Corporate & EventsForóige × Jordan Lee — Leadership for Life Keynote
Sport Endorse connected Foróige with Paralympian Jordan Lee to inspire 250 international youth delegates through an authentic leadership keynote.
Overview
The campaign
Foróige partnered with Sport Endorse to secure Irish Paralympian Jordan Lee as a keynote speaker for its 2022 Leadership for Life Conference. Using Sport Endorse's athlete network, Foróige connected with a speaker whose lived experience aligned perfectly with the programme's focus on resilience, leadership and personal development, delivering an inspiring session for 250 young delegates from seven countries.
The challenge
Foróige's Leadership for Life Conference is the flagship event of its internationally recognised youth leadership programme. Returning as a full in-person event in 2022, the conference welcomed approximately 250 teenagers from Ireland, the United States, Ukraine, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Nigeria and South Africa for a week of leadership development at Maynooth University.
The organisation required a keynote speaker capable of delivering more than a motivational talk. They needed someone whose personal journey genuinely reflected the programme's core themes of resilience, determination, communication, empathy and leadership while connecting authentically with a teenage audience from diverse cultural backgrounds.
Finding speakers with both elite sporting credentials and a compelling personal story can often involve fragmented outreach, lengthy negotiations and multiple intermediaries. Foróige wanted a trusted partner to simplify the process and secure a speaker whose values closely aligned with the Leadership for Life programme.
The Sport Endorse solution
Sport Endorse connected Foróige with Irish international high jumper and Paralympian Jordan Lee, whose journey of overcoming adversity through elite sport made him an ideal fit for the conference.
Working with Sport Endorse, the organisation was able to identify and engage a speaker whose lived experience complemented the conference's wider educational objectives. The engagement enabled Foróige to secure an athlete capable of translating lessons from high-performance sport into practical leadership principles relevant to young people.
Jordan joined an international speaker programme alongside anti-racism advocate Yemi Adenuga and Professor Mark Brennan, UNESCO Chair for Rural Community, Leadership and Youth Development at Pennsylvania State University, contributing a personal perspective on resilience, perseverance and self-belief.
Throughout his keynote, Jordan encouraged delegates to embrace challenges, develop confidence and refuse to allow setbacks or external negativity to define their ambitions.
Athlete fit
Jordan Lee represented an exceptional strategic fit for the Leadership for Life Conference for several reasons.
As an Irish Paralympian and international athlete, he brought instant credibility while remaining relatable to a teenage audience. His lived experience of overcoming barriers aligned naturally with the programme's emphasis on personal development, resilience and leadership.
Rather than delivering abstract leadership theory, Jordan shared authentic experiences from his sporting career, demonstrating how perseverance, mindset and determination can help individuals overcome adversity and achieve ambitious goals.
His story reinforced the practical leadership skills delegates were developing throughout the week, including communication, confidence, teamwork and decision-making.
Deliverables
- Athlete sourcing and speaker recommendation
- Speaker engagement and booking
- Keynote address delivered at the Leadership for Life Conference 2022
- Live audience presentation to approximately 250 international delegates
- Participation within the conference's flagship leadership programme
- Post-event testimonial provided by the athlete
- Positive audience feedback reported by Foróige
“My story is one of resilience, perseverance and determination. I really enjoyed speaking to these young leaders and giving them a detailed insight into my life story and what I've learnt from my experiences to help them learn to thrive in perceived difficult circumstances and be able to achieve their goals.”— Jordan Lee, Irish International High Jumper & Paralympian
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