So much has happened since you talked to last year’s athletes.

Scholarships have been lost. Teams have been kicked out of the finals. Sponsors have yanked contracts. Lawsuits have been launched. Reputations have been ruined. Entire pro careers have ended after 140 poorly chosen characters.

And each year it gets worse.

But according to hundreds of Athletic Directors attending NACDA17 the same “Don’t Post That” talk is given at the start of the year. (Followed by the Athletic Department crossing their fingers and hoping for the best.)

There is an alternative: Book Fiona to speak to your athletes. And/or follow up with our online courses. 

Her office was once a locker room.

Fiona spent 9 years as a trainer / exercise physiologist. Mostly in men’s sports (rugby union, rugby league and aussie rules). In fact, she was one of the only female athletic trainers in Australia in men’s sports at the time.

She was the Sports Medical Director at Griffith University for the 1994 World University Games and Assistant Medical Director for the 1994 ITU World Cup Triatlon. She was a competitive athlete from age 6 to 18, then a professional lifeguard, and has spent the last 9 years competing in triathlons.

So nothing shocks her. She’s seen and heard it all. She understands it from the athlete’s perspective, the team’s perspective and the association’s perspective. And just as important – the fan’s perspective.

“Injuries are a risk and a distraction. But we don’t say ‘Don’t train.’ We give athletes the tools to avoid injury.”

Fi Birch

Social media risk is her thing.

Fi has spoken to colleges/universities, pre-draft athletes, Tier 1 athletes, pro teams and pro athlete’s agents on how to navigate, manage and leverage social media risk – to create opportunities and build a resilient brand.

She’s also spoken to corporate North America (including the travel, food, education, telecommunication and pharmaceutical industries) on social media risk. Health Canada invited her to write the the rules on what pharmaceutical companies can or can’t do online in Canada.

Fiona earned this reputation in risk after being the strategic and creative steward to more than 140 North American and Global brands in heavily regulated industries. She’s the consultant the PR companies call when their clients get in deep water.

“Risk starts in the boardroom. Not on the keyboard.” 

Fi Birch

Fiona (Fi) Birch is a digital strategist specializing in social media risk. Her thought disturber approach allows companies and individuals to build a resilient brand in today’s digital and social media environments. Fiona is known for taking complex ideas and concepts and explaining them to a variety of audiences – using original analogies and storytelling. Her on stage presence is the same unapologetic directness – sprinkled with humour – that you get when she’s off stage.

Fi Birch loves change. It invites new thinking, new perspectives and often a new environment. And she embraces it all. Especially risk. So it’s no surprise that she’s landed in industries that are constantly changing – and challenging her. From being the only female trainer in men’s sports in Queensland (her office was a locker room) to the heavily regulated world of medical writing (launching pharmaceutical products) to the everevolving digital environment of social media (navigating and leveraging social media risk for athletes and brands).

Fi’s persuasive nature has coached audiences to embrace change and risk. She will take a complicated idea or process and use original analogies and her art for storytelling to make it straightforward and engaging. Her trademark is to leave attendees with useable and relevant take aways. On stage, the only dose of dry is in her down-under humour.

Audiences describe her as a direct, entertaining and insightful speaker who knows her stuff. And she can make them laugh when they least expect it. She’s spoken professionally across North America and Down Under since 1997. Her energy is palpable and inviting.

After 18 years in Canada, Fi also calls Playa Potrero, Costa Rica home. It reminds her of the small coastal town in New Zealand where she grew up and has the laid back culture of Australia – where she went to University and built a name for herself as an exercise physiologist. Plus, it helps her maintain her sense of a nomadic life, first experienced backpacking solo around the world in her 20’s.

Fi first founded Tonic Global and was sought out by the food service, tourism/travel, financial, education and pharmaceutical industries to consult and speak on social media risk. She has advised companies how to develop and execute high-risk social media campaigns, often in heavily regulated industries. Her guidance has helped companies go beyond their initial comfort zone with social media, resulting in not only groundbreaking but also award winning campaigns. She managed the execution of McDonald’s Canada Your Questions, was the Social Media Strategist for the rebuild of Telus.com, was Senior Advisor on CIBC FIFA’s Soccer Nation for the 2014 World Cup and ran the real-time response campaign for CIBC’s PanAm initiative.

Pro Athlete Online is a social media agency founded to specifically help athletes, teams and sports organizations. Fiona uses her unique background to navigate, manage and leverage social media risk to create opportunities and build a resilient brand. It’s her passion and she’s excited to share it with your organization.