We are proud to announce our keynote speakers for the 2011 convention:

Friday Lunch ~ Steve Tiller, Author

Steve Tiller is the author of 12 entertaining, inspirational and thought provoking books for children. “My company mission is to help kids bring out what is deepest inside them and help them to better serve the world around us.

“I do this by writing children stories based on values such as faith, hope, service and courage. It takes a brave kid to follow his own heart these days!”

“I look forward to meeting with the Colorado PTA soon.  You will be getting a free book from me. Please come and have it autographed for your child or classroom while I am at the conference.”

– Steve Tiller, Right Stuff Kids Books

Friday Lunch ~ Randall Ware, CAP Coordinator

Randall Ware is a Community Alliance Partner (CAP) Coordinator with Webline Inc. and social entrepreneur dedicated to the belief that “Individually we can do a lot, but Together we can do More.” He has 10 years of extensive experience in community specific marketing. Randall uses the CAP Program to help businesses, schools, and non-profit organizations – like the PTA – develop win-win, long-term, mutually beneficial partnerships, reward academic success, and raise badly needed money for community schools. Randall Ware is happily married to Carol Beharie Ware (22 years), has 3 lovely daughters, and has been a member of and advocate for PTA for over 15 years.

CAP partners Randall works with include but are not limited to Georgia PTA, The Atlanta Falcons, Great Atlanta McDonald’s, The High Museum, Atlanta Gas and Light, and Right Stuff Kids.

Friday Dinner ~ Karyn Ruth White, Professional Comedian

Sponsored by McDonald’s

Laughing Allowed: How to Live, Learn, and Laugh Through Stress

How many times do you think a five-year-old child laughs in a given day? Give up? Research shows that the average pre-school child laughs over 400 times a day. Guess how many times a day we laugh as adults? Would you believe 15, if we’re lucky?

Did you know that research has shown that one good belly laugh can relieve up to 15 minutes of stress-related tension in the human body? Then why aren’t we doing more of it?

During this hilarious after-dinner program, Motivational Comedian, Karyn Ruth White will help us take a lively look at some specific ways in which we contribute to our own stress levels. We will laugh while we learn some everyday tools for reducing and managing our stress.

Karyn Ruth White holds a B.A. in Communications from the University of New Hampshire and is  the owner of Denver-based Laugh and Learn Productions, LLC, helping people live and work with more joy and less stress. She presents motivational comedy keynotes to conference and association audiences around the country and is the co-author of Your Seventh Sense, How to Think Like a Comedian. She is clean, clever and always appropriate. Visit her on-line at www.karynruthwhite.com and go to You Tube/Karyn Ruth White for hilarious video clips.

Saturday Lunch ~ Michelle Pearson, Colorado Teacher of the Year

Michelle Pearson is a Social Studies teacher at Hulstrom Options School in the Adams 12 school district and the 2011 Colorado Teacher of the Year. She is the recipient of several fellowships which have focused on the design of primary source lessons for PBS, Walden Family Playhouse, NEH, the White House Historical Association, and the National Consortium of Teaching Asia. She was recognized as the 2007 Colorado Technology Teacher of the Year, the 2008 Elgin Heinz Award Winner in Humanities, and received a Colorado State Honors Award for excellence in Historic Preservation in 2008.

She designs lessons as a volunteer for the White House Historical Association, National Park Service, and the Smithsonian Institution while working with educators across the state to infuse hands-on teaching of history into the curriculum with the use of primary sources and technology.

Michelle has a B.A. in History, Geography, and Historic Preservation from the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Her publications and projects include a lesson collection based on the journal White House History, two books on the history of Denver entitled Historic Sacred Landmarks of Denver, and Historic Denver Landmarks for Children and Families, and several American history articles for Cobblestone Magazine and other local history and preservation journals. She has three boys and is married to a husband who tolerates history but lives for technology.

Saturday Dinner ~ Teresa Williams, National PTA Secretary/Treasurer

Teresa Williams has been a PTA member for more than 20 years. In June of 2009, she was elected the National PTA Secretary/Treasurer at the National PTA Convention.

Currently, she chairs the National PTA Endowment Fund and Finance Committee, is the Vice Chair of the National PTA Council of States, and is a member of the NPTA Strategic Planning Committee and the NPTA Convention General Arrangements Committee.

Teresa was the Colorado PTA President from 2004 – 2007 and also served the Colorado State Board of Directors as our first President-Elect, Secretary, 1st Vice President, General Convention Manager, and on several community committees. She continues to help on the Colorado PTA Convention Committee.

Honors include a Colorado PTA Honorary Life Membership, National PTA Honorary Life Membership, and a feature in the National PTA Our Children magazine, April/May 2000. A former piano teacher, she has been a dedicated school teacher for 30 years and is married with three grown children.