Keynote Speaking

To date, I’ve given hundreds of talks in front of tens of thousands of people—including one of the most-viewed TED Talks of all time.

A few places I’ve spoken:

“A productivity mastermind.”

“A quirky and energetic guide through the productivity thicket”

“The most productive man you’d ever hope to meet.”

Featured Keynote Videos

TEDx Manchester
Talks at Google
Additional Keynotes

Transform how you and your audience think about productivity in the workplace and beyond with my practical and tactical advice for becoming more productive.

Speaking Topics

01How to Calm Your Mind

I had to face a period of burnout and anxiety before learning a critical lesson: that the path to greater resilience, reduced anxiety, and greater productivity runs directly through calm. In fact, in an anxious world, investing in calm can be considered the best “life hack” around.

Through speaking with experts from around the world and digging into the research, I discovered that drawing on calm to overcome burnout and anxiety helps build a deeper, more expansive reservoir of energy to draw from throughout the day. More remarkably, the pursuit of calm leads us to become more engaged, focused, and deliberate — while making us more productive and satisfied with our lives.

Drawing from my own struggles and experiments, this story-driven, science-backed talk guides audiences through practical ways to find calm in an anxious world. A few topics covered include:

  • How investing in calm saves us time by letting us work more deliberately under pressure.
  • What burnout is and how to break down the six factors that cause it.
  • How to use the power of calm in everyday situations, including during presentations, difficult conversations, and negotiations.
  • How we can use the science of “savouring” to sharpen our focus and see meaning behind what we do.
  • How the neurochemical dopamine is a primary enemy of calm — and productivity — but can be tamed through a “dopamine fast”.

02How to Get Your Brain to Focus

We’ve never been so busy while accomplishing so little, and we’ve grown increasingly uncomfortable with a lack of stimulation and distraction. Yet the research is clear: the state of our attention determines the state of our lives. In other words, if our attention is constantly overwhelmed, so are we.

Drawing from the latest neuroscientific research, my bestselling book Hyperfocus (in print in 31 languages), and my latest TED Talk, this story-driven, science-backed talk will leave audiences with practical, immediately implementable takeaways. That includes how to:

  • Manage their attention to work with greater intention
  • Prioritize and determine their most important tasks
  • Tame distractions ahead of time to focus more deeply
  • Train their mind to become resilient to distraction
  • Take advantage of the dot-connecting powers of their brain to work with greater creativity
  • Use mind wandering to generate more ideas
  • Think more strategically, automatically

03Custom Talk | A Fresh Approach to Productivity

Over the last decade, I have experimented with every productivity tactic under the sun, separating what works from what doesn’t. Drawing on my research, as well as these peculiar productivity experiments—including living in total isolation, using my smartphone for only an hour a day for three months, and meditating for 35 hours a week—this talk will transform how you and your audience think about productivity.

In addition to revealing why productivity is about mastering not only time, but also your attention and energy, this talk offers several practical, tactical ways to get more done every day, so you and your audience walk away with solid productivity techniques you can use immediately.

Personal productivity advice is just that: personal. For this reason, I customize each productivity talk based on what will be most helpful for your audience, choosing from my arsenal of 25 proven-to-work productivity strategies. Some folks benefit the most from strategies to beat procrastination and prioritize what’s important; others from eliminating distractions or tactics for leading their team to become more productive. Whatever it is you’re looking for, I will work with you to find the ideas that resonates the strongest, and help your audience the most.

Workshop for teams

Half-day Productivity Intensive

Learn to Manage Your Time, Attention, and Energy
The four-hour session has three components, all of which weave powerful personal productivity tactics with helpful exercises on how you can get more done. It also includes the occasional fun anecdote from Chris’s productivity project. This workshop is designed especially for busy teams who have limited time to think about productivity.

What makes me different?

01

I keep things practical.

A talk about productivity is kind of pointless when it doesn’t lead to real, lasting change afterward. I design my talks and workshops, from the ground up, to be both practical and tactical, so you’ll get tools you can implement straight after.

03

I bring a fresh perspective.

The most helpful productivity advice doesn’t turn you into some mindless robot—it helps you work on what’s important, with intention. My talks are structured around this new, more human approach to productivity.

02

I cut through the B.S.

There’s a lot of B.S. in the productivity space—advice that sounds good on the surface, but doesn’t work in practice. I’ve filtered through pretty much every productivity tactic under the sun, to separate what works from what doesn’t.

04

I’m kind of a weirdo.

On top of digging into the research and interviewing experts, I’ve conducted countless weird experiments on myself, where I use myself as a guinea pig to become as productive as possible.

Praise for Chris Bailey

The return on investment from Chris’ workshop just two short months ago is unquestionably massive, and continues to grow. After the event, I received appreciative feedback from everyone in attendance, from new engineers, to industry-renowned experts with 40+ years of experience. One executive vice-president at my company even went so far as to say that the workshop “changed his life.” Chris’ ideas on how to work with deliberateness and intention have grown to become a part of our everyday conversations. Simply put, we’re accomplishing more and are happier doing it.

VP Services

3esi and Enersight

With the always increasing demands placed on us at work, being productive is hugely important in order to succeed in the workplace and have enough time for our personal interests. Chris presents an elegant framework on managing time, attention and energy in order to increase output and create more personal time. Presenting his research and personal experiments with humor, Chris brings life to a sometimes stuffy topic. Friends and family have noticed my increase in productivity, labeling me, “Mr. Efficiency”. Mr E. thanks you, Chris!

Manager

Google

We chose Chris as he operates in that unique space between productivity and wellness which was very important to us as we wanted to engage those that may be traditionally put off by pure wellness initiatives. Chris’ presentation was engaging, professionally delivered and most importantly, incredibly practical. If you are looking for a speaker who will have a real impact on the way you work, I highly recommend Chris for your company as well.

RBC Wealth Management

We invited Chris to give a 40-minute presentation on productivity for our university’s general assembly with 1,500-2,000 students, faculty, and staff. Chris immediately engaged our audience and held their attention throughout his impeccably-crafted and memorable presentation. Chris speaks confidently about his experience and expertise, while remaining friendly and approachable. Any organization would be hard-pressed to invite a more practical, relevant speaker. I would welcome Chris back any time.

Walla Walla University

Chris Bailey’s keynote on productivity was perfect for our annual customer conference. Chris is an easy going, funny and relatable speaker that can engage any crowd. He kindly did book signings and attended our receptions to give our attendees more time to connect with him on questions and his ideas. I’d recommend Chris to any organization that is looking for effective connect delivered by a young and engaging speaker.

Iptor

Chris’ enthusiasm and dedication to understanding and dissecting productivity principles provided incredibly valuable insights for our teams here at Zipcar. Chris was not only a joy to watch, but he was a pleasure to work with!

Senior Manager

Zipcar

Chris’ enthusiasm and dedication to understanding and dissecting productivity principles provided incredibly valuable insights for our teams here at Zipcar. Chris was not only a joy to watch, but he was a pleasure to work with!

Senior Manager

Zipcar

Chris’ passion and humor combined with his practical advice and know-how resonated strongly with our audience — especially in how relevant and timely his talk was. Chris’ personal experience living a productive life gave great learnings that are easy to remember and put to use — both professionally and personally.

Senior Manager

Microsoft

Chris was a great fit for our project management team. Personal productivity is a challenge for most these days, and Chris has done the heavy lifting to sift through the various methods and hacks out there to distill productivity into simple concepts. Chris is entertaining, informative and engaging and was a great choice to help motivate our team to improve their performance through their personal productivity!

CPO

Parallon

With his easy going humor and practical wisdom, Chris had our audience hanging on his every word. His message is applicable to all stages of life and career, and I had positive comments from students, alumni and faculty for weeks following his talk. His take home notes hang in my office, reminding me every day that I have the tools for a productive, manageable workflow at my disposal. I would welcome the opportunity to hear Chris speak again!

King’s University

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