Joan McCusker
Olympic Curling Gold Medallist, CBC Curling Host.
Joan McCusker helps organizations build extraordinary lives using their best resources of ordinary people. An Olympic Gold Medalist and CBC commentator, Joan uses sports examples and humour to get the point across that attitude and teamwork are important to success.
Joan and her six brothers and sisters were raised on the family farm near Saltcoats, Saskatchewan. It was a busy and active family that supported her first successes in school and sport. She graduated from the University of Saskatchewan in 1987 with a Bachelor of Education.
Joan joined the CBC Sports Curling telecast as a commentator in 2001. She continued to curl competitively with Team Betker who placed fourth in Canada in 2003 and in the Canadian Olympic Curling Trials in December 2005.
She volunteers her time to charity and is an active member on the Board of Directors of the Sandra Schmirler Foundation. She resigned her teaching position in 1998 to dedicate more time to being a mom, curler, broadcaster and motivational speaker.
Joan has become a competitive curling coach, a promoter of young women in sport and volunteers her time to charity. She spent 5 years on the founding Board of Directors of the Sandra Schmirler Foundation and is now an Honourary Ambassador.
All presentations have the option of including:
– Olympic Gold Medal Display
– Olympic Jacket Fashion Show
– 1998 Olympic Gold Slide Show
Characteristics of Successful People
This is my most requested speech. After years of traveling the world with competitive curling, Joan shares her observations on common characteristics of successful people. The message is clear and the presentation is light and often humorous.
Ordinary People Do Extraordinary Things
Many “famous” people are very ordinary. They do extraordinary things because of their work ethic, commitment to goals, attitude, use of team, etc.
Olympic Sized Teamwork
How can we apply sports psychology to the workplace, our communities, our relationships, and our lives?? The answer lies in the development of a team perspective. Who is on my side? How can we work better together?
Winning Attitudes
In business, in sport, in life, attitude is everything! Joan gives her interpretation of Dr. Dennis Waitley’s Olympic Attitude Rings. Many examples are drawn from Joan’s experiences as an athlete, teacher and mom.
Preparing to Win
Athletes in Training – This is an athlete/coach/performer specific speech. Joan breaks down the ideal performance into preparation, performance and post performance areas.
Curling Tales
Sports Banquets – This category includes celebrity sports dinners or entertainment only type events. Joan relates humorous stories about her team and individual experiences that were had while chasing curling dreams.
“Your presentation to our employees on Sat. Sept. 27 was timely & conveyed the message we wanted: put a smile on & you are in charge of your attitude. All staff thoroughly enjoyed your message. I am hearing a lot of good comments from all levels of employees, like: “It was so fun”…”The time just flew by”. Your words are being quoted and discussed amongst employees. I have to confess, I quoted you in a toast to SunRise, by saying, “Here’s to ordinary people, doing Extraordinary things!” Your presentation has helped our efforts toward team building in our merger of 5 organizations. I have no hesitation in providing a recommendation to yourself for your services as a motivational speaker. Feel free to use our name as a reference in the future”.
Sunrise Credit Union Merger
“I just wanted to drop you a note to let you know how exceptionally well received your keynote presentation was. I have been going to these things for 16 years and you are the only one who has received a standing ovation! You ended our conference on a super high note, which is exactly what I wanted for our group. Nurses struggle every day with burn out and stressors that the public has no concept of. You were able to make them laugh and forget it all. Thank you so much for your wit, openness and laughter, I know under the circumstances it must have been very difficult for you”.
Canadian Society of Gastroenterology Nurses and Associates
“The Co-operative Managers’ Association held its 50th Annual Conference recently at the Fairmont Hot Springs Resort. We were privileged to have Joan McCusker as the closing speaker. Speaking to an audience of 175 persons, Joan provided an entertaining and inspirational presentation on “Characteristics of Successful People. Joan uses herself as an example of personal growth from small town Saskatchewan to becoming an Olympic champion. Her presentation was fast paced, humourous and uses many anecdotes of life as an Olympian. Her presentation was followed by a lively question and answer session that she handled extremely well. Following in her presentation she displayed her curling wardrobe and Olympic Gold Medal which was modeled and photographed by many in the audience. Audience evaluation of her talk indicated 90% felt it exceeded their expectations with comments such as ‘excellent choice, wow! Awesome, and Fantastic’. We do not hesitate in endorsing Joan as an excellent and stimulating speaker”.
Co-operative Managers’ Association