Find out who our Presenters of the Month were for December and all the other must know news from across Elevate.
OZ
First of all – a HUGE shoutout to all of the new presenters and coaches who are joining us at the start of 2020. Kelly managed to recruit an additional 180 presenters and coaches to the team. The final group of presenters wrapped up training yesterday and it’s been amazing to hear reports flooding in from around the country about what a hugely talented and enthusiastic bunch this years’ newbies are. So excited to have you on board and get you all out to schools/homes very soon!
We also – drumroll – have some new office members!
Welcome ELIZA RAKICH, our newest BDM!!
Lizey hails from the sunset seas of Perth in WA and started presenting in 2018. She won the award for ‘most dramatic entrance into the office’ by breaking her jaw in a surfing accident a few days before starting and rocking up with stitches and a very bruised face. Lucky she’s made a full recovery and has sustained no further injuries in her first few weeks! So excited to have you on board Lizey!
Another welcome to TIM SAMPSON, our newest CSM!!
Tim graduated from a degree in clinical science last year and, after joining the Elevate team late in the piece and doing a grand total of 3 seminars, decided he’d done his time in the blue polo and joined the office instead. We’ve been very impressed with the frantic intensity with which Tim plays rondo and are so excited to see him apply the same levels of extreme enthusiasm once he gets started in the CSM role!
NEW YEAR, NEW OFFICE!!
In December, TEAM AUS MOVED OFFICES! Whilst we have had an insane amount of fun working out of the Redfern office over the past 5 years, when we realised that in order to add another desk for our newest addition to the team we would have needed to get rid of the rondo table, we knew the time had come for us to move on. We closed up shop and lugged all our gear over to a shiny new office in the centre of Surry Hills (conveniently located above the office’s favourite Friday night dinner location, La Vacanza Pizzeria), and settled in. However, even once we put up the Why and the iconic banner of Ayrto and had our first few lunch clubs in the kitchen, it still didn’t quite feel right. It felt a bit… cold. There was only one thing left to do – WARM IT!
On Friday the 17th, we had an Elevate first. We had an office warming and invited every presenter and coach from around Australia. We had over 60 people attend, including 20 presenters who actually flew in from interstate just to check out the new office and get to meet their EleMatesTM. Thank you SO MUCH to every wonderful person who came and made that night so incredible. Special highlights were Elevate Bingo (shout-out to winner, Annabel Harte), playing multiple rounds of rondo with 50+ people (Jules being the clear crowd favourite over Al), the ping pong tournament (Cal (NSW) and Huddo (SA) dominated the competition), a few hours of ludicrous dancing afterwards (hope your ankle has recovered Mac Green!), Alana (a newbie from QLD) driving 6 hours and then travelling by train for 10 hours to attend, and most importantly, the friendships that were being formed between presenters and coaches from around Australia. It means so much to all of us that you came, so thank you. Please enjoy some photos, both of the new office and from the night!
SINGAPORE
Hello from Singapore!
It was a quiet November and December seminar and coaching-wise as it was school holidays. But that’s changed!
It is now the start of the school year here in Singapore as of January and boy oh boy, it’s been a big one! Team Singapore is now at 43 presenters in total (double last year!) and a lot of newbies out and about helping the kids. What’s awesome to see – however – is that we have averaged 98.38% overall feedback from these seminars with so many newbies absolutely killing it! Coaches are also back in full swing with a team of now 16 here in Singapore, who also deliver sessions digitally in Malaysia and Hong Kong!
Also, in very exciting news, we have been on the hunt for a presenter to help kids across South-East Asia across February and March. We’re excited to announce that Daniel Marshall (Team AUS) will be coming over for February and Genevieve Thompson (Team AUS) for March. They’ll be galivanting across Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and a few other countries in South-East Asia delivering workshops which is super exciting. Congratulations to both of you on sending in fantastic recordings – we were blown away with your abilities to engage. We’re so excited to have you come along.
UK
It may have been holidays in Oz, Singapore and South Africa, but seminars didn’t stop in the UK over December, with a busy month leading into Christmas. Topping the presenter standing by Christmas was Rob Wilkie, one of Team London’s newer members, who smashed his December seminars with a feedback rating of 99.1! Great stuff Rob
In other news, a big welcome to the UK Office team to Lydia Crump. Lydia comes from a previous operational manager role where she worked for the last year managing maritime security teams transiting the Indian Ocean - think Somalian pirates and all! We're so pleased to have Lyds on board!
And finally, last week we said farewell Holly Mann after an incredible 7 years with Elevate. Hols covered many roles within her time at Elevate, from OM, CSM, Head of Recruitment, to launching the Coaching product here in the UK. Whilst we will miss Hols, we are happy to announce that Charlie Rush will be taking over the reins of Coaching. Charlie, similar to Hols, has done a number of roles but hangs up her CSM duties after almost 3 years!!!!! We are pumped to see Charlie in the role which she officially starts this week!
New York
And the Presenter for the Month of December is....Erika Plaza
Erika finished 2019 with real flare – making the most of every classroom she went into and leaving a lasting impact. The highlight of the month came from an email that we received from a teacher who has sat in on a number of Erika’s sessions over the past few months, who felt compelled to let her know how awesome Erika was. We think so too…
“Hello, I'm the teacher in the freshman class we've been receiving presentations in. Firstly, I'd like to thank you for sending us such dedicated and professional presenters; I truly believe the students are gaining valuable insight and tools from the workshops. That said, Erika has truly been a standout amongst all of the other presenters. The students really enjoyed her workshop the first time, and they were genuinely excited to see her today. I had to reach out and let you know how great she is! She's a natural speaker and is great at connecting to and engaging the students.”
And in other news from the US...
Congratulations to both Mike and Sean who have both tied the knot over the last couple of weeks in South Africa and California respectively. We look forward to the newfound wisdom and perspective you will no doubt bring to the team.
Shout out and welcome to the team to Elevate’s 6 x newest members – Aria, Tyler, Kevin, Nick E, Robert, and Julia. You guys absolutely rocked it at training and we’re looking forward to hearing about the impact you start having in the classroom over the coming weeks!
And last, but not least, news from HQ...
The big news coming out of HQ in December was that JV and his wife Darby had their first child. Naturally born with a full-head of hair (and a top-knot like his father), a big welcome to the Elevate family to little Dion! Massive congratulations to JV and Darbs. JV we have doubled the coffee supply in the office to help you get through the next few months!
Comments