European Speakers
The Sweeney Agency will help you find the perfect European Speaker for your event by providing you with all the information you need to make the right decision. We take into account your conference or event objectives, audience dynamics and expected outcomes and provide you with professional speaker bios, video clips, topic outlines, and independent perspectives on the best European Business and Motivational Speakers available. Working closely with the speaker you choose, we will ensure he or she delivers a customized presentation that informs, inspires and entertains.
Book Your Next Great Speaker in 5 Easy Steps
5 Tips to Book your Next Great Speaker
About
Did last year's speaker knock your socks off? Not sure where to go next? Let our team of experienced professionals help you find your next great speaker.
Here's a quick guide to help you get started:
Find A Theme
Decide on a theme or topic for your event.
Going through a period of transition? Looking to shake up your creative? Building trust within your teams? We have great speakers on all of those topics.
Having trouble? Check out our IDEA GENERATOR for inspiration.
Get in Touch
Get in touch with your Event Date & Theme.
We will ask you some key questions to find the perfect speaker for your live or virtual event.
We pride ourselves on our personal touch. We are small team of dedicated professionals with over 20 years experience. When you call us, you speak to us directly... and quickly.
Shortlist
By now, we have a great idea of what you are looking for and will send you a shortlist of exceptional speakers.
Each speaker will be vetted with YOUR event in mind, along with our personal thoughts on how that speaker can inspire your attendees.
Let's talk
From the shortlist, you've narrowed it down to two great speakers. Let's discuss your needs to help make the final decision.
With over 20 years experience, you can trust us to provide all of the information you need to choose the right speaker.
We work with you to find the best format for your presentation, including live streams, Q&A sessions and even follow up programs to ensure maximum engagement for your key stakeholders.
The Details
We will facilitate a call with your leadership team & our speaker to do a deep dive into your business to make sure their presentation really hits home.
As trusted experts, you can rest easy knowing our experience will guide you every step of the way.
get in touch
Get in touch to book your next great speaker.
About
Click Here to Receive Your Customized List of Speaker Ideas
Virtual Events can:
- Reach a wider audience
- Offer a great experience at a much lower cost
- Create long term impact with recorded elements that allow for content to be watched over a period of time
- Have an increased impact over time, as viewers re-watch, discuss and connect over social media and other channels
And, most importantly: offer the ability for inspiring and impactful presentations to connect in a one-on-one way, directly to the attendee.
WHO is your audience?
Who are your virtual event attendees? Are they across a specific group within your organization, or are you serving clients across a wide range of levels? Determining who you are speaking to will help you determine a format for your event that will captivate your audience.
WHAT is your key message?
Are you focusing on change? Innovation? Leadership?
Creating a single focus or mission will allow you to hone in on the type of speaker(s) you need to engage your audience and help event producers to format the event into a dynamic program that balances inspiration with information and audience interaction.
WHAT type of event suits your audience?
- Virtual Conference
- Webinar
- Hybrid Event
Virtual event technology has come a long way over the last few months, offering a huge range of different options from pre-recorded webinars, to multi-day virtual conferences, to hybrid events with some attendees in the audience while the event is live streamed.
OUR ADVICE
A COMBINATION of live and pre-recorded elements will allow your virtual event to run smoothly and stay on time.
Many of our clients are also opting for multi-day virtual conferences with shorter segments spaced over a few days.
This allows some flexibility for attendees in different time zones and accommodates different teleworking situations for attendees, allowing them to tune in when it is convenient.
WHERE? It’s all about Tech.
Virtual meeting technology has exploded over the last few months as teleworking became the norm.
Consider your needs:
- Interactive elements like breakout rooms, polls & Q&A
- Seamless blend of live & pre-recorded elements
- Ability to replay segments
- Live tech support
If you plan for rain, it’s likely the sun will shine…
Tech isn’t perfect so don’t forget to test, rehearse and have a back up plan ready to go for your virtual event.
Pro Tip: Think of a virtual presentation like a podcast. Viewers can view the content multiple times and refer back to it.
WHEN? A Date… or Dates?
As we have all noticed, our attention spans for meeting in real life versus meeting online are a lot longer.
When deciding on a date, consider spreading your virtual event out over a few days, with a variety of speakers, interactive elements and information.
The benefits of a multi-day format:
- Viewers watch content fresh for a short period every day
- Allows attendees in different time zones to stay on top of the content
- Attendees can review & re-engage with content
Virtual Event Checklist:
Is your event?
- Interactive?
- Informative?
- Able to be rewatched?
WHY? Pandemic 2020
Just because you are online instead of in person, it doesn’t mean you are missing out on connection.
Using the technology that we have become so accustomed to over the last few months, our keynote speakers have the ability to connect to your viewers one-on-one, in a way that was impossible in live events.
FIND YOUR WHY…
What do you want the audience to leave thinking at the end of the presentation?
Apply this question to all the presentations and segments in your event to create a cohesive, impactful virtual event.
HOW? Virtual Event Checklist
To wrap it all up
- TECH: Find the right tech platform & don’t forget to test drive before your event
- AGENDA: Use a mix of live and pre-recorded segments, mixed with interactive elements, to ensure a smooth flow of events & audience engagement
- ANTICIPATION: Build up your event with emails, teasers and sneak peeks into what content will be offered
- NETWORKING: Create and encourage online chat functions, an event specific hashtag or even a dedicated event page to allow attendees to network virtually. Maximize the networking opportunities offered by your tech platform.
- EXTEND YOUR IMPACT: A dedicated social media page is a great place for attendees to connect after an event to discuss ideas and implement some of the learnings from the event.
Offer a password protected, limited time recording of keynote presentations to continue the conversation long after the virtual event has ended.
Continue the conversation with post-event touch points like emails or questions based on the key presentations.
To find a GREAT Speaker for your Virtual event, get in touch.
Niall Ferguson
Global Economic Historian; named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World
About
Niall Ferguson is one of the world's leading historians of the global economy and author of a number of internationally-acclaimed works. He is the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History at Harvard University, a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and a Visiting Professor at Tsinghua University, Beijing.
Controversial, expansive, and eloquent, Ferguson is one of the most talented historians of his generation. The ambitious themes he explores in his work have urgent relevance to the present as well as the past: the costs and benefits of economic globalization; the interface between finance and politics; the lessons to be learned from the British experience of empire; and most recently, the strengths and limitation of American global power.
His first book, Paper and Iron: Hamburg Business and German Politics in the Era of Inflation 1897-1927 (1995), was short-listed for the History Today Book of the Year award, while the collection of essays he edited, Virtual History: Alternatives and Counterfactuals (1997), was a UK best-seller and subsequently published in the United States, Germany, Spain and elsewhere.
In 1998 he published to international critical acclaim The Pity of War: Explaining World War One and The World's Banker: The History of the House of Rothschild. The latter won the Wadsworth Prize for Business History and was also short-listed for the Jewish Quarterly/Wingate Literary Award and the American National Jewish Book Award. In 2001 he published The Cash Nexus: Money and Power in the Modern World, 1700-2000 , following a year as Houblon-Norman Fellow at the Bank of England.
He is a regular contributor to television and radio on both sides of the Atlantic. In 2003 he wrote and presented a six-part history of the British Empire for Channel 4, the UK terrestrial broadcaster. The accompanying book, Empire: The Rise and Demise of the British World Order and the Lessons for Global Power, was a best-seller in both Britain and the United States. The sequel, Colossus: The Rise and Fall of the American Empire, was published in 2004. Two years later he published The War of the World: Twentieth Century Conflict and the Descent of the West, which was also a PBS series. Another recent book is the best-selling Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World (2008), and it aired on PBS. His most recent books are High Financier: The Lives and Time of Siegmund Warburg (2010) and Civilization: The West and the Rest, also a major TV documentary series.
A weekly columnist for Newsweek and a contributing editor for Bloomberg TV, Niall Ferguson divides his time between the United States and the United Kingdom. His last work was on the life of Henry Kissinger. The film based on his interviews with Kissinger won the 2011 New York Film Festival prize for Best Documentary.
About
Peter Fisk is inspirational, provocative and practical. He helps you to see the world of business and brands, marketing and innovation in new ways. He was recently described by Business Strategy Journal as "one of the best new business thinkers", and also featured in the Thinkers 50 Guru Radar.
Best-selling author, his first book Marketing Genius explores the left and right-brain challenges of success, and is translated into 35 languages. It was followed by five others, most recently Creative Genius defining what it takes to be Leonardo da Vinci in the 21st Century. He has also written books on leadership and strategy, customers and experiences, and sustainable innovation.
His new book Gamechangers - Are You Ready to Change the World? is now out, based on extensive research into the 100 companies who are shaking up markets, and making sense of how they innovate and win. It explores the challenges of new markets, changing customers, brand building, digital media, new business models, inspiring leadership and positive impact.
From nuclear physics Peter moved to managing brands like Concorde at British Airways, and through American Express and Microsoft got to know what works in the real world. As CEO of the world's largest marketing organisation, the Chartered Institute of Marketing, he became a global authority on what's best and next.
He now leads the GeniusWorks, an international accelerated innovation firm, working with clients including Aeroflot and Coca Cola, Nestle and Red Bull, Tata and Virgin, Visa and Vodafone. He combines keynote speaking with strategic consulting, facilitated venturing and executive development.
Jonathan Gabay
Author of Reinvent Yourself,expert on creativity, sales and marketing. Motivational speaker for sales audiences.
About
Jonathan Gabay is author of Reinvent Yourself and an international creativity and marketing expert. He is renowned for his creative thinking, copywriting, motivational and advertising skills, and is a contributor to media outlets such as the CBC on marketing, the Internet, handling change, commercialism and psychology. As a keynote speaker he regularly addresses audiences throughout the world.
Jonathan is one of the world's most dynamic independent advisors and practitioners on creativity, viral marketing, copywriting, direct response marketing and integrated business dynamics. Endorsed by the world's biggest marketing training institute, the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), Gabay is the author of major internationally published books.
Recent Worldwide Clients Include TetraPak Ukraine, Shell, Vipnet, GJ Sheppard BI Worldwide, and many others.
About
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Larry Hochman
Leading authority on change management, customer relationships. Former Director of Customer Service and People & Culture at British Airways.
About
Larry Hochman is one of the most popular keynote speakers in the world. He is a globally recognized expert on Customer Relationships, Corporate Culture, Leadership, Talent Management and The Future of HR.
Larry Hochman spent 10 years in Senior Management roles with British Airways and the loyalty management company, Air Miles, in both New York and London. His roles included Director of Customer Service and separately, Director of People and Culture - he being the first person in Britain to hold this title. Since 1998, he has been running his own speaking, mentoring, and consulting business. Larry is one of the most popular keynote speakers in the world and has now delivered nearly 500 speeches in 60 countries and has spoken on every continent.
Alongside his numerous speaking engagements all over the world, Larry, who pioneered corporate mentoring work in the U.K. at Air Miles, is the personal mentor to several Chief Executives.
Hamish McRae
Europe’s leading futurist. Speaker on global political economy, commentator for The Independent.
About
Hamish McRae is one of Europe's foremost speakers on global future trends in economics, business and society. He is Associate Editor of The Independent Newspaper in London and Principal Economic Commentator for The Independent and The Independent on Sunday and a columnist for the London Evening Standard. He is the author of the acclaimed work on the future, The World in 2020: Power, Culture and Prosperity, which was long-listed for the Business Book of the Year at the FT/Goldman Sachs Awards in New York in 2010. Following its publication he became a sought-after speaker on trends in the economy, technology and business.
As a speaker, Hamish is in demand around the world for his lucid insights into the forces such as technology, demography, globalisation, natural resources, and government policies shape the economy and influence business strategy. He examines likely future scenarios for business, government and society.
Hamish's other books include Capital City - London as a Financial Centre, co-authored with Frances Cairncross, and Wake-up Japan, co-authored with Tadashi Nakamae. and What Works: Success in Stressful Times, which was long-listed for the Business Book of the Year at the FT/Goldman Sachs Awards in New York in 2010.
He is an Adjunct Professor at Trinity College, Dublin, and a Governor of the National Institute for Economic and Social Research as an economic journalist, Hamish McRae was editor of Euromoney and financial editor of The Guardian before moving to The Independent.
Amongst his awards are the David Watt Prize for outstanding political journalism in 2005, the Business and Finance Journalist of the Year in the 2006 British Press Awards, and Communicator of the Year at the 2007 Business Journalist Awards.
He is now working on a new book, provisionally entitled The World in 2050, to be published in 2020.
David McWilliams
International Economist, Journalist, Author and Broadcaster
About
David McWilliams is one of Ireland's leading economic commentators and was the first economist to identify the Irish boom as nothing more than a credit bubble, warning of its collapse and the consequences for the country. His objective is to make economics as widely available and easily understandable on as many platforms as possible. He was made Young Global Leader by the WEF at Davos. His daily financial markets update, www.globalmacro360 is read by tens of thousands of his 96,000 twitter followers.
He is an economist, writer, journalist, lecturer, broadcaster and documentary maker and has written four bestsellers, presented award-winning documentaries and brought a sell-out, one-man economics stand-up show to Ireland's renowned national theatre, the Abbey. He writes two economics columns a week in the Irish newspapers.
David's founded the world's only economics and comedy festival www.kilkenomics.com. In 2013, Kilkenomics was described by the Financial Times in the following simple terms; we've been to lots of festivals and conferences, but Kilkenomics may be the best.
David teaches an online economics course, Economics without and Boundaries
and, his series of animated economics videos, Punk Economics
has been viewed by 500,000 people.
Once upon a time he had a real job working as an economist in the Irish Central Bank and later in the financial markets with UBS and Banque Nationale de Paris. He studied economics at Trinity College Dublin and the College of Europe in Bruges.