Asia Professional Speakers Convention

This is the new world of speaking: 100,000 TEDx speakers, free online courses by some of the best professors in the world, robots already gracing our stages, holograms are a ‘thing,’ and if we think we’re safe from artificial intelligence, AI is already writing speeches that can predict an audience’s response with a higher level of accuracy.

Then there’s the future of work itself and the disruption expected to challenge the structures that define an “employee”, as Millennials become 50 per cent of the workforce by 2020, and the first Gen Z’ers are already clocking into the office.

Our speeches are set against a backdrop that’s rapidly challenging itself.

Our clients are rushing to adapt to the new digital world as they consider the impact of the gig economy, inequality, the digital revolution, distrust, fake news, social activism, blockchain, people power, infobesity, job losses, machine learning, employee engagement, customer experience, autonomous vehicles, climate genocide, and so much more. Our challenge is to disrupt ourselves to be able to serve our clients even more effectively as they are disrupted.

Are we ready to talk about the future?

So how do we get prepared for today’s audiences, who are looking to us to explain what is going on and why it’s important to them? How do we get ready to help them find the answers?

We must skip ahead – as the world moves rapidly through the 4th Industrial Revolution – and answer these questions:

How are today’s hot issues relevant to us as professional speakers?

• What will the future of professional speaking look like?
• How can we, as professional speakers, impact the world during this time of radical change?
• How can we help the world transform, through our profession?
• What digital tools can we adopt to make our work easier and our presentations even more impactful?

#BetterTogether is our anchor theme for professional speaking in Asia, and as we all seek the path to success on the global stage, we will draw on the collective wisdom of the profession to understand our role and opportunity during this time of cataclysmic disruption.