Most futurist briefs reach an event planner the same way. Someone senior wants the conference to tackle what is coming next, because the leadership team has a three year plan and is quietly unsure it will still make sense in eighteen months. Or the industry is already shifting, the room can feel it, and people have stopped deciding anything while they wait to see how it lands.
That is the problem a futurist speaker is booked to solve. Not to predict the future, because nobody can, but to give the room a shared picture of what is coming and enough clarity to commit to something on Monday morning. ODE Management manages two futurist speakers who do this for a living: Michael McQueen and Melissa Clark-Reynolds ONZM. Both are available across Australia and New Zealand.
Futurist speakers ODE Management manages
Both tailor heavily and work well beyond this subject. This is where each is strongest, not the limit of what they do, and both work across the whole programme, opening, closing, breakout, panel and workshop. Tell us the shape of your day and we will tell you which slot suits the brief.
Michael McQueen
You need to know which disruptions to plan for and which to ignore.
Recently ranked eleventh among the world's top futurists, an inductee of the Professional Speakers Hall of Fame, the bestselling author of ten books and formerly named Australia's Keynote Speaker of the Year. Michael's method is separation: which shifts an organisation genuinely has to plan for, which are real but slower than the noise suggests, and which will not survive the year. He is willing to name what is overhyped, which a room that has already tried to implement something recognises immediately, and it is the reason his calls have held up long enough to fill ten books. That works as readily at the end of a programme, pulling three days of specialist sessions into one picture the room can act on, as it does at the start, and he is booked for both. Keynotes include Preparing Now for What's Next, Thinking For Tomorrow and Influence 2.0. Profile.
Melissa Clark-Reynolds ONZM
The board wants a way to plan under uncertainty, not a set of predictions.
Melissa treats foresight as a discipline, not a point of view. Trained by the Institute for the Future, and an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the technology industry, she brings scenario planning into the room as a method the board keeps using after she leaves, which is a different deliverable from a forecast. Her keynote What Keeps the Boardroom Up at Night is built around the signals landing on Australian and New Zealand directors' desks, so it is written for that room rather than adapted for it. She also delivers Turning Signals into Strategy, From Search to Advice on how AI is changing the way customers find and choose anything, and Seeing Around Corners. Profile.
Which futurist speaker suits your event?
- A programme that needs disruption separated from noise. Michael McQueen.
- A board or strategy day that needs a planning method. Melissa Clark-Reynolds.
- An event in New Zealand as well as Australia. Either, and Melissa's boardroom keynote is written for directors across both markets.
- A conference closing keynote that has to make the day land. Michael McQueen, or Dominic Thurbon, whose keynote The Closer is built for it.
Who should you pair a futurist with?
A futurist gives a room the wider picture. A specialist goes deep inside one part of it. Most programmes are stronger with one of each, in whichever order suits the agenda. None of these four is a futurist and none would claim to be, which is precisely why they work alongside one.
- The room is wary of the technology and needs to stop being. Adam Spencer works with AI tools live on stage rather than describing them. Australia's most popular mathematician, twenty five years broadcasting, a TED talk past two million views, and host of AusCERT since 2010.
- The audience wants to know what it does to the numbers. Alan Kohler AM and his keynote AI, Productivity and the Balance Sheet. More than five decades covering the economy, the finance presenter whose graphs are an Australian institution, and co-founder of Eureka Report and Business Spectator.
- The room has had enough theory and wants an operator. Brad Twynham and Beyond the AI Algorithm. Twenty five years building enterprise technology with Visa, CBA, UBS and others. A direct descendant of Bungaree of the Garigal, he also delivers Welcome to and Acknowledgement of Country.
- You want the day to change what people do next week. Dominic Thurbon and The Closer, a closing keynote built to land a session or a full day. Grew Karrikins Group past 150 staff before EY acquired it in 2019.
What event planners and bureaus ask us
How do I book a futurist speaker in Australia?
Send us the date, the city, the audience and what you need the room to decide. We manage these speakers exclusively and hold their diaries, so we can confirm availability straight away rather than checking and calling you back, and we will come back with a shortlist and an all in figure including travel. Our guide to booking a keynote speaker in Australia covers the process in full.
Can you book a futurist speaker in New Zealand?
Yes. We book our speakers across Australia, New Zealand and internationally, and Melissa Clark-Reynolds holds an ONZM with a boardroom keynote written for directors across both markets. Tell us the city and the date and we will confirm availability and what travel adds.
What does a futurist speaker cost?
It depends on the speaker, the format and where the event is being held, so we quote it properly rather than publishing a range that would not fit your event. Because we manage these speakers directly we are often able to negotiate on your behalf. Our guide to budgeting for a keynote speaker in Australia sets out everything that belongs in the number.
Will the audience walk out with something they can act on?
That is the brief we work to. A prediction leaves a room with nothing to do, so both of ours show their working instead, which means the audience can apply the thinking to decisions the speaker has never heard of. Both are also clear about what they think is overstated, which is what a room that has heard the hype before is waiting for.
How current will the content be on the day?
Fair question in this category. Our speakers rebuild this material as the ground moves rather than refreshing it once a year. Tell us your event date and we will confirm what will have changed by then.
Talk to ODE Management
We manage these speakers exclusively and hold their diaries, so we can confirm availability immediately and give you an honest answer on who suits your audience. Tell us what you need the room to decide and we will come back with a shortlist and a quote.
We manage a small roster exclusively, which is why we can talk about these speakers from real knowledge rather than from a listing. Where a brief needs someone we do not manage, we can source well beyond that roster, so a short list is never a limit on what we can bring you.
Contact ODE Management, or call +61 2 9818 5199 in Asia Pacific or +1 877 950 5633 in the USA. See also our guides to AI and future of work speakers in Australia and cyber security and scams speakers in Australia.
