Keynote speaker

Demographic Imbalance: Can Africa’s population explosion save the shrinking populations of Europe and Asia?

Not long ago, the headlines talked about over population, and we were concerned about how to feed many billions more people. Today the picture is different: Only Africa has a young and growing population while the rest of the world is shrinking and aging. This keynote will analyze the demographic differences and their effect on world politics, infrastructure, education, business, and society.

Debunking The Hollywood Effect: Humans’ role in a world run by AI and robots

When we hear about AI and robots, we immediately think about how “they” will come and take our jobs, and in our heads, we picture Hollywood’s deadly robots in doomsday movies walking in the streets and offices. This is as far from reality as we can get. This talk will address what Artificial Intelligence is, what Augmented and Virtual Reality are, what they can and can’t do, and what the role of humans is when AI and robots run the world. (This is a futuristic talk, and not an AI technology session.)

Decode 2035: How to think differently about the future

To decode the future, we need new thinking tools and techniques, tools that let us see behind the obvious and imagine the possible. In this engaging keynote, we’ll analyze the past, the current, and the future by using different thinking tools such as (but not limited to) Environmental Scanning (what is going on around us?), Futures Wheels (identifying 2^nd and 3^rd order implications of current events) , and Scenario Planning (creating visions and options for the future). We’ll analyze everyday examples from different industries to show how a small changes in one industry over time can generate huge impacts in another.

Will Humans Survive the Tech Revolution? The future of success in a world of changing work and eroding value of education

In a world of smart cities, smart cars, smart factories, 4D-printing, additive manufacturing, space explorations, and smart bio-enhanced humans, can we normal humans survive? In this talk we’ll explore the tech mega trends that is currently shaping the world, discuss the VUCA and BANI concepts, how they will affect our workplace, and what we as humans must do to remain relevant and ensure we are not leaving people behind.

The Future of Oceans: Can the oceans maintain their ability to sustain our destructive lifestyle?

Water is life and over half the globe is oceans that feed us, generate oxygen so we can breathe, energy for our machines, and is home to a vast number of species. Yet our human desires threaten the oceans’ ability to give life, the very same ability that we rely on for our own survival. In this talk, we will explore the future of the oceanic biosphere, our attitude to it, how we extract its resources, and the long-term effect we humans have on it.

Will Self-Driving Cars Destroy an Iconic Culture Marker?

The overseas postings are coveted jobs, providing status, monetary gains, and memories for life. Sometimes though, life throws a curveball, and these material gains mean very little for your survival. In this talk we will explore 5 lessons I learnt from the civil unrest in Indonesia in ’98, the civil war in Sierra Leone in ’00, and getting stuck in a coup d’état in Ivory Coast in ’00. We will explore each of the five lessons (Communication, Transparency, Flexibility, Keep Calm, and Cash is King) through real life events..

Diversity Creates Creativity! How to build effective multicultural teams

How do you get 20 people from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and countries to gel into a homogeneous and effective team? In this talk I draw on my experiences of having built effective project teams in Southeast Asia and Africa. We will address basic intercultural theory and look at techniques to build trust, respect, understanding, and most of all, making cultural differences fun.

The Future in Numbers: Key numbers and how they impact our future!

Many of tomorrow’s events and future development are hidden in plain sight, hiding behind numbers that we don’t realise the importance or impact of. In this presentation, we will explore the numbers that drive demographic and climate change, changes in education and work and we will explore how these numbers impact the future of society and geopolitics.

5 Essential Life Lessons from Unexpected Places – What we can learn from evacuations and coup d’état

The overseas postings are coveted jobs, providing status, monetary gains, and memories for life. Sometimes though, life throws a curveball, and these material gains mean very little for your survival. In this talk we will explore 5 lessons I learnt from the civil unrest in Indonesia in ’98, the civil war in Sierra Leone in ’00, and getting stuck in a coup d’état in Ivory Coast in ’00. We will explore each of the five lessons (Communication, Transparency, Flexibility, Keep Calm, and Cash is King) through real life events.