Futurist/ Social Media Expert/ Business Strategist

Ross Dawson works globally as a futurist, keynote speaker and strategy advisor, inspiring audiences with an extremely positive and pragmatic focus on the potential of the future. He has delivered keynotes and strategy workshops in over 30 countries for leading organisations such as American Express, Coca-Cola, Commonwealth Bank, Dubai Ministry of Finance, Gartner, Google, IBM, KPMG, Macquarie Bank, Oracle, Procter & Gamble, PwC, Roche, Telstra and Visa.

His highly engaging and practical style in highlighting the massive opportunities from accelerating change inspires conference audiences around the world. His global reputation and extensive experience in the realities of corporate innovation across many industries makes him a favourite keynote speaker for client conferences of major technology and professional firms and for strategy meetings of boards, executives and management teams, as well as major public conferences.

Ross works extensively with boards of directors and executive teams on innovation and future-oriented strategy. He frequently speaks at or facilitates board and executive strategy offsites for major companies worldwide. Ross leads the Directing Innovation program of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) and has run many innovation programs for Institute of Company Directors Malaysia (ICDM).

Ross also works as an MC, host and panel facilitator for events targeted at senior executives and professionals. Ross has facilitated client and media-facing events for a wide variety of leading organisations including Factiva, IBM, Oracle, Telstra and Toyota. He has also acted as a spokesperson in prominent future-oriented media campaigns for major organisations such as ANZ, Campbell Arnott’s, Commonwealth Bank, Intel, Officeworks and Visa.

He has run executive education programs or lectured at many leading institutions worldwide including Australian Graduate School of Management, University of Virginia, Singapore Institute of Management, Institute of Banking and Finance, and Singularity University in Silicon Valley.

Ross frequently appears in the media worldwide, including in publications such as The New York Times, USA Today, Time, The Boston Globe, The Times of London, BBC, The Guardian, Le Monde, Die Welt, El País, Gulf News, Times of India, Australian Financial Review, The Australian and Sydney Morning Herald and TV channels including CNN, Bloomberg TV, ABC, SBS, SkyNews, Today, Sunrise, 7:30 Report and many more. He also hosted the first-ever podcast series by BBC Storyworks.

He is the author of four prescient books including the bestselling Developing Knowledge-Based Client Relationships, now out in its second edition, and the acclaimed Living Networks, which the New York Times credited as predicting the social networking revolution.

Ross has been named as one of the most influential people in the world on topics including the future of work, fintech, crowdfunding, and Enterprise 2.0, as well as one of the most influential keynote speakers worldwide on social media. Digital Media magazine has named Ross as one of the 40 biggest players in Australia’s digital age.

Ross is the founding chairman of the Advanced Human Technologies group of companies, including ventures and publishing firm Advanced Human Technologies, futures consultancy Future Exploration Network and Fraxios, a stealth technology startup focused on developing strategic collective intelligence.

Prior to founding his first company Ross worked for NCR, Merrill Lynch and Thomson Financial in Sydney, Tokyo and London, finally as Global Director - Capital Markets for Thomson, leading its worldwide division focusing on debt capital markets.

Presentation Topics Include

• Keeping Ahead of Accelerating Change
  
• Leadership for the Future
  
• The World in 2030
  
• Creating the High-Performance Organisation of Tomorrow
  
• Success in the Network Economy: Driving Exponential Value in a Connected World
  
• Humans + Machines: Creating the Future of Work
  
• Innovation Leadership
  
• Zen and Technology: Being Happy and Productive in an Accelerating World
  
• Creating the Future of Financial Services

Testimonials

Ross gave a presentation that was smack bang on brief. Absolutely perfect for our event requirements. 
National Marketing Manager
Investment Management Firm

Ross's opening keynote was a fantastic kick-off for the conference. Feedback on his presentation was consistently excellent.
CEO, Technology Network

Our feedback from Ross Dawson’s is as high as we have experienced. His presentation was visual, entertaining and one of the most innovative and thought-provoking keynote speeches I have heard over many years. His professionalism and experience shined through on every occasion.
Board Member, Global Accounting Network

Ross Dawson delivered an outstanding speech at my CIO Summit. He was visionary, articulate and entertaining. Ross’ insights on the IT world were refreshing and out-of-box. Just having his name alone on the programme was enough to command our potential delegates to attend. He is efficient and a pleasure to work with. I will not hesitate to recommend him. 
Conference Director, Professional Conference Organiser

BIG thanks for your really interesting and informative session today. We had great feedback with many members telling us how much they had enjoyed it (myself included).
Director, HR Association

The feedback I have received from your presentation has been extremely positive and valuable to all who attended this year.
Managing Director, Financial Planning Network

Ross did an excellent job. He interpreted the brief very well and facilitated the workshop in a very professional way. I am sure we will have the opportunity to use his services again.
Head of Treasury and Capital Markets, Investment Bank

Ross Dawson gave us a fabulous session at our partner offsite. There was great feedback from the partner group.
Managing Partner, Law Firm

Thank you again for speaking and being part of our recent Mindshop Australasian Conference in Melbourne. We had some terrific feedback to your session which certainly opened people’s eyes to the ‘opportunities’ available to them through future technologies and also what changes people will have to make to their existing business models / networks.
Managing Director, Mindshop

I’d like to thank you for presenting at our Partner Offsite this week. Your session was fantastic, incredibly thought provoking and extremely well received by the team. It was exactly what we were looking for – and gave us a lot to contemplate as we think about our strategy in the sector. 
Head of Technology, Media and Telecommunications, KPMG Australia

"Ross's opening keynote was a fantastic kick-off for the conference. His twin themes of the importance of networking and emerging technology trends set the scene for an great event. Feedback on his presentation was consistently excellent." 
CEO, ANZA Technology Network

"Ross Dawson is an engaging speaker with the ability to get people thinking beyond tomorrow. He spells out what it will take for businesses to succeed in the knowledge-based economy of the future, providing a practical framework that audiences from any services industry can understand." 
Managing Editor, Online Banking Review

"Ross Dawson is a very dynamic speaker who presents his ideas in an exciting and interactive manner. His presentations engage the audience and enable a dialogue for true interaction between all parties. I would highly recommend Ross as a speaker for any event or conference." 
Founder, Business Development Institute

"Ross spoke at a senior management team offsite themed about partnership models. His presentation stimulated our thinking on several levels. It challenged our preconceptions about the value of information, the adoption and adaptation of new technologies, the shifts in client relationships and the networked economy. His thoughts on leadership and communication were extremely valuable in promoting a lively discussion. Ross is an innovative thinker and has a practical and engaging approach to presenting his ideas and knowledge. His contribution to our offsite was one of the keys to making it such a success." 
Chief Operating Officer - Services, ABN Amro Australia

"Ross Dawson is a very professional, well prepared speaker with a lot of well researched and very well presented material. He evinces a positive response from a wide range of participants." 
SmartNet Co-ordinator

"Ross provided an extremely insightful presentation at the ADERANT client conference - particularly in terms of the global trends and issues in the professional services market, and how local firms can position themselves to turn these into a strategic advantage" 
Vice President - Asia Pacific Sales, Aderant

"Ross Dawson has achieved a remarkable synthesis of concepts that powerfully capture the zeitgeist of today's business environment. Executives should heed his words, to clarify their role in shaping the emerging living global network of business." 
Conference Co-Chairman, IBM Symposium on the Coevolution of Business-Technology Innovation