Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Hi there. I have spent decades guiding audiences to the heart of a person, a team, company or event. My job is to make a topic and person more interesting than ever, get an audience more engaged and make a panel conversation more relevant, compelling and even funnier than you thought it could be. As a writer, producer, host/MC, I’ll work with you to get to the heart of what’s interesting, what’s memorable, and what’s real. I’ve worked in broadcast, online, small groups and massive audiences - if it is boring, no one remembers. The way to make it less boring isn’t bigger screens or louder walk up music, it’s finding what is genuinely interesting in the person or topic. As an award winning television host, I’ve interviewed thousands of people from Prime Ministers on the campaign trail to nervous kids on a food drive, from Business Leaders to Ambassadors. I’ve produced, MCd, and led conversations in live events of all sizes, from the Canadian arena tour of “A Conversation with Ellen Degeneres” to an interview with former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney for an audience of 300. I’m fascinated by how industries work from running hotel chains to tech in agriculture, leading the most powerful country on earth to how supply chain is at the heart of almost everything. Through it all, I’ve studied how to find the best, most interesting, most relevant stories people have by taking them out of performance mode and into a conversation. If you are planning a conference, gala evening or company workshop and struggle with any of these below, then I am the Host for you! * An executive, a podium, or 11pt Times New Roman PowerPoint. * Audience QnAs that are off topic, self aggrandizing and WHEN WILL THEY GET TO THE QUESTION?!!! * Disengaged attendees who couldn’t remember a presentation if it bit them on the leg. * Sponsor recognition that makes Billboard ads more lively - and take longer than the presentation. * The presentation is so far overtime lunch is almost supper. * An award show with an unruly crowd and everyone only cares about one award… out of two hundred. * A CEO who wants to spend an hour on The New Company Vision and 3000 employees who only want to know if they’re getting fired. *A guest speaker who wants to do the same presentation they’ve done at every event for every company in every city since they wrote that bestseller 3 years ago. It’s not that hard to make Barack Obama interesting - but it gets really interesting when we talk about pipelines in an audience of 12,000 … in Oil and Gas country. Seriously. Let’s talk. Dave
Co Chair the annual fundraising campaign for the United Way of Calgary.