midwest Regional Conference Call for Proposals
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