David Zanolla

Background

About David Zanolla

How I Make A Difference: I strive to make a difference by creating clear expectations in all realms of my life including education, training and travel. My Specialties: Education: I have been teaching communication at Western Illinois University for 19 years in many formats/modalities which include public speaking, intro. to human comm, organization, argumentation & debate as well as personal growth in higher ed. One of the proudest moments of my academic career has been the creation of the Walt Disney World Communication Course where I connect organizational communication concepts to the communication culture in Walt Disney Parks around the world.~Successfully taken 120 students to 7 parks including a Disney Cruise Training: I have experience training in two capacities. First, I served as Coordinator of Public Speaking at WIU for 14 years overseeing up to 40 sections a year. I actively and consistently set expectations for all sections as well as up to 10 grad students per year whom I mentored. In this role, I developed and executed training and development workshops each year to help teaching assistants learn what I wish I had known upon entering grad school. Some of the topics I presented include classroom management, how to work with difficult students, grade norming, answering tough questions, creating meaningful presentations, what it means to work with undergraduate students, mentoring, leadership, assessments, and more. I saw my role as a leader, mentor and guide to these grad students to ensure continuity and fluency in all sections. Second, as the owner of a travel consulting firm, I'm responsible for the training/development needs of the business ensuring that the onboarding of new employees is consistent. One of the programs I created is called TAB (Travel Agent Basics) and the premise is to help new agents with things that, when I became a travel agent, I wished someone would have told me.~TAB (Travel Agent Basics)= 16 week series My Passion: Simply put = traveling. My family and I love traveling and experiencing new places, people and cultures. Our friends and family knew that we traveled frequently which led to people contacting me to plan their trips. I decided that if people wanted advice on planning, perhaps I should become a travel consultant. I’ve taken my passion for traveling and turned it into a small business where my motto is “Our job doesn’t end until you get home”. In all areas of my life, I firmly believe that setting expectations of myself and others is what has led to my success in communication.