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Dirk Ahlborn Speaker

Dirk Ahlborn

About Dirk Ahlborn – Entrepreneur and Innovation Speaker, CEO of Hyperloop Technologies, Founder of JumpStarter

 About

Dirk Ahlborn is an entrepreneur keynote speaker and the founder and CEO of JumpStarter Inc. JumpStarter is a web portal that creates smarter and more successful companies by using crowdsourcing to fund ideas from initial conception to final product. Dirk is also CEO and Co-Founder of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies. It is JumpStartFund’s well-known undertaking to make the Hyperloop become reality, by using its crowd collaboration concept.

Dirk started his career in 1993 as an investment specialist in Berlin, Germany. After moving to Italy in 1997, he founded several companies in the alternative energy and interior design space. In 2006, he successfully sold one of these companies to a global alternative energy conglomerate.

He is a serial entrepreneur with experience in almost every element of business. His careers have taken him through management, product design, development, manufacturing, production facility design and set up, production cost control, marketing, product distribution, customer service, and sales.

Before co-founding Jumpstarter, he was at the Girvan Institute of Technology, an incubator-accelerator for early-stage high-tech companies. At Girvan, beginning in 2009, he was instrumental in the development of several startup companies, most notably Advanced Turbine Designs, a developer of natural-gas-fueled gas turbine generators for combined heat and power. In the course of his multi-faceted activities at Girvan he also managed mobile and web application developments as well as search engine optimization and online marketing.

Prior to 2009, his activities were centered in Germany and Italy. Dirk is fluent in German and Italian and proficient in conversational Spanish. He holds the credential in banking and insurance from the Organization of German Industry and Commerce.

Amplify Your Sales Speaker

Amplify Your Sales

5 Tips on Sales to make 2021 better than ever

 About

Click here to receive your Customized List of the Best Speakers on Sales

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:

  1. Say Yes to Misfortune – Scott McKain

Scott McKain, Dynamic Speaker on Innovation, Sales & Customer Service - The Sweeney Agency Speakers Bureau

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

Tim Sanders - Renowned Communication and Leadership Speaker at The Sweeney Agency Speakers Bureau

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

Ryan Estis - Speaks on Business Performance, Leadership and Sales - The Sweeney Agency - Coronavirus

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

Innovation Keynote Sterling Hawkins The Sweeney Agency Speakers Bureau

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.

Sterling Hawkins is a leading speaker on Breakthrough Innovation, Tech Entrepreneur and Leadership Expert.

5. Ask Open-Ended Questions – Diana Kander

Diana Kander, Innovation & Entrepreneurship Speaker, The Sweeney Agency

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.

Chris Barton Speaker

Chris Barton

Founder and Creator of Shazam, Entrepreneur, Inventor, and Tech Investor

 About

Spend time with inventor Chris Barton and you’ll be inspired to believe anything is possible. His positive energy to make seemingly impossible ideas come to life is absolutely contagious. Chris’s latest venture, Guard, uses AI to detect drowning in swimming pools – a never-before accomplished effort. Chris’s best-known creation is Shazam, the app that changed the way the world discovers music and laid the groundwork for the consumer AI industry we know today. With over 2 billion downloads, Shazam is a global phenomenon and Apple's sixth-largest acquisition. The app lets people identify songs out of thin air from anywhere they are, making it nothing short of pure magic. Chris holds 12 patents and played key roles in the early days of Google and Dropbox. He believes his dyslexia helps him uncover novel solutions to obstacles and to achieving audacious goals. In his speeches, Chris shares his Start From Zero thinking method of questioning assumptions and challenging conventional wisdom. His amazing story and storytelling completely captivate audiences and inspires them to make big things happen in their organizations – to create magic in defiance of the obstacles.

Chris grew up with a French mother and British father – both of whom were university professors. However, academics were a struggle for Chris. Chris would come to learn he had undiagnosed dyslexia. Over the years, Chris learned to embrace what he now calls his superpower. Chris believes that dyslexia has allowed him to overcome barriers to achieve his many accomplishments.

Shazam is a great example. Though Chris does not position himself as an expert on the broader future of A.I., his journey as a true A.I. pioneer started when Chris had the idea to identify music using a mobile phone, as no technology existed to achieve his goal. In addition, he was told by Professors at MIT and Stanford that this application of pattern recognition was impossible.

Besides inventing a new technology that didn’t yet exist, he had to build a search engine supercomputer from scratch, create the world’s largest music database, and create a user experience on very basic mobile phones. Did Chris ever think maybe the experts were right? “No,” he says.

When Shazam was founded in 2000, it was far ahead of its time. It was three years before iTunes, seven years before the iPhone, and eight years before the App Store. The nascent Shazam struggled in the early days, teetering near bankruptcy for six years waiting for key digital advancements to arrive, allowing Shazam to unleash its full potential on the world.

In 2018, Shazam, and its 200 employees, was acquired by Apple in Apple’s 6th largest acquisition of all-time. Today, Shazam has been downloaded over two billion times and is considered one of the world's most popular apps. It has become an integral part of our everyday lives, with its ability to instantly identify songs and provide information about the music such as lyrics.

Shazam has even become a verb, as in "Can you Shazam this song for me?" In addition to its widespread usage, Shazam has also been the inspiration for a popular game show hosted by Jamie Foxx called "Beat Shazam," which has aired for four seasons on the Fox Network challenging contestants to recognize songs faster than the Shazam app.

Chris has also played a key role in tech history as a founding member of Google’s Android Partnerships team where he created Android's mobile operator partnership framework. He also spent four years at Dropbox where he led carrier partnerships and was one of the first 100 people at the company.

Holding 12 patents, including one found within the Google search algorithm that billions of people use, Chris has made significant contributions to the tech industry. He also invests in a wide range of start-ups, including artificial intelligence for heart health and inflammatory disease therapeutics.

Today, Chris spends much of his time building his third startup company, Guard, a system that detects drowning in swimming pools using artificial intelligence.

When he has the time, Chris enjoys speaking at events and sharing lessons learned from his experiences achieving the impossible. He inspires people with stories of the unexpected mindsets that are necessary to overcome challenges and achieve success. Chris gives audiences a new framework for thinking about the obstacles they face and motivates them to take action.

Prior to his audacious technology career, Chris was a strategy consultant and earned two master’s degrees from UC Berkeley and Cambridge University.

When he isn’t working or speaking, you can find Chris enjoying the outdoors and spending time with his son, Jude.

Rohit Bhargava Speaker

Rohit Bhargava

Expert on Marketing, Branding, Trends & Disruption, Innovation, Storytelling

 About

  • Rohit talks about what it takes to bring more innovative thinking into your organization, and how leaders can harness the power of innovation to drive performance.
  • Audience participants will learn the five essential principles of leading transformation and building a team that sees the world differently.
  • Guest lecturer at Stanford and Wharton, Bestselling author of 6 books including, Non Obvious.
  • Past clients include: AT&T, Coca-Cola, Disney, Ford Motor Company, Prudential Financial, PwC, Under Armour

    Click Here to Watch Rohit's Virtual Presentation

Rohit Bhargava is on a mission to inspire more non-obvious thinking in the world. He is the 3-time Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author of 10 books and is widely considered one of the most entertaining and original speakers on trends, innovation and marketing in the world.

Rohit has been invited to deliver sold-out keynotes and workshops in 32 countries around the world to change the way teams and leaders think at the World Bank, NASA, Intel, Novartis, Coldwell Banker, MetLife, American Express, Pizza Hut, Schwab, Disney and hundreds of other well-known organizations. He has been a Featured Speaker at 5 previous SXSW events and also did a keynote at SXSW Sydney in 2023 (the first SXSW outside of America!).

Prior to becoming an entrepreneur and founding two companies, he spent 15 years leading brand strategy at Ogilvy (Global) and Leo Burnett (Australia) where he advised global brands on human behavior, marketing, and storytelling.

Outside his speaking and consulting, Rohit has taught persuasive speaking and global marketing as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, is frequently quoted in the global media and writes a monthly column for Inc Magazine about Non-Obvious books, hosts a podcast, and has been writing his award-winning email newsletter for the past six years. At the end of every year, he also leads a program called the Inc Non-Obvious Book Awards where he selects the most fascinating books of the year for business people.

He is a lifelong fan of anything having to do with the Olympics (he’s been to five so far), and actively hates cauliflower (yuck!). Outside of work, Rohit believes that the most entertaining and impactful job he will ever have is being a great dad and teaching his two boys to be kind when no one expects it, curious about the things others take for granted, and confident enough to change the world.

Molly Bloom Speaker

Molly Bloom

About Molly Bloom – Inspirational Keynote Speaker, Entrepreneur, and Bestselling Author 

 About

  • Inspirational Keynote Speaker, Entrepreneur & Bestselling Author
  • Talks about: Molly's Game: The True Story of the Woman Behind the Most Exclusive, High Stakes Underground Poker Game in the World, Overcoming Setbacks & Building your Brand
  • Molly’s Game was adapted into an award-winning film of the same name by renowned director, Aaron Sorkin.
  • Appeared on numerous shows and in media outlets such as Ellen, Vice, The Los Angeles Times, NPR, Vulture, and has been asked to speak at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women, for companies like Blackrock Financial, SiriusXM Radio, and delivered the 2018 commencement speech at Colorado State University

Molly Bloom is an inspirational keynote speaker, entrepreneur, and bestselling author of Molly’s Game. She is best known for her memoir, Molly’s Game, which was adapted into an award-winning film of the same name by Aaron Sorkin. Bloom’s memoir chronicles her journey from college student to LA waitress to building and operating the largest and most notorious private poker game in the world. Her games featured hundreds of millions of dollars and players like Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, A-Rod, and Ben Affleck.

Bloom began her career as a world-class skier. While training as a pre-teen she was diagnosed with severe scoliosis and had to undergo surgery that the doctors said would end her athletic career. A year later, fully recovered, she was back on the slopes. She later joined the U.S. Ski Team and at 21 years old was ranked No. 3 in North America in moguls, but her Olympic dreams would go unrealized as she left the team to pursue other projects. This led her to what she thought would be a year sabbatical in LA.

Bloom was finishing her degree in Political Science from the University of Colorado – Boulder, and was in the process of applying to top tier Law Schools, when her assistant job turned her into an accidental entrepreneur, running one of  the most exclusive, high-stakes underground poker games in the world, pulling in as much as $4 million per year. What happened next is where her story truly begins.

The film Molly’s Game, written and directed by Aaron Sorkin, stars Jessica Chastain (as Molly), Idris Elba, Kevin Costner, Michael Cera, Brian d’Arcy James, and Chris O’Dowd. Bloom has appeared on numerous shows and in media outlets such as Ellen, Vice, The Los Angeles Times, NPR, Vulture, and has been asked to speak at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women, for companies like Blackrock Financial, SiriusXM Radio, and delivered the 2018 commencement speech at Colorado State University.

Lisa Bodell Speaker

Lisa Bodell

Global Leader on Simplification & Banishing Complexity, Innovation, Leadership, Change, Collaboration, and Transforming Culture

 About

  • Futurist and Founder of Futurethink – The World’s Largest Source of Simplification + Innovation Tools and Training.
  • Author of Two Bestselling Books: Why Simple Wins and Kill the Company.
  • Expert on Replacing Mind-Numbing Complexity With Simplicity So People Can Focus On Work That Matters.
  • Monthly Contributor, Forbes; Frequent Appearances Fast Company, Wired, the New York Times, Inc., Harvard Business Review, CNN, and More.

“Complexity is crippling our organizations. It’s stifling our people and keeping them from doing their most meaningful and impactful work.” Lisa Bodell, a global leader on simplification, collaboration, and innovation, has a solution. Lisa shows organizations how to eliminate complexity and leverage simplicity – unleashing creativity and sparking the energy so essential to innovate and compete in a rapidly changing world. FutureThink, which she founded in 2003, works with leading brands worldwide and has become the largest source of innovation research, tools, and training in the world. Lisa is the author of two groundbreaking books, Why Simple Wins: Escape the Complexity Trap and Get to Work That Matters and Kill the Company: End the Status Quo, Start an Innovation Revolution. She ranks on the list of Top 50 Speakers Worldwide and captivates audiences with her energy and humor. Lisa’s keynotes leave audiences inspired to change and arms them with radically simple tools to get to the work that matters.

After earning her business degree from University of Michigan, Lisa launched her career at Leo Burnett in Chicago, where she discovered a gift for uniting strategically-driven ideas with forward-thinking themes. She went on to build two successful businesses before moving to New York and focusing on the simplification and innovation space with FutureThink.

Lisa brings a compelling perspective to the sought-after topics of simplification and innovation to over 100,000 people each year. A thought leader and serial entrepreneur, her transformational message has inspired executives at top-ranked organizations such as Google, SAP, Citigroup, and the Department of National Intelligence.

Lisa has contributed her expertise to a wide variety of media. She is a monthly contributor to Forbes and has frequently appeared in other media including: Fast Company, WIRED, The New York Times, Inc., Harvard Business Review, and CNN. She has also been featured in many major books such as Warren Berger’s A More Beautiful Question, Adam Grant’s Originals, and AfterShock, the 50-year celebration based on futurist Alvin Toffler’s Future Shock.

Lisa has taught innovation at both American University and Fordham University and has a TED talk on the topic. She has served on the board of advisors of several organizations, including the Global Agenda Council for the World Economic Forum, the United States National Security Agency, the Association of Professional Futurists, and the Novartis board of Diversity & Inclusion.

Liz Bohannon Speaker

Liz Bohannon

Founder & CEO of Socially Conscious Fashion Brand Sseko Designs, Bestselling Author

 About

Liz Bohannon is the Founder and CEO of socially conscious fashion brand Sseko Designs, which she founded in 2008 as a way to provide educational and economic opportunities for women in East Africa. Liz shares the lessons learned from her 10-year journey growing Sseko from three women under a mango tree, into a successful international fashion brand that provides employment, educational and entrepreneurial opportunities to thousands of women across the globe.

Her story is filled with lessons for success that are grounded in the principle of having a beginner’s mind, which Liz sums up in her new book, Beginner’s Pluck: Build Your Life of Purpose and Impact Now. In it, as in her presentations, she shares uncommon ideas toward success like, Own Your Average, Stop Trying to Find Your Passion…Create It, and Dream Small so you can do big things. Liz continues to channel her inner beginner as she manages 100s of employees across multiple continents, and her mindset sets her apart as a courageous, creative and effective leader.

The Sseko story has been featured in dozens of publications including, Vogue Magazine, Redbook Magazine, O Magazine, Inc., Fortune and others. Sseko has appeared on national broadcasts including ABC's Shark Tank and Good Morning America.

Among other notable honors, Liz was named a Top Three Transformation Leader by John Maxwell, Forbes listed her as a top 20 public speaker in the U.S. and Bloomberg Businessweek named Sseko as a top social enterprise to watch.
Liz now splits her time between Uganda and Portland, Oregon, where she and her husband Ben run Sseko Designs and raise their two young sons.

Book Your Next Great Speaker in 5 Easy Steps Speaker

 About

Did last year's speaker knock your socks off? Not sure where to go next? Let our team of experienced professionals help you find your next great speaker. 

Here's a quick guide to help you get started:

Find A Theme

Decide on a theme or topic for your event.

Going through a period of transition? Looking to shake up your creative? Building trust within your teams? We have great speakers on all of those topics.

Having trouble? Check out our IDEA GENERATOR for inspiration.

Get in Touch

Get in touch with your Event Date & Theme.

We will ask you some key questions to find the perfect speaker for your live or virtual event.

We pride ourselves on our personal touch. We are small team of dedicated professionals with over 20 years experience. When you call us, you speak to us directly... and quickly.

 

 

Shortlist

By now, we have a great idea of what you are looking for and will send you a shortlist of exceptional speakers.

Each speaker will be vetted with YOUR event in mind, along with our personal thoughts on how that speaker can inspire your attendees.

Let's talk

Futurist Keynote Speaker Mike Walsh at The Sweeney Agency Speakers Bureau

From the shortlist, you've narrowed it down to two great speakers. Let's discuss your needs to help make the final decision.

With over 20 years experience, you can trust us to provide all of the information you need to choose the right speaker.

We work with you to find the best format for your presentation, including live streams, Q&A sessions and even follow up programs to ensure maximum engagement for your key stakeholders.

The Details

We will facilitate a call with your leadership team & our speaker to do a deep dive into your business to make sure their presentation really hits home.

As trusted experts, you can rest easy knowing our experience will guide you every step of the way.

get in touch

Get in touch to book your next great speaker.

Adam Cheyer Speaker

Adam Cheyer

Co-Founder of Siri and Viv Labs, Tech Speaker and Expert on Artificial Intelligence

 About

  • Talks about the birth of "Siri" from concept to implementation and new ways of thinking about AI and how to prepare your business for the continuing AI revolution.
  • Audiences leave with an understanding of how to integrate innovation, including AI and new technologies into their organizations in order to prepare for the future.
  • Adam Cheyer is a top technology speaker, AI expert and entrepreneur. He co-founded Siri. He has a proven track record of innovation in business, having worked at research labs, startups and some of the largest technology companies in the world, bringing ideas to market to positively impact hundreds of millions of people. 
  • Adam is current Vice President of R&D at Samsung.

Adam Cheyer is a top technology speaker, AI expert and entrepreneur. He co-founded Siri, which was acquired by Apple, and later co-founded Viv, which became the basis of the voice assistant Bixby on Samsung phones, TVs, watches, and more. He is also a founding member and first developer at Change.org, the world’s largest petition platform, with more than 300M members.

Cheyer has a proven track record of innovation in business, having worked at research labs, startups and some of the largest technology companies in the world, bringing ideas to market to positively impact hundreds of millions of people. He is also an award-winning magician, having performed for millions on TV and for presidents and heads of state.

Adam Cheyer is currently Vice President of R&D at Samsung. Previously, he was co-founder and VP Engineering of Viv Labs, an artificial intelligence (AI) company acquired by Samsung in 2016.

Adam was also co-Founder and VP Engineering of Siri, acquired by Apple in 2010 to build their virtual personal assistant, which was distributed on more than 1.5B devices. After joining Apple, he became a Director of Engineering in the iPhone/iOS group, leading all AI and server-side aspects of the Siri assistant.

Adam is the author of more than sixty peer-reviewed publications and twenty-five issued patents. He received his bachelor’s degree with highest honors from Brandeis University and his master’s degree with an “outstanding master’s student” award from UCLA.

Dorie Clark Speaker

Dorie Clark

Leadership, Strategy & Entrepreneurship Keynote Speaker

 About

Dorie Clark has been named one of the Top 50 business thinkers in the world by Thinkers50, and was recognized as the #1 Communication Coach in the world by the Marshall Goldsmith Leading Global Coaches Awards. Clark, a consultant and keynote speaker, teaches executive education at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and Columbia Business School.

Recognized as a “branding expert” by the Associated Press, Fortune, and Inc. magazine, she is the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Long GameEntrepreneurial YouReinventing You, and Stand Outwhich was named the #1 Leadership Book of the Year by Inc. magazine and one of the Top 10 Business Books of the Year by Forbes. It was also a Washington Post bestseller. Her books have been translated into Russian, Chinese, Arabic, French, Polish, Korean, Spanish, Italian, Vietnamese, and Thai.

Clark, whom the New York Times described as an “expert at self-reinvention and helping others make changes in their lives,” is a frequent contributor to the Harvard Business Review. She consults and speaks for a diverse range of clients, including Google, the World Bank, Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, the Ford Foundation, and Yale University.

A former presidential campaign spokeswoman, Clark has also taught for Spain’s IE Business School, HEC-Paris, Babson College, Smith College Executive Education, UNC’s Kenan-Flagler School of Business, and more.

She has guest lectured at universities including Harvard Business School, the Harvard Kennedy School, Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, the University of California-Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, Georgetown, NYU, the MIT Sloan School of Management, and the University of Michigan.

Her work has been published in the Harvard Business Review Guide to Getting the Right Job and the Harvard Business Review Guide to Networking, and she is quoted frequently in the worldwide media, including NPR, the BBC, and MSNBC. She has been a regular commentator on Canada’s CTV and was named one of Inc. magazine’s “100 Great Leadership Speakers for Your Next Conference.”

A former New England Press Association award-winning journalist, Clark directed the environmental documentary film The Work of 1000, and was a producer for a multiple-Grammy-winning jazz album. She is a Broadway investor, as well as a member of BMI’s Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Advanced Workshop, widely considered the premier training ground for musical theater lyricists and composers.

Conference Plans Changed? Speaker

 About

Click Here to Receive Your Customized List of Speaker Ideas

Virtual Events can:

  1. Reach a wider audience
  2. Offer a great experience at a much lower cost
  3. Create long term impact with recorded elements that allow for content to be watched over a period of time
  4. Have an increased impact over time, as viewers re-watch, discuss and connect over social media and other channels

And, most importantly: offer the ability for inspiring and impactful presentations to connect in a one-on-one way, directly to the attendee.

WHO is your audience?

Who are your virtual event attendees? Are they across a specific group within your organization, or are you serving clients across a wide range of levels? Determining who you are speaking to will help you determine a format for your event that will captivate your audience.

WHAT is your key message?

Are you focusing on change? Innovation? Leadership?

Creating a single focus or mission will allow you to hone in on the type of speaker(s) you need to engage your audience and help event producers to format the event into a dynamic program that balances inspiration with information and audience interaction.

WHAT type of event suits your audience?

  • Virtual Conference
  • Webinar
  • Hybrid Event

Virtual event technology has come a long way over the last few months, offering a huge range of different options from pre-recorded webinars, to multi-day virtual conferences, to hybrid events with some attendees in the audience while the event is live streamed.

OUR ADVICE

COMBINATION of live and pre-recorded elements will allow your virtual event to run smoothly and stay on time.

Many of our clients are also opting for multi-day virtual conferences with shorter segments spaced over a few days.

This allows some flexibility for attendees in different time zones and accommodates different teleworking situations for attendees, allowing them to tune in when it is convenient.

WHERE? It’s all about Tech.

Virtual meeting technology has exploded over the last few months as teleworking became the norm.

Consider your needs:

  • Interactive elements like breakout rooms, polls & Q&A
  • Seamless blend of live & pre-recorded elements
  • Ability to replay segments
  • Live tech support

If you plan for rain, it’s likely the sun will shine…

Tech isn’t perfect so don’t forget to test, rehearse and have a back up plan ready to go for your virtual event.

Pro Tip: Think of a virtual presentation like a podcast. Viewers can view the content multiple times and refer back to it.

  WHEN? A Date… or Dates?

As we have all noticed, our attention spans for meeting in real life versus meeting online are a lot longer.

When deciding on a date, consider spreading your virtual event out over a few days, with a variety of speakers, interactive elements and information.

The benefits of a multi-day format:

  • Viewers watch content fresh for a short period every day
  • Allows attendees in different time zones to stay on top of the content
  • Attendees can review & re-engage with content

Virtual Event Checklist:

Is your event?

  • Interactive?
  • Informative?
  • Able to be rewatched?

WHY? Pandemic 2020

Just because you are online instead of in person, it doesn’t mean you are missing out on connection.

Using the technology that we have become so accustomed to over the last few months, our keynote speakers have the ability to connect to your viewers one-on-one, in a way that was impossible in live events.

FIND YOUR WHY…

What do you want the audience to leave thinking at the end of the presentation?

Apply this question to all the presentations and segments in your event to create a cohesive, impactful virtual event.

  HOW? Virtual Event Checklist

To wrap it all up

  • TECH: Find the right tech platform & don’t forget to test drive before your event
  • AGENDA: Use a mix of live and pre-recorded segments, mixed with interactive elements, to ensure a smooth flow of events & audience engagement
  • ANTICIPATION: Build up your event with emails, teasers and sneak peeks into what content will be offered
  • NETWORKING: Create and encourage online chat functions, an event specific hashtag or even a dedicated event page to allow attendees to network virtually. Maximize the networking opportunities offered by your tech platform.
  • EXTEND YOUR IMPACT: A dedicated social media page is a great place for attendees to connect after an event to discuss ideas and implement some of the learnings from the event.

Offer a password protected, limited time recording of keynote presentations to continue the conversation long after the virtual event has ended.

Continue the conversation with post-event touch points like emails or questions based on the key presentations.

To find a GREAT Speaker for your Virtual event, get in touch.

Molly Fletcher Speaker

Molly Fletcher

Inspiring Speaker on Leadership, Business Development, and Peak Performance

 About

  • Molly shares stories from her experiences as one of the only female sports agents in the industry as well as lessons from some of the top athletes and coaches in the game in her inspiring keynote.
  • Audiences leave with Molly's  5-step process to unleashing your potential and achieving peak performance.
  • Molly is hailed by CNN as hailed as the “female Jerry Maguire” and spent two decades as one of the world’s only female sports agents. She is also a best selling author of four books, and agent to some of the world's top athletes.
  • Past clients include: AT&T, Cox Communications, ITA Group, Kraft, Morgan Stanley, and Porsche.

Hailed as the “female Jerry Maguire” by CNN, Molly Fletcher made a name for herself as one of the first female sports agents. During her almost two-decade career as President of CSE, Molly negotiated over $500 million in contracts and represented over 300 of sports' biggest names, including Hall of Fame pitcher John Smoltz, PGA TOUR golfer Matt Kuchar, broadcaster Erin Andrews and basketball championship coaches Tom Izzo and Doc Rivers.

As a World's Top 50 Keynote Speaker, she delivers her inspiring message to audiences around the world. She is the author of five books, including The Energy Clock and Fearless at Work, and her latest TED Talk, “Secrets of a Champion Mindset,” has more than one million views.

Molly is the founder and host of the Game Changers with Molly Fletcher podcast, where she interviews experts and celebrities in every field including Arthur Blank, Dabo Swinney, John Mackey, Matthew McConaughey, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, and Simon Sinek. Her insights have been featured in prestigious media outlets, including CNN, ESPN, Forbes, Fast Company, InStyle, and Sports Illustrated.

Molly recently launched her first on-demand course, Up Your Game, to help people unlock their drive and up their game. Her company Game Changer Performance Group helps clients unlock peak performance through training experiences on Energy, Negotiation and High Impact.

John Foley Speaker

John Foley

Former Solo Blue Angels Pilot, Entrepreneur and Speaker on Leadership & Teamwork

 About

Click Here to Watch John's Virtual Presentation

Since 2015, John Foley has been recognized as one of the top 10 most in demand speakers. John has spoken to some of the highest performing organizations in the world such as, Google, Microsoft, Intel, Cisco, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Goodyear, Chevron, Lowe's, Marriott, Hilton, NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, MLS, NCAA, Penske Racing, Sprint, Motorola, Merrill Lynch, Mass Mutual, AMC Theatre, Norton Lifelock, Capital Group, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, GE, American Hospital Association, Mayo, Merck, Palo Alto Networks, Sunovion, Gillette, McDonalds, Stanford Business School, Global Sports Summit, and numerous CEO Summits to name a few.

He is the former lead solo pilot of the Blue Angels, Bestselling Author of Fearless Success, an expert in the How of High Performance teams and 'The Guru of Gratitude.’ As a Blue Angel, John consistently performed in an extreme, high-stakes environment, flying at speeds of more than 500 miles per hour in formations as close as 18 inches apart. To survive in those circumstances he relied on a culture of high trust, leadership and teamwork. John employs the intense realities of his aviation career as a metaphor to inspire - breath life into - teams to reach for their highest potential and sustain excellence under dynamic change. John’s presentations are highlighted by:

  • An energizing delivery that inspires High Performance with a grateful mindset.
  • Awe inspiring storytelling and electrifying video of the legendary Blue Angels in action.
  • A contagious attitude of gratitude that he calls Glad To Be Here®.
  • A unique approach that equips others to take the same journey toward excellence, teamwork and transformation.

In 2011 John founded the Glad To Be Here Foundation. John donates 10% of his speaking fees to charities through the foundation. The program has donated over $2 million to 380+ charities and impacted thousands of lives globally including sponsoring 47 children in 47 countries. It's part of his mission to connect a shared ‘purpose larger than self’ with every organization.

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Vinh Giang Speaker

Vinh Giang

Entrepreneur, Magician, Master Communicator and Speaker

 About

  • Vinh talks about how leaders and teams can create and cultivate the RIGHT influence in our lives to make the difference between tremendous success or limited mediocrity.
  • Audiences leave inspired and entertained by how Vinh teaches leaders how to achieve the right mindset through a presentation interwoven with entertainment, magic and powerful messaging.
  • Vinh is a magician, powerful storyteller and CEO of Luminary Productions which produces exceptional video for individuals and companies all around the globe.
  • Past clients include: Intuit, American Equity, Microsoft, Flinders University, American Dental Education Association, Western National Group, NALCO Champion, and Tetra Pak. 

Click Here to Watch Vinh's Virtual Presentation

Vinh Giang had only 6 months to graduate when he left his degree program in commerce and law to become an online magic teacher - ultimately building a hugely successful online business, 52kards, which now serves over 800,000 students around the globe. This earned him the award of Top Young Entrepreneur in Australia.

Vinh Giang’s real magic journey began when he finally understood what Robert Houdin (an amazing magician) meant when he said: “A magician is an actor playing the part of the magician.” Once Vinh understood the meaning behind this quote, he focused all his energy on studying the art of performance - and not the art of presentation. He has spent the last 15 years mastering the art of performance-enhanced communication - helping thousands of professionals worldwide to learn these skills.

Vinh is also the CEO of Luminary Productions which produces exceptional video for individuals and companies all around the globe.

Vinh’s presentations will bring out the magic in you! Prepare to be captivated by Vinh - as he:

  • unlocks your mindsets - by presenting innovating concepts that produce deliberate and definitive action
  • is an Entrepreneur who knows what it takes to lead and sell ideas
  • is a Young Entrepreneur of the Year and award winning magician
  • shares three key business ideas - and demonstrates them using the art of magic with on-stage audience participation
  • creates a fun and highly entertaining atmosphere of illusion - where each key business concept is driven home in a truly profound and creative manner
  • carefully crafts each performance creating the most powerful emotional experience for attendees - making the conference theme stick in their minds long after the event

“I believe that magicians are salespeople; they sell one of the most difficult products in the world. They sell magic - they sell the illusion. The way they’re able to sell magic is by working ridiculously hard. It takes thousands and thousands of hours to be able to sell the illusion, to be able to really sell the magic. Imagine if you applied the same mindset to your company - imagine if you applied the same dedication to your business - think about what you could achieve.” - Vinh Giang

Anil Gupta Speaker

Anil Gupta

World-renowned expert on strategy, globalization, innovation and entrepreneurship.

 About

Dr. Anil K. Gupta is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading experts on strategy, globalization and entrepreneurship. Ranked by Thinkers50 as one of the world’s “most influential management thinkers,” he has been named by The Economist as one of the world's "superstars" for research on emerging markets. He is also the recipient of the 2017 Outstanding Educator Award from the Academy of Management for worldwide contribution to research, practice, and teaching on the topic of globalization.

Anil is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Expert Network, the Bretton Woods Committee set up by the World Bank and IMF to advise them on solutions to global challenges, and the CNBC Disruptor 50 Advisory Council. He is a frequent participant at the World Economic Forum’s annual summits in Davos as well as regional summits in China, India, and the Middle East.

A 2020 analysis conducted by Dutch researchers listed Anil among the top 1% of all scientists in the world across all fields of natural and social sciences. One of his papers is ranked #1 world-wide among the 20 most cited academic papers on “Managing the Multinational Subsidiary.” Another of his papers is ranked #4. Anil is one of only 3 professors in the world to have been elected by his peers as a Lifetime Fellow of the three most prestigious bodies in the field – Academy of Management, Strategic Management Society, and Academy of International Business, with a combined membership of over 25,000 scholars worldwide.

Anil is the coauthor of several highly acclaimed books including The Silk Road Rediscovered, Getting China and India Right, Global Strategies for Emerging Asia, The Quest for Global Dominance, Smart Globalization, and Global Strategy and Organization as well as over 70 papers in leading academic journals. Getting China and India Right received the 2009 Axiom Book Awards’ Silver Prize as one of the world’s two best books on globalization and was short-listed for the Asia Society’s Annual Bernard Schwartz Book Award.

Anil’s opinion pieces have been published in Harvard Business Review, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Chief Executive Magazine, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Daily Telegraph, China Daily, Economic Times, and other outlets. He has been interviewed by Harvard Business Review, Economist, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, USA Today, Forbes, BBC, CNBC, Bloomberg TV, Reuters TV, as well as other top-tier media.

Anil serves regularly as a speaker at major conferences and corporate forums in the US, Europe, Asia, Latin America, and Africa – including the World Economic Forum, Economist conferences, Chief Executive magazine’s CEO2CEO Summits, and the Yale CEO Summit. He has also served as a consultant, keynote speaker and/or executive education faculty with some of the largest corporations in the world including GE, Wal-Mart, IBM, HSBC, Deutsche Bank, H-P, SAP, Microsoft, Schneider Electric, PPG Industries, Accenture, Marriott, First Data, Jacobs, ABB, Lockheed Martin, Indian Oil, Huawei, TeliaSonera, Metso, UPM-Kymmene, Cemex, and others.

Anil has served as an elected board member for several companies including Origene Technologies (a gene cloning company), Omega (NASDAQ), Vitalink (NYSE), NeoMagic (NASDAQ). He also serves on the advisory boards of the E-Ship Centre at IIT Bombay, and Asia Silicon Valley Connection. He has earlier served as an advisor to the US-India Business Council and is a Charter Member of TiE-DC.

Anil is the Michael Dingman Chair in Strategy, Globalization and Entrepreneurship at the Smith School of Business, The University of Maryland. He also serves as chairman, The China India Institute, a Washington DC-based research and consulting organization. He has earlier served as a Chaired Professor in Strategy at INSEAD and a visiting professor at Stanford University, Dartmouth College, and Tsinghua University, China. He received a doctorate from the Harvard Business School, an M.B.A. from the Indian Institute of
Management at Ahmedabad, and a B.Tech. from the Indian Institute of Technology at Kanpur.

Kristen Hadeed Speaker

Kristen Hadeed

Founder & CEO of Student Maid, Author & Entrepreneur

 About

  • CEO and founder of Student Maid, a cleaning company that has employed thousands of millennials and is known for building the next generation of leaders
  • Kristen talks about how to build a culture of belonging with multiple generations in the workplace, and how to deliver and receive criticism as a leader.
  • First TED Talk has received more than two million hits on YouTube
  • Past clients include: Apple, Burger King, jetBlue, Ohio State University, PGA Tour,  Re/MAX

Kristen Hadeed believes that authentic, human leadership can change the world.

At 19, with hardly any leadership experience, Kristen started a cleaning business called Student Maid. She never expected it to be her career; it was simply a way to earn money while she was in college. But before she graduated, her company received a contract to clean hundreds of apartments—and it changed her path forever. Kristen hired a team of 60 people help her, and within days, 75% of that team quit. That’s when Kristen’s obsession with learning how to be a leader began.

Over the next 14 years, Kristen learned a lot by screwing up. But most importantly, she learned how to lead from her heart. Doing so helped her take Student Maid from a small cleaning company to a business known on a global scale for its culture of belonging, its focus on people, and its purpose of building leaders.

Today, Kristen spends her time helping leaders, teams, and organizations around the world embrace their humanity. She’s worked with just about every industry with one purpose behind it all: To build a better world through courageous, compassionate leadership.

Kristen’s work has been featured in news outlets including PBS, FOX, Inc., NBC, TIME, and Forbes. Kristen’s book, Permission To Screw Up, has sold more than 40,000 copies worldwide. Her first TED Talk has more than three million views on YouTube

Troy Hazard Speaker

Troy Hazard

Entrepreneur, Business Strategist and Best-Selling Author

 About

  • Troy talks about entrepreneurship: how businesses can grow through forward thinking leadership.
  • Audiences leave with actionable ideas to develop and pursue strategies for growth and promote great collaboration within teams.
  • Troy is a best-selling author, business strategist and entrepreneur, having founded twelve businesses over two decades and has consulted to countless successful companies over the last 25 years.
  • Past clients include: Kia Motors, Prudential Real Estate, Toyota, McCain Foods, Lowe's and Hertz Rent-a-Car.

Click Here to Watch Troy's Virtual Presentation

There are few situations in the business world that Troy Hazard has not experienced and survived. The entrepreneurial genius, who has founded and nurtured thirteen businesses over three decades, has turned around businesses that were making enormous losses and has consulted to countless successful companies including Goodyear, Baskin Robbins, Subway, Fisher & Paykel and many more.

Hazard’s business talents earned him international respect, so much so that he was elected by the world’s foremost business leaders for the role of Global President of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization, a role he says was one of his greatest challenges.

“That was by far the toughest leadership position I have held,” he admits, speaking of an organization that represents a global community of successful business owners.

Hazard’s experiences in the business world have allowed him valuable insight into the workings of organizations and the minds of customers. His particular area of specialty is in the franchise space where he has been a leading consultant for 30 years.

It’s this same experience that gives Hazard such great value as a CSP – Certified Speaking Professional, and as the host on the hugely successful national network business television shows in Australia ‘Inside Franchising’ and ‘Don’t Come Monday’.

He is also the host of his own Cable TV talk show in the USA – ‘Gettin’ Down 2 Business’, on the BizTV Cable Network and TiVo broadcasting into 30 million homes each week, and a regular Co-Host on ‘The Big Biz Show’ on the CBS Talk Radio Network and the Business Talk Radio Network broadcasting to 1.5 Million Radio Listeners, and simulcast the BizTV Cable Network.

Robert Herjavec Speaker

Robert Herjavec

Inspiratonal Speaker, Best-selling Author, Founder & CEO of Herjavec Group and Leading Shark on ABC’s Shark Tank

 About

Robert Herjavec a dynamic entrepreneur and leading Shark on ABC’s Emmy Award-winning hit show Shark Tank - is one of North America’s most recognizable business leaders. In 2003, he founded Herjavec Group, and it quickly became one of North America’s fastest growing technology companies. Today, Herjavec Group is recognized as a global cybersecurity operations leader - specializing in managed security services, compliance, identity services and incident response for enterprise-level leaders and their organizations.

Born in Eastern Europe, he arrived in North America on a boat with his parents - after escaping communism in the former Yugoslavia. From delivering newspapers, and waiting tables, to launching a computer company from his basement - his drive to achieve has led him to the fulfillment of a better life for himself and his family. Robert’s motivational business advice has received millions of impressions through TV, print, radio and digital media.

Robert's inspiring books all appeared on best-sellers’ lists:

  • You Don’t Have to Be a Shark: Creating Your Own Success (St. Martin's Press, May 2016)
  • The Will to Win (HarperCollins, Apr 2013)
  • Driven (HarperCollins, Sep 2010)

Robert will engage and inspire anyone willing to keep up with the pace of change! Robert's fundamental guiding principles include "Today we do what others won’t, so that tomorrow we can accomplish what others can’t" - and "Constant Forward Momentum!"

Daymond John Speaker

Daymond John

Founder/CEO of FUBU, CEO of The Shark Group and Marketing & Branding Expert

 About

Daymond John, from his wildly successful role on ABC’s smash hit, Shark Tank, to his distinguished status as a Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship, has become globally recognized for his relentless and commitment to promoting and supporting entrepreneurs.

Daymond initially made his mark as the entrepreneur and branding expert behind the groundbreaking lifestyle brand, FUBU, which eclipsed more than $6 billion in global retail sales. From the streets of Hollis, Queens, Daymond started a global movement from the basement of his mother’s house by capitalizing on the then fledgling hip-hop culture. Today, the streetwear market that FUBU pioneered is a $20 billion dollar industry.

Since then, Daymond has continued to challenge himself and the business world in which he operates. In 2009, Daymond was tapped by lauded television producer, Mark Burnett, to join the cast of a new business-reality concept, Shark Tank. After 8 seasons, 4 Emmy Awards, multiple Critic’s Choice Awards and millions of dollars in investments, the show has become the most watched program on Friday nights, and one of the most successful business reality series of all time. Over the course of the series, Daymond has been a mainstay of the cast of Sharks and is now affectionately referred to as, “The People’s Shark.”

Resolved to expand his own brand, Daymond has written three books, the most recent of which debuted at #2 on the New York Times best-seller list in January of 2016. The wildly successful release, The Power of Broke (Crown Publishing) takes an in-depth look at how successful entrepreneurs who started from broke were forced to think more creatively and to leverage their resources more efficiently, than their counterparts. While his previous books, Display of Power and The Brand Within were national best-sellers, The Power of Broke stands as the only New York Times best-selling book from any of the Sharks.

Beyond the brands, the television series and the books, Daymond’s commitment to entrepreneurship has been celebrated on a global level. In 2015, he was named a Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship and was part of an exclusive group who joined President Obama at the Global Entrepreneur Summit in Kenya. In March, Daymond accompanied The President on his historic trip to Cuba, which represented the first time a sitting US president visited the island since Calvin Coolidge did in 1928.

One of Daymond’s greatest accomplishments is his continued fight against dyslexia. He has worked with the Yale Center for Dyslexia and he currently sits on the advisory board of Understood.org. Daymond has embraced his affliction allowing it to be a catalyst for his career as a highly sought after motivational public speaker and author.

As a dynamic speaker with more than twenty-five years of proven business experience, Daymond has become one of the most highly sought after speakers in the country. He regularly speaks at Fortune 100 companies, conferences, universities, and independent businesses alike. Daymond’s high energy presentations give audiences relatable advice and practical takeaways. His S.H.A.R.K. Points are actionable principles that bring long-term results. Entrepreneurship, marketing and branding, financial literacy and goal-setting are among his most popular topics. Daymond has delivered keynote speeches for organizations such as General Mills, Johnson & Johnson, Samsung, AT&T and dozens more.

A recipient of more than thirty-five awards, including the Brandweek Marketer of the Year and Ernst & Young’s Master Entrepreneur of the Year, Daymond serves as CEO of the brand consultancy, The Shark Group, which specializes in brand strategy and development, artist relations and talent development. Under Daymond’s leadership, The Shark Group has re-written the script on how companies, brands and products can seamlessly work together to yield a sum greater than its parts. The Shark Group works with a wide range of businesses and brands, including Capital One, HSN, Forbes, Miller Lite, Gillette, Shopify and Infusionsoft and superstars such as Muhammad Ali, the Kardashians, Pitbull, Stan Lee, Carlos Santana, Jillian Michaels and others.

Diana Kander Speaker

Diana Kander

New York Times Bestselling Author and Speaker on Innovation

 About

  • Diana talks about how to create an an internal culture of innovation so that every employee is a resource to the effort.
  • Audiences leave with the framework for how your organization – and the people within it – can flourish in this hyper-competitive world.
  • Diana is an attorney, founder, investor & successful entrepreneur, a Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Missouri and a Senior Fellow at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.
  • Past clients include: Lexmark, H&R Block, Hallmark, Ford, Gartner and Hyundai.

Diana Kander revolutionizes the way businesses look at innovation and curiosity. A New York Times best-selling author, innovation consultant and keynote speaker, she asks some big questions. What kind of culture needs to exist in an organization to ensure innovative ideas and practices? How has Snoop Dogg continued to innovate decade after decade to stay relevant to the next generation? What causes name brands to lose relevance with their customers and go out of business? Can organizational decline be prevented?

Diana has spent her career challenging assumptions and asking thought-provoking questions. A serial entrepreneur who entered the United States as a refugee at the age of 8, she has launched and sold millions of dollars worth of products and services. She outlined her biggest lessons learned for launching new products in her first book, All In Startup, which has been used by over 100 universities in their innovation courses and countless large organizations to help their employees think more like entrepreneurs. A former MBA professor at Mizzou, she has served as an entrepreneur in residence at H&R Block, Commerce Bank and several government agencies.

Diana's second book, The Curiosity Muscle explains why it's harder to stay at the top than it was to get there. The book documents Diana's consulting experience with large organizations and demonstrates why most companies who experience significant success can so easily get comfortable, lose their curiosity and crash into irrelevance. The book walks readers through a methodology to keep curiosity alive and thriving inside of an organization, ultimately, future-proofing the business.

Fun fact about Diana: She likes to use her curiosity methodology to push herself out of her own comfort zone and achieve big personal challenges each year. Despite having never completed a pull-up prior to 2021, she raised over $26,000 for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Kansas City by doing 5,000 pull-ups that year.

Diana lives in Kansas City, Missouri with Jason, her high-school sweetheart and husband, their son, True and daughter, Bella Brave.

Josh Linkner Speaker

Josh Linkner

Serial entrepreneur, New York Times bestselling author, and venture capital investor

 About

Click Here to Watch Josh's Virtual Presentation

  • Speaker on Creativity, Innovation, and Leadership
  • Talks about Big Little Breakthroughs -- how small, everyday ideas drive gigantic results
  • Tech start up leader, Josh started, built, and sold five companies for a combined sum of over $200 million
  • Author of four books including the New York Times Bestsellers, Disciplined Dreaming and The Road to Reinvention
  • Past clients include: Bank of America, Deloitte, Ford Motor Company, Intel, Coca-Cola, Nike, P&G, SAP

Josh Linkner is a New York Times bestselling author, serial entrepreneur, venture capital investor, professional jazz guitarist, and a globally-recognized innovation expert. On the business front, he’s been the founder and CEO of five tech companies, which created over 10,000 jobs and sold for a combined value of over $200 million. He’s the co-founder and Managing Partner of Muditā (mooDEE-tah) Venture Partners - an early-stage venture capital firm investing in groundbreaking technologies. Over the last 30 years, he's helped over 100 startups launch and scale, creating over $1 billion in investor returns. He's twice been named the EY Entrepreneur of The Year and is the recipient of the United States Presidential Champion of Change Award.

While proud of his business success, his roots are in the dangerous world of jazz music. He’s been playing guitar in smoky jazz clubs for 40 years, studied at the prestigious Berklee College of Music, and has performed over 1000 concerts around the world.

His experiences in both business and music led him to become one of the world’s foremost experts on innovation. Josh is the co-founder and Chairman of Platypus Labs, a global research, training, and consulting firm. Today, he’s on a mission to help leaders Find A Way™ through creative problem-solving, inventive thinking, and ingenuity.

Mike Michalowicz Speaker

Mike Michalowicz

Author & Speaker on Entrepreneurship

 About

By his 35th birthday Mike Michalowicz (pronounced mi-‘kal-o-wits) had founded and sold two multi-million dollar companies.

Confident that he had the formula to success, he became a small business angel investor… and proceeded to lose his entire fortune. Then he started all over again, driven to find better ways to grow healthy, strong companies. Mike has devoted his life to the research and delivery of innovative, impactful, entrepreneurial strategies to you.

Mike is the creator of Profit First, which is used by hundreds of thousands of companies across the globe to drive profit. He is the creator of Clockwork, a powerful method to make any business run on automatic. And his latest, arguably most impactful discovery, is Fix This Next. In Fix This Next, Mike details the strategy businesses can use to determine what to do, in what order, to ensure healthy, fast, permanent growth (and avoid debilitating distractions).

Today, Mike leads two new multi-million-dollar ventures, as he tests his latest business research for his books. He is a former small business columnist for The Wall Street Journal and business makeover specialist on MSNBC. Mike is a popular main stage keynote speaker on innovative entrepreneurial topics; and is the author of Fix This NextClockworkProfit FirstSurgeThe Pumpkin Plan and The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur.

Gaby Natale Speaker

Gaby Natale

Transformative Motivational Speaker, Triple Daytime EMMY-Winning Journalist, Bestselling Author & Entrepreneur

 About

Every individual has an opportunity to break barriers and redefine what is possible, and triple Emmy-Winning Journalist and Bestselling Author Gaby Natale is on a mission to awaken the PIONEER spirit in each of us.  

Gaby is among just a few women in the entertainment industry who not only owns the rights to her TV show, but also a television studio. This unique situation has allowed her to combine her passion for media and her entrepreneurial spirit, which continues to help her break barriers. In 2021, Gaby became the first Latina author to be published by the leadership division of HarperCollins. 

Her first book, The Virtuous Circle, became an instant bestseller, topping Amazon’s New Releases charts in 3 different categories (Business, Inspiration and Self-Help). What has made the book so successful is that it offers readers actionable strategies on how to channel their innate strength and abilities to best work for them.

Gaby has been featured in Forbes, CNN, Buzzfeed, NBC News, Univision and Latino Leaders magazine. In 2018, People magazine named her one of the “25 Most Powerful Latinas,” highlighting the inspirational story of how she went from a local TV show that started out of a carpet warehouse to becoming the only Latina in US history to win triple back-to-back Daytime EMMYs. In the digital world, she has a thriving fan base with over 52 million views on YouTube and 250K+ followers on social media.

A consummate entrepreneur, Gaby is also the founder of AGANARmedia, a marketing company with a focus on Hispanic audiences that serves Fortune 500 companies such as Hilton Worldwide, Sprint, AT&T, eBay and Amazon. She holds a Bachelor’s in International Relations and a Master’s degree in Journalism from the University of San Andres and Columbia University. Prior to starting her career in television, Gaby taught Communication and Journalism courses at the University of Texas.

Kevin O’Leary Speaker

Kevin O’Leary

Shark Tank’s “Mr. Wonderful”, Entrepreneur & TV Personality

 About

  • Kevin shares lessons from his life as an entrepreneur, Shark and business leader.
  • Audiences learn the O'Leary Fundamentals that have been instrumental in Kevin's success in business and life taking him from modest beginnings to incredible success.
  • Kevin O'Leary is an entrepeneur in a variety of industries, beginning with his first software business. As a Shark and television personality, he is uniquely suited to share how to turn challenges into triumphs.
  • Past clients include: Pitney Bowes, Straumann, and SME Entertainment Group.

    Kevin O’Leary was born to a middle class family in 1954. The combination of Kevin’s mother’s family heritage as merchants and his father’s Irish charisma truly meant that O’Leary was born for business. Kevin learned most of his business intuition from his mother. She taught him key business and financial insights from an early age. These became Kevin’s core philosophies, and the pillars upon which he would one day build his empire.

    Kevin’s approach to business went through major changes as a teenager. During his second day on the job at a local ice cream shop, his boss came into the front of the store where Kevin was scooping ice cream. She looked at Kevin and asked him to perform a task that he wasn’t expecting. What happened next had a profound effect on Kevin – one that stayed with him for the rest of his life.

    As a university student, Kevin’s innate business sense led him along several different paths – including some very unusual, very entrepreneurial ways of making a profit.

    Not long after he finished his MBA, Kevin had a meeting that changed his life forever. He met a man who had a strange idea for a software product – an idea with huge, high-profit potential that Kevin immediately recognized.

    After years of ups, downs, sacrifices, challenges, and lessons learned — not to mention a critical phone call that nearly cost him everything — the opportunity that Kevin saw eventually turned into a computer software giant that was acquired for more than $4 billion dollars.

    After his extraordinary success at the software company he founded – and a difficult period of obstacles and legal disputes – Kevin eventually found himself on television, quickly becoming a sought-after host and personality on a range of shows – including Discovery’s Project Earth, CBC’s Dragons’ Den, and ABC’s Shark Tank.

    Kevin has since launched O’Leary Funds, an investment fund company; O’Leary Fine Wines; and a best-selling book series on financial literacy.

    In 2014, Kevin founded O’Leary Financial Group – a group of brands and services that share Kevin’s guiding principles of honesty, directness, convenience, and above all, great value.

Michelle Poler Speaker

Michelle Poler

Branding Strategist & Social Entrepreneur

 About

  • Michelle talks about her journey towards overcoming her fears over the course of 100 days and challenges audience members to do the same by stepping outside of their comfort zones to tap into their true potential.
  • Audiences leave inspired by Michelle's story of dealing with the unknown, seeking growth, embracing authenticity and daring to fail.
  • Michelle is the Founder of Hello Fears, a social movement empowering millions to step outside of the comfort zone and tap into their full potential. She has spoken at TEDx, Google, INBOUND, Facebook, ESPN, Netflix, Procter and Gamble, Microsoft, Toyota, World Domination Summit, Festival of Media Global, and many more.
  • Past clients include: Netflix, Amazon, Coca Cola, Whirlpool, YouTube, P&G and Yum!

Born and raised in Caracas-Venezuela, Michelle Poler is a creative and passionate social entrepreneur, keynote speaker, fear facer, and branding strategist.

She is the Founder of Hello Fears, a social movement empowering millions to step outside of the comfort zone and tap into their full potential. She has spoken at TEDx, Google, INBOUND, Facebook, ESPN, Netflix, Procter and Gamble, Microsoft, Toyota, World Domination Summit, Festival of Media Global, and many more.

In April 2015, Michelle embarked on a 100-day project that would change the course of her life. Born to a family of Holocaust survivors, Michelle was accustomed to living with fear. But when she moved to New York, she quickly realized that the “big apple” was not for the fearful. In order to rewrite her definition of fear and change her approach to life, Michelle decided to face 100 of her fears in a period of 100 days, uploading every experience to YouTube sharing them with the world.

At around day 40, the project was discovered by the media, becoming a viral phenomenon. Her work has been featured on CBS, CNN, Huffington Post, Buzzfeed, Fox News, Telemundo, Glamour, Elle, The Rachael Ray Show, Refinery29, and Daily Mail among many others. Celebrities such as Ashton Kutcher, Sofia Vergara, Zoey Deschanel, Lil Wayne and George Takei also shared Michelle’s project, generating millions of views.

In 2017 Michelle started speaking to the younger generation. Since then, she has empowered over 20,000 students at schools and universities around the world to live with courage, find their authenticity and embrace their growth paths.

Marc Randolph Speaker

Marc Randolph

About Marc Randolph – Netflix Cofounder, Bestselling Author, Executive Mentor

 About

  • Talks about a small Silicon Valley start up disrupted the entire home entertainment industry.
  • Audiences are inspired story filled presentation that shows the values of innovation, persistence and optimism. Marc shares some of the many lessons he learned, including the value of analytics and testing, corporate culture and focus.
  • Marc Randolph is a top entrepreneur and innovation keynote speaker, Netflix co-founder, angel investor, and an Amazon #1 bestselling author and podcast host of That Will Never Work.
  • He is a frequent speaker at industry events, works extensively with young entrepreneur programs, sits on the board of the environmental advocacy group 1% for the Planet.

Marc Randolph is a veteran Silicon Valley entrepreneur, advisor and investor. Marc was co-founder of Netflix, serving as their founding CEO, as the executive producer of their web site, and as a member of their board of directors. Although best known for starting Netflix, Marc’s career as an entrepreneur spans more than four decades.  He's founded or co-founded more than half a dozen other successful start-ups, mentored rising entrepreneurs including the co-founders of Looker Data which was recently sold to Google for $2.6B, and invested in numerous successful tech ventures. He is a frequent speaker at industry events, works extensively with young entrepreneur programs, sits on the board of the environmental advocacy group 1% for the Planet, and chairs the National Outdoor Leadership School’s Board of Trustees.

Scott Welle Speaker

Scott Welle

Motivational Speaker, Best-selling Author and Strategist on Peak Performance

 About

Click Here to Watch Scott's Virtual Presentation

Scott Welle is a #1 international best-selling author, motivational speaker, entrepreneur, and Founder of Outperform The Norm - a leading program for business leaders and athletes looking raise their game and perform at the highest level.

While the rest of the competition is playing not to lose, Scott teaches people to play to win. His proprietary “Commit/Attack/Conquer” formula ensures people fall asleep at night knowing they are making the most of their precious days on this planet. For this, Fox 9 in Minneapolis-St Paul has called him a “Motivational Expert.”

Scott has successfully engaged audiences from Northwestern Mutual, State Farm, Edward Jones, Caribou Coffee, Sherwin Williams, Toyota and Chevrolet. He has spoken in 27+ states to 100,000+ people; students from 49+ countries have taken his online courses; 1,000,000+ video views across social platforms; author of 9 best-selling books in peak performance/self-help; Adjunct professor in Sport Psychology - and 20+ years studying and working with Outperformers in business and athletics.

Scott’s nine best-selling books, articles, videos, podcasts and online programs inspire hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. He has a Master’s degree in Sport Psychology - and serves on advisory committees of three national level organizations. He regularly speaks and consults with top performing executives, sales professionals and entrepreneurs, as well as elite athletes, all with one common goal - to outperform the norm.

Scott enjoys pushing his own physical and mental limits, completing five Ironman triathlons, 27 marathons - and a 100-mile ultra marathon run. He is very close with his brother, Jason. Together they “plod” at least one marathon together each year, laughing the whole way.