September 2017 - Keynote Speakers Experts

How to Be More Memorable When Networking

Networking is becoming an increasingly useful and necessary part of business, but with so many people vying for connections at busy offices and hectic networking events, it can sometimes be difficult to make a lasting impression.

Corporate advisor, TED Talks mentor, and international businesswoman Soulaima Gourani reveals a few tips to help you stand out the next time you meet someone.

State your full name

As if remembering names isn’t difficult enough, think of how hard it is for someone to distinguish between the four different Kyles they met and the three different Sarahs. Even if your first name is pretty unique on its own, introducing yourself to people using your full name leaves a more lasting impression and gives people an extra shot at remembering it.

Explain what you do

Job titles only explain so much of what you do; and often, people with the same job title can have two very job descriptions depending on the company and industry they work in. Soulaima recommends, “Instead of introducing yourself with ‘I’m a _____ at _____’ and expecting that to be self-explanatory, give a brief explanation of what you do.” People will remember you better if they understand what it is you actually do. It also opens the door for them to ask follow-up questions about your and your career.

Be interested–not only interesting

Many people think the key to being memorable during a networking situation is to make yourself sound as interesting as possible by spouting off every personal accolade and experience you can think of about yourself. But being interested and engaged in what the other person has to say is equally–if not more–important. Soulaima advises, “Focus on the conversation you are having at that moment, and don’t think about what you will be doing next…People can tell if you’re not present and it will leave a bad impression.”

Tailor your questions

To learn more about others, and to help others learn more about you, Soulaima recommends asking questions along three different levels: professional, technical, and personal.

Ask Questions about the other person’s company and/or industry. For example, as questions like, “What is your industry’s biggest challenge right now?” and “What changes do you foresee happening within the next few years?”

“Ask questions that touch on the other person’s professional skills so you know what they can do, what they want, and what they dream about achieving during their professional career,” Gourani says. For example, “How did you get into ____?” or “What do you like most about your job?”

Ask questions that touch on the other person’s personal life “without getting into their private matters,” Soulaima says. Ask where they are from and, if they are from out of town, how do they like x location so far, she suggests. Or ask how the person got into their career/industry–they might have an interesting story behind it to tell.

Spin your newness

Don’t let your inexperience in a particular industry or newness in a certain position shut you out of meaningful conversations with others.“Everybody has a special competence from which other people can benefit. You just need to identify it and communicate it so that people can remember you,” Soulaima says. “If you are young without much experience, then make an effort to find out what it is that makes you unique. Mention your qualities easily and simply so that the individual you are talking to can quickly get an idea of who you are, what you can do, and your professional goals.”

The content writers at BigSpeak Speakers Bureau are Experts on the Experts. They hold doctoral, masters, and bachelors’ degrees in business, writing, literature, and education. Their business thought pieces are published regularly in leading business publications. Working in close association with the top business, entrepreneur, and motivational speakers, BigSpeak content writers are at the forefront of industry trends and research.

Human Resources (HR) Keynote Speakers

Human resource (HR) keynote speakers are experts in establishing and driving talent management initiatives, performance management processes, career development, executive staffing, coaching, and diversity and inclusion efforts of the world’s top companies. They also pioneer the latest trends in human resources and talent management. Human resource keynote speakers help you attract and retain the most competent, motivated employees and show you how to create organizations that add value to customers, build capabilities, remove boundaries and align HR strategies, practices and competencies, resulting in higher levels satisfaction and performance.

Robert Richman

Robert Richman is a culture strategist and was the co-creator of Zappos Insights, an innovative program focused on educating companies on the secrets behind Zappos’ amazing employee culture. Robert was at Zappos.com before, during, and after the Amazon.com acquisition. As one of the world’s authorities on employee culture, Robert is a sought after human resources keynote speaker at conferences around the world and has been hired to teach culture in person at companies like Google, Toyota, and Eli Lilly. He has pioneered a number of innovative techniques to build culture, such as bringing improv comedy to the workplace and started the first co-working space in America.

Chester Elton

Chester Elton has spent two decades as a human resources keynote speaker helping clients engage their employees to execute on strategy, vision, and values. In his provocative, inspiring and always entertaining talks, #1 bestselling leadership author Chester Elton provides real solutions to leaders looking to manage change, drive innovation, and lead a multi-generational workforce. Elton’s work is supported by research with more than 850,000 working adults, revealing the proven secrets behind high-performance cultures.

Adrian Gostick

Gostick is a global workplace expert and thought leader in the fields of corporate culture, leadership, and engagement. He is founder of the training and consulting company The Culture Works and author of the #1 New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestsellers All In and The Carrot Principle. His books have been translated into 30 languages and have sold 1.5 million copies around the world.As an Authority on Workplace Engagement, Adrian will share how the transformative power of purpose-based recognition produces astonishing increases in operating results

Kim Scott

Kim Scott is the co-founder and CEO of Radical Candor, Inc which builds software tools for managers. Known for her ability to generate billions of dollars in revenue from millions of small customers while keeping her team happy and margins high, her unofficial title was High Priestess of the Long Tail. She is the author of a book called Radical Candor: How To Be a Kickass Boss without Losing your Humanity, which focuses on important human resources aspects such as giving and getting feedback as a way to learn and develop better relationships with coworkers

Paul Moya

Harvard Multi-Generational Expert Paul Moya is best known for his role as CEO of Millennial Labs—a global consulting firm focused on segmentation marketing and generational behavior. His discoveries have impacted leaders in audiences as large as 54,000 and have helped brands such as Visa, Microsoft, General Motors, and the Department of Defense to interpret and act on human behavior in the workplace, marketplace, and voting booth. Paul blends Harvard Strategy with Cowboy Practicality to present viable solutions that deliver quantifiable results. His research takes insight from psychology, neuroscience, behavioral economics, and plain old-fashioned ‘cowboy wisdom’ to close the gap between the big-data strategies.

Seth Mattison

Seth Mattison is an internationally renowned expert on workforce trends and generational dynamics. As Founder and Chief Movement Officer of FutureSight Labs, Seth advises many of the world’s leading brand and organizations on the key shifts happening around talent management, change and innovation, leadership, and the future of work. As a professional human resources keynote speaker, Seth blends storytelling from his own personal experience working with category leading brands while leveraging cutting edge research to develop fresh perspectives on the key strategic issues most relevant for today’s leaders.

Jamie Naughton

Jamie Naughton joined Zappos.com, Inc. in 2004. As Speaker of the House, Jamie works directly with CEO Tony Hsieh, focusing on the culture for which the company has become known. Her role is essential in creating and driving the architecture of the dynamic culture as well as focusing on culture R&D to ensure Zappos.com always stays relevant to both the employees and their customers. As a human resources keynote speaker, Jamie travels the country to work with world-renowned companies, authors, researchers, and business leaders to help spread the concept that by focusing on your employees and customers, good companies can become legendary companies.

Ben Casnocha

Ben Casnocha is an entrepreneur, author, and executive in Silicon Valley. He is co-author with LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman of the recent New York Times bestseller The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age, which has become one of the most sought-after management frameworks on how to recruit, manage, and retain entrepreneurial employees. Ben’s research in The Alliance is focused on creating mutually beneficial relationship between your organization and employees assuring retention, and results. As a seasoned professional human resources keynote speaker, and talent development and human capital speaker, Ben delivers customized programs integrating proven methodologies, modern strategies, and technologies.

To learn more about these and other Human Resources (HR) Keynote Speakers contact us at Keynote Speaker Experts.

Top Female Business Keynote Speakers

While there are many top female business keynote speakers, these women are among our favorites. They have overcome adversity and obstacles to deliver their unique brand of insight and perspective to the corporate world, and now engage global business audiences on a wide range of topics

Bethenny Frankel

Bethenny Frankel is a businesswoman ahead of the curve, who has always identified and capitalized on business opportunities. She was runner up on Martha Stewart’s The Apprentice, a star on the Real Housewives of New York, the founder of Skinnygirl, and virtually created the low-calorie cocktail category. She is also a five-time New York Times bestselling author. Bethenny speaks on the topics of leadership, branding, and work-life balance for female business moguls.

Padmasree Warrior

Cisco Chief Technology & Strategy Officer Padmasree Warrior is charged with aligning technology development and corporate strategy to enable Cisco to anticipate, shape, and lead major market transitions. Prior to Cisco, Padmasree was executive vice president and CTO of Motorola. Forbes has named her one of the “The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women” for two years running.

Kim Scott

Kim Scott is the co-founder and CEO of Radical Candor, Inc which builds software tools for managers.Known for her ability to generate billions of dollars in revenue from millions of small customers while keeping her team happy and margins high, her unofficial title was High Priestess of the Long Tail. She is also the author of Radical Candor: How To Be a Kickass Boss without Losing your Humanity. As a top female business keynote speaker, Kim speaks on the topics of leadership, human resources (HR), and communication.

Joan Kuhl

Joan is the Founder and President of Why Millennials Matter, an international keynote speaker, consultant on career and leadership trends. Why Millennials Matter is a training, research and consulting agency based in New York City that focuses on raising awareness to employers about the value of investing in their future workforce. Joan has over 13 years of corporate management experience working in the roles of sales, marketing, organizational effectiveness, training and development at Eli Lilly, Forest Laboratories and Actavis (now Allergan).

Juliet Funt

Juliet Funt is the CEO of WhiteSpace at Work, a training and consulting firm that helps organizations, their leaders and employees flip the norms of business in order to reclaim their creativity, productivity and engagement. Juliet helps attendees learn the pivotal difference between activity and productivity. She teaches them a streamlined method for personal process improvement – leading to more creativity and engagement.WhiteSpace can change the negative patterns and behaviors that prevent them from achieving optimum results. As a top female business speaker, Juliet speaks on topics like corporate culture, focus and productivity, and creativity.

Dambisa Moyo

Dambisa Moyo is a global economist and author who analyzes the macroeconomy and international affairs. Dambisa Moyo serves on the boards of Barclays Bank, the financial services group, SABMiller, the global brewer, and Barrick Gold, the global miner. She was an economist at Goldman Sachs and a consultant to the World Bank in Washington, D.C.She is a four-time New York Times bestsellers author of Dead Aid: Why Aid is Not Working, How the West Was Lost: Fifty Years of Economic Folly and the Stark Choices Ahead, and others. This top female business keynote speaker, speaks on global shifts in economics, politics, and business, global resources, and emerging global markets.

Patty McCord

Patty McCord is a top female business keynote speaker. She served as Chief Talent Officer of Netflix for fourteen years and helped create the Netflix Culture Deck. Sheryl Sandberg called Patty’s Netflix Culture Deck “the most important document to come out of Silicon Valley.” Her background includes staffing, diversity, communications, and international human resources. Her book, “Powerful. Teams, Leaders and the Culture of Freedom and Responsibility” was recently published in the fall of 2017.

Jamie Naughton

Jamie Naughton is the Chief of Staff and Speaker of the House at Zappos. She works directly with CEO Tony Hsieh, focusing on the culture for which the company has become known. Her role is essential in creating and driving the architecture of the dynamic culture as well as focusing on culture R&D to ensure Zappos.com always stays relevant to both the employees and their customers. She speaks on culture, branding, and engaging both customers and employees.

Sara Blakely

Sara Blakely is the founder and CEO of Spanx. She came up with the concept when she wanted footless bodyshaping pantyhose to wear with her cream-colored pants and open-toed shoes, but she couldn’t find them anywhere. Frustrated consumer turned entrepreneur, Blakely took $5,000 in savings and began her adventure in the $2 billion male-dominated hosiery industry. Sara Blakely’s SPANX revitalized an industry in a 10-year slump. Her SPANX footless pantyhose even captured the attention of Oprah and landed on Oprah’s “Favorite Things” list. All of this makes her one of our favorite female business keynote speakers.

Polly Labarre

Polly Labarre is a founding member of Fast Company Magazine. A top female business speaker, Polly helps make organizations more resilient, innovative and inspiring–and to embolden and equip leaders at every level to make a meaningful impact. She also co-authored the bestselling book Mavericks at Work: Why the Most Original Minds in Business Win which has been published in 16 languages. She speaks on leadership, innovation, and cultural and organizational change.
To learn more about these and other top female business speakers, contact the Keynote Speaker Experts. We’ll help you find the perfect speaker for your next event.

Human Resource Keynote Speakers

Human Resource Keynote Speakers are recognized experts, executives, researchers and authors in the fields of leadership, communications, interpersonal skills, and much more. They’ve are often responsible for establishing and driving the talent management initiatives, performance management processes, career development, executive staffing, coaching, and diversity and inclusion efforts of the world’s top companies, as well as pioneering the latest trends in human resources and talent management.

Robert Richman

Robert Richman is a culture strategist and was the co-creator of Zappos Insights, an innovative program focused on educating companies on the secrets behind Zappos’ amazing employee culture. Robert was at Zappos.com before, during, and after the Amazon.com acquisition and helped the company grow from 1200-1700 people during his time there (50% growth). Robert built Zappos Insights from a small website to a thriving multi-million dollar business teaching over 25,000 students per year. Robert is a top human resources speaker and through his work, he has been helpful at improving the employee culture at hundreds of companies like Google, Toyota, Eli Lilly, and Inuit.

Chester Elton

One of today’s most influential voices in workplace trends, Chester Elton has spent two decades helping clients engage their employees to execute on strategy, vision, and values. In his provocative, inspiring and always entertaining talks, #1 bestselling leadership author Chester Elton provides real solutions to leaders looking to manage change, drive innovation, and lead a multi-generational workforce. Elton’s work is supported by research with more than 850,000 working adults, revealing the proven secrets behind high-performance cultures.

Liz Wiseman

Liz Wiseman is a leadership and human resources keynote speaker to executives and emerging leaders around the world. She is the President of the Wiseman Group, a leadership research, and development firm headquartered in Silicon Valley. She is the author of three best-selling books: Rookie Smarts: Why Learning Beats Knowing in the New Game of Work, Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter and The Multiplier Effect: Tapping the Genius Inside Our Schools. She has conducted significant research in the field of leadership and collective intelligence and writes for Harvard Business Review and Fortune.

Paul Moya

Harvard Multigenerational Expert Paul Moya is best known for his role as CEO of Millennial Labs—a global consulting firm focused on segmentation marketing and generational behavior. His discoveries have impacted leaders in audiences as large as 54,000 and have helped brands such as Visa, Microsoft, General Motors, and the Department of Defense to interpret and act on human behavior in the workplace, marketplace, and voting booth.

Seth Mattison

Seth Mattison is an internationally renowned expert on workforce trends and generational dynamics. As Founder and Chief Movement Officer of FutureSight Labs, Seth advises many of the world’s leading brand and organizations on the key shifts happening around talent management, change and innovation, leadership, and the future of work. With his finger on the pulse of today’s changing human resources workforce, Seth blends storytelling from his own personal experience working with category leading brands while leveraging cutting edge research to develop fresh perspectives on the key strategic issues most relevant for today’s leaders.

Sports Keynote Speakers

Magic Johnson

Known for his 13 year professional basketball career, which includes 12 NBA All-Star games, and Olympic gold medal win, Earvin “Magic” Johnson is also one of our most requested business speakers. After retiring from professional basketball, Magic turned his interest toward entrepreneurship and became a leading spokesperson for HIV education. After leaving the ballcourt, Magic turned to the board room. He established the Magic Johnson Development Corporation, which builds commercial property in long-neglected minority urban and suburban neighborhoods. Magic Johnson now runs his own company, Magic Johnson Enterprises, which is constantly evolving, acquiring and selling businesses frequently. It owns, or has owned, franchised branches of Starbucks, Burger King and T.G.I Friday’s. Johnson also stayed true to his sports roots by investing in both the Los Angeles Lakers and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Dominique Dawes

Dominique Dawes was a part of the 1992 bronze-winning women’s Olympic gymnastic team. She was the first African American gymnast to qualify and compete in an Olympic game. Dawes is also the most decorated gymnast on the U.S. women’s Olympic team. Since her Olympic glory, Dawes hasn’t rested on her laurels. Her dedication, determination, and desire have served her well as a positive role model to people across the nation. Appointed co-chair of the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition, she is a popular speaker who shares insights about leading a healthy, balanced life, and achieving confidence and self-esteem through both athleticism and citizenship. Dawes is also a sought after sports keynote speaker and a sports broadcaster who has commentated on the Olympic Games in both Beijing and Vancouver for Yahoo! Sports.

Bill Walton

Bill Walton has a prolific basketball career. He was a member of the 1977 Portland Trailblazers NBA Championship team. Walton was the NBA’s Most Valuable Player in 1978, on the NBA All-Star Team in 1977 and 1978, and won NBA Playoff’s MVP in 1977. Walton is one of only four players in the history of basketball to have won multiple NCAA and multiple NBA Championships. After retiring from basketball Bill began his broadcasting career in 1990 as an analyst for the then Prime Ticket Network. Walton worked for CBS Sports in the early 90’s and then for NBC for many years, including work on the 1996 Atlanta and 2000 Sydney Summer Olympic Games. Walton has been nominated for numerous Emmy Awards and in 2001 won an Emmy for Best Live Sports Television Broadcast.

Amy Van Dyken

Amy is a six-time Olympic gold medal swimmer, who has the distinction of being one of the few Olympians whose medals are all gold. Some of her many accolades include being inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame as well as the International Swimming Hall of Fame, winning an EPSY for Female Athlete of the Year, and breaking several world swimming records. Amy has retired from swimming after an ATV accident left her paralyzed from the waist down. She continues to inspire through her public speaking about sports, leadership, and overcoming adversity. Amy is also a sports keynote speaker who speaks on peak performance, overcoming adversity, and work-life balance.

Peyton Manning

Legendary quarterback Peyton Manning is the NFL’s only five-time MVP and 14-time Pro Bowl selection. Most recently he led the Denver Broncos to win Super Bowl L making him the first starting quarterback in NFL football history to win more than one Super Bowl with two different teams. In 2012, after missing the entire 2011 campaign due to a neck injury, Manning finished as the Associated Press NFL Comeback Player of the Year and runner-up for the league’s MVP. Peyton is a sought after sports keynote speaker though he doesn’t speak much throughout the year.

Robyn Benincasa

Robyn Benincasa is a World Champion Eco-Challenge Adventure Racer, a CNN Hero, and a full-time firefighter with a background in corporate marketing who advises organizations on how to build a world class team of their own. She and her teammates have competed at the front of the pack in the most unique and compelling locations on earth–the jungles of Borneo, the Himalayan peaks of Tibet, the rivers of Fiji, the rainforests of Ecuador and the desert of Namibia–studying the good, the bad, and the not-so-pretty in extreme teamwork. Through these challenges, she has mastered the skills required to inspire a group of semi-exhausted people through a seemingly endless series of checkpoints, in pursuit of a seemingly impossible goal. Motivational business speaker Robyn Benincasa offers a refreshing and truly unique perspective on what it takes to build the kind of world class team that succeeds against all odds.

Bob Costas

Bob costas has been a significant part of sports broadcasting for the past three decades, from presenting Baseball Game of the Week with Bob Costas to hosting the Olympics. He is the only person to win Emmys in the three categories of news, sports, and entertainment, winning 26 Emmys in total–more than any other sports broadcaster. Bob is a seasoned sports keynote speaker and currently hosts Football Night in America on NBC and as well contributes to NBC News programs such as Nightly News, Rock Center, and The Today Show. He also continues to be the primetime host of NBC’s Olympic coverage.

Diana Nyad

At the age of 64, Diana Nyad successfully fulfilled her lifelong dream of completing the 110-mile swim from Cuba to Florida on September 2, 2013. Never one to quit, this marked her fifth and final attempt. It was in July of 2010, at the age of 60, when she first began her quest of swimming from Cuba to Florida, a task she had failed to finish thirty years prior that. Nyad was unsuccessful in 2010 and tried two more times 2011 and 2012 before completing her historic and victorious swim in 2013. When asked her motivation, she replied, “Because I’d like to prove to the other 60-year-olds that it is never too late to start your dreams.” If Diana’s story doesn’t motivate you to keep working towards your dreams, then nothing will.

J.B. Bernstein

J.B. Bernstein is one of the most respected marketing experts in the world of sports. His story was portrayed by Jon Hamm in the Disney movie Million Dollar Arm. A few years ago, inspired by the increasing popularity of reality television in the United States and the global phenomena that NBA player, Yao Ming generated, Bernstein saw an untapped opportunity to change the game. He then traveled to India, motivated to find the first Indian born player in professional baseball history and created a contest that would reward one lucky contestant with $1 million and a chance to play for a professional baseball team in the U.S. A talented sports keynote speaker, Bernstein captivates audiences with valuable insight on business, marketing, selling, and achieving success in unpredictable and unprecedented circumstances.

Danica Patrick

Danica Patrick is a professional racecar driver and one of the most recognizable female athlete in the United States. In 2013, she became the first female NASCAR driver to win a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series pole, turning in the fastest qualifying lap since 1990 and qualifying for the Daytona 500.Over the course of her career, Danica has earned respect in a male-dominated sport and has become an international sensation.

Peter Guber

Peter Guber is a vanguard in the sports and entertainment industries. He is the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Mandalay Entertainment Group, the co-owner of the Golden State Warriors and owner of the L.A. Dodgers. He is an owner and and the Executive Chairman of Major League Soccer’s Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC). He is also the author of the #1 New York Times Bestselling book “Tell to Win” and a professor at UCLA. Guber has transformed each company he’s been a part of. His management is credited with overhauling the Warriors and had a significant part in their Championship wins in 2015 and 2017. Guber is an expert sports keynote speaker who speaks on the topics of teambuilding, leadership, and innovation.

Email us to learn more about one of these sports keynote speakers or to book them for your next event.