Keynote Speeches
Every organization is trying to get someone to do something. Buy a product. Choose a brand. Support an industry. Change an opinion. Most of the time, the people trying to make that happen are working incredibly hard — crafting messages, testing campaigns, refining pitches — and still not getting the response they need. The frustrating truth is that most of what we know about audiences tells us who they are. Demographics, psychographics, market segmentation. All of it describes people beautifully. None of it reliably tells us how to move them.
Before every engagement, David’s research firm conducts a full Valuegraphics study on the specific external audience his client needs to reach — customers, donors, voters, members, investors, or any other group they’re trying to influence. The study identifies the core human values driving that audience’s decisions. Not who they are. Why they act. That distinction changes everything. Every word David delivers on stage is built from that data — so the people in the room leave knowing exactly what makes their specific audience say yes.
The people in the room will leave understanding why some messages land and others don’t — and it has everything to do with whether the message speaks to what the audience already values. They will know what drives the decisions of the specific external audience they need to reach, and how to reframe what they’re already doing — products, campaigns, pitches, positioning — so it creates the feeling every marketer, salesperson, and communicator is chasing. The easy yes. The obvious choice. The complete no-brainer.
| The decision that feels so right it barely feels like a decision at all.
- Why people say yes: the values-based truth behind every buying decision, vote, or change in opinion — specific to the audience your client needs to reach.
- How to identify the specific values driving any external audience, using data from a pre-keynote research study rather than assumptions.
- A practical approach to translating the research into messaging, positioning, and campaigns that create the irresistible choice — for any external audience, in any sector.
Something has changed inside organizations, and leaders feel it. People who used to follow direction are asking more questions. Teams that used to embrace change are pushing back. The playbook that worked five years ago isn’t producing the same results. Disruption, uncertainty, AI anxiety, restructuring, and seismic shifts in what people expect from work have widened the gap between what leaders need their people to do and what people are willing to do.
Before every engagement, David’s research firm conducts a full Valuegraphics study on the specific internal audience his client needs to lead — their employees, their workforce, their sector, or any other group they need to understand and influence from the inside. Most leadership strategies are built on assumptions about what motivates people in general. This one is built on data about the specific people in the room. It identifies the values that make any leadership strategy feel not just acceptable, but genuinely compelling. Irresistible.
The leaders in the room will leave with a fundamentally different understanding of why their people respond the way they do to change, uncertainty, and new demands. They will know how to identify what matters most to the people they lead, and how to use that to build strategies and communications that people genuinely want to be part of. Resistance disappears when leaders stop asking people to go somewhere that feels disconnected from what they value, and start showing them how the direction ahead gives them more of what matters most.
| Resistance disappears when leaders stop asking people to go somewhere that feels disconnected from what they value.
- Why resistance happens: the values-based explanation for why people push back, disengage, or quietly check out — specific to the internal audience your client needs to lead.
- What matters most to the specific workforce or internal audience, based on a pre-keynote research study — not assumptions drawn from other organizations.
- How to communicate any direction, change, or new initiative in a way that makes it feel irresistible rather than imposed — for any internal audience, in any sector.
Most people move through their days reacting. A situation arises and they respond based on instinct, habit, or the path of least resistance. They make decisions without fully understanding why certain things feel right and others don’t. They lead without knowing why their style resonates deeply with some people and creates friction with others. The missing piece isn’t more effort. It’s self-knowledge — specifically, knowing what matters most to you, and how that shapes everything you do and everyone you affect.
This keynote works two ways. When the full experience is available, everyone in the room completes the Values Identifier assessment in advance. It taps into a database of a billion data points to produce a detailed, personalized analysis of their own values — what energizes them, what drains them, and the specific conditions that help them lead and live at their best. The likelihood of any two people receiving the same top ten values with the same personalized definitions is one in 231 billion. David’s keynote then shows them exactly how to use that report. When the pre-assessment isn’t part of the plan, the keynote teaches people how to identify their own values and understand the values of the people around them — so they can lead and live with more intention regardless.
People leave with something rare: a clear, data-backed understanding of what drives them. They will know why certain decisions have always felt obvious and why others have been a struggle. They will understand why they lead the way they do — and why the people around them sometimes see the world so differently. Knowing what matters most to you — really knowing it — changes the way you show up. The decisions you make become clearer. The example you set becomes more intentional. And the people around you feel the difference.
| This isn’t a personality type. It’s a map of exactly who you are and why — and a foundation for everything that follows.
- A clear, data-backed understanding of your own top values: what they mean, how they shape your decisions, and where your blind spots create unnecessary friction.
- Why you connect naturally with some people and struggle with others — and how understanding values alignment helps you show up more fully for your team, your family, and your community.
- A personal approach to making decisions, leading others, and living with intention — not by becoming someone different, but by becoming more completely and confidently yourself.
David will create a custom keynote packed with powerful insights from the proprietary Valuegraphics Database of surveys from around the world. This is the new science of understanding and changing behavior and it’s 8X more powerful than ever before.
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