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At Speakersbase, we offer a diverse range of keynotes designed to inspire, educate, and empower your organization. Our carefully curated selection addresses the most pressing topics in today's rapidly evolving world.  Keynotes for Every Audience At Speakersbase, we offer a diverse range of keynotes designed to inspire, educate, and empower your organization. Our carefully curated selection addresses the most pressing topics in today's rapidly evolving world. Filter on theme HR, company culture & leadership; Business and Strategy Bart Beuten Culture by design Read More Embedding critical thinking for organizational success More HR, company culture & leadership Julie Brown Discover Your Pivot Read More Building Resilience and Sustainable Performance More HR, company culture & leadership; The Post-Corona Future; Technology, transformation & innovation Richard van Hooijdonk The Future of Smart Cities & Governments Read More Building intelligent, sustainable, citizen-centric urban ecosystems More HR, company culture & leadership; The Post-Corona Future; Technology, transformation & innovation Richard van Hooijdonk The Future of Work Read More Thriving in a digital, flexible, automated workplace More HR, company culture & leadership Cedric Dumont Defy Gravity Read More Break free from limiting beliefs and challenge the comfort zone bias More HR, company culture & leadership Cedric Dumont Focus is the New IQ Read More Selective behavior, goal clarity, and extreme productivity for the modern workplace More HR, company culture & leadership Cedric Dumont Energy Management Read More Why mental health and emotional wellbeing are key to sustainable performance More HR, company culture & leadership; Resilience & wellbeing Ann Wauters Effective Leadership Read More From Introverted Talent to Courageous Leader: Lessons in Reflection, Communication & Mindset More HR, company culture & leadership; Business and Strategy Bart Beuten Breaking the groupthink trap Read More Building smarter, stronger teams More HR, company culture & leadership; The Post-Corona Future; Technology, transformation & innovation Richard van Hooijdonk Future Leadership: Leading with Vision, Agility & Ecosystems Read More Empowering leaders to thrive in uncertainty and build future-ready cultures More HR, company culture & leadership; The Post-Corona Future; Technology, transformation & innovation Richard van Hooijdonk The Future of Cybercrime & Security Read More Confronting digital threats in an interconnected world More HR, company culture & leadership; The Post-Corona Future; Technology, transformation & innovation Richard van Hooijdonk The Company of the Future Read More Designing organizations built for exponential change More HR, company culture & leadership Cedric Dumont Bold Leadership Read More Why transformation and innovation demand calculated risk-taking More HR, company culture & leadership Cedric Dumont Purpose & WHY-Power Read More Retain talent and grow leaders through meaning and motivation More HR, company culture & leadership; Technology, Transformation and Innovation Marc Ramos AI and the Future of HR: A Provocative Look at Transformation and Tension Read More Exploring the evolving role of HR in an AI-driven workplace More HR, company culture & leadership; Resilience & wellbeing Ann Wauters The Power of TEAMWORK Read More Unlocking Trust, Energy, Accountability & Mindset for High-Performing Teams More HR, company culture & leadership; Business and Strategy Bart Beuten Leading beyond bias Read More How cognitive shortcuts shape decisions and influence success More HR, company culture & leadership; The Post-Corona Future; Technology, transformation & innovation Richard van Hooijdonk AI Revolution Read More Preparing your organization for AI-powered transformation More HR, company culture & leadership; The Post-Corona Future; Technology, transformation & innovation Richard van Hooijdonk The Future of Marketing Read More From data-driven personalization to immersive brand experiences More HR, company culture & leadership; The Post-Corona Future; Technology, transformation & innovation Richard van Hooijdonk Trends 2030: Navigating Tomorrow’s World Read More What exponential technologies mean for life, work and society More HR, company culture & leadership Cedric Dumont The Science of Trust Read More Build psychological safety and team engagement in hybrid environments More HR, company culture & leadership Cedric Dumont Growth & Ownership Mindset Read More How learning agility and accountability shape future-ready teams More HR, company culture & leadership; Resilience & wellbeing Ann Wauters Mentor Moves Read More Why real leaders lift others – the power of mentorship in high-performance cultures More HR, company culture & leadership; Resilience & wellbeing Ann Wauters How to Win the Game of Life Read More Elite sports lessons for entrepreneurs – building resilience, focus, and purpose-driven success More load more keynotes Request more information What service do you want more information about? 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From Quick Wins to Lasting Focus Habits - contact us for a quote or booking < back Focus ON/OFF – Deep Dive Masterclass From Quick Wins to Lasting Focus Habits More detailed information For teams ready to move from inspiration to transformation, Mark Tigchelaar’s Focus ON/OFF masterclass offers an in-depth, practical training experience. Participants dive deeper into the neuroscience of attention, diagnose their personal concentration leaks, and build a sustainable strategy for high-focus workdays. Through interactive exercises, case studies, and practical frameworks, this session helps teams internalize the focus techniques—and apply them immediately to their own work and projects. Participants will master: 🔹 Diagnosing and fixing their personal focus challenges 🔹 Structuring workflows for maximum concentration and minimal mental fatigue 🔹 Balancing deep work and conscious recovery throughout the day 🔹 Building daily habits that protect and strengthen attention over time Format: 90-minute interactive masterclass, tailored sessions for leadership teams, departments, or company-wide rollout 🚀 Optional Add-On: The Focus Month To ensure that focus habits stick, organizations can extend the workshop’s impact with The Focus Month—a 30-day follow-up program that includes: A digital workbook full of exercises and templates Weekly focus challenges Access to Mark’s online course Focus Habits This add-on keeps the momentum alive, helping teams turn powerful insights into lasting change. Request a quote Submit by Mark Tigchelaar Workshop Mark Tigchelaar is a psychologist, bestselling author, and one of the most in-demand speakers on focus, workload, and mental well-being. Audiences book Mark for his unique ability to translate complex neuroscience into practical tools that can be applied immediately. His sessions are known for being highly interactive, engaging, and filled with hands-on strategies that stick. With a background in cognitive psychology, Mark helps teams reduce distractions, boost productivity, and improve mental clarity—without adding more to their plate. Psychologist, bestselling author, and highly sought-after speaker on topics such as vitality, workload, and mental health.

Hands-On AI Exploration for Smarter Workflows - contact us for a quote or booking < back Me, Myself and AI – From Curiosity to Productivity Hands-On AI Exploration for Smarter Workflows More detailed information Curious about AI but unsure where to start? This hands-on workshop helps you identify time-consuming tasks and discover AI tools to automate or streamline them—no tech skills required. After an inspiring keynote, you’ll explore practical AI applications tailored to your workflow and design a 90-day personal roadmap to enhance productivity, drive innovation, and achieve measurable improvements. What You’ll Gain ✅ Identify tasks AI can simplify or automate ✅ Discover & test AI tools suited to your needs ✅ Create a 90-day plan to integrate AI into your routine Who Should Attend? ✔ Busy professionals looking to work smarter with AI ✔ Leaders & managers seeking practical AI solutions ✔ Knowledge workers ready to automate repetitive tasks ✔ Individuals overwhelmed by AI possibilities who need a clear plan How It Works 🕒 Half-day, interactive workshop 🤝 Individual & group exercises 📂 Pre-workshop preparation for maximum impact 🚀 Post-workshop action plan to ensure real-world results Leave with a clear understanding of AI’s potential and a personalized roadmap to make it work for you. Start using AI smarter, not harder. Request a quote Submit by Geert Martens Workshop Geert Martens, CX Enthusiast at XPRNC, brings over 20 years of expertise in customer experience, digital transformation, CRM, and customer-centric cultures. He specializes in customer experience transformation, helping companies create personalized hybrid experiences that integrate physical, digital, human, and AI interactions. With a focus on mobility and finance, Geert has worked with leading companies like My Way, D’Ieteren, ALD Automotive, STIB/MIVB, Belfius, KBC and NN Belgium. He has held senior roles at Ngage, Duval Union and 4C Consulting (Salesforce). Next to his consulting work, Geert shares his passion and expertise as a keynote speaker and lecturer. Outside of work, Geert enjoys family time, traveling, and supporting his son Quinze, a football player for Club Brugge. CX Enthusiast with a soft spot for digital and CRM. Soccer dad & petrol head.

Blogpost by Niels Vankrunkelsven Who remembers eating a McFlurry with a wooden spoon? In 2020 McDonald's substituted their iconic plastic McFlurry spoons with wooden ones to contribute to their commitment to ban plastics. However, nowadays you get a PLA (polylactic acid) spoon, a sustainable plastic derived from corn starch or sugar cane. Why again a switch and what does that teach us about sustainable alternatives? Everyone who ate a McFlurry with a wooden spoon knows it ruins the experience . Therefore, McDonald’s now uses PLA spoons which interfere less with the taste and experience. The McFlurry paradox teaches us a valuable lesson about adopting sustainable alternatives. It is a misconception that sustainability sells. Adoption does not rely on the degree of CO2 savings, it is intertwined with how comfortable it is. It is about the compromises that are made. The same goes for wind turbines. Wind turbines  provide a stable and near-continuous production of green electricity. However, not in my back yard movements slow down and limit the upscaling of wind turbine electricity production. Everybody is open to reap the benefits, but nobody is willing to sacrifice personal interests. Broad adoption  will never be realized as long as the cost, value, convenience, and experience are threatened! These should always be considered in your value proposition  as well as in your strategy . Let us have a more detailed dive into the aspects of adoption: Cost  reaches further than pricing. It also includes, for example; opportunity cost, reputation, implementation, and even the effort to switch from an existing solution. Value  perceived by the customer is both quantifiable (such as ROI, efficiency, or performance) and unquantifiable (such as prestige, alignment with values, or peace of mind). Convenience  refers to how easy it is for the customer to adopt and use your solution. This includes integration with existing processes, accessibility, learning curve, and after-sales support. Experience covers every customer interaction with your solution and brand — from the first touchpoint to long-term use. A frictionless, pleasant, and consistent experience builds trust and encourages loyalty. Sustainability only sells when it is challenged against traditional purchase drivers . Ask yourself, how should I position my specific product or service if it would not be a sustainable alternative? Build on this value proposition and USP and put a final layer of sustainability over it. We for sure need sustainable alternative products and services, however, to outperform the traditional alternatives we need to build strategies from a conventional perspective and finally add on the sustainable benefits. To truly drive the adoption of sustainable alternatives, businesses must rethink  their approach. It is not enough  to offer an eco-friendly option , companies need to innovate in ways that reduce costs, create value, increase convenience, and improve the user experience. Only then can sustainability  truly become the new standard  in products and services. Do you want to transition today for a sustainable tomorrow? Check out the keynotes by Niels Vankrunkelsven .

Blogpost by Stella Collins . It’s not a cliché to say that ‘change is constant’. First the world was VUCA (Volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) and now we’re told it’s BANI (Brittle, anxious, non-linear, incomprehensible). What next? The every-day reality for most of us is that things are different this year and it’s becoming even harder to imagine what it will be like next year or in 5 years. This uncertainty creates anxiety and has a direct impact on our brains, how we feel and how well we perform. Even when change is embraced, our brains still need to process and absorb new information as we learn to adapt to the change – it’s neuroplasticity in action. You’ve probably experienced tiredness and confusion as your brains rewires to adjust to new circumstances. Neuroplasticity takes huge amounts of energy as your brain literally rewires itself. In my book Neuroscience for Learning and Development you will discover exactly how learning really happens in your brain. Fortunately, there are simple things you can do to optimise your brains performance during change. Will I repeat or retreat? The first thing to recognise is that your brain is both a reward seeker and a threat detector at the same time.  Is change something that raises your curiosity, or does it create a sense of fear? Hidden deep in your brain is your nucleus accumbens which does a juggling act with dopamine (a motivation neurotransmitter).  What’s interesting is that when you interpret change as negative dopamine floods into the rear of your nucleus accumbens, you feel fear and want to retreat from the danger. When you are more open to change the dopamine hits at the front of the nucleus accumbens, you feel curious, which is rewarding, and you are motivated to repeat the experience. You can’t consciously control where your neurotransmitters flow, but you can attempt to adjust your own perception of change and balance the retreat/repeat seesaw. Simply asking yourself ‘What is my reaction to this change?’  is the first step because it directs blood back to your more rational pre-frontal cortex, giving you the opportunity to think more clearly. Take a birds eye view: reduce the uncertainty When things change, we tend to focus on what’s new, which can induce concern and uncertainty because we haven’t learned to deal with the new situation - yet. However, it’s rare that everything changes, so look more broadly and pay attention to what remains the same. Identify what you can already do and where you need to learn something new – the gap may not be as big as you first thought.  Ask questions and seek answers to inform yourself better. Look at what you can do today to help you take the next steps and remain aware that change requires you to learn, which takes time, effort and persistence but you will get there. Look back on previous changes you survived; what helped that you can use now? These tactics reduce the uncertainty and shift the balance of the juggled dopamine to the front of your nucleus accumbens, leaving you feeling curious and open to learning. Feed your brain Healthy eating isn’t just about having a fit body but also about putting your brain into tip-top condition.  Our brains are energy hungry and consume 20% of our body’s energy resources. Strong evidence shows that a healthy diet leads to a healthy microbiome – the ecosystem of microorganisms that populate and regulate our body. A flourishing microbiome improves our cognitive function, our emotional state and hence our performance. When you’re facing change adapt your diet to include less processed food, more fermented foods like yogurt and kimchi and more fibre-rich foods like whole grains, nuts and vegetables. The good news is that the really tasty things like dark chocolate, berries and olive oil are great for improving your microbiome. Grow more brain cells Scientists used to think the number of brain cells was fixed and decreased with age. Fortunately, modern research shows that we can grow new brain cells and particularly those in our hippocampus – the seat of memory. When you change you learn; and when you learn you build new memories. One way to improve your memory is to do more aerobic exercise because it stimulates production of ‘brain derived neurotropic factor’ which is like fertiliser for brain cells.  So get out and run to the park or join that swimming class to improve your brain and body. Your mum was right – get more sleep You know you feel better after a good night’s sleep – you have more energy and can think more clearly. But maybe you don’t know why it’s useful when you’re experiencing change – it’s because you’re learning. When you sleep there are two specific processes that help you learn to adapt to change. During deep sleep your brain consolidates new memories from your experiences from the day – information moves from your hippocampus, where it was held temporarily, to your long-term memory stores. The hippocampus is refreshed ready to take on new information the next day. If you miss your deep sleep you will struggle to remember what you did the day before – as any new parent will tell you. Learning also requires practice, and your brain very kindly helps by doing extra practice whilst you dream. When you dream your body is physically paralysed to keep you safe, but your brain is busy rehearsing, practicing and reinforcing the new connections you made in the day. If you’ve ever had a dream where you need to run but you can’t, you’ve experienced this phenomenon. Reach your full potential! If your teams struggle or feel stressed by the changes that they face then offer them a new approach from their brains perspective. An engaging and interactive session with Stella will provide insights, tools and the energy to optimise their performance and ensure you all face inevitable change with resilience, curiosity and openness. Reach your full potential with peak performance!

It’s simple: if you don’t dare to be creative, you won’t survive the future. Blogpost by Lisa van Noorden. Do you know that feeling? The one where every day feels the same, where you repeat the same steps over and over—and by the end of the week, you think: "Is this it?"  You're stuck. Your team is stuck. And those big, innovative ideas you once dreamed of? They're buried under piles of bureaucracy and Excel sheets. Creativity feels like a luxury you can’t afford. But what if I told you that’s precisely the problem? You're playing it safe. And that doesn’t just drain your energy—it ultimately costs you your place in a world that thrives on change and innovation. In an office full of spreadsheets and meetings, creative thinking is often treated as an afterthought. But what if the key to real innovation wasn’t on your to-do list, but in how you see  the world? That’s what artists do. They break through their own patterns—and that’s exactly what you, as a professional, can learn from them. Because let’s be honest: creativity in the workplace is the engine of change. Whether you're stuck in daily routines or searching for your next big breakthrough, adopting an artist’s mindset can open new doors. Want to move forward? Then start thinking like they do. How to Become More Creative in an Office Environment? Think more like an artist! Office culture is all about certainty. Predictability. Boring. Artists flip that around—they actively seek the unknown and embrace unpredictability. Creative thinking in business means daring to let go of control and surrendering to what might be possible. But creativity doesn’t happen by accident. It needs space. It requires the courage to make mistakes, to freely associate ideas without rushing to conclusions. You need to think like a painter who has no idea where they’ll end up—but still confidently makes the first brushstroke. What would that look like in your office? Try walking into a meeting without pre-made solutions and see where the ideas take you. The Role of Creativity in Innovation What’s the difference between a truly innovative company and one stuck in outdated patterns? Creative thinking. Innovation requires the courage to go beyond logical solutions and ask: What if? Artists are masters at seeing things from completely new angles. That’s why their work moves us—and why companies so often fall back into the same routines. Encouraging innovation means giving your team that same freedom: space to explore, to fail, and to start again. Without creativity, there’s no progress. Period. Thinking Like an Artist: Creative Thinking for Business Innovation An artist often begins with a blank canvas and no clear plan—and that’s their superpower. They embrace the unknown and aren’t confined by rigid rules. For companies stuck in stagnation, this mindset can be a game-changer. Creative thinking for business innovation means stepping away from the usual approach and leaning into imagination. Don’t think in limitations—think in possibilities. Because when you let go of control and create space for new ideas, something unexpected emerges—something others will want to follow. What Businesses Can Learn from an Artist’s Creative Process Here’s the thing: an artist’s creative process is messy, chaotic, and nonlinear. And that’s exactly what businesses often lack—the freedom to explore. Corporate creative processes tend to be tightly controlled, which stifles anything truly exciting. Artists don’t begin with a final product in mind. They follow the process, allow ideas to evolve, and refine later. Businesses can learn from this. Instead of immediately rejecting an idea because it’s not yet “feasible,” try nurturing it. Test it. Develop it. Like an artist would. Real innovation doesn’t start with a perfect idea. It starts with the courage to let it grow. Why Creative Thinking Determines the Future of Innovation It’s simple: if you don’t dare to be creative, you won’t survive the future. Creativity today is no longer a luxury—it’s a necessity. Companies that cling to safe structures will be overtaken by those who dare to experiment. Without guts, there’s no innovation. Creativity in the workplace isn’t reserved for the lucky few—it’s essential. Only through creative thinking can you continue to evolve and stay ahead in an ever-changing world. Want to learn how to apply this creative mindset in your organization? As an expert in creative processes and innovation, Lisa shares how you and your team can learn to think like artists. She challenges you to put creativity at the heart of everything you do—and gives you the tools to make it happen. Take that first step toward an innovative future. Get inspired by one of Lisa's talks!