The High-Impact 10: Keynote Speakers Who Outperform Their Fee
Finding the right keynote speaker for a high-stakes C-Suite summit often feels like a balancing act between budget and impact. Too often, event planners equate a $50k+ price tag with guaranteed ROI, only to find the delivery doesn’t quite match the invoice.
The truth is, the “speaker market” is currently filled with hidden gems—experts who are slightly under-the-radar or transitioning from high-level corporate roles to the stage—who offer significantly more “intellectual horsepower” and actionable strategy than their more expensive, celebrity-status counterparts.
Below are ten undervalued keynote speakers for 2026 who consistently over-deliver on value, often at a 25% lower fee than the industry “A-list.”
Richard Newman – Best-selling Author, Speaker on Communication and Leadership
At 16 years old, Richard Newman was a shy introvert with a fear of speaking, who struggled to join conversations, let alone inspire people.
Today, he stands on stages from LA to Paris and Bangkok, empowering audiences like yours to turn their ideas into impact through storytelling and communication.
He’s the author of two books, You Were Born to Speak and Lift Your Impact, and the Founder and CEO of BodyTalk, a multimillion-dollar global coaching consultancy that has trained over 150,000 people. His scientific research on communication is published in the peer-reviewed journal Psychology.
His journey to becoming a communication expert and keynote speaker has taken him through living in a Tibetan monastery where he and the monks could only communicate non-verbally, studying 200+ books on communication, and training at the leading drama school in the UK. He then founded BodyTalk, leading his expert coaching team for over 25 years.
Grounded in research but geared for real life, Sara works at the intersection of organizational culture, emotional intelligence, and energy management. Her pioneering multi-year study on workplace vitality formed the foundation of her bestselling book, Dear Work, Something Has to Change. Known for her trademark energy and status-quo-challenging style on and off the stage, her conviction to reigniting a sense of aliveness in a world seemingly designed to smother it out has earned her recognition as a 2023 Women of Influence by SUCCESS magazine and named to the Global Gurus Top 30 Motivational Speakers list for 2025.
Dr. Jasmin Bergeron – Speaker, Professor and Pioneering Researcher on the WOW Effect
Dr. Jasmin Bergeron is a sought-after expert who gave more than 2,000 keynote presentations and workshops (in person and online) in 12 countries around the world. He also authored or co-authored five books, more than 50 scientific research papers and over 100 newspaper articles on the “WOW effect” in journals such as The Wall Street Journal. Dr. Bergeron owns the “Certified Speaking Professional – CSP” designation, which is the highest international certification that can be earned in the professional speaker industry worldwide. Dr. Bergeron talks on the best practices to create a “WOW Effect” in various contexts such as: Sales and business development, customer service, leadership, teamwork, and work-life balance.
Adam “Smiley” Poswolsky – Workplace Belonging Expert, and Bestselling Author
When companies want to drive culture transformation and increase workplace belonging, human connection, and team engagement, they call ADAM “SMILEY” POSWOLSKY.
Smiley is an internationally renowned keynote speaker, workplace belonging expert, and bestselling author of four books that have been translated into multiple languages, including The Quarter-Life Breakthrough, Friendship in the Age of Loneliness, and The Workplace Belonging Toolkit.
Smiley shares industry-shaping insights and practical tools to attract and retain top talent across generations, create a culture of belonging, and engage high-performing teams, at world-class organizations like Apple, Google, Verizon, JPMorgan Chase, and the U.S. Navy. Smiley’s TED talk has been viewed 2 million times, and he has delivered 600 keynotes in front of 250,000 people in 25 countries.
Kris Boesch – Founder & CEO of Choose People, Author & Keynote Speaker
Kris Boesch is the CEO and Founder of Choose People, a company that transforms company cultures, increases employee happiness and boosts the bottom-line. The Choose People 360° Culture Audit is based on over 1000 hours of research conducted with the Industrial Organizational Psychology Department at Colorado State University.
She is also the author of Culture Works: How to Create Happiness in the Workplace. Prior to Choose People, Boesch was the CEO of Exodus Moving & Storage.
Kris’ journey into workplace culture started when she became the CEO of Exodus Moving & Storage.
Where many saw just another moving company Kris recognized quickly that if her employees felt good about coming to work, they would take better care of customers. In turn, this meant the financial health of the company would prosper.
Jonathan Brill – Business Futurist, AI Keynote Speaker and Futurist-in-Residence at Amazon
#1 Ranked Futurist in the World by Forbes, Futurist-in-Residence at Amazon, and “The world’s leading transformation architect,” according to Harvard Business Review, Jonathan Brill helps audiences and executives take advantage of the collision of AI, geopolitical, economic and societal trends, to transform their business, mindsets, and turn ideas into action to Win the Next Five Years.
As a strategic advisor, inventor, best-selling author, and renowned keynote speaker, Jonathan draws upon his unique experiences as Head of Invention at Deepinvent, Executive Chairman of the Center for Radical Change, and former Global Futurist and Research Director at HP to guide multinational corporations, frontier tech firms, and national governments.Tapping into his decades of business innovation and AI expertise, across transportation, food, consumer electronics, cybersecurity, finance, and defense industries, Jonathan has become the go to strategic advisors for business executives around the world.
We’ve all been on teams where the talent was strong—but the trust, connection, and performance were lacking. In today’s fast-moving world of hybrid work, relentless change, and widespread burnout, organizations don’t just need sharper strategies—they need deeper connection.
Mike Robbins is a former pro baseball player turned leadership expert who helps teams and leaders unlock their full potential through the transformational power of authenticity and appreciation. He’s spent the last 25 years working with top organizations like Google, Microsoft, and the NBA to build cultures of trust, belonging, and sustained performance.
Scott Steinberg – Business Strategist & Technology Futurist
Hailed as The Master of Innovation by Fortune magazine, and World’s Leading Business Strategist, award-winning strategic consultant, trends expert, and professional speaker Scott Steinberg is a bestselling expert on leadership, change + innovation. A go-to resource for C-level leaders, he has served as a source of thought leadership, insight, and consulting for over 1000 leading brands, and advised on household-name products found in 100+ million homes.
One of America’s top futurists (per the BBC); the author of Make Change Work For You and Millennial Marketing; and among today’s top business strategy + leadership training providers, the Fortune 500 calls him a “defining figure in business + technology” and “top trendsetter to follow.”
Penny Zenker – Leadership Keynote Speaker, Bestselling Author, and Productivity Expert
Penny Zenker (AKA “The Focusologist”) is a sought-after international leadership speaker, 2x bestselling author, and former C-Suite executive of a global top-five research company. Over the past three decades, she has built and sold multiple multimillion-dollar companies—including an award-winning tech firm she founded.
Throughout her career, Penny has been responsible for hundreds of employees and millions of dollars in turnover, initiating huge organizational changes and business turnarounds to service their competitive advantage. She has worked with countless CEOs, leaders, and teams to develop the strategies and critical skills needed to create healthy cultures, huge profits, and sustainable growth.
Today, Penny speaks to organizations around the world about how to navigate change, challenge, and uncertainty with greater ease, creativity and focus. She helps people and companies reach their potential and achieve seemingly impossible goals. Penny has shared her expertise with industry giants like Deloitte, Pfizer, SAP, Samsung, and NASA, and been featured by NBC News, ESPN, FORBES, INC., and many more.
Jacob L. Shapiro – Distinguished Geopolitical Analyst and Speaker on International Affairs
Jacob Shapiro is a geopolitical analyst who provides strategic guidance and research on everything from global markets to supply chain resilience. Audiences are fascinated by his insights into the key Geopolitical trends shaping the business world. His amazing ability to link those trends directly to the world of each audience has resulted in multiple repeat requests to speak from clients. A prolific speaker and writer, Jacob also hosts “The Jacob Shapiro” podcast, which features interviews with subject matter experts in geopolitics, technology, markets, and other fields. His average audience rating in 2025 was 4.8 out of 5.
Are you ready to learn more about these keynote speakers and all they can do for your organization?
Derek Sweeney is the Director of Speaker Ideas at The Sweeney Agency. For more than 20 years Derek has been helping clients find the right Speakers for their events. Derek can be reached at 1-866-727-7555 or [email protected]