Discover how to navigate your way to success
and why you should book Fran West
Fran West is an award-winning pilot, adventurer, author, photographer, creator of products for aged care and motivational speaker.
She is Australia's Life Pilot, motivating others to pilot their own lives (personal and business) and navigate their way to success.
In a remarkable life turn around, this ordinary woman, while in her mid forties, left her comfort zone of public library manager to set off in an aircraft for the adventure of a life time – a marathon flight around Australia's coast.
Fran's main philosophies are to have a go, follow dreams (at any age) and ADD value to life by having the right Attitude, making Decisions and being Determined to follow them through.
Adventures
Her Oz Flight '99 led to her becoming the first woman to pilot a light aircraft around the coast of Australia (mainland and Tasmania).
With just 400 hours of flying time, Fran set off in a hired Cessna 172P to commemorate the 21st anniversary of Pelican's Progress, a flight made with three amphibian seaplanes in 1978.
Not everything went according to plan, particularly with the unfavourable weather and without a back up team to assist.
However, Fran did achieve her goal despite the many setbacks, and she has written about the dangers and excitement during her journey in Plane Reflections:about life and a flight around Australia's coast.
Her second adventure, in 2002, was Sea, Sky and Sand: a flight around South Australia's coast and Outback. This flight was to celebrate the Year of the Outback and the 200th anniversary of Flinders' and Baudin's sea voyages.
Not long after a memorable trek in the Himalaya, Fran's next life challenge was surviving a head on collision in a car (not a plane!). This accident not only left her with multiple injuries but also impacted heavily on her emotionally and financially.
However, Fran is not a quitter and she was determined to draw inner strength from the experiences and lessons she had learnt on her two aerial odysseys. A case of practise what you preach!
Background
Fran has a background in management, local government, state government and small business and makes full use of her TV and radio experience.
Her messages for businesses, organisations, schools and individuals are based on her real life adventures and observations and have practical applications which can be put into effect immediately.
Known for her professional presentations, which not only entertain, captivate and inspire, Fran engages, involves and interacts with her audiences.
She delivers powerful presentations which draw on her experiences, knowledge and sense of humour and illustrates them with her stunning photographs.
Fran has presented internationally in Canada, the USA and on board cruise ships, as well as in Australia, and her presentations include:
- Attitude is everything
- Determination/ Persistence/ Perseverance
- Follow your dreams (at any age)
- How to pilot your life and navigate your way to success
- Having a sense of humour under stressful conditions
- Overcoming procrastination
- Oz Flight '99
- Personal development
- Planning a marathon adventure/project
- Sea, Sky and Sand
- Setting and achieving goals
- Success
- Surviving an accident/Overcoming adversity
- Teamwork
- Turning negatives into positives
Comments about Fran West
"People were impressed, not only of the topic you spoke on but also the way you presented yourself. Although many in the audience had never been in a small plane, or experienced what you had – you made them feel that they were there with you in the experiences and were feeling what you had felt. Your method of speaking of a situation and then reasoning on the pros and cons and what you had chosen to learn from the situation made people think of what they could themselves choose to learn from experiences.
Flexibility in public speaking is essential and I thought that you demonstrated this throughout your talk by allowing comments, jokes and questions to flow from the audience at any given time."
Jane Vergou
Coordinator Publicity & Programs
Arts and Cultural Development
City of Onkaparinga
"…we all found her to be confident, humorous at times, and clear in her portrayal of some of the more harrowing experiences. As well as conveying to us her experiences through such an adventure, her intention was to encourage the audience to also be bold in attempting new things. I think we were all inspired."
Margaret Kidney, OAM
The Bush Church Aid Society of Australia
"Fran's content material, vocabulary, and manner of speech was appropriate for the diverse audience (Reception to Year 12). She spoke clearly and confidently, in an engaging and professional way, of her experiences and the challenges of flying around Australia in a small plane. She attempted to empower the students with the personal challenge of setting goals, being persistent, never giving up and following one's dreams.
She used humour effectively also. Her common sense and practical approach and logical progression of speech content was easy to follow and appreciated by all. Fran willingly answered individual questions following the speech, encouraging interaction and participation by the students.
Fran also prepared well for the occasion, liaising with the school before the assembly, in order to prepare a relevant, appropriate, student-friendly speech that fitted with school directions and desired outcomes.
I have no hesitation in recommending Fran West as an effective and interesting public speaker to school and other groups."
Meredith Hugo
Deputy Principal
Middle School Leadership and Effective Practice
Hallett Cove School
"Stateline" segment
ABC TV
"Fran West participated in the Museum of Flight (Seattle, Washington) annual Women Fly program on Friday - Saturday 05 - 06 March 2010. On Friday, the program inspired high school girls to consider careers in aviation/aerospace via a full day of workshops, panel discussion, lunch and career fair. On Saturday the general public was inspired by repeat of the panel discussion.
This year the theme was "Women Aviators from Around the Globe," with women representing all seven continents.
Fran did a superb job representing Australia in the panel discussion on both days! The Museum leadership repeatedly told me that this was the best ever (Friday) Women Fly and one of the best ever (Saturday) public program events!! That is saying a lot considering the well-known aviation/aerospace "stars" who have appeared at the every Saturday public program the Museum has held for years.
Thank you, Fran, for your time and energy, traveling so far and preparing for the event, and for making it such a huge success!"
March 17, 2010
Trish Beckman
Flight Test Navigator
Boeing
Visit the Author and Adventurer pages for further information and the Products pages for purchases.
Fran West helps you to
Realise your potential,
Achieve your goals,
Navigate your way to success and be a
Winner who’s
Enthusiastic, has a
Sense of humour and also a
Terrific attitude
You might also like to have a look at Fran's LinkedIn profile.
Book Fran now at fran@franwest.com for your next conference, seminar or event.
