Sought-after speaker and lecturer and author of three books, Stedman Graham, will be the guest speaker at an event tomorrow evening marking the Family Learning Centre's seventh annual Children's `6k Walkathon' this weekend.

Mr. Graham is the author of "Teens Can Make it Happen" and "Build Your Own Life Brand" and "You Can Make it Happen: A Nine-Step Plan for Success" and coauthored "The Ultimate Guide to Sport Event Management and Marketing. In March 1997, Simon and Schuster published a book detailing his nine-step empowerment philosophy - "You can Make it Happen: A Nine-Step Plan for Success" - which was a New York Times bestseller.

Mr. Graham is the Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of S. Graham & Associates, a management and marketing consulting firm serving the corporate and education markets.

A commitment to education and lifelong learning is central to Stedman Graham's philosophy. Tomorrow evening (at 7 p.m.) the guest speaker will spend "An evening with Bermuda's Parents" at St. Paul's Centennial Hall on Court Street when he will share his philosophy. Tickets are $15 and Martha Dismont of the Family Learning Centre says it is an evening not to be missed.

"Our goal is to give parents some concrete thoughts about working with their children," said Mrs. Dismont.

"His books are all about helping parents understand how children are so resilient, that they have the ability to make choices and bounce back and make decisions for themselves.

"It is a passion of his, he goes all around the country speaking to adults about children and meeting with the teens. He will actually be going to a couple of the youth centres on Friday, speaking with the teens."

Mr. Graham is no stranger to Bermuda, he was here in March of this year to speak with students.

"He spoke to the CedarBridge students and they gave him a standing ovation," Mrs.. Dismont pointed out.

"We were trying to get him back into the schools but they are out this week, so we are going around to the youth centres instead."

Parents attending tomorrow's event at St. Paul's will be able to ask questions of the speaker.

Other events include The Family Learning Centre's 6k Children's Walkathon on Sunday (1-6 p.m.), beginning and ending at Victoria Park. The walkathon is one of the significant fundraising events of the year for the Family Learning Centre and in recent years it has been scheduled to coincide with the United Nations' Universal Day of the Child that is celebrated in many countries around the world.

Next Wednesday will be the Universal Day of the Child and the community is asked to support children in honour of that by wearing something purple that day and donating $3 to the Family Learning Centre.

"As a community I am hearing so many negative things about children, but I believe we need to start talking about some of the positive things that children are doing," said Mrs. Dismont.

"Children who are causing disturbances all around need to see examples of really good behaviour. Our walk on Sunday is just to get families out there with their children."

Mr. Graham is an adjunct professor at The Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, where he developed and teaches the first sports marketing curriculum for second-year MBA students.

He is a former adjunct professor of a Kellogg management and strategy course entitled "Dynamics of Leadership". He is also an adjunct professor at The University of Illinois where he teaches a leadership course based on his book "You Can Make It Happen: A Nine-Step Plan for Success".