Public Speaking

I will be delighted to come to your organization or business to make a presentation on a variety of topics.  Please contact me to arrange a date and discuss a fee.

972-839-0065 or kpaggi@sbcglobal.net

Mental Aerobics - A challenging brain workout I developed to convince older adults that they can still creatively problem solve (see Mental Aerobics on another page in this website). Your demonstration workout includes logic puzzles, math problems, spatial puzzles, and other mind benders. This is fun!  (An article on mental aerobics was published in Educational Gerontology, Co-written by Kay Paggi and Bert Hayslip, chair in the department of psychology, University of North Texas).

How to Age with as Little Inconvenience as Possible - You cannot stop the aging process but you can control your attitude to it. How you respond to the challenges you will face in the coming years may affect your ability to compromise graciously. Kay will discuss unwelcome physical challenges, medical issues, coping with losses, mental health, knowing when it is time to stop driving, making the decision to relocate, and planning for long term care.

Caring for the Caregiver - This is an honest, sensitive discussion of the real life issues that confront most caregivers, including GUILT, choosing between impossible choices, and the lack of enough time, patience, money, and energy. It includes suggestions on how to improve the caregiving situation.

The Delicate Art of Communicating: How to understand and be understood. Successful communication results from the combined efforts of the speaker and the listener. Communication is successful when the speaker’s message has been acknowledged by the listener sufficiently for the speaker to experience having successfully delivered the intended message. This includes an explanation of the link between communication with older parents and GUILT.

Book Reviews - Brief reviews of my favorite books on a wide assortment of age-related topics such as humor, caregiving, aging, boundaries, and guilt. Includes a list of my recommendations of the best of the best. (See the Recommended Reading list on this website.)

Have you Bloomed Yet? - A discussion of older adults who discovered or developed a different part of themselves in later life. Adulthood is a continuous process of growth, and the potential for new learning and new activity and interests exists at all ages. Late-life career changes are an expression of that lifelong growth. Age is an opportunity: Remember Grandma Moses, Harlan Sanders, and Bertrand Russell? All were actively engaged in living well into late life. Russell was involved in international peace drives at age 94, George Bernard Shaw wrote the play, "Farfetched fables" at age 93, Verdi wrote Ave Maria at 85, Coco Channel at 85 was head of fashion design firm, and Winston Churchill wrote "A History of the English Speaking Peoples at age 82.

Myths about aging - Much of which we believe about what happens physically as we age is not true. Kay debunks cultural misconceptions and helps you take control of your own aging. 

Coping with your aging parents - What you can expect to encounter as your parents age, and how to cope effectively.  Much as we would like to, most people do not die peacefully in their sleep.  There is usually a long period of decline.  It is easier to cope when you can be proactive, rather than reactive. While you cannot foresee exactly what will happen as your parents grow older, you can learn how to find resources that will help, how to prioritize and to have needed documents prepared.

Gift giving - Ideas on what elderly people would really like to receive for Christmas, Mothers Day, and Birthday. 

Demographics of Aging - Until the 21st century, society has been in a pyramid with the most people being younger, some middle-aged people and very few older people. This is changing.  Our population is now becoming an inverted pyramid with a great many older people, some middle-aged people, and a few younger people.  How is this affecting the way we live?