Speaker · Presenter · Facilitator

    Speaking & Presentations

    Bringing the practitioner's perspective into the broader intellectual life of education, as a speaker, presenter, panelist, and professional learning leader.

    Areas of Speaking

    Keynote Topics & Conversations

    Dr. Dai speaks from the lived reality of school leadership, bringing scholarly depth to the questions practitioners actually face.

    01

    Developing People as the Heart of Leadership

    Why the slow, intentional work of adult development is the most strategic work a school leader undertakes, and how to build the conditions for it.

    02

    Instructional Leadership for Rigorous, Joyful Learning

    Leading curriculum, assessment, and supervision in ways that hold rigor and joy together rather than choosing between them.

    03

    Adult Development & Professional Learning

    Designing professional learning that treats teachers as meaning-makers and builds the capacity schools need to sustain improvement.

    04

    Early Childhood Leadership

    The particular demands and gifts of leading in the early years, where foundations of belonging, language, and identity are laid.

    05

    School Culture & Belonging

    Building the conditions of trust, consistency, and regard in which both children and adults can do their most courageous work.

    06

    Women in Educational Leadership

    Reflections on authority, voice, and the inner life of women leading schools, with particular attention to Black women's leadership.

    07

    Constructivist Leadership

    Understanding leadership as the facilitation of meaning among adults, and what it asks of the leader who practices it.

    08

    Family, School Partnership

    Moving from involvement to partnership, from welcoming families to sharing power in the shared work of children's flourishing.

    Formats & Settings

    Keynote AddressesConference PresentationsProfessional Development SessionsUniversity Lectures & Guest ClassesPanel DiscussionsPodcast & Media ConversationsSchool Leadership WorkshopsFacilitated Convenings

    An Invitation

    Invite Dr. Dai to speak.

    For keynotes, conferences, professional development, university presentations, panels, podcasts, and workshops, share the occasion, the audience, and the question you would like to explore together.

    Invite Dr. Dai to Speak