A talk that
is also a lesson,
a verse, a plan.
Theatrical, musical, lyrical, and visual — built from the classroom and the stage. Keynotes and workshops lead. Everything else extends the work.
Bavu's keynotes are layered: theatrical, musical, lyrical, and visual. A story becomes a verse becomes a framework the audience can hold. It is the approach that earned an Editor's Pick at TEDx — rigorous enough for a faculty senate, alive enough for a gym full of ninth graders.
Ideal for: Conferences, convocations, district kickoffs, cultural events
- A shared language the whole room leaves with
- Live lyricism woven into the argument
- Frameworks tied to your theme and your people
Get to 100
Winning on Diverse Teams
Summary
Originally designed for incoming University of Texas at Austin scholarship athletes. A 90-minute, game-based workshop that helps athletes build connections, navigate differences, and recover when teamwork breaks down.
Potential Audiences
Athletic departments, sports teams including collegiate newcomers and high school varsity athletes, travel/club teams
Key Learning Outcomes
- Consideration of the unsung values of college education
- Extraction of life strategies from a game we all play
- Introduction to the Cultural Proficiency Continuum
- Exploration of how to win with all sorts of teammates and how to recover when we mess up
Set Your Agenda
Senior Year to College and/or Career
Summary
A session that helps students use their vision, experience, and perspective to set a personal and professional learning agenda for college, career, and life. Optional follow-up assignments extend the work.
Potential Audiences
High school upperclassmen through collegiate underclassmen
Key Learning Outcomes
- Consideration of the unsung values of college education
- Introduction to a three-part framework for setting one’s own personal and professional life agenda
- Introduction to agenda-setting + four key ways to follow one’s agenda
- Consider four points already working in students’ favor.
- Consider one’s own value as a member of a learning community
Hip Hop Grew Up
The culture as an intellectual tradition, and what it asks of educators now.
Education Over School
Reclaiming learning as something larger than the building.
One-page PDF (1 MB) — a take-away overview of Bavu’s talks.
Programs by audience
- School District
- Say Hello to Teaching
- College
- Get to 100
- High Schools
- Set Your Agenda
Every engagement is tailored. Themes are starting points, not scripts.
A lesson that
stays with you.
A morning with Get to 100 — learning together, in practice.
Today, we had an incredibly enlightening session with Bavu Blakes.
Among the valuable lessons shared, one stood out to me the most: the importance of utilizing college as a platform for networking and building connections. With students coming from diverse backgrounds, and eventually dispersing worldwide after graduation, making these connections becomes paramount. By fostering meaningful connections during our college years, we now have networks spanning across the globe.
As part of the session, we engaged in a game…the objective was to collectively reach a score of 100, but with a unique twist. Initially, we faced many failures, and our initial reactions were frustration and judgment. However, as we continued playing, we realized that winning this game required teamwork and mutual motivation. We learned that lifting each other up and offering support is far more beneficial than passing judgment based on individual performance.
I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Bavu for his presence and guidance throughout this experience. His involvement made it truly remarkable, especially for all the new student athletes on the University of Texas’ 40 acres. Thank you, Bavu, for creating such a wonderful learning opportunity.
Four steps.
No mystery.
Inquire
Share your date, audience, and what you want people to leave with.
Conversation
A short call to understand your community and goals.
Proposal
A tailored format and fee. Fees are inquiry-only, scoped to scope.
The work
Pre-event alignment, the engagement itself, and follow-through resources.