Motivational speaker for schools: FAQs

Head to our bookings page or email us with your preferred term and year group. We’ll confirm availability, send a straightforward agreement, and lock in the date. Schools typically book 1 to 2 terms ahead, and popular weeks (start of term 1 and the lead-up to exams) go first.

Seminars start from $2,450. Your quote has 2 parts: the seminar fee and travel costs if your school is outside South East Queensland. The fee depends on the seminar and the number of sessions on the day. Email us your year group and location and we’ll send a full quote, usually the same day. No deposit is required.

Day of Hope suits a whole cohort or whole school. Men of Honour is for your young men: respect, character, and consent. Hope Express is built for senior students facing exams and big decisions. Browse our seminars, or email us with your year group and the challenge you’re seeing and we’ll recommend the right fit.

Yes. Positive Parenting is our seminar for your parent community. Pairing a student seminar with a parent evening puts the same tools in the classroom and at home. Email us and we’ll build it into your booking.

Every student leaves with handwritten notes (pen and paper is mandatory in our sessions) and specific actions they’ve committed to. Schools tell us the difference shows in the weeks after: students writing in with the steps they’ve taken, and teachers using the shared language in class. After 750 schools, that’s the pattern we build for.

The research on hope says yes. Students with higher hope scores get better grades and are more likely to finish school, independent of intelligence and prior results. Our seminars teach hope as a skill: goal-setting, optimism, and grit that show up in the classroom long after the day. Ask us for the evidence base when you enquire.

Yes, through prevention. We teach the skills that protect wellbeing: hope, resilience, optimism, and agency. Glen names the hard things young people face without lecturing them, and gives them tools they can use the same day. We complement your counselling and pastoral structures, we don’t replace them.

This is one of the most common reasons schools book us, especially for years 11 and 12. Our Brilliant Young Mind seminar teaches practical tools for pressure: how to set goals that cut through overwhelm, how to reframe setbacks, and how to act when motivation is gone. One timing tip: book before the exam block, not during it.

Yes. Men of Honour covers respect, consent, and healthy relationships with young men, delivered so boys stay in the room: wisdom over shame, standards over lectures. If respectful relationships education is on your school’s list this year, this is the seminar to look at.

We deliver a small number of proven seminars rather than building bespoke programs, because 25 years of refinement beats a one-off custom talk. You choose the seminar and year group, and we hold a pre-event call so Glen understands your school’s context and can weight the emphasis where your students need it.

Written commitments in their own handwriting. Every seminar ends with students naming the actions they’ll take, and the best feedback we get is students emailing weeks later with what they’ve done. That’s the standard we hold ourselves to: tangible action, not a feel-good day that fades by Friday.

A tentative date or an availability enquiry doesn’t confirm your booking. To lock in the date, submit the online booking form at thehopefullinstitute.com/bookings. Once we’ve received it, we’ll email you to confirm and your date is secure.

Booking confirmation. Your booking is confirmed once we receive your completed booking form.

Rescheduling. If a presenter is unwell or travel is disrupted, we’ll work with you to reschedule the seminar for a later date.

Cancellation policy. If you need to cancel a confirmed booking, this fee structure applies based on the notice given:

If due to sickness or circumstances at the fault of The HopeFULL Institute, our speaker is unable to deliver the presentation at the confirmed time the seminar would be rescheduled.

To save time and make it more convenient for the staff booking our seminars we do not require a deposit. The full amount is due 7 days prior to the seminar paid via direct deposit.

At the time you enquire about your seminar booking we will be able to quote you on the travel expenses associated with the possible booking. You will then have 7 days to confirm that booking in order to get the first quoted price.

If our speaker is unable to fly in and out of your local airport on the day of the presentation an additional cost for accommodation will be added to your seminar fee. This can be quoted to you at the time of your enquiry.

Please refer to the Audio Visual checklist for full details.

The normal student to teacher ratio applies. Teachers who take part get the same tools as the students, which makes classroom follow-up far more effective.

Our seminars address sensitive topics (mental health, family breakdown, substance abuse), so the school manages all follow-up care. We ask for 3 things:

• A school counsellor, psychologist, year advisor, or welfare/pastoral care worker present for the entire seminar.
• The name and role of that staff member before the day. They’re welcome to contact us directly.
• A list of school and community support services, helplines, and youth websites for your students, alongside the resources we provide.

Students need a pen. A bottle of water is optional. Student workbooks will be posted to the school prior to the seminar for schools outside South East Queensland, for all others Glen will bring the workbooks with him on the day of the seminar.

Some schools are able to provide lunch for Glen and in these cases this is greatly appreciated. If not, please let us know and we will organise an alternative. This is only applicable if Glen is at the school for the entire school day.

In Glen’s introductory session with your students he will introduce himself and explain why he is doing what he is doing. Often the schools like to make their own introduction and explain to the students what they hope the students will gain from the program and the behaviour that is expected from them throughout the day.

Then to introduce Glen, a simple ‘This is Glen Gerreyn (pronounced Gerine, rhymes with ‘dine’) from The HopeFULL Institute’ is adequate.

Recording Policy. The HopeFULL Institute strictly prohibits any audio or video recording of our seminars under any circumstances. However, schools are more than welcome to take photographs during the presentation. We kindly ask that a copy of any photos taken are shared with The HopeFULL Institute following the session.

We appreciate all schools we visit to provide a written reference of their experiences with The HopeFULL Institute. We do this to provide an excellent reference point for new schools who want to book us for the first time.