ENGAGE - Trystan Reese

Speaking Topics

Topic

Open Doors: LGBTQ+ Inclusion In The Workplace

Every organization wants to create a culture where people can show up as their full selves—but good intentions alone aren’t enough. Open Doors is a dynamic, shame-free session that gives leaders and teams the language, context, and confidence to foster real inclusion for LGBTQ+ employees and clients.

Trystan Reese—nationally recognized inclusion strategist and founder of Collaborate Consulting—uses a blend of storytelling and behavioral science to make complex topics accessible, human, and deeply relevant. The workshop introduces his signature Four Pillars of Identity model, breaking down the core components of gender and sexuality in a way that brings clarity without oversimplification.

Participants then engage with the Retrain Your Brain framework, a practical, evidence-based approach for mastering gender-inclusive language and respectful pronoun use. This model helps attendees build muscle memory for inclusion—because the goal isn’t perfection, it’s progress.

The session closes with actionable strategies anyone can use to strengthen trust, rebuild after mistakes, and show up as allies in everyday interactions. Each workshop is customized to your sector, whether that’s corporate, healthcare, higher education, or nonprofit, ensuring relevance to your real-world context.

What participants take away:

A clear understanding of LGBTQ+ terminology and identity foundations
Practical skills for inclusive communication and respectful pronoun use
Tools for allyship that can be applied immediately in the workplace
Confidence to engage in conversations about identity with empathy and professionalism

Trystan’s approach is grounded, warm, and refreshingly judgment-free. His workshops are known for sparking curiosity—not defensiveness—and for helping organizations move from awareness to action.

Topic

At Odds: The Art Of Disagreement

No matter how skilled you are at your job, at some point, you will find yourself in a disagreement. Sometimes the conflict will go well— you are able to hear other viewpoints, articulate your opinion clearly, and work toward a solution that integrates multiple lenses. But conflict often goes another way, resulting in hurt feelings, a deeper entrenchment in original opinions, and one-sided outcomes.

While few employees want to steamroll their colleagues, even fewer want to BE steamrolled. So how can you honor your own wisdom while also taking the wisdom of others into account? How can you disagree about ideas without disagreeing with each other? How can you honestly hold others accountable to their commitments without bullying or belittling them?

The answer lies in the principles of Daring Leadership. In this session, attendees will learn how to describe, evaluate, and interpret points of disagreement to better remain in relationship while taking responsibility for their viewpoint and lens. They will master the art of making their case, staying open to others' perspectives, and collaborating to find new solutions for old problems. And they will examine the "clear is kind" perspective of radical candor, reframing critical feedback as vital to a healthy workplace.

If triangulation, passive-aggression, and indirect communication are challenges at your organization, this workshop will help transform communication styles so employees feel better equipped to rumble* with each other in healthy, effective ways.

*Rumble is language Brene Brown uses to describe a space where we give ourselves permission to talk about difficult, messy, or uncomfortable issues without knowing where the process will take us while holding space for curiosity, generosity, and accountability.

Topic

Think Fast: ADHD In The Workplace

Neurodiversity in the workplace is a hot topic right now. But how do supervisors and managers support employees who have ADHD?

ADHD can present in many positive ways— people with ADHD are quick to process and integrate new information into their work, and are able to think outside the box. But managers sometimes find employees with ADHD to be scattered, unfocused, and overwhelmed when there are too many tasks on their plate. Effective managers know that it’s not possible (or appropriate) to force a neurodivergent employee to think the way everyone else does… but how do they leverage the unique strengths and mitigate the challenges of an employee with ADHD?

This session is for any supervisors or managers currently supporting employees with ADHD, or who want to be adept at supporting future employees with ADHD.

This session covers the following topics:

Understanding the basics of ADHD to increase empathy for the unique ways an ADHD brain functions
- Analyzing how ADHD is diagnosed
- Covering common “treatments” for ADHD
- Defining diverse approaches to ADHD as an identity
Building supportive structures for employees who have ADHD
- Creating a work environment where every employee feels safe enough to “come out” about their learning differences
- Ensuring a work culture free from disparaging comments about learning differences
- Partnering with employees to build structures that work for them
Holding employees with ADHD accountable to external goals
- Learning effective tools for setting expectations
- Assisting with prioritization of tasks
- Reinforcing team norms without shame or judgment

“Highly recommend!”

“If you bring one management training to your team this year… make it this one!”

“Super engaging and practical!"

Facilitator bio:

Trystan Reese is a professional educator and author who was diagnosed with ADHD as an adult. His professional consultancy is focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion, and this session marries best practices around inclusion and practical applications for supporting ADHD employees. He spends most of his free time trying out new ways of harnessing and leveraging the strengths of his ADHD brain, developing new tools that encourage the world to adjust to him and creating new ways to adapt to the world around him. Trystan supports ADHD people who are diagnosed as children, as adults, or haven’t been diagnosed at all. He is supportive of those who take medication to treat the symptoms of ADHD, those who don't, and those who use alternative or complementary medicine. This session does not use "disorder" framing when talking about ADHD or any other neurodivergent identities.

Testimonials

"Trystan delivered one of the best conference keynotes I’ve ever heard — enlightening, smart, funny, poignant - and radically informative. With love and creativity, Trystan brought us the best mix of story and science. ”

“Trystan is all the things a good presenter should be: engaging, entertaining, and informative. He is also more than that: he’s incredibly smart about the way he presents information, utilizing exercises and techniques to facilitate understanding and inclusion.”

This summer Trystan partnered with our organization's business engagement team to facilitate an organization-wide workshop on how LGBTQ+ movements have helped shape health policy and equity. Trystan was able to immediately assess and understand our organizational context to ensure the workshop would be useful for employees - both those with a lot of familiarity with LGBTQ+ culture and history, as well as those who don't. Trystan clearly and seamlessly linked the workshop content to our organization's mission and work, which was immediately apparent and made things very easy for event organizations. The workshop was very well received by the planning group and attendees who found Trystan to be knowledgeable, dynamic, engaging and positive. People expressed learning a lot - one participant said, "I have been out for 30 years and I learned something new." Especially in the current political climate, I deeply appreciated Trystan's ability to develop an informative, approachable and POSITIVE session for our employees. We look forward to working with Trystan again in the future.

Trystan partnered with our team to facilitate a DEI workshop tailored specifically to our needs during Pride Month. We chose his allyship webinar because we knew it would resonate deeply — most of our CooperPride members are either part of the LGBTQIA+ community and need the support of allies, or they’re allies themselves looking to grow, learn, and show up better. What impressed me most was Trystan’s ability to create a safe and engaging environment where meaningful conversations could thrive. There was never a dull moment or awkward silence. The energy was real, the reflections were deep, and honestly, the conversation could’ve kept going all day. Thanks to Trystan’s session, our ERG membership surpassed our annual growth goal, and we’ve continued to receive messages of gratitude and support from current and prospective members alike. His impact wasn’t just felt — it rippled outward. Trystan’s warmth and professionalism make even the most nuanced or challenging topics feel approachable. He leads with heart, humor, and a deep understanding of what it means to build belonging. This wasn’t my first working engagement with Trystan — and it definitely won’t be my last. He is my go-to for all things DEI, community building, and leadership.

"Thank you for this meaningful discussion." "Thank you so much for being so open with us!" "Thank you for blessing us with your presence, Trystan." "You are an inspiration." These are just a few of the comments we got from our team after a discussion with Trystan. We were fortunate to have both an educational session as well as a lunch & discuss forum with him. Trystan helped us build our awareness and knowledge of gender in our workplace and in our communities. If your objective is to deepen your knowledge and understanding of gender and diversity, I highly recommend you connect with Trystan. You and your team will be all the better for it.

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Trystan Reese

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Speaking Topics

Open Doors: LGBTQ+ Inclusion In The Workplace

At Odds: The Art Of Disagreement

Think Fast: ADHD In The Workplace

Trystan Reese's Experiences

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