Dr Patrick Dixon is often described as Europe's leading futurist and has been ranked as one of the world's 20 most influential business thinkers. He is also one of the world's great keynote speakers at corporate events. Get the best conference speakers around and your reputation will shine like the sun. Make a mistake with conference speakers in planning your event and it's the end of your career.
The trouble is that the best global authorities can be the worst conference speakers. It's hard for conference speakers to wow a sophisticated audience of senior executives or board members in a one hour speech. The best conference speakers are true professionals: it's their job. Conference speaking is what these people do. Conference speakers are good, mediocre or just plain awful, but the best conference speakers are those that speak at conferences all the time. Conference speaking has become a specialty in it's own right. Conference speakers can have the best ideas in the world, be the greatest geniuses alive, but if their audience can't hear what they say, if they are dull and boring, if the audience can't relate to the message, what's the point?
"Motivational speakers" are a particular risk. You need more than a set of slick slides, inspirational quotations and funny stories (jokes can badly misfire in multicultural gatherings). Most executives need to be convinced about purpose, vision, data and direction before they will allow themselves to be carried along by an enthusiastic presenter.
Great speakers focus attention on what is really important, have a deep understanding of each audience (preparation really matters), help people see the way ahead, provide practical answers and make people feel good about themselves and what they do.
See information about how Dr Dixon works with clients to create highly successful events.
Conference lectures that make people think in radical ways
Immediate practical take-home messages from every presentation
Total focus on the interests of the audience in every speech
Lecturer fits material into whole theme of conference
Interesting, entertaining, dynamic
Kind of corporate presentation where conference audiences want more
Dr Patrick Dixon is one of the world's leading conference speakers. He's often described as Europe's leading Futurist. As a corporate lecturer at large global events in up to three countries a week, Dr Dixon aims to help conference participants touch and feel the future with multimedia presentations on every aspect of what tomorrow's management challenges will be like It's not enough for a futurist to make informed guesses or detached, philosophical comments on public platforms, or as part of workshops, seminars, think tanks or client events. A successful futurist has to be able to see, feel and taste the future and communicate it in ways that are relevant, down to earth and life-changing. And that means different messages for different industries and audiences.
No conference speaker on the future can predict specific events such as the exact moment to buy or sell a stock, but the underlying trends are usually beyond dispute and easily described in keynote lectures or presentations. The key for successful conference speakers is not only being able to interpret the outworking of those trends and to be as accurate as possible about timescale, but also to be an interesting, entertaining and mind-stretching communicator.
Designing a great corporate event is an art, and great executive conferences are rare. The secret of success is a great opening visionary lecture that sets the scene, and creates the whole atmosphere and drive for the conference. A great conference speaker brings an electricity into the auditorium almost before they begin to speak, instantly grabbing attention and carrying conference participants along on the crest of a wave.
A poor conference speaker is obvious in the first sixty seconds. There is no spark, no passion or fire. The lecture delivery is flat and the content difficult to pay attention to or even irrelevant.
Great presentations are hard work, physically, mentally and emotionally - for the speaker of course - but should also be stimulating, enervating, exciting and engaging for senior executives.
Economics, Finance & Financial Services Banking - many of Patrick's clients are global banks, investment funds Economics issues - Patrick creates a big picture of global trends Insurance - Patrick has worked with many of the world's largest insurers
Technology Technology - Patrick works with many of the world's largest computer, software, telecom, internet and biotech companies Social Media - Online Communities - how online communities will drive your business Smartphones - future of telecom, wireless devices, virtual communities, positional advertising Convergence and divergence - why all competitive advantage comes from divergence RFID technology - impact on retail, wholesale, distribution and manufacturing
Travel, Tourism, Energy, Resources and Environment Travel - future of aviation, road, rail, shipping - for business and leisure Biofuels - food for fuel? Next generation biofuels. Commodities - impact of emerging markets Energy industry - future energy from oil, gas, coal, nuclear, renewables Petrochemical industry - how the industry will change and why Climate change - why the future is about emotion, not just the science Sustainability - what does it mean for your business?
Other Topics and Types of Audience Real estate - key trends in commercial and residential real estate industries Retailing - developing the customer experience
Looking for other topics? Search on Patrick Dixon's YouTube Futurist channel.
Patrick Dixon has presented to the following industries (examples)
Airlines, Travel, Shipping, Hotels, Tourism and Automotive Industry Air France, Association of Corporate Travel Executives, Automobile Recycling Netherlands (ARN), Dassault Falcon, Dubai Ports Authority, EADS / Airbus, Ford, Hotel Ecoliere de Lausanne, KLM, Reg Vardy - auto sales, Swiss airline, Tourism in Ireland, North West Tourism, Virgin Atlantic, World Economic Forum Governors of Aviation Travel and Tourism meeting (Davos)
Banking, Insurance and other Financial Services
3i, ABN AMRO, ABSA bank, AIG, Allianz, AMA, Asset Management Advisors, Aviva, Bank of Ireland, Barclays Bank, Birla financial services group, BNP Paribas, Britania Building Society, Clariden Bank, Credit Suisse Group, Credit Suise First Boston, CUES, Deutsche Bank, Fortis, Friends First Bank, HSBC, International Mutual Funds Institute, Investec, Kazakstan Investment Forum. LLoyds TSB, Lombard, Macquarie Bank, Minsheng Bank, Morgan Stanley Investment Bank, Morley Fund, Munich Re, North Island Credit Union, PrivatBank (Ukraine), Prudential, RBS, RMB, SEB, Skandia, Sumitomo Bank, Swiss Re, Swiss Stock Exchange, UBS, Bank Vontobel, Winterthur Insurance, Zurich Financial Services
Media, Telecommunications, Freight, Logistics and Distribution
AIC Carriers World, AT&T, BBC, Belgacom, BT, Carlton TV, Danish Post Office, Deutsche Post, DHL, Etisalat Telecom (UAE), Fedex, Idea Cellular, Mobilcom, MTN, Nokia, Swedish Poste, IBS, i-Comverse, British Post Office (Consignia), Telenor, Times of India, Qualcomm, SABC (S Africa), STC (Saudi Arabia), TDC, Amdocs
Technology, Engineering, Software and Computer Manufacturers
Food and Drink, Household Goods, Paper, Pulp, Packaging Industry
Carlsburg, Diageo, European Coffee Federation, Food Business Forum, Ireland Food Board, Kraft Jacobs Suchard, Nutreco, Rexam, RPC, Sara Lee, Schwan's Frozen Foods, Tetrapak, Unilever
Energy, Chemical Industry, Plastics, Mining, Metals, other Commodities
BASF, BP, Copesul (Brazil), European Petrochemical Association (EPCA), ExxonMobil, Hindalco, Houston Energy Forum, Royal Dutch Chemical Association, SHV Gas, Sulzer, Vattenfall
Health Care, Pharmaceutical Industry, Veterinary, Dentistry, Medical Technology and Cosmetics / Lifestyle
3M, Avon, BUPA, Genentech, Gillette, GSK, Henry Schein, Johnson and Johnson, NHS Primary Care Trust (UK), Roche, Novartis, Siemens Medical, Smith and Nephew, St Joseph's Hospital Foundation Ontario, Voluntary Hospitals Association, Wyeth pharmaceuticals
Government and UN
Abu Dhabi Police Authority, UK Department of Trade and Industry, Jebel Ali Free Zone (UAE), Kazakhstan government, UNAIDS, UNIDO, Pentagon , US Federal Government, World Bank, State of Connecticut, Welsh Assembly, UK Parliament, London Connect
Marketing, Advertising and Design
Belgium Marketing Federation, Danish Design Centre, Finland Marketing Federation, Macann Erikson, Malta Marketing Association, Pinnacle Communications, Portugese Marketing Association, Marketing Communication Consultants Association (MCCA)
Law Firms / Legal / Accounting
Eversheds, Freshfields, Linklaters, Regulatory Affairs Professional Organisation
Management, Consulting, Training, Service Organisations
American Management Association, American Society for Training and Development, Accenture, Arthur Andersen, Concours Group, CSC Consulting, European Federation of Management Development, European School of Management and Technology, European Institute for Research Management, Eversheds, Forbes, Fortune, Global Future Forum, IBEC (Ireland), ICBI, Indian School of Business, Informa, Institute of Management, Istanbul Chamber of Commerce, KPMG, Latitude, Leadership Trust, Linkage, Management Centre Europe, Management Centre Turkey, POM+, PriceWaterhouse Coopers, Richmond Events, Ruling Companies, Said Business School Oxford, ServiceMaster, Schweizerische Gesellschaft fur Organisation, Strategos, University of Salford Management School, Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School Belgium, Wheaton College, ZFU
Non-Profit Organisations / NGOs
American Association of Retired People (AARP), AIDS Care Education and Training (ACET), Premier Radio, Tear Fund, Transformational Business Network (TBN), Trinity Forum, Sustainability Forum, UK Church Commissioners, Young Presidents Organisation (YPO)
Real Estate / Construction / Engineering / Infrastructure
ARBS, Balfour Beatty, Corenet Global, Johnson Controls, Knight Frank, Strategic Real Estate Investment, Urban Land Institute (ULI)
Retail, Department stores, clothing, textiles and some other manufacturing
Aditya Birla, American Apparel Manufacturers Association, C&A group, Rieter, Saks Group Inc.
Driving the right patient, with the right payer to the right service line to increase patient volume.