Mike Abrashoff
Inspiring Story of Leadership from Former Commander of USS Benfold
About
Mike Abrashoff - Former Commander of USS Benfold | Author of It’s Your Ship | Leadership and Accountability Speaker
It’s Your Ship
Mike Abrashoff faced that challenge as commander of USS Benfold. By listening to his sailors, earning their trust, and giving them ownership of the ship’s success, he helped turn an underperforming crew into one of the Navy’s best. His story gives business audiences a memorable way to think about leadership, culture, and results. The Sweeney Agency
Why Book Mike Abrashoff?
Mike makes accountability feel achievable. His message starts with what leaders and team members can influence today: how they listen, make decisions, solve problems, and support one another.
Audiences hear the story behind It’s Your Ship and leave with practical ideas for building trust, empowering people closest to the work, and improving performance without waiting for perfect conditions.
What Makes Mike Different?
- A real turnaround story led by the same crew under intense operational demands
- A message that gives people at every level responsibility for results
- Leadership lessons grounded in listening, trust, and ownership
- Practical ideas for teamwork, change, and execution
- A keynote he can tailor to the audience’s priorities The Sweeney Agency
Why Is Mike Right for Your Audience?
Mike is a strong choice for leadership meetings, company conferences, sales kickoffs, and organizations that want people to take greater ownership of outcomes. His story speaks to executives and frontline teams alike because everyone has a role in improving how the team works.
Book Mike when your audience needs to:
- Build a culture of trust and accountability
- Give people more ownership over decisions and results
- Improve engagement
- Work together more effectively under pressure
- Focus on changes within their control
- Raise expectations of what the team can achieve
Audience Takeaways
Attendees will leave:
- Ready to ask better questions and listen to people closest to the work
- More willing to take responsibility for solving problems
- Equipped to recognize and use their team’s ideas
- Clearer on how trust and ownership support execution
- Motivated to improve results with the team they already have
Keynote Programs
It’s Your Ship: Achieving Breakthrough Performance
Mike shares how trust, engagement, and shared ownership helped transform USS Benfold. Audiences consider what they can change in their own teams to improve performance. Ideal for leadership, culture, accountability, and teamwork events.
No Limits: Don’t Let Goals Become Limitations
Mike challenges audiences to look beyond merely reaching an assigned target and question the limits they have placed on their own performance. Ideal for sales kickoffs and teams ready to raise their ambitions.
Go Deeper with the Leadership Roadmap
For groups that want to put the keynote into practice, half-day and full-day programs explore the habits of high-performing leaders, teams, and organizations. Ask about the format and facilitator for your event. The Sweeney Agency
Why Contact The Sweeney Agency Now?
Tell us what you want people to do differently after the event, and we’ll help you assess whether Mike’s message is the right fit. We can confirm his availability and current fee, discuss the best program and format, and help plan a presentation around your audience.
Is Mike Right for Your Event?
Tell us about your audience, the results you want to improve, and the leadership behaviour you want to encourage. We’ll help you assess the fit and plan the next step.
To check availability and fee of this speaker, call 1-866-727-7555 or email [email protected].
About
Shawn Achor: Keynote Speaker on Happiness, Positive Psychology & Human Potential | Bestselling Author | Harvard-Trained Researcher
What if one of the biggest opportunities to improve performance, engagement and resilience is changing the way people think about happiness?
Shawn Achor is a bestselling author and internationally recognized keynote speaker on happiness, positive psychology, leadership and human potential.
Known for bringing positive psychology research to life with humor, memorable stories and practical strategies, Shawn challenges the traditional belief that we have to become successful before we can be happy. Instead, he shows audiences how cultivating a more positive mindset can help people improve performance, strengthen resilience and bring greater energy to their work.
Why Book Shawn Achor?
Shawn takes a topic everyone understands—happiness—and connects it directly to the challenges organizations care about: performance, engagement, resilience, leadership and change.
His approach isn't simply about encouraging people to “think positively.” Shawn translates research in positive psychology into practical behaviors people can incorporate into their everyday lives.
The result is a keynote that is funny, thought-provoking and highly actionable—giving audiences a fresh perspective on how they approach work, relationships, challenges and success.
What Makes Shawn Achor Different?
- Leading voice in positive psychology — helped bring the science of happiness into the business world
- Bestselling author — known for books including The Happiness Advantage and Big Potential
- Research-based message — connects positive psychology with workplace performance
- Exceptionally entertaining — combines research with humor and memorable storytelling
- Immediately actionable — practical habits audiences can begin using right away
- Broad audience appeal — relevant to leaders, sales teams and employees across an organization
- Positive and energizing — leaves audiences thinking differently about success and their own potential
Why Is Shawn Right for Your Audience?
Shawn is an excellent choice when you want your audience to leave energized, optimistic and equipped with practical strategies for improving their performance and wellbeing.
He is particularly effective for leadership conferences, corporate meetings, sales kickoffs, association conferences, employee events and organizations focused on engagement, resilience and workplace culture.
Book Shawn when your audience needs to:
- Increase engagement and motivation
- Build greater resilience during challenging periods
- Improve performance without simply increasing pressure
- Create more positive and productive workplace relationships
- Strengthen optimism during uncertainty and change
- Improve collaboration and social connection
- Develop practical habits that support wellbeing
- Recognize how individual behavior can influence team performance
Audience Takeaways
Attendees will leave:
- Understanding the relationship between mindset, happiness and performance
- Equipped with practical positive-psychology strategies they can use immediately
- Better prepared to maintain optimism during challenges
- More aware of how their behavior influences colleagues and teams
- Ready to strengthen relationships and social connection
- Motivated to create habits that support sustainable performance
- Inspired to rethink the traditional relationship between happiness and success
Shawn Achor Keynote Programs
The Happiness Advantage: What if happiness doesn't follow success—but actually helps create it?
Shawn challenges the conventional formula that says we'll be happy once we become more successful.
Drawing on positive psychology research, he shows audiences how developing a more positive mindset can influence motivation, creativity, resilience and performance.
Audiences leave with practical strategies for creating positive habits and bringing greater energy and optimism to both work and life.
Ideal for: Corporate conferences, leadership events, sales kickoffs, employee meetings and workplace wellbeing programs.
Big Potential: Our greatest potential isn't achieved alone. It's influenced by the people around us.
Shawn explores how individuals and organizations can move beyond focusing exclusively on individual achievement and instead create environments where people help one another perform at a higher level.
He demonstrates how stronger relationships, collaboration and positive influence can help teams unlock greater collective potential.
Ideal for: Leadership, teamwork, culture, collaboration and employee-engagement events.
Positive Leadership Through Change: During uncertainty, a leader's mindset doesn't affect only the leader—it can influence the entire team.
Shawn shows leaders how optimism, connection and positive behaviors can help teams remain engaged and resilient when circumstances are difficult or changing.
Audiences gain practical strategies for creating environments where people can continue learning, collaborating and performing despite uncertainty.
Ideal for: Executive meetings, leadership development, transformation initiatives and organizations navigating change.
Why Book Shawn Achor Through The Sweeney Agency?
Shawn Achor's combination of research, humor and practical positive psychology makes him an engaging choice for a wide range of audiences—but the real value comes from connecting his message directly to what you want your people to think, feel and do differently.
The Sweeney Agency can help you:
- Confirm Shawn Achor's availability and current speaking fee
- Determine which Shawn Achor keynote best fits your audience
- Discuss customization around your organization's objectives
- Coordinate format, timing and event logistics
- Compare Shawn with other leading motivational, leadership and workplace-culture speakers
Is Shawn Achor Right for Your Event?
Tell us what you want to improve—performance, engagement, resilience, leadership or workplace culture.
We'll help you determine whether Shawn is the right fit, confirm availability and fees, and make the booking process simple.
Planning a leadership conference, sales kickoff or corporate event? Contact The Sweeney Agency today [email protected] to discuss booking Shawn Achor as your keynote speaker.
Jon Acuff
Jon Acuff: New York Times Bestselling Author | Leadership Speaker | Expert on Goals, Overthinking and Change Turn Good Intentions into Finished Work Your team has goals. What keeps them from making progress? Often it’s overthinking, waiting for the per …
About
Jon Acuff: New York Times Bestselling Author | Leadership Speaker | Expert on Goals, Overthinking and Change
Turn Good Intentions into Finished Work
Jon Acuff makes those habits easier to recognize and change. The author of Soundtracks, Finish, and All It Takes Is a Goal brings humour, relatable stories, and practical tools to audiences that want to adapt to change and follow through. The Sweeney Agency
Why Book Jon Acuff?
Jon takes challenges that can feel personal—self-doubt, perfectionism, and procrastination—and shows how they affect team performance. He gives people useful language for the thoughts that slow them down and simple ways to take action.
For organizations asking people to embrace change or meet ambitious goals, Jon delivers an upbeat keynote with a practical next step.
What Makes Jon Different?
- Humour and storytelling that make difficult habits easy to recognize
- A clear framework for changing patterns of overthinking
- Practical ideas audiences can apply to their work
- A message that connects individual habits to team results
- Programs focused on mindset, change, and finishing goals
Why Is Jon Right for Your Audience?
Jon is a strong fit for leadership meetings, company conferences, sales kickoffs, and teams navigating change. He is especially valuable when people know what they need to accomplish but need help getting past hesitation, distraction, or the pressure to do everything perfectly.
Book Jon when your audience needs to:
- Stop overthinking and start taking useful action
- Navigate change with greater curiosity and confidence
- Turn ambitious goals into consistent progress
- Reduce the drag of perfectionism and procrastination
- Build a shared language for more productive thinking
- Finish important work
Audience Takeaways
Attendees will leave:
- Able to spot recurring thoughts that hold them back
- Equipped to replace those thoughts with ones that support action
- More confident about taking the next step amid uncertainty
- Ready to make visible progress toward their goals
- Motivated to follow through on work that matters to their team
Keynote Programs
Soundtracks
Jon shows teams how to recognize repetitive thoughts that fuel overthinking, replace them with more useful ones, and reinforce new habits. Ideal for change, productivity, and performance events.
The AI Mindset
When AI changes faster than a team can plan for it, fear and overthinking can stall progress. Jon applies his Soundtracks framework to help audiences approach AI with curiosity and a mindset ready for change.
From Start to Finish
Jon explores why capable people leave goals incomplete and how to build the habits that help them finish. Ideal for sales teams, leadership conferences, and organizations focused on execution. The Sweeney Agency
Why Contact The Sweeney Agency Now?
Tell us what is slowing your team down and what you want them to accomplish after the event. We can help you choose Jon’s most relevant program, discuss the format, and confirm his availability and current fee.
Is Jon Right for Your Event?
Tell us about your audience, the goals in front of them, and the obstacles to making progress. We’ll help you assess Jon’s fit and plan the next step.
To check availability and fee of this speaker, call 1-866-727-7555 or email [email protected].
About
Jay Acunzo: Business Storyteller | Author of Break the Wheel | Speaker on Differentiation, Messaging and Public Speaking
Make Your Ideas Matter More
Jay Acunzo helps organizations answer that question with a clearer message and a stronger story. Drawing on marketing experience at Google, ESPN, and HubSpot, he shows audiences how to build ideas that resonate and move people to act. The Sweeney Agency
Why Book Jay Acunzo?
Jay helps marketing, sales, and leadership audiences define the idea they want to be known for—and communicate it so the right people care. His sessions connect differentiation to the words, stories, and presentations teams use every day.
That makes his keynote especially valuable when an organization has strong expertise but struggles to explain why its work matters.
What Makes Jay Different?
- Experience developing stories and original content for brands and business leaders
- A focus on finding one clear, ownable idea
- Practical tools audiences can use to sharpen their message
- An engaging presentation style rooted in the craft he teaches
- A keynote he customizes to the audience and its goals
Why Is Jay Right for Your Audience?
Jay is a strong fit for marketing conferences, sales meetings, leadership events, and client programs. He is particularly relevant when a team feels pressure to publish more or speak louder while its central message remains unclear.
Book Jay when your audience needs to:
- Differentiate its ideas in a crowded market
- Explain value in language buyers remember
- Build a consistent story across marketing, sales, and leadership
- Turn expertise into a clear point of view
- Create stronger presentations and thought leadership
- Move people from attention to trust and action
Audience Takeaways
Attendees will leave:
- Better able to identify a signature idea their audience cares about
- Equipped to make their message clearer and more distinctive
- Ready to develop stories that make their expertise relevant
- More confident speaking to customers, colleagues, or larger audiences
- Focused on the influence of their ideas
Keynote Programs
Resonance Over Reach
Jay’s most-booked keynote helps audiences clarify their message and organize their work around an idea they can own. Ideal for marketing, sales, brand, and executive audiences.
The Last Great Advantage
Jay explores public speaking as a valuable human skill in the AI era. By breaking down effective talks, he gives audiences structures and techniques they can use to make their own presentations more compelling.
The Power of a Premise
Jay shows teams how a clear premise can distinguish their work, strengthen their storytelling, and make their expertise easier to remember. Ideal for organizations building thought leadership or refining how they communicate their value.
Why Contact The Sweeney Agency Now?
Tell us what you want people to say or do differently after the event. We can help you choose Jay’s most relevant keynote, discuss customization, and confirm his availability and current fee.
Is Jay Right for Your Event?
Tell us about your audience, the message you want to sharpen, and the action you want to inspire. We’ll help you assess Jay’s fit and plan the next step.
To check availability and fee of this speaker, call 1-866-727-7555 or email [email protected].
About
Jeff Adams: Paralympic Gold Medalist and Six-Time World Champion | Entrepreneur and Lawyer | Speaker on Resilience, Teamwork and Achieving Goals
Why Book Jeff Adams?
Jeff’s experience extends beyond sport. He founded medical device engineering businesses before pursuing a career in law, graduating from Osgoode Hall Law School and practicing in labour, employment and human rights. His presentations connect lessons from these different chapters with the challenges people face at work: adapting, learning, overcoming barriers and helping one another succeed.
Why Is Jeff Adams Right for Your Audience?
Jeff is a strong fit for company gatherings, leadership meetings, association conferences and recognition events. His experience across sport, business and law gives organizations several ways to connect his story with their goals, particularly when teams need renewed motivation and a shared sense of possibility.
Book Jeff when your audience needs to:
- Regain momentum after a setback
- Turn ambitious goals into steady progress
- Recognize the support behind individual achievement
- Prepare for important performance moments
- Approach barriers with determination and resourcefulness
- Celebrate progress and shared success
Audience Takeaways
Depending on the program selected, attendees will leave:
- More motivated to persist through challenges
- Clearer on the role of preparation in achievement
- Ready to break larger goals into manageable steps
- More aware of how teammates contribute to success
- Inspired to recognize progress and encourage others
Keynote Programs
Getting Back Up
Jeff shares lessons on recovering from disappointment and finding the support to move forward. Ideal for teams facing setbacks, change or demanding goals.
One Step at a Time
Drawing on experiences including climbing the CN Tower in a wheelchair and winning Paralympic gold, Jeff explores the process behind ambitious achievements. Ideal for audiences seeking motivation to pursue meaningful goals.
Incredible Moments
Jeff examines the preparation behind memorable performances and how people can get ready for their own moments of excellence. Ideal for teams approaching major milestones or important challenges.
Celebrating
Jeff explores how recognizing achievement can encourage continued effort and strengthen a team or community. Ideal for recognition programs and events celebrating collective progress.
Is Jeff Adams Right for Your Event?
Tell us about your audience, the challenges it faces and what you want people to do differently after the event. We can help select Jeff’s most relevant program, discuss customization, and confirm his availability and fee.
Contact The Sweeney Agency 1-866-727-7555 or [email protected] for more information on this speaker.
Afterburner, Inc.
Fighter Pilots who Teach Leadership, Teamwork, Culture & Motivation Skills
About
Dirk Ahlborn
About Dirk Ahlborn – Entrepreneur and Innovation Speaker, CEO of Hyperloop Technologies, Founder of JumpStarter
About
Dirk Ahlborn: Founder of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies and JumpStarter | Entrepreneur | Speaker on Innovation, Collaboration and the Future of Work
Why Book Dirk Ahlborn?
His entrepreneurial background spans banking, alternative energy, product development and startup incubation. Dirk connects those experiences with practical questions leaders face: how to attract talent, build partnerships, organize expertise and keep moving when resources are limited. His presentations give audiences a concrete story to examine as they consider new ways to innovate.
Why Is Dirk Ahlborn Right for Your Audience?
Dirk is a strong fit for innovation conferences, leadership meetings, entrepreneurship events and industry gatherings exploring new business models. He is particularly relevant when an organization wants to challenge familiar assumptions about how companies develop ideas and bring people together.
Book Dirk when your audience needs to:
- Explore alternatives to traditional innovation models
- Bring outside expertise into business challenges
- Build commitment around an ambitious vision
- Rethink how teams and partnerships are organized
- Consider how AI could change everyday workflows
- Turn entrepreneurial thinking into practical action
Audience Takeaways
Depending on the program selected, attendees will leave:
- More open to unconventional approaches to innovation
- Clearer on the opportunities and limits of crowd collaboration
- Better able to connect a shared purpose with contributor commitment
- Equipped with questions for evaluating new ways of working
- Ready to identify a practical next step for their own organization
Keynote Programs
Building the Hyperloop
Dirk shares the partnerships, setbacks and decisions behind building HyperloopTT. Ideal for innovation, transportation, infrastructure and leadership audiences interested in what ambitious ventures teach about running a business.
Crowd-Powered Companies
Dirk explains the model that brought hundreds of contributors together to work for equity, including how to organize a distributed community and where the approach can encounter difficulties. Ideal for founders, talent leaders and audiences exploring new organizational models.
Working in the Age of AI
Dirk explores how AI changes the way companies are built and work gets done, with practical ideas for introducing AI agents into workflows. Ideal for executives, industry associations and company audiences considering their next steps with AI.
Is Dirk Ahlborn Right for Your Event?
Tell us about your audience, the innovation challenges it faces and the ideas you want people to explore. We can help select Dirk’s most relevant program, discuss customization and format, and confirm his availability and fee.
Contact The Sweeney Agency 1-866-727-7555 or [email protected] for more information on this speaker.
About
David Allen: Creator of Getting Things Done® | Bestselling Author | Speaker on Productivity, Focus and Managing Commitments
Why Book David Allen?
His approach gives people a practical way to reduce mental clutter and make clearer decisions about what to do next. Drawing on decades of developing and teaching GTD®, David connects everyday habits with the space people need for focused work, creative thinking and a greater sense of control.
Why Is David Allen Right for Your Audience?
David is a strong fit for leadership meetings, professional development events, association conferences and company gatherings. He is particularly relevant when people are juggling multiple projects, responding to constant incoming requests or struggling to keep track of everything they have agreed to do.
Book David when your audience needs to:
- Manage competing commitments with greater clarity
- Turn vague tasks into specific next actions
- Build a reliable system for tracking work
- Reduce the distraction of unfinished obligations
- Review projects and priorities more consistently
- Create more room for focused and creative thinking
Audience Takeaways
Attendees will leave:
- Familiar with the five GTD® steps: capture, clarify, organize, reflect and engage
- Better able to define the next action on a project
- Ready to move reminders out of their heads and into a trusted system
- Clearer on why regular review supports effective decisions
- Equipped with practical habits they can begin applying at work and at home
Keynote Programs
Getting Things Done®
David introduces the principles behind his approach to productivity, explaining how people can organize commitments and choose their next actions with greater confidence. Ideal for audiences seeking practical ways to handle demanding workloads and maintain focus.
The presentation can provide a starting point for audiences new to GTD® or a deeper discussion of its principles for those familiar with the method. Tell us whether your priority is managing incoming work, clarifying projects or strengthening review habits so we can discuss the most relevant focus for your event.
Is David Allen Right for Your Event?
Tell us about your audience, the demands on its attention and the working habits you want people to improve. We can help discuss the presentation’s focus and format, and confirm David’s availability and fee.
Contact The Sweeney Agency 1-866-727-7555 or [email protected] for more information on this speaker.
David Allison
Human Values Expert, Bestselling Author, and Founder of The Valuegraphics Project
About
David Allison: Human Values Expert | Founder of the Valuegraphics Project | Bestselling Author
Understand What People Value. Change What Happens Next.
David Allison helps organizations look past demographic labels to the human values people share. As the founder of the Valuegraphics Project, he turns research on values into practical ideas for reaching customers, engaging employees, and building stronger connections.
Why Book David Allison?
David gives audiences a fresh way to understand why people act. He shows leaders how to use insight into human values when they communicate, sell, lead, or create a sense of belonging.
His keynotes are especially useful for organizations with plenty of customer or employee data but too little clarity about what will truly engage people.
What Makes David Different?
- Original global research into the values that influence decisions
- An approach that looks beyond broad demographic assumptions
- Relevant applications for sales, marketing, leadership, and workplace culture
- A way to connect data with more human communication
- The ability to tailor the conversation to the audience an organization wants to engage
Why Is David Right for Your Audience?
David is a strong fit for leadership conferences, sales and marketing events, association meetings, and organizations working to strengthen culture. He is particularly valuable when a team needs to understand its customers, employees, or community more deeply before trying to influence them.
Book David when your audience needs to:
- Understand what matters most to the people it serves
- Build stronger connections with customers and colleagues
- Make messages more relevant and persuasive
- Lead teams with a better grasp of shared motivations
- Strengthen belonging without relying on stereotypes
- Turn audience insight into practical decisions
Audience Takeaways
Attendees will leave:
- Clearer on the difference between who people are and what they value
- Ready to ask better questions about the audiences they want to reach
- Equipped to connect messages and decisions to shared values
- More confident using values to improve engagement and trust
- Motivated to put human insight alongside the data they already use
Keynote Programs
Boosting Sales by Being Human
David shows sales and marketing teams how understanding customer values can help them communicate more effectively and build stronger relationships. Ideal for sales kickoffs, customer experience events, and marketing conferences.
The Science of Values-Based Leadership
David explores how leaders can identify the values their people share and use that understanding to improve communication, collaboration, and engagement. Ideal for leadership meetings and organizations navigating change.
The Blueprint for Belonging
David challenges audiences to move beyond assumptions based on demographic labels and examine the values that help people feel understood and included. Ideal for workplace culture and people leadership events.
Why Contact The Sweeney Agency Now?
Tell us about your audience and the outcome you want. We’ll help you assess which of David’s programs is most relevant, discuss customization, and confirm his availability and current fee.
Is David Right for Your Event?
Tell us whose decisions you hope to influence, which relationships you want to strengthen, and what you want your audience to do differently. We’ll help you assess David’s fit and plan the next step.
To check availability and fee of this speaker, call 1-866-727-7555 or email [email protected].
About
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Click here to receive your Customized List of the Best Speakers on Sales . No Cost. No obligation. Just great advice.
Our Sales Speakers have used their knowledge to adapt and create actionable and engaging presentations on how organizations can pivot to embrace the opportunities presented by the pandemic.
Ranging from Virtual Keynotes to Fireside chats, all with interactive elements, let our Sales Speakers help your 2021 Sales Conference.
We work with some of the best Sales Speakers in the speaking world and asked them all the same question:
What is your number 1 sales tip?
Here’s how they answered:

Saying “yes” implies a course of positive action. The predictable expletive, “No!” can fill up our time and energy because saying “no” is
frequently a commitment to an unproductive struggle that reinforces helplessness and inertia.
Responding positively to problems is the prerequisite to overcoming bad things that occur so we can break down our challenges and move forward.
People thrive on challenges, and are the winners who get things done.
Scott McKain is a Dynamic Speaker on Innovation, Sales & Customer Service.
2. The 80/20 Rule – Tim Sanders

Some great advice we received from Tim Sanders, VP of Customer Insights for Upwork just after starting The Sweeney Agency:
“Don’t think about sales or closing deals, just position yourself so that whenever you can help someone you help them, without any expectations. 20% of the people you help you’ll never hear from again, but that won’t matter because you will certainly hear back from the other 80%. They will remember you and your incredible help and that will create such great relationships
that you will build both a great business and a great life.”
Tim Sanders is a renowned Communication and Leadership Speaker.
3. A Vision of the Future – Ryan Estis

Communicating compassionately, consistently, confidently and courageously is precisely what is required during a crisis. Our research has found that two of the biggest drivers of engagement and commitment from employees are confidence in their senior leadership and confidence in the future of the
organization.
Now is the time to model scenarios to create a long-term plan and vision for your business, fully aware that you will be agile enough to adapt when new information is available or the landscape suddenly changes.
Ryan Estis speaks on Business Performance, Leadership and Sales.
4. Be Indiana Jones – Sterling Hawkins

At the climax of Indiana Jones & The Holy Grail, the Nazis are turned to dust after selected a gem studded chalice they believe to be the Holy Grail. Indy chooses a simple wooden cup that is in fact the true Holy Grail.
In the context of business, most of us scramble to have the “right” message on social media or want to make things look a certain way. The same optics that make the false grail so beautiful.
This is a powerful lesson: the substance of something, is ultimately infinitely more important than what it looks like. Optics may present a short term gain but will always lose in the long run and at a macro level.
5. Ask Open-Ended Questions – Diana Kander

Your customers’ natural inclination is to be nice, not honest. Open-ended questions give your potential customers the option to respond very honestly and to fully explain the problems they’re
facing (that your product may or may not solve).
Ask leading questions that broadcast the answer you want to hear, such as:
- “Are you…”
- “Will you…”
- “Won’t you…”
- “Didn’t you…”
- “Can’t you…”
Diana Kander is an Entrepreneur, Author, and Speaker on Innovation.
Get in touch to book your next great sales speaker.
Simon Anderson
Founder of Venture Foresight, Futurist, Award-winning Author and Global Speaker on Trends & Technology.
About
Simon Anderson: Futurist | Applied Foresight Expert | Founder of Venture Foresight
Be Ready for What Comes Next
Simon Anderson helps organizations answer that question. He makes emerging trends and technology understandable and gives leaders a practical way to prepare for the opportunities and challenges ahead.
Why Book Simon Anderson?
Simon helps audiences turn uncertainty into better decisions. His Future Ready Framework™ organizes foresight into three actions: Attention, Anticipation, and Action. It gives leaders a way to recognize meaningful signals, consider what they could mean, and decide what to do next.
His presentations connect broad change to the choices facing a specific organization or industry.
What Makes Simon Different?
- A practical foresight framework leaders can use in their next meeting
- Clear explanations of AI, technology, and emerging change
- A focus on early signals and decisions leaders can make now
- Industry-specific examples that connect trends to the audience’s work
- Tools for questioning assumptions and acting before change becomes urgent
Why Is Simon Right for Your Audience?
Simon is a strong fit for executive meetings, industry conferences, strategy sessions, and leadership teams facing rapid change. He is especially valuable when people know their sector is shifting but need a shared way to separate significant developments from noise.
Book Simon when your audience needs to:
- Spot changes that could affect its industry
- Understand what AI and emerging technology could mean for its work
- Challenge assumptions built for a different environment
- Balance improving today’s business with preparing for tomorrow’s
- Turn trend discussions into decisions and experiments
- Build a more proactive approach to change
Audience Takeaways
Attendees will leave:
- Equipped to use Attention, Anticipation, and Action as a planning framework
- Better able to distinguish meaningful signals from passing noise
- Ready to examine assumptions that may be limiting their options
- Clearer about emerging opportunities and potential challenges
- Motivated to take practical steps toward a more future-ready organization
Keynote Programs
Beyond Resilient: How to Be Future Ready® in an Age of Constant Change
Simon introduces his Future Ready Framework™ and shows leaders how to notice important shifts, think through their implications, and act early. Ideal for leadership and strategy events where change is a central concern.
The Future Is Here. Now What?
AI attracts attention, but it is one of several technologies changing how organizations work. Simon helps audiences decide which developments deserve attention, what they could mean for their industry, and when to act.
Leading into the Future of Your Industry
In this customized keynote, Simon examines the trends reshaping the audience’s sector and applies his framework to potential opportunities. Ideal for industry associations, client events, and executive teams looking for relevant foresight.
Why Contact The Sweeney Agency Now?
Tell us about your industry, your priorities, and the decisions your leaders need to make. We’ll help you identify the most relevant Simon Anderson program, discuss customization, and confirm his availability and current fee.
Is Simon Right for Your Event?
Tell us what is changing around your organization and what you want your audience to do differently afterward. We’ll help you assess Simon’s fit and plan the next step.
To check availability and fee of this speaker, call 1-866-727-7555 or email [email protected].
Scott Anthony
Author and speaker on growth and innovation, creativity and entrepreneurialism.
About
Scott Anthony: Innovation and Disruption Expert | Dartmouth Tuck Professor | Author of Epic Disruptions
Turn Disruption into a Path Forward
Scott Anthony helps organizations work through both. A clinical professor of strategy at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business and a longtime advisor at Innosight, he brings research, business examples, and practical tools to the challenges of innovation, transformation, and growth. Tuck School of Business
Why Book Scott Anthony?
Scott gives leaders a way to act when the future is uncertain. He shows how to test assumptions, explore new opportunities, and make progress before every answer is known.
His keynotes are particularly useful for teams facing shifts in customer needs, technology, or competition. Scott connects innovation to strategic choices, leadership behaviour, and the systems needed to move ideas forward.
What Makes Scott Different?
- Experience spanning academic research and practical strategy work
- A clear view of how disruption unfolds
- Frameworks for strengthening today’s business while creating future growth
- Practical approaches to experimentation and innovation culture
- Insight relevant to executives making decisions under uncertainty
Why Is Scott Right for Your Audience?
Scott is a strong fit for executive conferences, board and leadership meetings, innovation events, and organizations planning a major transformation. He is especially valuable when leaders agree change is necessary but need a shared language and a more concrete path forward.
Book Scott when your audience needs to:
- Understand the forces reshaping its industry
- Make strategic decisions with incomplete information
- Strengthen the core business while exploring new growth
- Move promising ideas from discussion to testing
- Address the leadership and cultural side of transformation
- Build a more consistent approach to innovation
Audience Takeaways
Attendees will leave:
- Better able to recognize patterns of disruptive change
- Clearer on the assumptions behind their current strategy
- Equipped to discuss future opportunities without waiting for certainty
- Ready to use experimentation to learn what works
- More confident leading teams through ambiguity and change
Keynote Programs
Decoding the Epic Disruptions That Shaped Our Modern World
Drawing on Epic Disruptions, Scott uses stories from past innovations to show how major change unfolds and what those patterns can teach leaders facing disruption today. Ideal for strategy, innovation, and future-focused events.
Lead Through the Fog of Uncertainty with Optimism
Scott gives leaders practical ways to work through ambiguity, question old assumptions, and identify opportunity amid competing demands. Ideal for executive teams and organizations navigating transformation.
The Myths and Realities of Building a Culture of Innovation
Scott examines the systems and leadership habits that help innovation happen consistently. Audiences consider how to remove obstacles, support experimentation, and connect new ideas to results. Ideal for leadership and companywide innovation events. The Sweeney Agency
Why Contact The Sweeney Agency Now?
Tell us where growth is slowing, what is changing in your market, and what you want your audience to do differently. We’ll help you assess which of Scott’s topics fits your event, discuss customization, and check his availability and current fee.
Is Scott Right for Your Event?
Tell us about your audience, its biggest strategic challenge, and the decisions the event should help move forward. We’ll help you assess Scott’s fit and plan the next step.
To check availability and fee of this speaker, call 1-866-727-7555 or email [email protected].
Vernice “FlyGirl” Armour
America’s First Black Female Combat Pilot, Former Marine & Cop, Author and Consultant to Business
About
Vernice “FlyGirl” Armour: Keynote Speaker on Leadership, Courage & High Performance | America’s First Black Female Combat Pilot | Former U.S. Marine | Author
Break Through Barriers. Take the Gutsy Move. What could your people accomplish if they stopped letting fear, uncertainty and obstacles determine what was possible?
As America’s first Black female combat pilot, Vernice knows what it takes to break through barriers, perform under pressure and take decisive action when the stakes are high. Her dynamic keynotes challenge audiences to move beyond excuses, embrace bold action and develop the mindset needed to accomplish ambitious goals.
Why Book Vernice “FlyGirl” Armour?
Vernice doesn't simply talk about courage and performance. She has lived them in one of the world's most demanding environments.
From breaking barriers in military aviation to flying combat missions, Vernice learned that success requires more than talent. It requires preparation, confidence, teamwork and the willingness to act when circumstances are uncertain.
She translates those lessons into a powerful business message that helps audiences move from thinking about what they should do to actually doing it.
Her combination of extraordinary stories, practical strategies and contagious energy makes Vernice especially effective when you want to energize a room and inspire immediate action.
What Makes Vernice Different?
- Barrier-breaking combat pilot — America's first Black female combat pilot
- Battle-tested leadership — lessons developed in demanding, high-pressure environments
- High-energy delivery — brings exceptional enthusiasm and presence to the stage
- Action-oriented message — challenges audiences to move from ideas to execution
- Powerful business relevance — connects aviation lessons to leadership, sales and performance
- Courage under pressure — helps people act confidently despite fear and uncertainty
- Broad audience appeal — connects with executives, leaders, sales teams and employees
- Memorable storytelling — combines inspiration, humor and practical lessons
Why Is Vernice Right for Your Audience?
Vernice is an outstanding choice when you need your audience to raise their energy, take greater ownership and act more decisively.
She is particularly effective for leadership conferences, sales kickoffs, corporate meetings, women's leadership events and organizations pursuing ambitious growth or transformation.
Book Vernice when your audience needs to:
- Take bold action instead of waiting for perfect conditions
- Break through barriers and limiting beliefs
- Perform confidently under pressure
- Strengthen accountability and personal ownership
- Turn strategy into execution
- Navigate uncertainty with courage
- Build stronger teamwork and trust
- Raise expectations for what's possible
Audience Takeaways
Attendees will leave:
- More confident taking action despite uncertainty
- Better prepared to push through obstacles and setbacks
- Understanding why courage is essential to leadership
- More willing to take ownership of results
- Equipped with a stronger mindset for high-pressure situations
- Ready to turn intentions into action
- Energized to make their own “gutsy moves”
Vernice “FlyGirl” Armour Keynote Programs
Get Gutsy: Make the Gutsy Move. What happens when you stop waiting for circumstances to be perfect and start taking action?
Vernice challenges audiences to identify the barriers standing between where they are and where they want to go—and then make the courageous moves necessary to break through them.
Drawing from her experiences as a combat pilot, she shows how preparation, mindset and decisive action can help people move forward even when uncertainty is high.
Ideal for: Leadership conferences, corporate meetings, transformation events and organizations pursuing ambitious goals.
Zero to Breakthrough. Breakthrough performance starts when people take ownership of creating a different result.
Vernice helps audiences move beyond excuses, obstacles and limiting assumptions and focus on the actions that can move them forward.
Her message encourages people to clarify their goals, identify what's holding them back and take practical steps toward achieving meaningful results.
Ideal for: Sales kickoffs, high-performance teams, leadership meetings and organizations focused on execution.
Leading From the Cockpit. When the pressure rises, leadership becomes visible.
Drawing on lessons from military aviation, Vernice explores how effective leaders build trust, communicate clearly, make decisions and keep teams focused on the mission.
She translates the discipline and teamwork of the cockpit into practical leadership lessons audiences can apply in their own organizations.
Ideal for: Executive meetings, leadership development, teamwork and high-performance audiences.
Is Vernice Armour Right for Your Event?
Tell us the breakthrough you need your people to make—and what's standing in their way.
We'll help you determine whether Vernice is the right fit, confirm availability and fees, and make the booking process simple.
To check availability and fee of this speaker, call 1-866-727-7555 or email [email protected].
Lior Arussy
Leading Global Expert on Customer Experience & Customer-Centric Transformation
About
Lior Arussy: Customer Experience Strategist | Founder of Strativity Group | Speaker on Change and Employee Engagement
Make Change Matter to Customers and Employees
Lior Arussy helps leaders close that gap. As the founder of Strativity Group, he connects customer strategy to the actions employees take and the value customers experience. The Sweeney Agency
Why Book Lior Arussy?
Lior brings a practitioner’s view of change. He has worked with organizations on customer experience and employee engagement, and he shows audiences why a new strategy succeeds only when people can make it real in their work.
His keynotes challenge leaders to look beyond slogans and technology investments. Lior focuses on what customers value and how employees can deliver it consistently.
What Makes Lior Different?
- Experience helping organizations change customer and employee experiences
- A direct connection between culture, execution, and business results
- A human perspective on how AI is changing customer expectations
- Ideas that speak to leaders and customer-facing teams
- An emphasis on making change visible in everyday behaviour
Why Is Lior Right for Your Audience?
Lior is a strong fit for leadership conferences, customer experience events, sales and service meetings, and organizations working through transformation. He is particularly relevant when a team has an ambitious customer strategy but needs greater commitment and consistency across the organization.
Book Lior when your audience needs to:
- Build more valuable, lasting customer relationships
- Connect employee engagement to customer experience
- Respond to changing expectations in the AI era
- Turn a customer strategy into daily decisions and actions
- Strengthen adaptability during ongoing change
- Create a culture that supports exceptional performance
Audience Takeaways
Attendees will leave:
- Clearer about what makes a customer experience valuable
- Ready to identify gaps between their promise and their delivery
- Better able to involve employees in making change work
- Equipped to examine where digital tools help or hinder human connection
- Motivated to take ownership of the experience they create
Keynote Programs
The One and Only: The Gen AI-Empowered Customer
Lior explores how generative AI is changing customer expectations and the ways people engage with brands. He asks organizations to reconsider how they create relevant value for customers who expect more individual attention and choice.
Customer Experience as an Engine for Growth
Lior examines how organizations can make customer relationships a source of lasting business value. Drawing on successes and setbacks from real organizations, he connects customer strategy to execution and growth.
Change Resilience: The New Core Competence
Lior focuses on the human side of transformation and how organizations can become more capable of adapting as change continues. Ideal for teams facing a major strategic shift or repeated disruption. The Sweeney Agency
Why Contact The Sweeney Agency Now?
Tell us about the gap between your organization’s customer promise and what people experience. We’ll help you assess which of Lior’s programs fits your event, discuss customization, and confirm his availability and current fee.
Is Lior Right for Your Event?
Tell us about your audience, the change you are trying to make, and the customer or employee outcome you want. We’ll help you assess Lior’s fit and plan the next step.
To check availability and fee of this speaker, call 1-866-727-7555 or email [email protected].
Mariana Atencio
Peabody Award-winning Journalist, Bestselling Author, Entrepreneur, Inspiring Storyteller, and Host/Moderator
About
Mariana Atencio: Peabody Award-Winning Journalist | Bestselling Author | Speaker on Trust, Authenticity and Communication
Build Trust by Showing Up as Yourself
Mariana Atencio brings a journalist’s instinct for finding the human story to that question. The author of Perfectly You helps leaders and teams communicate with greater authenticity, build trust, and recognize the strength in what makes each person different. The Sweeney Agency
Why Book Mariana Atencio?
Mariana combines the energy of a compelling storyteller with experience reporting, interviewing, and speaking to diverse audiences. She connects her own journey with challenges people face at work: finding their voice, communicating through uncertainty, and building relationships across differences.
Her keynotes give audiences practical ways to communicate with clarity and empathy. For leaders, that can help create the trust people need to collaborate and contribute their best work.
What Makes Mariana Different?
- A journalist’s experience telling stories that connect people
- A personal message about authenticity grounded in her own journey
- Practical communication lessons for leaders and teams
- An interactive, energetic style that invites audience reflection
- Versatility as a keynote speaker, host, and moderator
Why Is Mariana Right for Your Audience?
Mariana is a strong fit for leadership conferences, employee events, women’s programs, and organizations working to strengthen communication or culture. She is especially valuable when an audience needs both an inspiring story and a reason to examine how it builds trust day to day.
Book Mariana when your audience needs to:
- Communicate more credibly during uncertainty
- Build trust across teams and with customers
- Lead with authenticity and empathy
- Value individual differences as a source of strength
- Speak up with greater confidence
- Strengthen connection and belonging at work
Audience Takeaways
Attendees will leave:
- More aware of how authenticity affects trust
- Ready to communicate with greater clarity and empathy
- Better able to recognize and use their own strengths
- More confident sharing ideas and stories that matter
- Motivated to create stronger connections with colleagues
Keynote Programs
Real Matters: Building Trust in an Unreal World
Mariana explores why genuine communication matters when employees and customers are surrounded by polished narratives and AI-generated messages. She gives leaders ways to build credibility, strengthen connection, and guide teams through uncertainty.
Perfectly You: Leveraging the Power Within
Drawing on her book and personal story, Mariana shows audiences how embracing what makes them different can strengthen confidence, resilience, and purpose. Ideal for employee events and women’s leadership programs.
Communicating Confidently: Cut Through the Noise and Get Heard
In this interactive keynote or breakout, Mariana shares techniques for distilling a message, speaking with confidence, and connecting across in-person and digital settings. Ideal for leaders and client-facing teams. The Sweeney Agency
Why Contact The Sweeney Agency Now?
Tell us whether your audience most needs to build trust, find its voice, or communicate more effectively. We’ll help you choose the right program, discuss customization, and confirm Mariana’s availability and current fee.
Is Mariana Right for Your Event?
Tell us about your audience, where trust or communication needs to improve, and what you want people to do differently. We’ll help you assess Mariana’s fit and plan the next step.
To check availability and fee of this speaker, call 1-866-727-7555 or email [email protected].
About
Sarah Aviram: Change and Motivation Speaker | Former Fortune 500 HR Leader | Author of Remotivation
Help People Find Momentum During Change
Sarah Aviram helps leaders and teams find that momentum. Drawing on her HR leadership experience and her time working across 12 countries in 12 months, she shows audiences how to reconnect with what drives them and take ownership of their next steps. The Sweeney Agency
Why Book Sarah Aviram?
Sarah addresses a challenge leaders recognize: people may understand a change and still struggle to commit to it. Her Remotivation Method focuses on the internal drivers behind engagement, helping audiences identify what motivates them and what they can do when circumstances are uncertain.
Her sessions combine relatable stories with reflection and practical exercises. Audiences leave with a way to discuss motivation more openly and take useful action.
What Makes Sarah Different?
- Experience leading HR and talent development work in large organizations
- A practical framework focused on the drivers of motivation
- A personal story shaped by working across 12 countries in one year
- Interactive sessions that help attendees apply ideas during the event
- A message that speaks to leaders and individual contributors alike
Why Is Sarah Right for Your Audience?
Sarah is a strong fit for leadership conferences, employee meetings, HR events, and organizations navigating restructuring, new technology, or shifting ways of working. She is especially relevant when people feel change happening around them and need to see where they still have agency.
Book Sarah when your audience needs to:
- Rebuild motivation during uncertainty
- Take greater ownership of choices and actions
- Help teams move from hesitation to commitment
- Understand what drives engagement and fulfillment
- Lead change with more empathy and clarity
- Create momentum without waiting for circumstances to settle
Audience Takeaways
Attendees will leave:
- Clearer on the factors that motivate them at work
- Able to recognize where they have influence during change
- Equipped to use Sarah’s six-driver Remotivation Method
- Ready to take a practical step toward renewed momentum
- Better prepared to support colleagues through transitions
Keynote Programs
Get Remotivated: Navigate Change from the Inside Out
Sarah shows audiences how to activate personal agency and reconnect with the internal drivers that support commitment and performance. Ideal for teams facing transformation, disruption, or a demanding new chapter. Available as an interactive keynote or virtual presentation.
Get Remotivated: Team Activation Workshop
This hands-on follow-up gives teams time to apply the keynote’s ideas to their own challenges through exercises and discussion. Ideal for groups that want to turn insight into shared actions. Sarah Aviram
Why Contact The Sweeney Agency Now?
Tell us what changes your people are experiencing and what you want them to do afterward. We’ll help you assess whether Sarah’s approach fits, choose the right format, and confirm her availability and current fee.
Is Sarah Right for Your Event?
Tell us about your audience, the change it is facing, and where motivation or engagement needs support. We’ll help you assess Sarah’s fit and plan the next step.
To check availability and fee of this speaker, call 1-866-727-7555 or email [email protected].
About
Cam Awesome: Motivational Keynote Speaker on Resilience, Mindset & High Performance | Champion Boxer | Team USA Captain
Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable
What could your people accomplish if setbacks stopped being reasons to quit and became reasons to grow?
Cam Awesome is a champion boxer, former Team USA captain and dynamic motivational keynote speaker on resilience, mindset, overcoming adversity and high performance.
Why Book Cam Awesome?
Cam delivers something every event planner wants: a motivational keynote that's inspiring, entertaining and genuinely useful.
His story isn't about winning every time. It's about learning how to respond when you don't.
Cam shows audiences that resilience isn't something you're born with—it's something you develop by changing the way you interpret setbacks, failure and discomfort.
His energetic and often hilarious delivery gets audiences laughing while challenging them to take greater ownership, become more resilient and stop allowing fear of failure to limit their potential.
What Makes Cam Awesome Different?
- Champion athlete — brings real lessons from elite-level competition
- Former Team USA captain — understands leadership, accountability and teamwork
- Powerful resilience story — demonstrates how setbacks can become catalysts for growth
- Exceptionally entertaining — uses humor to make serious lessons memorable
- Authentic and vulnerable — openly shares both victories and failures
- High-energy delivery — immediately engages and energizes a room
- Practical mindset strategies — gives audiences ideas they can apply immediately
- Broad audience appeal — particularly effective for sales, leadership and employee events
Why Is Cam Right for Your Audience?
Cam is an outstanding choice when you want your audience to increase their resilience, become more comfortable with discomfort and take action despite the possibility of failure.
He is particularly effective for sales kickoffs, leadership conferences, corporate meetings, association events and teams working in competitive or rapidly changing environments.
Book Cam when your audience needs to:
- Bounce back faster from setbacks
- Become more comfortable taking risks
- Stop allowing fear of failure to limit performance
- Build greater confidence and resilience
- Maintain motivation when results don't come immediately
- Take greater ownership of their attitude
- Approach challenges with a stronger mindset
- Bring more energy and optimism to their work
Audience Takeaways
Attendees will leave:
- Thinking differently about failure and setbacks
- Better prepared to respond when things don't go according to plan
- More willing to step outside their comfort zone
- Equipped with practical strategies for strengthening resilience
- Understanding how mindset influences performance
- More confident taking action despite uncertainty
- Energized and ready to approach their next challenge differently
Cam Awesome Keynote Programs
Getting Comfortable Being Uncomfortable. Growth rarely happens inside your comfort zone.
Cam shares the lessons he learned from years of elite competition and the setbacks that threatened to derail his ambitions.
He challenges audiences to rethink their relationship with discomfort and recognize that difficult experiences can become opportunities to learn, adapt and improve.
Ideal for: Sales kickoffs, leadership conferences, corporate meetings and organizations navigating change.
The Awesome Mindset. You can't control everything that happens. You can control what you do next.
Cam shows audiences how changing their perspective can change the way they respond to pressure, disappointment and adversity.
Using humor, personal stories and lessons from competitive boxing, he demonstrates how people can develop a mindset that helps them recover faster and continue moving toward their goals.
Ideal for: High-performance teams, sales organizations, leadership events and employee meetings.
Turning Failure Into Fuel. What if failure wasn't the opposite of success—but part of the process required to achieve it?
Cam challenges the fear of failure that often prevents people from taking risks, pursuing opportunities and reaching their potential.
His experiences demonstrate how setbacks can provide the lessons, perspective and motivation needed to come back stronger.
Ideal for: Sales teams, emerging leaders, high-performance cultures and organizations pursuing ambitious goals.
Why Book Cam Awesome Through The Sweeney Agency?
Cam Awesome combines championship-level experience, powerful resilience lessons and exceptional humor—but the real value comes from connecting his message directly to the challenges your audience is facing.
The Sweeney Agency can help you:
- Confirm Cam Awesome's availability and current speaking fee
- Determine which Cam Awesome keynote best fits your audience
- Discuss customization around your event objectives
- Coordinate format, timing and event logistics
- Compare Cam with other leading motivational, resilience and high-performance speakers
Is Cam Awesome Right for Your Event?
Tell us where your people need greater resilience, confidence or motivation.
We'll help you determine whether Cam is the right fit, confirm availability and fees, and make the booking process simple.
To check availability and fee of this speaker, call 1-866-727-7555 or email [email protected].
About
Nikolas Badminton: Futurist | Chief Futurist and Hope Engineer™ | Author of Facing Our Futures
Help Your Audience Imagine—and Prepare for—What Comes Next
Nikolas Badminton helps organizations do that work. A futurist and executive advisor, he connects emerging technology and global change to the questions leaders need to ask about their own industry. The Sweeney Agency
Why Book Nikolas Badminton?
Nikolas makes the future a useful strategic conversation. Drawing on his work with organizations and his book Facing Our Futures, he challenges audiences to examine emerging signals, prepare for risks, and see opportunities they may otherwise miss.
His presentations can open a broad conversation about an industry’s future or focus on AI, energy, or geopolitical technology.
What Makes Nikolas Different?
- Experience advising leaders on futures thinking and strategic foresight
- An energetic approach that makes large-scale change relevant to the audience
- The ability to connect technology, industry shifts, and wider global forces
- A focus on imagining desirable futures as well as anticipating risks
- Topics that can be tailored to a sector’s most pressing questions
Why Is Nikolas Right for Your Audience?
Nikolas is a strong fit for executive conferences, industry associations, strategy meetings, and organizations confronting significant technological or market change. He is particularly valuable when leaders need to step back from immediate demands and consider the choices that will shape their future.
Book Nikolas when your audience needs to:
- See beyond short-term trends and current assumptions
- Explore possible futures for its industry
- Understand the implications of AI and emerging technology
- Anticipate risks and opportunities earlier
- Build a bolder shared vision
- Turn curiosity about the future into strategic discussion
Audience Takeaways
Attendees will leave:
- Better able to recognize signals of meaningful change
- Ready to ask stronger questions about possible futures
- Clearer on how technology and global shifts may affect their sector
- More confident discussing opportunities alongside risks
- Motivated to bring foresight into today’s decisions
Keynote Programs
Facing Our Futures: Looking to 2035 and Beyond
Nikolas helps audiences explore the megatrends and emerging technologies that could reshape their industry. He encourages a shift from accepting today’s assumptions to asking what could be possible.
The A.I. Leader: Create Incredible Productivity, Profit & Growth
Nikolas explores how AI could change work, capabilities, and business models—and what leaders should consider as they prepare their organizations.
Energy Transitions: Explore Renewable Energy Futures
Nikolas examines how changes in energy generation, distribution, storage, and consumption could create new opportunities and challenges.
Geopolitical Technology Futures: Looking to 2035 and Beyond
Nikolas considers how AI, critical resources, supply chains, and other technologies could reshape global competition and strategic planning. The Sweeney Agency
Why Contact The Sweeney Agency Now?
Tell us about your industry, the forces you are watching, and the choices your leaders face. We’ll help you identify the most relevant program, discuss customization, and confirm Nikolas’s availability and current fee.
Is Nikolas Right for Your Event?
Tell us about your audience, the changes it needs to understand, and the conversation you want the event to start. We’ll help you assess Nikolas’s fit and plan the next step.
To check availability and fee of this speaker, call 1-866-727-7555 or email [email protected].
Jay Baer
Hall of Fame Keynote Speaker and Best-selling Author on Customer Experience, Customer Service, Business Growth, and Marketing, and Event Emcee & Host
About
Jay Baer: Hall of Fame Keynote Speaker | Customer Experience and Business Growth Expert | Bestselling Author
Give Customers a Reason to Choose You—and Come Back
Jay Baer helps leaders answer that question. A researcher, advisor, and entrepreneur focused on customer experience, he turns changing expectations into practical actions teams can use to win and keep customers. The Sweeney Agency
Why Book Jay Baer?
Jay connects customer experience directly to growth. He makes the case that speed, clarity, kindness, and human connection influence whether people buy, return, and recommend a business.
His keynotes combine research, business examples, and humour with actions audiences can take back to their teams.
What Makes Jay Different?
- Extensive experience advising brands on marketing and customer experience
- Research-driven insights translated into clear business actions
- Humour and stories that make the message memorable
- Relevant ideas for leaders, sales, service, and marketing teams
- Programs that can be customized to the organization and its customers
Why Is Jay Right for Your Audience?
Jay is a strong fit for leadership conferences, customer experience events, sales meetings, association conventions, and client-facing teams. He is especially valuable when an organization wants to turn good service intentions into a more distinctive and consistent customer experience.
Book Jay when your audience needs to:
- Respond to customers more effectively
- Build loyalty as expectations rise
- Balance AI and automation with human connection
- Make communication easier to understand
- Give customers a reason to talk about the brand
- Connect service improvements to business growth
Audience Takeaways
Attendees will leave:
- More aware of where customer expectations are changing
- Ready to identify friction in the customer journey
- Equipped to improve speed, clarity, and kindness in key interactions
- Better able to choose when a human touch matters most
- Motivated to create experiences customers remember and recommend
Keynote Programs
Human.Kind: How to Keep It Real and Win in This Age of Automation
Jay explores how organizations can use technology while preserving the personal connections customers value. Ideal for leaders deciding how AI and human service should work together.
The New Loyalty Landscape: Customer Experience in the Age of AI
Drawing on customer research, Jay examines how AI is changing expectations for responsiveness, communication, and connection. Ideal for customer experience and strategy events.
Quick. Clear. Kind.: The 3 Unbreakable Rules of Customer Loyalty
Jay gives audiences a simple lens for improving crucial customer interactions: respond quickly, communicate clearly, and treat people with kindness. Ideal for sales, service, and companywide meetings.
Ignite a Word of Mouth Wave
Jay shows how a distinctive customer experience can give people a story worth sharing. Ideal for marketing and leadership audiences that want customer advocacy to become a stronger source of growth. The Sweeney Agency
Why Contact The Sweeney Agency Now?
Tell us where your customer experience is falling short—or where you see an opportunity to stand out. We’ll help you choose Jay’s most relevant program, discuss customization, and confirm his availability and current fee.
Is Jay Right for Your Event?
Tell us about your audience, your customer experience priorities, and what you want people to do differently after the keynote. We’ll help you assess Jay’s fit and plan the next step.
To check availability and fee of this speaker, call 1-866-727-7555 or email [email protected].
Rodger Baker
Executive Director of the Stratfor Center for Applied Geopolitics at RANE
About
Rodger Baker: Geopolitical Analyst | CEO of Baker Global Insights | Former Stratfor Center Executive Director
Understand the Forces Reshaping Your World
Rodger Baker helps audiences see the deeper forces at work. Drawing on decades in geopolitical analysis, including his leadership of the Stratfor Center for Applied Geopolitics at RANE, he connects global developments to strategic choices. He now leads Baker Global Insights. The Sweeney Agency
Why Book Rodger Baker?
Rodger brings a method to a subject often dominated by competing predictions. He examines geography, national interests, historical patterns, and changing international relationships to help audiences understand why events unfold.
For an executive audience, he can focus the discussion on the regions and issues that matter to its operations.
What Makes Rodger Different?
- Decades of experience in applied geopolitics and intelligence analysis
- Deep knowledge of China, the Korean Peninsula, and the wider Asia-Pacific region
- Experience briefing executives and corporate boards
- An analytical approach that looks beyond the latest headline
- The ability to connect international developments to business decisions
Why Is Rodger Right for Your Audience?
Rodger is a strong fit for executive meetings, board retreats, industry conferences, and organizations with international exposure. He is especially useful when leaders need to understand how political and security developments could affect markets, supply chains, investments, or strategic plans.
Book Rodger when your audience needs to:
- Make sense of a changing geopolitical landscape
- Identify forces that could affect its industry or region
- Understand developments in China and the Asia-Pacific
- Consider how international relations shape business risk
- Think more clearly about long-term scenarios
- Ask better questions when making decisions under uncertainty
Audience Takeaways
Attendees will leave:
- Clearer on the geopolitical forces behind major events
- Better equipped to distinguish structural change from short-term noise
- More aware of possible implications for their business
- Ready to include geopolitical factors in strategic discussions
- Able to frame more useful questions about regional risks and opportunities
Keynote Programs
Rodger’s presentation can be shaped around the geographic and strategic questions most relevant to your audience. Potential focuses include:
Global Geopolitical Trends and Business Implications
Rodger examines shifts in international relations and what they could mean for companies operating across borders. Ideal for executive and industry audiences seeking a strategic overview.
China, the Korean Peninsula and Asia-Pacific Dynamics
Drawing on his regional expertise, Rodger helps audiences understand policy developments and security relationships across East Asia. Ideal for organizations with trade, investment, or operational interests in the region.
The Arctic’s Emergence as a Geopolitical Flashpoint
Rodger explores why the Arctic matters increasingly to security, maritime activity, and international competition. Ideal for audiences considering long-term geopolitical and resource issues. The Sweeney Agency
Why Contact The Sweeney Agency Now?
Tell us about your organization’s international exposure and the questions its leaders need answered. We’ll help shape a relevant program, discuss the format, and confirm Rodger’s availability and current fee.
Is Rodger Right for Your Event?
Tell us about your audience, the geopolitical developments affecting it, and what you want attendees to understand more clearly. We’ll help you assess Rodger’s fit and plan the next step.
To check availability and fee of this speaker, call 1-866-727-7555 or email [email protected]
Dr. Robert Ballard
Inspiring adventure speaker, deep sea explorer who discovered the RMS Titanic.
About
Dr. Robert Ballard: Ocean Explorer Best Known for Discovering the Titanic | Founder of Ocean Exploration Trust | Speaker on Discovery, Innovation and Human Achievement
Why Book Dr. Robert Ballard?
As founder of Ocean Exploration Trust and a pioneer in deep-sea exploration technology, Robert connects remarkable discoveries with the work that makes them possible. His presentations use striking imagery and personal accounts to explore the importance of asking questions, learning from setbacks and bringing people together around a challenging mission.
Why Is Dr. Robert Ballard Right for Your Audience?
Robert is a strong fit for leadership conferences, innovation events, association meetings and educational programs. His story offers an engaging starting point for organizations that want to encourage curiosity, broaden perspectives and inspire people to pursue ambitious goals.
Book Robert when your audience needs to:
- Approach unfamiliar challenges with curiosity
- See new possibilities through exploration and technology
- Persist when progress is difficult
- Recognize the teamwork behind major achievements
- Connect preparation with ambitious goals
- Rediscover the excitement of learning and discovery
Audience Takeaways
Depending on the program selected, attendees will leave:
- Inspired by the possibilities of exploration
- More willing to question familiar assumptions
- Ready to view setbacks as opportunities to learn
- More aware of how expertise and technology work together
- Motivated to pursue meaningful goals with persistence
Keynote Programs
Adventures in Deep Sea Exploration: Living the Dream
Robert shares personal accounts and imagery from his exploration career, connecting discovery with curiosity and perseverance. Ideal for audiences seeking inspiration to explore new possibilities and pursue ambitious goals.
Science, Exploration and the Miracles of Human Achievement
Robert examines the discoveries and collaborative effort behind extraordinary achievements beneath the sea. Ideal for leadership, innovation and teamwork audiences.
Human History Underwater
Robert explores how shipwrecks and underwater archaeology reveal stories about our past. Ideal for audiences interested in history, science and the technologies that make discovery possible.
Is Dr. Robert Ballard Right for Your Event?
Tell us about your audience, the ideas you want to spark and the challenges you want people to approach with renewed energy. We can help select Robert’s most relevant program, discuss customization, and confirm his availability and fee.
Contact The Sweeney Agency 1-866-727-7555 or [email protected] for more information on this speaker.
Chris Barton
Founder and Creator of Shazam, Entrepreneur, Inventor, and Tech Investor
About
Chris Barton: Keynote Speaker on Innovation, AI & Disruptive Thinking | Founder & First CEO of Shazam | Inventor | Tech Entrepreneur
Bring Impossible Ideas to Life. What if the idea everyone says is impossible is actually your biggest opportunity?
When Chris conceived the idea for Shazam, experts told him it couldn't be done. He refused to accept the assumptions defining what was possible. The result became one of the world's most recognizable technology platforms, with more than 2 billion downloads before being acquired by Apple.
Today, Chris shows organizations how to challenge conventional thinking, break through barriers and turn seemingly impossible ideas into reality.
Why Book Chris Barton?
Chris doesn't simply talk about innovation. He built something the experts said couldn't be built.
Shazam was conceived before smartphones and app stores existed. Creating it required Chris and his team to solve enormous technological, commercial and operational challenges while repeatedly finding ways around obstacles that could have ended the company.
Those experiences shaped Chris's “Start from Zero” approach to innovation—a way of challenging assumptions and returning to basic truths instead of automatically accepting how things have always been done.
His keynote combines a remarkable entrepreneurial story with practical thinking audiences can use to challenge the status quo and create breakthrough ideas of their own.
What Makes Chris Barton Different?
- Founder & first CEO of Shazam — created one of the world's most recognizable technology platforms
- AI pioneer — Shazam was an early mass-consumer application of artificial intelligence
- 2+ billion downloads — transformed an impossible-sounding idea into a global product
- Apple acquisition — Shazam was acquired by Apple in 2018
- 12 patents — inventor across Shazam, Google and Dropbox
- Google experience — was Google's first employee focused on mobile partnerships
- Dropbox experience — joined when it was still a rapidly growing startup
- Start from Zero thinking — gives audiences a practical framework for challenging assumptions
- Creative Persistence — demonstrates how imagination and tenacity combine to overcome barriers
Why Is Chris Right for Your Audience?
Chris is an outstanding choice when you want your audience to challenge conventional thinking, become more innovative and stop allowing assumptions to determine what's possible.
He is particularly effective for leadership conferences, AI and technology events, innovation summits, sales kickoffs and organizations navigating disruption.
Book Chris when your audience needs to:
- Challenge assumptions and conventional thinking
- Generate more innovative ideas
- Understand the possibilities created by AI and technology
- Turn ambitious ideas into action
- Overcome barriers without compromising the original vision
- Develop greater creative persistence
- Eliminate friction for customers and employees
- Become more comfortable pursuing ideas others don't immediately understand
Audience Takeaways
Attendees will leave:
- Thinking differently about what is possible
- Better equipped to challenge assumptions
- Understanding how first-principles thinking can unlock innovation
- More willing to pursue unconventional ideas
- Better prepared to creatively overcome obstacles
- Recognizing how unnecessary friction limits growth
- Inspired to combine persistence with imagination
- Ready to bring their own “impossible” ideas to life
Chris Barton Keynote Programs
Bring Impossible Ideas to Life. How do you create something that experts insist can't be done?
Technology and AI are rapidly changing the boundaries of what's possible. Chris takes audiences inside the remarkable creation of Shazam and the challenges involved in developing an idea years ahead of the technology ecosystem required to support it.
He shows audiences how questioning assumptions, thinking from basic truths and approaching obstacles differently can unlock entirely new possibilities.
Ideal for: AI conferences, innovation summits, leadership meetings and organizations pursuing breakthrough ideas.
Overcome Obstacles with Imagination. Persistence matters—but simply trying the same thing harder isn't enough.
Chris calls his approach Creative Persistence: combining determination with the imagination required to find another path when the obvious route is blocked.
Using extraordinary stories from Shazam's journey, he shows audiences how to challenge barriers, question conventional solutions and keep moving toward ambitious goals.
Ideal for: Leadership conferences, sales kickoffs, entrepreneurial events and organizations navigating difficult challenges.
Eliminate Effort to Unlock Explosive Growth. Where is unnecessary friction making it harder for customers, employees or partners to say yes?
Shazam succeeded by making something incredibly complex feel effortless: hear a song, press a button and discover what it is.
Drawing on his experiences with Shazam, Google and Dropbox, Chris shows audiences how identifying and removing friction can create dramatically better customer and employee experiences.
Ideal for: Customer experience, sales, innovation, technology and growth-focused events.
Build the Vision You See, But Others Don't. What do you see that others can't see yet?
Breakthrough ideas often face resistance precisely because they're unfamiliar.
Chris shares the entrepreneurial lessons behind transforming Shazam from an idea many considered impossible into a product used by billions of people.
He challenges entrepreneurs and innovators to strengthen their conviction, prioritize what matters and find creative ways to turn vision into reality.
Ideal for: Entrepreneurs, founders, innovation teams and organizations building new products or businesses.
Why Book Chris Barton Through The Sweeney Agency?
Chris Barton combines an extraordinary entrepreneurial success story with practical frameworks for innovation, AI and breakthrough thinking—but the real value comes from connecting those lessons to the barriers and opportunities facing your organization.
The Sweeney Agency can help you:
- Confirm Chris Barton's availability and current speaking fee
- Determine which Chris Barton keynote best fits your audience
- Discuss customization around your industry and event objectives
- Coordinate format, timing and event logistics
- Compare Chris with other leading innovation, AI and technology keynote speakers
Is Chris Barton Right for Your Event?
Tell us the impossible idea, stubborn barrier or innovation challenge your organization is facing.
We'll help you determine whether Chris is the right fit, confirm availability and fees, and make the booking process simple.
Planning an innovation summit, AI conference, leadership meeting or corporate event? Contact The Sweeney Agency today [email protected] to discuss booking Chris Barton as your keynote speaker.
Chris Bashinelli
National Geographic Explorer & TV Host, United Nations Moderator, Actor from The Sopranos (HBO), Expert on Human Connection & Happiness in Business
About
Chris Bashinelli: National Geographic Explorer | Host of Bridge the Gap | Speaker on Human Connection, Trust and Leadership
Why Book Chris Bashinelli?
As host of Bridge the Gap, a travel series featured on PBS and National Geographic Channel, Chris brings global stories and footage to the stage. His energetic presentations combine humor, audience interaction and practical exercises, giving people opportunities to reflect on how they connect with customers, colleagues and the teams they lead.
Why Is Chris Bashinelli Right for Your Audience?
Chris is a strong fit for leadership conferences, sales meetings, company gatherings and culture-focused events. He is especially relevant when an organization wants people to feel more connected, strengthen customer relationships or lead with greater empathy during change.
Book Chris when your audience needs to:
- Build trust with clients and colleagues
- Listen with greater curiosity and attention
- Strengthen belonging across teams
- Lead through uncertainty with authenticity
- Connect individual strengths with shared goals
- Bring renewed purpose to everyday interactions
Audience Takeaways
Depending on the program selected, attendees will leave:
- More aware of how presence and listening influence trust
- Equipped with practical ways to strengthen human connection
- Ready to recognize the person behind a role or transaction
- Better prepared to support colleagues through change
- Motivated to create a culture where people feel valued and heard
Keynote Programs
The Power of Human Connection
Chris explores how understanding people and serving their interests can strengthen relationships with clients and teams. Ideal for sales, customer service and leadership audiences seeking deeper trust.
Leading Through Change
Chris shares stories of resilience and personal growth to explore how leaders can remain grounded and connected during uncertainty. Ideal for organizations navigating change and seeking renewed employee inspiration.
Building Unbreakable Teams
Through global stories and interactive moments, Chris introduces his PACT of Connection: Presence, Authenticity, Care and Trust. Ideal for teams seeking stronger collaboration, belonging and open communication.
The Happiness Effect
Drawing on his travels and mindfulness practice, Chris explores the role of gratitude, perspective and happiness in work and relationships. Ideal for audiences seeking renewed purpose and practical ways to support well-being.
Is Chris Bashinelli Right for Your Event?
Tell us about your audience, the relationships you want to strengthen and what you want people to do differently after the event. We can help select Chris’s most relevant program, discuss customization and audience interaction, and confirm his availability and fee.
Contact The Sweeney Agency 1-866-727-7555 or [email protected] for more information on this speaker.
Kristel Bauer
Kristel Bauer: Leadership and High Performance Speaker | Author of Work-Life Tango | Founder of Live Greatly Perform Well Without Running on Empty Your people are being asked to deliver more while adapting to constant change. How can they stay focused …
About
Kristel Bauer: Leadership and High Performance Speaker | Author of Work-Life Tango | Founder of Live Greatly
Perform Well Without Running on Empty
Kristel Bauer helps leaders and teams answer that question. Drawing on her background in healthcare, behavioral science, and leadership, she offers practical habits for strengthening performance, resilience, and well-being in demanding workplaces.
Why Book Kristel Bauer?
Kristel connects high performance with the daily choices that make it sustainable. Her presentations help audiences rethink how they manage energy, attention, and competing priorities so they can do their best work over time.
Her experience as a Physician Assistant in integrative psychiatry and her work as the author of Work-Life Tango give her a distinctive perspective on stress, behaviour change, and leadership.
What Makes Kristel Different?
- A healthcare background that informs her approach to stress and resilience
- Practical habits that connect personal well-being with team performance
- A message relevant to leaders and individual contributors
- Research-informed ideas delivered with warmth and energy
- Actionable guidance for navigating pressure and change
Why Is Kristel Right for Your Audience?
Kristel is a strong fit for leadership conferences, employee events, healthcare meetings, and organizations focused on performance and culture. She is particularly valuable when people are stretched thin and need ways to stay engaged, focused, and adaptable.
Book Kristel when your audience needs to:
- Sustain strong performance during demanding periods
- Improve focus and manage competing priorities
- Lead teams more effectively under pressure
- Respond to change with greater confidence
- Reduce habits that contribute to burnout
- Build a culture that supports both results and well-being
Audience Takeaways
Attendees will leave:
- Better able to identify habits that drain or restore their energy
- Equipped to improve focus and decision-making under pressure
- Ready to make practical changes to how they work each day
- More confident leading or adapting through uncertainty
- Motivated to pursue success they can sustain
Keynote Programs
High-Performance Habits: Unlocking Energy, Focus, and Sustainable Success
Kristel shares practical ways to strengthen attention, productivity, and resilience through better daily habits. Ideal for companywide events and teams seeking strong results without chronic exhaustion.
Embracing Change: Unlocking Motivation and Momentum in Times of Uncertainty
Kristel helps audiences approach change with greater adaptability and a growth-oriented mindset. Ideal for organizations facing transition, new demands, or persistent uncertainty.
Leadership Under Pressure: The Mindset & Habits of Sustainable High Performance
Kristel focuses on the communication, self-leadership, and decision-making habits that help leaders support their people while delivering results. Ideal for management and leadership conferences.
Why Contact The Sweeney Agency Now?
Tell us whether your audience’s priority is energy, adaptability, or leadership effectiveness. We’ll help you select Kristel’s most relevant program, discuss customization, and confirm her availability and current fee.
Is Kristel Right for Your Event?
Tell us about your audience, the pressures it faces, and what you want people to do differently after the event. We’ll help you assess Kristel’s fit and plan the next step.
To check availability and fee of this speaker, call 1-866-727-7555 or email [email protected].
Bernard Baumohl
Chief Global Economist of the Economic Outlook Group, Speaker on International Economy and Geopolitics
About
Bernard Baumohl: Chief Global Economist, The Economic Outlook Group | Author of The Secrets of Economic Indicators | Speaker on the Economy and Geopolitics
Make Sense of the Economic Signals That Matter
Bernard Baumohl helps audiences answer those questions. He brings together economic data, global developments, and a clear explanation of what they could mean for business.
Why Book Bernard Baumohl?
Bernard makes complex economic developments understandable and relevant. He looks at forward-looking indicators alongside consumer and business activity, inflation, interest rates, and geopolitical risk to help leaders consider what may be changing.
His presentations connect the broader outlook to the decisions facing an audience. Business leaders leave with a more informed way to discuss potential turning points, prepare for risks, and recognize opportunities.
What Makes Bernard Different?
- A career spanning economic forecasting, financial journalism, and international affairs
- A clear explanation of the indicators behind an economic outlook
- A perspective that connects global events to business conditions
- The ability to focus on issues affecting a specific industry
- Facts and humour that make a complex subject engaging
Why Is Bernard Right for Your Audience?
Bernard is a strong fit for executive meetings, financial services events, industry associations, and conferences where the economic outlook affects planning. He is particularly valuable when leaders need to understand the factors that could change the picture.
Book Bernard when your audience needs to:
- Understand the direction of the U.S. and international economy
- Identify economic signals relevant to its industry
- Consider the effects of inflation, interest rates, and spending trends
- Assess how geopolitical developments could affect business
- Prepare for a range of possible economic conditions
- Ask better questions when making strategic decisions
Audience Takeaways
Attendees will leave:
- Clearer on which indicators deserve attention
- Better able to connect economic trends to their own market
- More aware of potential risks and opportunities
- Equipped to discuss uncertainty without relying on a single forecast
- Ready to bring economic context into planning conversations
Keynote Programs
What Is the Outlook for the U.S. and International Economy?
Bernard examines the forces shaping growth, consumer and business spending, jobs, inflation, interest rates, and trade. He connects the outlook to the questions facing the audience’s industry. Ideal for annual meetings and strategic planning events.
Geopolitical Risks: Where Is the World Headed?
Bernard considers how international tensions and policy decisions may affect economic conditions and business activity. Ideal for executives and globally engaged organizations evaluating external risks.
Stay Ahead of the Curve: Using Economic Indicators
In a seminar format, Bernard helps leaders understand how forward-looking indicators can signal potential turning points. Ideal for groups that want a deeper discussion of the data behind the outlook.
Why Contact The Sweeney Agency Now?
Tell us about your industry, the markets you follow, and the questions your leaders are asking. We’ll help you determine the right focus, discuss customization, and confirm Bernard’s availability and current fee.
Is Bernard Right for Your Event?
Tell us about your audience, its exposure to economic change, and what you want attendees to understand more clearly. We’ll help you assess Bernard’s fit and plan the next step.
To check availability and fee of this speaker, call 1-866-727-7555 or email [email protected].
Jack Becker
Decorated U.S. Navy Fighter Pilot, Founder & CEO, Flight Level Solutions, Inc., Leadership, Teamwork, Safety, and Peak Human Performance Expert
About
Jack Becker: Keynote Speaker on Leadership, Accountability & High Performance | Former U.S. Navy Fighter Pilot | Founder of Supersonic Success
Bring Fighter-Pilot Precision to Business Performance
What could your team accomplish if they prepared, communicated and executed with the discipline of elite fighter pilots?
Jack Becker is a former U.S. Navy fighter pilot and dynamic keynote speaker on leadership, accountability, teamwork and high performance.
Why Book Jack Becker?
Jack doesn't simply tell exciting fighter-pilot stories. He translates the disciplines of military aviation into practical strategies business teams can use.
His message focuses on the behaviors that drive consistent performance: preparation, accountability, communication, execution and learning from every experience.
For organizations looking to improve performance rather than simply motivate people for an hour, Jack delivers a keynote designed to help audiences turn lessons into action and action into better results.
What Makes Jack Becker Different?
- Former U.S. Navy fighter pilot — brings lessons from an elite performance environment
- Business-focused message — translates aviation principles into workplace strategies
- Accountability driven — encourages people to take ownership of their performance
- Execution focused — helps close the gap between strategy and results
- Practical debriefing approach — emphasizes learning and continuous improvement
- Team performance — demonstrates why trust and communication matter under pressure
- High-energy delivery — engages audiences with compelling aviation experiences
- Actionable takeaways — gives teams concepts they can apply immediately
Why Is Jack Right for Your Audience?
Jack is an outstanding choice when you want your audience to improve execution, strengthen accountability and work together more effectively.
He is particularly effective for leadership conferences, sales kickoffs, corporate meetings, management events and organizations focused on operational excellence.
Book Jack when your audience needs to:
- Turn strategy into consistent execution
- Strengthen personal accountability
- Improve communication across teams
- Build greater trust and collaboration
- Prepare more effectively for important opportunities
- Learn quickly from wins and mistakes
- Perform more consistently under pressure
- Create a culture of continuous improvement
Audience Takeaways
Attendees will leave:
- Understanding how preparation improves execution
- More willing to take ownership of results
- Better equipped to communicate when the stakes are high
- Recognizing the importance of effective debriefing
- More focused on learning rather than assigning blame
- Better prepared to collaborate across teams
- Ready to apply continuous improvement to everyday performance
Jack Becker Keynote Programs
Supersonic Success: What can business teams learn from the way fighter pilots prepare, execute and improve?
Jack takes audiences inside the world of military aviation to demonstrate how high-performing teams prepare for demanding missions and execute when the pressure is on.
He then translates those lessons into practical business strategies that can help organizations improve communication, accountability and performance.
Ideal for: Leadership conferences, corporate meetings, management teams and organizations focused on execution.
The Fighter Pilot Mindset: High performance doesn't happen by accident.
Jack explores the habits and disciplines that help elite performers stay focused, make decisions and deliver results in demanding environments.
Audiences learn how stronger preparation, clearer expectations and personal accountability can improve performance across an organization.
Ideal for: Sales kickoffs, leadership meetings and high-performance teams.
Debrief to Win: What happens after the mission may be just as important as what happens during it.
Jack demonstrates how effective debriefing can help teams identify what worked, understand what didn't and continuously improve without creating a culture of blame.
Applied to business, this approach can strengthen communication, accelerate learning and help teams perform better on the next mission.
Ideal for: Leadership teams, sales organizations, project teams and companies building a culture of continuous improvement.
Why Book Jack Becker Through The Sweeney Agency?
Jack Becker combines fighter-pilot experience with practical business strategies for improving execution, accountability and teamwork—but the real value comes from connecting those lessons to the performance challenges facing your organization.
The Sweeney Agency can help you:
- Confirm Jack Becker's availability and current speaking fee
- Determine which Jack Becker keynote best fits your audience
- Discuss customization around your event objectives
- Coordinate format, timing and event logistics
- Compare Jack with other leading leadership, teamwork and high-performance speakers
Is Jack Becker Right for Your Event?
Tell us where your team needs to improve execution, accountability or collaboration.
We'll help you determine whether Jack is the right fit, confirm availability and fees, and make the booking process simple.
Planning a leadership conference, sales kickoff or corporate event? Contact The Sweeney Agency today [email protected] to discuss booking Jack Becker as your keynote speaker.
Kim Becking
Communications and PR strategist, Trusted Media Expert, and Bestselling Author
About
Kim Becking: Keynote Speaker | Bestselling Author | Expert on Change, Resilience and Unstoppable Momentum
Build Momentum Through Change
Kim Becking helps audiences turn that question into action. Drawing on her research into change, resilience, and human behavior, she gives people practical ways to shift their mindset, strengthen connections, and build momentum amid uncertainty.
Why Book Kim Becking?
Kim brings energy and useful tools to conversations about change. She helps audiences recognize what they can influence, respond more effectively to setbacks, and take the next step even when circumstances remain uncertain.
Her message can be tailored to leaders, teams, sales professionals, and association audiences facing rapid change or sustained pressure.
What Makes Kim Different?
- A research-informed approach to change, resilience, and human behavior
- Practical strategies audiences can use during periods of uncertainty
- A focus on moving forward together
- Experience speaking to corporate and association audiences
- An energetic style that makes serious challenges easier to discuss and act on
Why Is Kim Right for Your Audience?
Kim is a strong fit for leadership conferences, employee events, association meetings, and sales gatherings. She is especially relevant when people are managing constant change, competing demands, or a loss of momentum.
Book Kim when your audience needs to:
- Adapt to change with greater confidence
- Build resilience during demanding periods
- Replace overwhelm with a practical next step
- Strengthen connection and collaboration across teams
- Lead others through uncertainty
- Sustain motivation toward shared goals
Audience Takeaways
Attendees will leave:
- Better able to recognize and reframe unhelpful reactions to change
- Equipped with practical ways to regain focus and move forward
- More aware of how connection supports resilient teams
- Ready to take ownership of actions within their control
- Motivated to build momentum for themselves and others
Keynote Programs
Ignite Unstoppable Momentum
Kim shows audiences how to use adaptability, resilience, and mindset to navigate a fast-changing world. Ideal for conference and employee audiences seeking renewed energy and a practical path forward.
Resign as General Manager of the Universe
This keynote invites people to release the pressure to manage everything, refuel, and refocus on what matters. Ideal for audiences experiencing overwhelm or sustained demands.
Unleash Unstoppable Momentum in Others
Kim explores how leaders can strengthen connection, engagement, and resilience through a more human approach to leadership. Ideal for managers and executive teams guiding people through change.
Build Unstoppable Momentum Together
Kim focuses on the connection and collaboration teams need to move forward together. Ideal for organizations working across functions or rebuilding shared energy around a goal.
Accelerate Unstoppable Momentum
Kim addresses the mindset and persistence sales teams need when conditions shift. Ideal for sales meetings and teams looking to maintain focus through uncertainty.
Why Contact The Sweeney Agency Now?
Tell us what is changing for your audience and the kind of momentum you want to create. We can help you choose the most relevant keynote, discuss customization, and confirm Kim’s availability and current fee.
Is Kim Right for Your Event?
Tell us about your audience, the challenges it faces, and what you want people to do differently after the event. We’ll help you assess Kim’s fit and plan the next step.
To check availability and fee of this speaker, call 1-866-727-7555 or email [email protected]
Robyn Benincasa
Adventure Racer, Firefighter, Speaker on Leadership & Teamwork
About
Robyn Benincasa: World Champion Adventure Racer | New York Times Bestselling Author | Firefighter | Extreme Teamwork Expert
Make Winning Inevitable
Robyn Benincasa shows audiences how to become that kind of team. A World Champion adventure racer, veteran San Diego firefighter, bestselling author and founder of the Project Athena Foundation, she combines gripping stories, dramatic footage and practical strategies that help people collaborate, embrace change and perform under pressure.
Why Book Robyn Benincasa?
Robyn gives audiences more than temporary inspiration. She provides a memorable operating system for achieving difficult goals together.
Her lessons come from 17 years of expedition adventure racing, where every teammate had to reach the finish line together, and more than 23 years as a firefighter. Her energetic multimedia presentations make teamwork, resilience and leadership real, relevant and immediately useful.
What Makes Robyn Different?
- Extraordinary real-world credibility and a powerful stage presence
- Unforgettable stories that make business lessons easy to remember
- Practical habits audiences can apply immediately
- A message that connects departments, generations and leadership levels
- Customization around the organization’s challenges and objectives
Why Is Robyn Right for Your Audience?
Robyn is an excellent choice when an organization needs people to move beyond individual achievement and perform as one team. She is particularly effective for leadership conferences, sales kickoffs, association events and organizations navigating change.
Audience Takeaways
Attendees will leave:
- Ready to shift from “me thinking” to “we thinking”
- Equipped with practical habits for strengthening teamwork and trust
- Better prepared to turn pressure and setbacks into momentum
- Focused on the team’s most important finish line
- Inspired to lead with greater courage, empathy and determination
Keynote Programs
Adapt, Overcome and Win as One
Robyn shows teams how to move decisively through disruption, create stability in uncertain conditions and turn change into opportunity. Ideal for transformation, restructuring, rapid growth, AI adoption and competitive pressure.
Extreme T.E.A.M.W.O.R.K.
Audiences discover how trust, shared ownership and commitment to one another turn talented individuals into an exceptional team. Ideal for strengthening culture, collaboration and collective performance.
Why Winners Win
Created for sales and high-performance audiences, this keynote demonstrates how top performers can share knowledge, combine strengths and compete as one. Ideal for sales kickoffs, revenue teams and ambitious growth initiatives.
Inspiring Greatness Through G.R.I.T.
Robyn reveals how sustainable resilience grows from connection—to the mission, to teammates and to the leader we choose to become. Ideal for audiences facing setbacks, prolonged uncertainty or depleted morale.
Why Contact The Sweeney Agency Now?
The right speaker must do more than impress. They must fit your audience, address the challenge behind the event and support the outcome you want to achieve.
Contact us to:
- Confirm Robyn’s availability and current fee
- Identify the best keynote for your objectives
- Discuss customization, format and event logistics
- Receive comparable recommendations if another speaker may be a stronger fit
Is Robyn Right for Your Event?
Tell us about your audience, their challenges and what you want them to think, feel or do differently. We will provide an honest assessment of Robyn’s fit, confirm availability and fees, and help you move forward with confidence.
Contact The Sweeney Agency to discuss booking Robyn Benincasa.
About
Ty Bennett: Leadership Speaker | Bestselling Author | Expert on Storytelling and High Performance
Turn Better Communication Into Better Results
Ty Bennett helps audiences answer both questions. A bestselling author and entrepreneur, he combines storytelling, leadership experience, and research on performance to give people practical ways to connect, influence, and achieve more.
Why Book Ty Bennett?
Ty makes communication a skill audiences can use immediately. He shows leaders how to build trust and commitment, and helps sales teams tell stories that make their value clear and memorable.
His entrepreneurial background gives those ideas weight: he built a direct sales business with his brother to more than $20 million in annual revenue by age 21. He brings that experience to keynotes that are energetic, engaging, and focused on action.
What Makes Ty Different?
- An accomplished storyteller who demonstrates the communication skills he teaches
- Experience building and leading a successful sales organization
- Bestselling books on storytelling, influence, and partnership leadership
- Research-informed insights into high performance
- Practical ideas for leaders and sales professionals to apply after the event
Why Is Ty Right for Your Audience?
Ty is a strong fit for leadership conferences, sales kickoffs, association events, and company meetings. He is especially valuable when an organization wants stronger relationships, clearer communication, or greater commitment to a shared goal.
Book Ty when your audience needs to:
- Earn buy-in and strengthen trust across teams
- Communicate ideas in ways people remember
- Make sales conversations more relevant and engaging
- Build collaboration instead of relying on authority
- Improve performance while sustaining long-term results
- Turn inspiration into specific changes in behavior
Audience Takeaways
Attendees will leave:
- Better equipped to use stories to explain ideas and move people to action
- Ready to ask better questions and create more meaningful conversations
- Clearer on how partnership builds commitment and collaboration
- Able to apply practical leadership and communication techniques
- Motivated to improve how they lead, sell, or work
Keynote Programs
Partnership Is the New Leadership
Ty shows leaders how to build commitment through communication, trust, and genuine partnership. Audiences learn ways to encourage collaboration and build stronger relationships across their organizations. Ideal for leadership and management events.
The Power of Storytelling
Ty teaches audiences how to use stories to make messages easier to understand, remember, and act on. He connects storytelling to leadership, sales, and customer relationships, giving participants tools to make everyday communication more effective. Ideal for sales, marketing, and leadership audiences.
Redefining High Performance
Drawing on his performance research and entrepreneurial experience, Ty challenges audiences to rethink how they pursue results. He explores ways to lead, sell, and perform more effectively while sustaining progress over time. Ideal for sales kickoffs and organizations aiming to raise performance.
Why Contact The Sweeney Agency Now?
Tell us where your audience needs to improve: leadership commitment, sales conversations, storytelling, or performance. We can help identify Ty’s most relevant keynote, discuss how it can fit your event, and confirm his availability and current fee.
Is Ty Right for Your Event?
Tell us about your audience, the challenges it faces, and what you want people to do differently afterward. We’ll help you assess Ty’s fit and plan the next step.
To check availability and fee of this speaker, call 1-866-727-7555 or email [email protected].





























