Several weeks ago we moved into a new office in the heart of Silicon Valley - an office that's big enough to house a bar, a (makeshift) ping pong table, a swing and, of course, an enormous shiny new conference table. The backdrop for all our glamorous new furniture is... Continue reading

Leonard Brody stopped by our office last week to discuss several important business trends that have been developing over the past few years - and why every business needs to stay in front of the massive disruptions hitting their industry. Leonard pointed out that many people have compared the technological... Continue reading

The National Speakers Association's Annual Convention allows newer speakers to learn from the experience of speakers who are well-established and successful. Attending the NSA Convention always provides me with an opportunity to find up-and-coming talent in the industry, and to reconnect with veteran speakers and longtime speaker friends. So many... Continue reading

When was the last time you heard a TED talk with concepts you could instantly apply to your life? David Pogue, technology columnist for The New York Times and Emmy-winning CBS News correspondent, gave an information-packed TED talk with technology shortcuts that everyone can benefit from - starting right now. Continue reading

One of Mike's most compelling stories from his TYPO talk stems from running into the Jurassic Park logo several years after working on the marketing campaign for the movie. Continue reading

Is there ever a tangible benefit for paying someone several thousand dollars a minute to speak? CEO of branding agency Turkel Brands and Melissa Francis's favorite branding expert, Bruce Turkel, recently weighed in on this issue on FOX Business's Money With Melissa Francis. Continue reading

A majority of the speakers we represent at Keynote Speakers are also authors – in fact, 75% of our exclusive speakers have written at least one book. We wanted to take some time to congratulate two of our speakers who’ve had big news regarding their books in the past several... Continue reading

The correlation between public speakers and the Federal Trade Commission’s rules for fair online advertising is not an obvious one. In recent years, FTC has brought a lot of attention to the subject of sponsored celebrity tweets and free gifts given to bloggers in exchange for positive reviews. By far, however, the focus here has been on the endorsements of consumer products. Continue reading

We've all learned something from our years on this planet. Even small day-to-day struggles of overcoming obstacles and having success often have hidden treasure in them that can be of value to others -- and that corporations and organizations will pay to hear. Continue reading

Today's guest blog post is by Kelly Swanson. Kelly is an award-winning storyteller, comedian, motivational speaker, author of Who Hijacked My Fairy Tale? and creator of Prides Hollow and the wacky cast of southern characters who help you see beyond your obstacles, coach you through stress and change, and help... Continue reading

Today's guest post is by Brian Walter, founder of Extreme Meetings. He provides customized infotainment to make meetings memorable. Last month Brian stopped into our office and our team agreed his humor made his visit one of our most memorable meetings this year! Viral is now a good thing. And... Continue reading

Today's blog post is a guest piece by Keynote's Marketing Assistant, Nicole Newton, who worked at a movie theater from 2007-2011 and, as a result, has seen almost every movie to hit theaters during her "career in the industry." A movie rendition of Louis Zamperini's incredible life has been on... Continue reading

Today's guest post is by Nicole Newton, Keynote's Marketing Assistant and newest TED-Head. TED has transformed into a staple for spreading revolutionary ideas. TED2013 was a dramatic shift in the history of TED, implementing a different approach with its speaker selection to give a powerful voice to "The Young. The... Continue reading

Today's Valentine's Day guest post is by Lior Arussy, President of Strativity, a customer experience strategy company that just released a study on corporations and their relationship with customers. When Lior visited Keynote's offices this week, all of us were instantly taken by the fun and creative analogies his company... Continue reading

Which comes first, success or happiness? Conventional wisdom holds that if we work hard and perform well, we’ll be more successful. And if we are successful, then we’ll be happy. But according to Shawn Achor, author of The Happiness Advantage: The 7 Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work, that thinking is exactly backward. In other words, happiness comes first. A happy brain performs better and breeds success. Not the other way around. Continue reading

A consciously developed customer-centered culture is a business advantage that will serve you for years—and inoculate you against competitive inroads. This is why someone leading a business today – preparing your organization for a bright future for itself and perhaps for the world – needs to focus not just on nuts and bolts, techniques and standards, but on culture. Continue reading

The devastating storm last week brought back memories for a lot of people. Hurricane Katrina is the one I hear most often, but there are plenty more. For me, it reminds me of one of my most difficult moments in my tenure at Keynote: 9/11. I had almost finished writing... Continue reading

Actually, "book" is more accurate, for my purposes today. I could come up with a list of bad choices (like the woman sitting across the aisle from me last week, avidly reading one of those "50 Shades" books. Ma'am, you realize people can read over your shoulder if they want... Continue reading

So...did we stop working? Of course not. Was it still a vacation? Of course it was. Did we feel like we shortchanged ourselves, checking in with our offices? Nope. Did people back at Keynote make fun of me for working? Of course they did. Continue reading

What’s replaced the career escalator? There’s no single metaphor that universally describes the 21st century career journey. For those who lack globally competitive skills (and yet who are simultaneously overqualified for low-skill labor), the current environment feels like slogging through a tar pit. Continue reading

If you see your work as a career, you have larger goals of advancement, promotion, and prestige. If you see your work as a calling, however, you find your work intrinsically fulfilling; you are not doing it to achieve something else. You see your work as contributing to the greater good or as playing a role in some larger enterprise. Continue reading

The world today is moving faster than ever. Technology has changed the way we communicate and get information and entertainment, and also the way we read, learn and how, when, where and from whom we buy products. And these changes will keep coming faster and more dramatically, causing most of us to be rushing and racing just to keep up. Continue reading

Who wouldn’t want to learn from a leader who transformed idea and knowledge management at the World Bank? Who has written books for leaders on the importance of storytelling in transforming an organization’s knowledge culture? Who is one the most influential bloggers around? Continue reading

This week I figured out two important things: why exactly I'm so bad at updating my blog (when I actually love to write), and an important clue about what my real job is. First, the blog. I've been mentally beating myself up for a long time, telling myself that I... Continue reading

My last post included a copy of an email I sent to one of Keynote's regular vendors, giving him some, uh, "constructive criticism". We've had great experiences with this company before, so I was pretty sure I'd get a positive response again. And I did. Here is an edited version... Continue reading