Storytelling & Business Communication

Why organisations work with Erik Saelens The Triple-A Brand Index (Authenticity, Accountability, Activation) gives leadership teams a structured diagnostic – not a creative brief – for understanding why brand trust is gained or lost, and what to do about it. His research base of 300+ rebranding and renaming operations worldwide is one of the largest of its kind; most brand consultants draw on case studies, Saelens draws on a proprietary empirical database. He operates at board level rather than at agency level – having served as senior brand advisor to the board of Royal Dutch Telecom KPN and as a current board director at multiple companies – which means his framing of brand problems maps directly onto the decisions executives actually face. His work on brand and M&A strategy addresses a gap that most marketing speakers ignore: the specific identity and equity challenges that arise when companies merge, acquire, or prepare for IPO. The Brandhome Method® gives marketing and strategy teams a replicable operating system for brand building, not a set of principles to interpret. Biography highlights Founder and executive strategic director of Brandhome Group, established 1995; active across strategy, design, and brand consultancy Creator of the Triple-A Brand Index – a proprietary brand measurement framework built around Authenticity, Accountability, and Activation Researched and executed more than 300 rebranding and renaming operations worldwide Former senior brand advisor to the board of Royal Dutch Telecom KPN; earlier career at Sodexo’s international brand management team Board director at Unbox (Belgium), CQ (US), and Stackin (US) Author of 15+ books on brand marketing, including The Brandhome Method®, The Story Wars, In Triple-A® We Trust, and Branded Columnist for The Drum; regularly profiled by the London Speaker Bureau and other international platforms Biography Brand equity is consistently listed as one of the most valuable intangible assets on a company’s balance sheet – and consistently treated as one of the least manageable. The gap between what organisations believe their brand is worth and their ability to actively steer it is where most brand strategy fails. Erik Saelens has spent 25 years closing that gap. As founder and executive strategic director of Brandhome Group, he has built one of the more unusual intellectual positions in brand strategy: a proprietary empirical base of more than 300 rebranding and renaming operations that allows him to speak about brand transformation not as a philosophy but as a pattern-recognition exercise. His Triple-A Brand Index – built around Authenticity, Accountability, and Activation – gives organisations a diagnostic framework for auditing brand trust, not just measuring brand awareness. His credibility at the executive level is grounded in practice rather than proximity. Before founding Brandhome, Saelens served as senior brand advisor to the board of Royal Dutch Telecom KPN, and he currently sits on the boards of companies including Unbox, CQ, and Stackin. His work on brand strategy in M&A and IPO contexts gives him a specific fluency in the decisions that matter most when brand equity is genuinely at stake – acquisition integration, identity rationalisation, and the reputational dimensions of market entry. Across 15 books – including The Brandhome Method®, The Story Wars, and In Triple-A® We Trust – and as a regular columnist for The Drum, Saelens has developed a body of work that is practical in architecture and commercially framed in argument. His audiences leave with a structured vocabulary for brand decisions, not a renewed conviction that branding matters. Key speaking topics Brand strategy and commercial brand architecture Rebranding and renaming operations Brand trust measurement and the Triple-A framework Brand management in M&A and IPO contexts Storytelling as a strategic brand instrument Internal branding and identity-driven organisations The future of marketing and consumer attention Ideal for CMOs and marketing leadership teams navigating brand transformation or post-acquisition integration Boards and C-suite executives making decisions on brand equity in M&A, IPO, or market expansion contexts Strategy and transformation leads in organisations undergoing identity change Senior marketers and brand managers seeking a structured, evidence-based approach to brand building Audience outcomes A clearer understanding of brand as a commercial asset with measurable dimensions, not a creative output Practical familiarity with the Triple-A framework as a diagnostic tool for brand trust A structured way to think about what changes – and what must be protected – in a rebranding operation Sharper criteria for brand investment decisions, particularly in M&A, IPO, and market entry scenarios An accessible methodology (the Brandhome Method®) for building or rebuilding brand from a strategic starting point

Why organisations work with Emmanuel Gobillot His «Disciplined Collaboration» framework reframes organisational silos as a structural problem rather than a cultural failing, naming four specific fears that prevent collective work and providing a tested four-step method for removing them – replacing the generic language of culture programmes with operational tools senior teams can actually deploy. Alive Inside (Routledge, 2026) provides a named seven-principle model for the human leadership qualities – compassion, courage, intuition, presence, storytelling – that AI cannot replicate, giving executive teams a practical basis for deciding where to invest human leadership effort in an AI-enabled organisation. Follow the Leader identifies eight specific elements of charisma that followers respond to, starting from what followers need rather than what leaders should do – a structural inversion that produces more usable diagnostics than prescriptive leadership frameworks. His consulting record at Hay Group, leading both the Consumer Sector practice and the Leadership Services function, and subsequent client work with Google, Vodafone, AstraZeneca, Carlsberg, and the United Nations, gives his frameworks a testing ground that spans sectors, governance structures, and organisational scale. Ten books published with Kogan Page, Routledge, and De Gruyter over twenty years track how leadership must adapt through successive phases of technological change – mass collaboration, networked organisations, and now AI – giving organisations a framework that is cumulative rather than reactive to the latest disruption. Biography highlights Former Director at Hay Group, leading both the Consumer Sector Consulting practice and the Leadership Services function, advising Fortune 500 and FTSE 100 organisations Named corporate clients include Google, Vodafone, Carlsberg, Hilton, AstraZeneca, Zurich Financial Services, and the United Nations Author of ten published books, including Alive Inside (Routledge, 2026), an updated edition of The Connected Leader (De Gruyter, 2024), and earlier titles Leadershift, Disciplined Collaboration, and Follow the Leader (Kogan Page) Contributor to Chief Executive (chiefexecutive.net) on leadership and AI Educated at UWC Atlantic and the University of St Andrews; also holds a Diploma in Management Science from Nottingham Trent University Founder of Emmanuel Gobillot Limited; co-founder of Collaboration Partners consultancy Biography The gap between collaboration as a stated priority and collaboration as an operating reality is one of the most consistent problems in organisations. Most attempts to close it add process or culture without addressing the structural conditions that prevent people from working collectively in the first place. Emmanuel Gobillot has spent twenty years diagnosing that gap – and building the frameworks to close it. At Hay Group, he led the Consumer Sector Consulting practice and then the Leadership Services function, working directly with Fortune 500 and FTSE 100 organisations. Named clients – Google, Vodafone, Carlsberg, AstraZeneca, Zurich Financial Services, the United Nations – span sectors and governance structures. That breadth is the evidence base on which his frameworks are built. The best-known outputs of that work are The Connected Leader (updated edition, De Gruyter, 2024) and Disciplined Collaboration (Kogan Page). Both are built around a consistent argument: that leadership and collective performance require structural architecture, not cultural exhortation. Follow the Leader sharpens this through a specific focus on followership, identifying eight elements of charisma that followers respond to and asking what followers need rather than what leaders should do. Disciplined Collaboration names the four fears that make most collaboration programmes ineffective and provides a tested four-step method for removing them. His most recent book, Alive Inside (Routledge, 2026), extends this thinking into the AI era. Where most leadership responses to AI focus on skills and adaptation, Gobillot asks a more fundamental question: which human leadership qualities cannot be replicated by an algorithm, and how do leaders build authority around them? The answer – a seven-principle framework built on compassion, courage, intuition, presence, and storytelling – gives executive teams a practical model for investing human effort where it is most durable. Key speaking topics Disciplined collaboration and the architecture of collective performance Human leadership advantage in AI-enabled organisations Leadership and followership dynamics Connected leadership and trust-based influence Organisational culture and collective performance Leading through successive phases of technological disruption Ideal for Senior executive and C-suite teams addressing collaboration breakdown across divisions or functions CHROs and people leaders building leadership development programmes that account for AI-driven change Boards and transformation leads evaluating leadership models in AI-enabled environments Organisations where silos, cross-functional friction, or low collective performance are named strategic problems Audience outcomes A structural framework for diagnosing why collaboration initiatives fail and what architecture is missing A named set of human leadership qualities that AI cannot replicate, with a practical model for building authority around them Clarity on the distinction between the performance of teamwork and the structural conditions that produce genuine collective effort Tools drawn from the Disciplined Collaboration and Alive Inside frameworks that apply directly to existing leadership and culture programmes A reframe of the leader-follower relationship that shifts the design question from «what should leaders do?» to «what do followers actually need?»

Why organisations work with Eamonn Holmes Four decades of live broadcasting at GMTV, Sky News Sunrise, This Morning and GB News, which means a stage, a teleprompter glitch, or an off-script guest is not a problem he has to think about. TRIC Awards News Presenter of the Year and three consecutive Best News Programme wins for GB News Breakfast, giving organisations a current, in-demand broadcast name on the bill. Interviewing range built across breakfast news, daytime ITV and political broadcasting, useful when a corporate event requires a sharp on-stage Q&A with a CEO, minister or sports figure. A face the audience already knows. For UK corporate audiences, Holmes carries instant recognition that warms a cold room before the agenda starts. Comfortable across awards hosting, after-dinner speaking, panel moderation and conference chairing; one booking covers most of the formats senior teams build events around. Biography highlights OBE for services to broadcasting, 2018 New Year Honours. Co-presenter, GMTV, 1993 to 2005. Lead presenter, Sky News Sunrise, 2005 to 2016. Co-presenter, This Morning on ITV, 2006 to 2021. Presenter, GB News Breakfast, 2022 to present. TRIC Awards News Presenter of the Year; GB News Breakfast won Best News Programme three years running. Biography GMTV launched on 1 January 1993, and Holmes was on air for the first edition. He stayed twelve years. That is the foundation: a presenter who learned live television in the discipline of breakfast news, where the autocue fails, the guest is late, and the producer is in your ear with thirty seconds to fill. From GMTV he moved to Sky News Sunrise for eleven years, then to ITV’s This Morning, where he and Ruth Langsford presented the Friday edition for fifteen years. Since 2022 he has anchored GB News Breakfast, which has won Best News Programme at the TRIC Awards three years in a row. He was appointed OBE for services to broadcasting in 2018. For senior buyers, the value is straightforward. A host who has logged thousands of live broadcast hours brings something a conference moderator pulled from a one-off panel cannot: composure when the AV fails, a sense of timing in the room, and the interviewing instinct to push a guest without alienating them. Awards ceremonies, internal conferences and after-dinner formats all benefit from that craft. He works across hosting, moderating, panel chairing and after-dinner formats, with an interviewing range that runs from breakfast soft-news to political accountability. For organisations choosing the face of their flagship event, he is a known name with the live broadcast experience to carry it. Key speaking topics Awards hosting Conference and event moderation On-stage interviewing After-dinner speaking Panel chairing Broadcast media and journalism Ideal for Corporate awards ceremonies and gala dinners. Internal conferences, town halls and leadership summits requiring a recognised host. Industry conferences needing a senior moderator for keynote interviews and panels. Brand or sponsor events where on-stage Q&A with named guests is central. Audience outcomes An event that runs to time with a host who can absorb agenda changes without showing it. Sharper on-stage interviews with senior guests, drawing out content the audience came to hear. Higher audience engagement from a recognised broadcast presence on stage. A confident handover between agenda items, sponsors and award categories.

Why organisations work with Diego Gilardoni He reads China the way a board needs it read: as a commercial relationship shaped by political signalling, cultural code and reputational exposure, not as a marketing opportunity that can be project-managed. He held a seat on the International Advisory Board of the National Image Research Centre at Tsinghua University, which gave him direct line of sight into how Chinese institutions think about Western corporate behaviour, a vantage point few external advisors actually have. His Oxford postgraduate work focused specifically on global reputation and corporate diplomacy, so he can move a leadership team from “we have a public affairs problem” to “we have an operating-model problem” without the usual translation costs. His strategic foresight training spans the Institute for the Future, Kairos Future, the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies and the Oxford Scenarios Programme, which means scenarios for the room are built on recognised methodology rather than improvised futures language. Former broadcast journalist, current advisor, working trilingually across English, French and Italian, with lived professional experience across Europe, the US and China. The geopolitical reading carries the texture of someone who has actually operated inside these systems. Biography highlights Author, Decoding China: Cross-cultural strategies for successful business with the Chinese (2017). Former member, International Advisory Board, National Image Research Centre, Tsinghua University, Beijing. Former Visiting Professor in global business and corporate diplomacy, University of International Business and Economics (UIBE), Beijing. Postgraduate Diploma in Global Business, University of Oxford; Oxford Scenarios Programme, Saïd Business School. Strategic foresight certifications from the Institute for the Future (Palo Alto), Kairos Future Academy (Stockholm) and the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies. Contributor to the South China Morning Post and TEDx speaker on cross-cultural business. Biography The rules-based global economy that European and North American boards were trained inside no longer holds. China is a strategic relationship, not a market. Supply chains are political instruments. Reputation in one jurisdiction now creates legal and commercial exposure in another. Senior teams are still making capital decisions with a mental model from a different era. Diego’s work sits inside that gap. His Oxford postgraduate diploma in global business focused on reputation and corporate diplomacy, his subsequent foresight training runs through the Institute for the Future in Palo Alto, Kairos Future in Stockholm and the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies. The methodology is recognised. The application is commercial. China is the spine of his expertise. He served on the International Advisory Board of the National Image Research Centre at Tsinghua University and was Visiting Professor in global business and corporate diplomacy at UIBE in Beijing. Decoding China (2017) is the working manual for executives who need to operate inside the Chinese commercial system rather than perform competence at distance. Before the advisory work, he spent the first 15 years of his career as a journalist with Switzerland’s national broadcaster, reporting from Europe and the United States. He writes for the South China Morning Post and has authored two earlier books in Italian, one on the reputational fallout of the Swiss banks’ WWII assets crisis, one on US foreign policy in a multipolar world. The reputation thread runs the length of the career. Key speaking topics Geopolitics and global business in a fragmented order China strategy and cross-cultural commercial decision-making Corporate diplomacy and reputation across jurisdictions Strategic foresight and scenario thinking for boards Cultural intelligence as a board-level capability Strategic narrative and executive communication Ideal for CEOs, boards and executive committees with material China or wider Asia exposure Heads of strategy, corporate affairs and public affairs in multinational organisations Risk, supply chain and corporate development leaders re-pricing geopolitical exposure Leadership programmes inside global financial services, industrials, luxury and hospitality groups Audience outcomes A sharper read of where the China relationship is going and what that means for specific commercial decisions in the room. A working vocabulary for corporate diplomacy that closes the gap between public affairs, strategy and operations. Scenario logic the leadership team can take back into capital allocation and supply chain decisions. Concrete cross-cultural cues for negotiating, partnering and managing reputation across the China-West divide.

Why organisations work with Dermot Murnaghan Four decades of live news anchoring, from ITV News at Ten to BBC Breakfast to Sky News, give him the composure to handle a difficult room, a running schedule, or a senior panel that needs steering. Royal Television Society Interviewer of the Year for the Peter Mandelson interview that unseated a cabinet minister, a credential that buys him latitude with senior speakers and difficult subjects. He has anchored some of the defining live moments of the last thirty years, including Princess Diana’s death in 1997 and Queen Elizabeth II’s death in 2022, which is the kind of pedigree that calms a nervous client on the day. Corporate hosting CV across the Police Federation, Eurostar, the Home Office, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Which? and Royal Mail, with consistent client feedback on professionalism and ease of working. Active interviewer on his podcast Legends of News, with recent guests including Sir Trevor McDonald, Nick Robinson and Jonathan Dimbleby, so the craft is current, not retired. Biography highlights Main presenter, BBC Breakfast, 2002 to 2007. Main anchor, Sky News, 2007 to 2023, including the Sunday Murnaghan show and Sky News Tonight. Host, BBC Two’s Eggheads, 2003 to 2014. Royal Television Society Interviewer of the Year, 1999. TRIC Newscaster of the Year, 2000. Host of Legends of News, an Acast podcast on the history of British broadcast journalism. Ambassador, Prostate Cancer Research, since June 2025. Biography Live news is unforgiving. The autocue breaks, the politician dodges, the breaking story lands in the middle of a different segment, and the anchor still has to be coherent, calm and on time. Dermot Murnaghan spent four decades doing exactly that across Channel 4, ITV, BBC and Sky News. The credentials sit behind the craft. The Royal Television Society named him Interviewer of the Year in 1999 for the Peter Mandelson interview that exposed the Geoffrey Robinson loan affair and pushed Mandelson out of the cabinet. TRIC named him Newscaster of the Year in 2000. On ITV he was the anchor who broke the news of Princess Diana’s death in 1997. On Sky News he announced the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022. For corporate audiences, that lineage translates into conference chairing, awards hosting and panel moderation. He has worked the room for the Police Federation, Eurostar, the Home Office, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Which? and Royal Mail. Clients consistently note that he is easy to work with on the day, briefed properly, and able to handle senior contributors without flattening them. The craft is still active. His Acast podcast Legends of News features long-form interviews with Sir Trevor McDonald, Nick Robinson, Martha Kearney, Jonathan Dimbleby and Tim Marshall, among others. Since June 2025 he has also been an ambassador for Prostate Cancer Research, following his own stage four diagnosis, and speaks publicly about screening and early detection. Key speaking topics Conference chairing and facilitation Awards hosting Panel moderation In-conversation interviews with senior figures After-dinner speaking on a career in broadcast news Men’s health and prostate cancer awareness The craft and ethics of broadcast journalism Ideal for Corporate and association annual conferences that need an external chair to hold the agenda together Industry awards nights requiring a recognisable, senior host Leadership offsites and client events that include a fireside chat or in-conversation format Internal communications, charity and CSR events on men’s health, screening and patient advocacy Audience outcomes A conference that runs on time, with senior contributors handled with judgement and warmth. A panel that interrogates the topic rather than drifting, with the chair reading the room and steering it. A fireside chat that lands the headline points the client cares about, in language the audience can quote. For health-themed events, a candid first-person account of a stage four prostate cancer diagnosis and a clear case for earlier screening.

Why organisations work with David Thomas Measurable cognitive credentials that a buyer can name in one sentence: Guinness record for reciting Pi to 22,500 digits, International Grandmaster of Memory, US Memory Champion. Most motivational speakers cannot point to anything comparable. A lived story of reinvention from a troubled start and 11 years in the Fire Service to a global speaking career, which lands with audiences who are themselves being asked to reinvent roles, teams, and businesses. A practical toolkit, not a biography. Audiences leave with specific techniques for recall, preparation, and presenting under pressure that they can apply the next morning. 30 years of professional speaking across more than 30 countries, including after-dinner, keynote, and executive coaching formats, which gives the booker flexibility on room, tone, and length. A rare bridge between motivational storytelling and hard cognitive science, useful for sales kick-offs, leadership offsites, and learning events where a generic inspirational keynote would fall flat. Biography highlights Guinness World Record holder for reciting Pi to 22,500 digits from memory (1998), breaking an 18-year-old record. International Grandmaster of Memory and 2007 US Memory Champion; world record holder for memorising 100 individually shuffled packs of playing cards. Former operational firefighter with the UK Fire Service for 11 years before his speaking career. Author of “Improving Your Memory” in the DK Essential Managers series, published by Dorling Kindersley / Penguin Random House. Featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2003, with further coverage cited across BBC World Service, Wall Street Journal and The Times. Has delivered keynotes, workshops and after-dinner talks in more than 30 countries, with venues including Caesar’s Palace, Wembley and the Tower of London. Biography Most organisations treat memory and attention as personality traits. They are not. They are trainable, measurable disciplines, and the people who treat them that way outperform the ones who do not. David Thomas built a career on that distinction. The shift from the UK Fire Service to the World Memory Championships happened in under a year. Eight months after buying his first memory book to help him pass exams, Thomas placed fourth at the Championships. On 1 May 1998 he recited Pi to 22,500 digits, breaking an 18-year Guinness World Record. He later became an International Grandmaster of Memory, a US Memory Champion, and a world record holder for memorising 100 shuffled packs of playing cards. Those credentials matter because they separate him from the generic motivational field. When he talks about change, resilience, or performance under pressure, he is not borrowing language from the leadership canon. He is describing a discipline he has competed in at world level, published on through the DK Essential Managers series, and taught to more than 250,000 people across 30 countries. The work in the room is practical. Audiences leave with techniques they can use that week: how to remember names in a sales context, how to hold a room without notes, how to prepare when the stakes are real. It is why he still gets booked for sales kick-offs, leadership offsites, and after-dinner events nearly 30 years into the career, including a 2003 appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show that took the message to a global audience. Key speaking topics Memory and cognitive performance Resilience and personal reinvention Change and adaptability Presentation and communication skills Peak performance under pressure Motivation and mindset Ideal for Sales kick-offs and commercial conferences where recall of product, client, and context is a direct revenue lever. Leadership offsites and learning events where a keynote needs to bridge inspiration with practical cognitive skills. After-dinner and awards audiences looking for a serious credential paired with a human story rather than generic motivational fare. Learning and development leaders building programmes on performance habits, attention, and executive presence. Audience outcomes Specific, named memory techniques audiences can apply the next day to recall names, data, and presentation content. A sharper sense of what trainable performance actually looks like, anchored in world-record discipline rather than slogans. Renewed appetite for personal reinvention, drawn from a first-person story of moving from the Fire Service to world-level competition. Practical approaches to preparing for and performing in high-stakes rooms, from boardroom pitches to stage presentations.

Why organisations work with Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter His named frameworks – the “micromort” (a one-in-a-million unit of risk) and “microlife” – give non-technical leaders a usable vocabulary for discussing probability and relative risk. That vocabulary changes how organisations communicate uncertainty internally, not just in a keynote room. The Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication, which he chaired at Cambridge, ran controlled experiments on how different ways of presenting uncertainty affect trust and decision quality. His approach is built on tested research into what actually changes how audiences respond to evidence. His two Pelican bestsellers, The Art of Statistics (2019) and The Art of Uncertainty (2024) – named Best Book of the Year by both Forbes and The Economist – demonstrate an unusually rare ability: making genuinely complex statistical argument accessible to any senior audience, not just specialists. He played a leading statistical role in several of the UK’s most consequential public inquiries, including the Shipman murders, the Bristol Royal Infirmary children’s heart surgery case, and the Infected Blood Inquiry. He understands firsthand what happens when statistical evidence is ignored, contested, or misread at institutional level. As a Non-Executive Director of the UK Statistics Authority, he operates at the intersection of regulatory scrutiny, data quality, and public accountability – experience that is directly relevant to any board discussion about evidence governance or public reporting. Biography highlights Emeritus Professor of Statistics, University of Cambridge; former Winton Professor for the Public Understanding of Risk (2007-2018) Knighted 2014 for services to medical statistics; OBE 2006; Fellow of the Royal Society (elected 2005) President, Royal Statistical Society, 2017-2018; Non-Executive Director, UK Statistics Authority Author of The Art of Statistics (Pelican, 2019), published in eleven languages, and The Art of Uncertainty (Pelican, 2024), named Best Book of the Year by Forbes and The Economist Presented BBC Four documentaries Tails You Win: The Science of Chance and the award-winning Climate Change by Numbers; appeared on BBC Radio 4 Desert Island Discs (2022) Guest columnist for The Times, The Guardian, and New Scientist; host of podcast Risky Talk; leading statistical contributor to the Shipman, Bristol Royal Infirmary, and Infected Blood public inquiries Biography Statistical evidence routinely gets stripped of its uncertainty before it reaches the people who need to act on it. By the time a risk figure reaches a boardroom, its limitations have usually been smoothed over. David Spiegelhalter has spent his career examining why this happens, and what it costs. As Winton Professor for the Public Understanding of Risk at Cambridge from 2007 to 2018, and then as Chair of the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication, Spiegelhalter ran research programmes designed to test how different ways of presenting uncertainty affect trust and decision quality. His framework treats the communication of uncertainty not as a messaging problem but as an evidence question – one with measurable consequences for how organisations are perceived and trusted. His work has extended into the most consequential institutional settings. He played a leading statistical role in the public inquiries into Harold Shipman’s murders, the Bristol Royal Infirmary children’s heart surgery case, and the Infected Blood Inquiry. As a Non-Executive Director of the UK Statistics Authority, he sits at the intersection of regulatory oversight, data quality, and public accountability. His two Pelican bestsellers – The Art of Statistics (2019) and The Art of Uncertainty (2024), named Best Book of the Year by Forbes and The Economist – show that serious statistical argument can reach a mainstream audience without dilution. The Art of Statistics has been published in eleven languages. Knighted in 2014 for services to medical statistics and elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, Spiegelhalter brings a combination of research depth, regulatory experience, and communication skill that is genuinely rare. Key speaking topics Risk communication and statistical evidence Communicating uncertainty to non-technical audiences Data literacy and probabilistic thinking Trust in numbers and institutional credibility Statistical evidence in public policy Evidence-based decision-making Medical statistics and health data Ideal for Boards and non-executive directors with risk oversight responsibilities C-suite and senior leadership teams navigating complex evidence and forecasting Risk, compliance, and regulatory affairs functions Public sector leaders and policy teams that rely on statistical evidence Audience outcomes A clearer understanding of how to read and challenge statistical claims in briefings and reports Practical frameworks for communicating uncertainty to boards, regulators, or the public without losing credibility Sharper awareness of the specific ways risk data gets misrepresented, and the capacity to detect it A reframing of uncertainty as a communicable, manageable fact rather than a weakness to conceal Better questions to bring to any high-stakes decision that rests on probabilistic or statistical evidence

Why organisations work with David Selves He runs corporate events, awards ceremonies and fundraising dinners as the figure at the front of the room, with a 50-year track record across broadcasting, business and hospitality to draw on. As a charity auctioneer, he has raised over £1 million for good causes, a tangible commercial outcome rather than a stage credit. His business background, including roles as Regional Chairman and National Board Member of the Small Business Bureau, gives him a credible footing on panels with founders, investors and small-business audiences. As Deputy Chairman of the London Press Club and a working broadcaster, he interviews with journalistic instinct, which makes him useful for on-stage Q&A with senior or politically sensitive guests. Biography highlights Founder of The Selves Group (1978), with interests across property, media, finance and leisure. Former Regional Chairman and National Board Member of the Small Business Bureau. Deputy Chairman of the London Press Club; founder of the London Grill Club. Charity auctioneer credited with raising over £1 million for charitable causes. Broadcaster on Radio Faversham, with a long-running interviewing practice. Author of four fictional thrillers, including “Quentin – A Spy” and “The Noble Challenge”. Biography A long evening of speeches, an awards running order or a fundraising auction lives or dies on the person holding the room. The technical name for this is hosting craft, and it is a different discipline from keynote speaking. David Selves has built his career around it. The career sits across banking, broadcasting, hospitality and small-business advocacy. He started as a management trainee at Midland Bank in 1969, founded The Selves Group in 1978, and has held senior positions at the Small Business Bureau as Regional Chairman and National Board Member. The London Press Club, where he is Deputy Chairman, and the London Grill Club, which he founded, anchor him in the working media community. The auctioneering record is the clearest commercial proof point. Over £1 million raised for charitable causes places him among a small group of British fundraising auctioneers who can move a room and a paddle in equal measure. His broadcasting on Radio Faversham, and a long interviewing practice across business and political subjects, give him the ear and pacing that live hosting demands. He also writes fiction, with four published thrillers including “Quentin – A Spy” and “The Noble Challenge”, a reminder that the working tools of the trade are language and timing. Key speaking topics After-dinner speaking Awards hosting Charity auctioneering and fundraising Panel moderation and on-stage interviewing Entrepreneurship and small business Media and broadcasting Ideal for Corporate event organisers booking a host or master of ceremonies for awards nights, gala dinners or conference plenaries. Charity development directors and fundraising leads are commissioning an auctioneer for a high-stakes appeal evening. Communications and marketing leads needing a panel moderator for journalist-style on-stage interviews. Small-business and entrepreneur networks are looking for an after-dinner speaker with operating credibility. Audience outcomes A running order that holds energy from welcome to close, rather than losing the room mid-evening. A fundraising auction run with pacing and judgement, designed to lift the final total. On-stage interviews with senior or politically sensitive guests are handled with journalistic instinct. An after-dinner address that mixes humour with substantive commentary on business, media, or current affairs.

Why organisations work with David Meerman Scott He wrote the book that reset the category. The New Rules of Marketing and PR sits in its ninth edition, has been translated into 29 languages, and is standard reading inside marketing functions worldwide. When he speaks to a commercial team, they are hearing from the person who named the model they already use. He coined Newsjacking, now in the Oxford English Dictionary, and turned it into a repeatable method for injecting a brand into live news cycles without a campaign budget. He has been inside HubSpot’s growth story since 2007, when the company had fewer than ten employees, and continues as its Marketer in Residence. The playbook he talks about is one he helped build in practice. Fanocracy, his Wall Street Journal bestseller with Reiko Scott, gives commercial leaders a second framework: how to turn customers into fans, and fans into a growth engine that competitors cannot copy. He sits on advisory boards across software, AI, and live-music businesses, which keeps his material in front of current commercial problems rather than recycled case studies. Biography highlights Author of more than a dozen books, including The New Rules of Marketing and PR (9th edition, 29 languages), Fanocracy, Real-Time Marketing and PR, Marketing the Moon, and Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead. Coined “Newsjacking”; the term entered the Oxford English Dictionary in 2017. HubSpot advisory board member since 2007 and current Marketer in Residence. Keynotes and masterclasses delivered on all seven continents and in more than 45 countries, for clients including Cisco, HP, SAP, Google, Microsoft, Ford, PwC, NASDAQ, McKesson, the US Air Force, and the US Marine Corps. Advisor and board member to emerging companies including Eloqua (IPO 2012, acquired by Oracle), NewsWatch KK (acquired by Yahoo Japan), and GrabCAD (acquired by Stratasys). Serves on the advisory boards of the Grateful Dead Archive at UC Santa Cruz and the voter-registration nonprofit HeadCount. Biography The shift that matters in marketing is not a tool, it is a timing problem. Buyers move through most of a purchase decision on their own, using search, social, and peer networks, before a seller is ever involved. David Meerman Scott built his career by naming that shift and giving commercial teams a way to work inside it. The New Rules of Marketing and PR, first published in 2006 and now in its ninth edition, turned a set of emerging practices into a coherent model: publish useful content, reach buyers directly, and abandon the campaign calendar as the organising unit of marketing. The book has been translated into 29 languages and is now treated as a standard reference inside marketing functions from Fortune 500 incumbents to early-stage software companies. Real-Time Marketing and PR and Newsjacking extended the argument into live events and breaking news, and gave the commercial world a new vocabulary for opportunistic reach. His credibility is not only editorial. He has been on the HubSpot advisory board since 2007, when the company had fewer than ten employees, and remains its Marketer in Residence. He sat on the board of Eloqua through its IPO and sale to Oracle, and on NewsWatch KK through its sale to Yahoo Japan. With his daughter Reiko Scott he wrote Fanocracy, a 2020 Wall Street Journal bestseller that moved the conversation from reach to fandom, and gave leaders at companies like Hagerty, MeUndies, and HubSpot a framework for building customer communities that behave like a compounding asset. When Scott walks into a sales kickoff or a marketing leadership offsite, the value is compression. He has already tested these ideas across more than 45 countries, all seven continents, and hundreds of commercial teams, and he will tell a CMO in the room which parts of the playbook are load-bearing and which are noise. Key speaking topics Modern marketing strategy and the new rules of marketing and PR Newsjacking and real-time marketing Content-led sales and social selling Fanocracy and customer community as a growth engine Digital buyer behaviour and the shift from campaigns to always-on Marketing leadership inside high-growth technology companies Ideal for CMOs, marketing directors, and heads of brand rebuilding their function for a post-campaign buying journey. Chief Revenue Officers and sales leaders running kickoffs where marketing and sales need one shared operating model. Founders and leadership teams at growth-stage software, services, and consumer businesses looking for a repeatable customer-acquisition method. Corporate communications and PR leaders modernising earned-media strategy around live news and owned content. Audience outcomes A clear read on where their current marketing and sales model is leaking pipeline, and which specific tactics to retire. A working definition of Newsjacking and Real-Time Marketing, with concrete examples of how to execute both inside a regulated or conservative organisation. The Fanocracy framework for converting buyers into repeat advocates, with named examples from Hagerty, MeUndies, HubSpot, and HeadCount. A sharper view of what a modern marketing and sales operating rhythm looks like day to day, not as an annual plan. Practical language to align a CMO, CRO, and CEO on what good looks like in the next twelve months.

Why organisations work with Danny Bent His argument that performance improves when people stop masking who they are is backed by his own experience building communities at scale – including a 3,328-mile relay across the United States that raised approximately $600,000 in weeks, organised by someone with no events infrastructure and a great deal of conviction. That is not a theoretical model; it is evidence. He produces an emotional shift in a room, not just intellectual content. Audiences at HSBC, Nike, and Google have described his sessions as physically changing the atmosphere within an hour – the kind of result most culture and engagement programmes take months to attempt. His willingness to speak openly about dyslexia, therapy, and the parts of himself he spent years performing around gives him rare credibility with audiences resistant to culture messaging. A Guinness World Record holder and BBC Special Forces finalist talking honestly about hiding and shame tends to disarm people who would tune out a conventional wellbeing speaker. His four named talk frameworks give event planners clear, differentiated choices across distinct use cases – personal identity, team belonging, leadership culture, and breaking default behaviour – without requiring bespoke development. His lived experience of building radically inclusive communities – Project Awesome across UK cities, multi-country running relays attracting thousands – gives HR and culture leads a concrete reference point for what genuine belonging actually looks and feels like, not just what it looks like in a framework. Biography highlights Author of “You’ve Gone Too Far This Time Sir” (account of cycling 9,000 miles from London to India; described as an international bestseller) and “Not All Superheroes Wear Capes” (about One Run for Boston and its impact on thousands of Americans) Two Guinness World Records, including for the I Move London Relay – 4,000 miles run by 2,000 participants across London in 2018 Organised One Run for Boston (2013) – a 3,328-mile continuous running relay from Los Angeles to Boston following the Marathon bombings, raising approximately $600,000 for victims Second overall on the BBC’s Special Forces: Ultimate Hell Week; one of only three competitors to complete the programme TEDx speaker on the power of community; 100+ talks delivered at organisations including Google, HSBC, Nike, National Geographic, and the Royal Geographic Society Founder of Project Awesome, a free fitness community that has mobilised tens of thousands of participants across UK cities Former Great Britain triathlete Biography What happened after the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013 is, at one level, a story about running. A 3,328-mile relay from Los Angeles to Boston, organised in days, ran by thousands of Americans who had no relationship with each other beyond a shared need to do something. It raised approximately $600,000 for victims and demonstrated something specific about what people are capable of when they feel permission to show up honestly. Danny Bent organised that relay. He also cycled 9,000 miles from London to India, founded Project Awesome (a free fitness community across UK cities) and broke two Guinness World Records. He came second in the BBC’s Special Forces: Ultimate Hell Week. These achievements are real, but they are not the point. The point is the human pattern underneath them: what happens to people, and to teams, when they are trusted and given a reason to be honest. Danny is dyslexic, a former Great Britain triathlete, and the author of two books. He spent years performing a version of himself that looked capable and cheerful while keeping quieter parts hidden. His decision to change that shaped his current speaking directly. He has built four named talk frameworks: The Happiness in Being You, The Power of a Tribe Mentality, The All-Powerful You, and Breaking Free from Autopilot, each addressing a different aspect of what shifts when people stop masking who they are at work. He has delivered 100+ talks at organisations including Google, HSBC, Nike, National Geographic, and the Royal Geographic Society, and given a TEDx talk on the power of community. Audiences have consistently described his sessions not as explaining something but as changing something in the atmosphere, in the conversation, in what people say to each other afterward. Key speaking topics Belonging and psychological safety at work Authentic identity and self-permission Community building and collective purpose Team culture and trust Resilience through shared challenge Leadership through enabling others Storytelling as a tool for connection Ideal for CHROs, People Directors, and culture leads building engagement or belonging programmes where intellectual content alone is unlikely to shift behaviour Senior leadership teams and executive offsites where trust, openness, and team cohesion are the underlying agenda Company-wide away days and conferences that need a session capable of shifting energy and atmosphere, not just delivering content Sales, marketing, or client-facing team events where authentic connection and discretionary effort are performance drivers Audience outcomes A clearer understanding of the personal and organisational cost of masking authentic identity at work, expressed through direct, lived experience rather than framework Specific language for talking about belonging, psychological safety, and trust within their own teams Awareness of the default behaviours and autopilot patterns that limit individual and collective performance A reference point – grounded in real community-building at scale – for what genuine belonging actually feels like, not just what it looks like in a policy document A personal prompt to take one specific action toward showing up more honestly, in work or in life

Why organisations work with Dana Lewis Three decades of frontline reporting across more than 50 countries, including Moscow, Jerusalem, Iraq, and Afghanistan, bring first-hand authority to any panel on geopolitical risk. Twelve years based in Russia and fluent Russian give him context on Moscow, the Kremlin, and the wider post-Soviet space that few moderators in the market can match. Embedded assignments with the 101st Airborne, 82nd Airborne, 10th Mountain Division, and U.S. Marines in Iraq and Afghanistan make him credible on military and security subjects that often defeat generalist hosts. Interviews with heads of state including Vladimir Putin, King Hussein of Jordan, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Shimon Peres translate directly into the composure and pace required to hold a senior panel. Overseas Press Club awards for coverage of the Kursk submarine disaster and the Kosovo war, plus an Emmy nomination for his reporting on Russian orphans, back the billing with recognition from named bodies. Biography highlights Former Moscow correspondent for NBC News and Moscow Bureau Chief for Fox News, one of the longest-serving Western reporters based in Russia. Jerusalem-based Middle East Bureau Chief for CTV, covering Israel, the Palestinian territories, and the wider region. Correspondent credits with Fox News, NBC News, CBS News, CBC News, and CTV National News; contributor to Al Jazeera America. Embedded with U.S. forces for the 2003 Iraq invasion with the 101st Airborne and on multiple Afghanistan rotations including Helmand Province. Host of BACK STORY With DANA LEWIS, a world affairs podcast featuring interviews with former officials and subject experts. Overseas Press Club awards for the Kursk submarine disaster and the Kosovo war; Emmy nomination for Russian orphans reporting. Biography Moscow, Jerusalem, Kabul, and Baghdad are not datelines Dana Lewis covered from a hotel balcony. He lived in Russia for 12 years as NBC News Moscow correspondent and later Fox News Moscow Bureau Chief, one of the longest continuously based Western reporters in the country. Before that he ran CTV’s Middle East bureau out of Jerusalem through the 1990s. That grounding matters when a board is asked to think about Russia, Ukraine, Iran, or the Gulf. Lewis has interviewed Vladimir Putin, King Hussein of Jordan, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Shimon Peres. He was embedded with the 101st Airborne for the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and with the 82nd Airborne, 10th Mountain Division, and U.S. Marines across multiple Afghanistan tours including Helmand Province. He reports in English and Russian. The awards sit underneath the reporting, not in front of it. Overseas Press Club recognition for the Kursk submarine disaster and the Kosovo war, an Emmy nomination for a story on Russian orphans, and decades of assignments for Fox News, NBC News, CBS News, CBC News, CTV National News, and Al Jazeera America. Today he is based in London, hosts the BACK STORY With DANA LEWIS podcast on world affairs, and appears regularly on TRT World, LBC Radio, and ABC News Australia. For event organisers he works as a moderator, conference host, and interviewer, putting the same instincts that governed a live two-way from a war zone to work on a corporate stage. Key speaking topics Russia and the Kremlin Middle East conflict and security Geopolitical risk and foreign policy War reporting and frontline journalism International media and world affairs Event hosting, moderation, and executive interviews Ideal for Board and executive briefings on Russia, Ukraine, and the wider post-Soviet region Conferences requiring a moderator or host with authority on geopolitics and security Media panels and journalism programmes exploring war reporting and foreign correspondence Awards ceremonies and corporate events seeking a broadcast-trained presenter Audience outcomes A clearer read on the Kremlin’s logic and the constraints shaping Russian foreign policy A grounded sense of how Middle East conflicts connect to European and global risk An on-stage conversation moderated at the pace and standard of live network television First-hand colour from inside Moscow, Jerusalem, Kabul, and Baghdad that sharpens abstract risk discussions

Why organisations work with Christian Howes He reads social and behavioural data the way a broadcaster reads a room, which means boards and marketing teams leave with a view of their customers that feels observed rather than modelled. He has been trusted on live television, from Big Brother’s Bit on the Side with Emma Willis to BT Sport and Channel 4’s alternative election night, to make data intelligible to audiences who are not data people. His corporate work spans PlayStation, Diageo, HSBC, Lloyds, ASOS and Barclays, so he arrives already fluent in the commercial contexts most clients are operating in. He doubles as a host, MC and panel moderator, which makes him a practical choice for events that want one credible voice across keynote, stage linking and awards. Biography highlights Regular social-data contributor on Big Brother’s Bit on the Side (Channel 5), 2011-2012, alongside Emma Willis. Television appearances on BT Sport (The Clare Balding Show, BT Sport Panel, BT Sport Live), ITV’s This Morning, BBC1 National Lottery, Good Morning Britain, and Channel 4’s alternative election night coverage. Co-founder of Mr Bridger, a content business developing formats for production companies and broadcasters. Corporate and keynote work with Sony PlayStation, Diageo, HSBC, RBS, Lloyds Banking Group, Barclays, ASOS, UMG, Channel 4, GoCompare, Skoda, Microsoft, Teradata and Cornerstone. Works as keynote speaker, conference host, awards presenter and panel moderator across UK and international business audiences. Biography Social data arrived in most boardrooms as a dashboard before it arrived as a story. Christian Howes built a career out of closing that gap. His route in was unusual: he started by modelling Twitter traffic around the Big Brother house to predict weekly evictions, which led to a weekly sofa spot on Big Brother’s Bit on the Side with Emma Willis, translating audience sentiment back to a live TV audience. That pattern, turning raw social signal into something a non-specialist can act on, became the core of his commercial work. He has gone on to appear as a data and digital contributor across BT Sport, ITV’s This Morning, BBC1’s National Lottery show, Good Morning Britain, and Channel 4’s alternative election night coverage. The broadcast craft is not decoration; it is the reason his corporate sessions land with marketing, CX and customer-service teams who have sat through too many unreadable analytics decks. His corporate roster reflects where social and behavioural data actually matters in large consumer businesses. He has worked with Sony PlayStation, Diageo, HSBC, RBS, Lloyds, Barclays, ASOS, UMG, Skoda, GoCompare, Microsoft and Teradata on what audiences are doing, what they are signalling, and how customer-service and merchandising operations should respond. In 2015 he co-founded Mr Bridger, a content business developing formats for production companies, which keeps his feet in the studio as well as the boardroom. The second half of his offer, and often the reason he is booked, is hosting. He anchors conferences, moderates panels and presents awards, and clients buy the combination: one voice that can deliver a substantive keynote on digital and data, then carry the rest of the room for the day. Key speaking topics Social media analytics and audience sentiment Big data and consumer behaviour Digital marketing and branding Customer experience and customer service transformation Conference hosting, awards presenting and panel moderation Media, broadcast and the attention economy Ideal for CMOs, brand and marketing directors in consumer-facing businesses Customer experience, customer service and digital transformation leads Conference and awards organisers needing one host across keynote and stage Retail, financial services and entertainment audiences working with large consumer datasets Audience outcomes A clearer read on what their customers are signalling on social and digital channels, with examples they recognise from their own category. A practical sense of where social and behavioural data should connect to operational decisions in marketing, CX and service. Concrete case references from consumer brands, financial services and broadcast, rather than generic digital theory. For hosted events, a single credible voice across keynote, interview and awards that keeps the room with you.