Most people know that I’m a professional speaker. Many know that I’m a futurist. But very few people actually know what that means.
The truth is that most of the work futurists do happens behind closed doors. When organizations hire us to explore their possible futures, the insights often remain confidential.
That’s why this past weekend was so unusual.
I had the opportunity to run a Futures Lab inside my own industry, bringing together speakers from across the country—and even internationally—to explore one question:
What might the speaking industry look like ten years from now?
Looking Beyond the Meetings Industry
There are many reports each year about the future of the meetings industry. While meetings affect professional speakers, they represent only a small portion of the industry’s revenue.
When you look at the full picture, speakers earn income from meetings, consulting, coaching, courses, influencer deals, paid podcasting, article writing, books, and products.
So instead of focusing only on meetings, our goal was to explore a broader question:
What will the speaking industry look like ten years from now?
Futurists tend to look further into the future than most people. Once you explore possible future scenarios, you can identify what it would take to succeed in those environments and then work backward to determine the steps needed today.
Gathering Different Types of Thinkers
The lab lasted two days and brought together a carefully selected group of speakers. While I know many talented professionals, it was important to assemble people with different ways of thinking and different business models.
I partnered with my friend and fellow cultural futurist Glen Guyton, CSP, who helped facilitate the lab.
The group included several types of thinkers:
- Systems and process thinkers
- “Fixers” who quickly make things happen
- People who analyze power structures
- Individuals focused on human impact
- Participants who examine change through relationships
Having these perspectives together allowed us to explore future possibilities from many angles.
Mapping the Speaking Industry Ecosystem
We began with an exercise called an influence map.
An influence map is similar to a simplified systems map. It places all the players and forces within an industry on a single map and draws arrows showing how they influence each other.
In the speaking industry, we examined:
- The routes between speakers and clients
- Different revenue pathways
- Direct relationships and indirect connections with multiple intermediaries
Our map included 51 different players and forces within the ecosystem.
If you hovered over any single player, the map could blur out unrelated elements so you could see their direct connections. But the real value came from the data behind the map.
The software generated a CSV file listing all players and their relationships. I uploaded that data into generative AI and asked it to analyze patterns.
The analysis revealed:
- Which revenue sources speakers control the most
- Which revenue streams are least vulnerable to outside forces
- Which opportunities appear most future-resilient
This produced surprisingly substantive insights into how speakers might future-proof their businesses.
Scanning Signals of Change
Next, we conducted a scanning review.
Over several months, we collected more than 101 data sources, including:
- Industry articles
- LinkedIn posts
- White papers
- Research on meetings, work, and learning trends
But we didn’t limit ourselves to speaking-related material. We also examined broader forces, including topics like global climate migration, workplace shifts, and changes in how people learn.
From these signals, we identified 12 major drivers likely to impact the speaking industry over the next decade.
Understanding Polycrisis Risks
At this point, Glen Guyton introduced a polycrisis analysis.
A polycrisis occurs when multiple problems interact and amplify each other. Glen walked us through a chart showing:
- Stressors
- Triggers
- Potential crises
These interconnected pressures can impact the speaking industry just as they do other systems.
Crises rarely appear suddenly. They typically build over time through the interaction of multiple variables. By examining these dynamics, we identified potential weaknesses and began thinking strategically about how to navigate them.
Creating Four Possible Futures
Next came scenario development.
Using the drivers, stressors, and earlier analysis, we created four future scenarios:
- Baseline Future – if current trends continue
- Three alternative scenarios that are plausible and probable
Each scenario was written as a narrative describing what the world might look like ten years from now.
In small groups, we developed stories about how the speaking industry could evolve depending on how these drivers unfold. We then explored what those futures would mean for:
- The industry overall
- Individual speaker businesses
- Strategies required to succeed
Using Futures Wheels to Explore Impacts
After identifying the drivers, we split into groups and used a tool called a futures wheel.
A futures wheel begins with one change or event in the center. Participants then map out the consequences that might follow.
Futurists typically explore three layers of implications:
- First-order effects – immediate results
- Second-order effects – consequences of those results
- Third-order effects – longer-term ripple effects that are consequences of second-order effects
This exercise helped us see where opportunities might emerge and what risks speakers may need to prepare for.
Turning Insight Into Action
The final step was to create individual action plans.
Each participant identified one or two scenarios they believed were most likely. Based on the research and discussions from the weekend, we developed concrete strategies for our own businesses across three overlapping timeframes — called horizons (current state, transition zone, future vision).
The goal was simple: ensure our work aligns with the future environments most likely to emerge.
Key Takeaways From the Lab
One of the biggest insights was how powerful diverse thinking can be.
Even though Glen and I had already gathered and analyzed the data, bringing together people with diverse experiences and business models gave the research deeper meaning.
It helped us develop more robust strategies than data alone could produce.
Another realization was how much stress the speaking industry is under.
That stress isn’t new. Many professional speakers have experienced major shifts since 2000. When COVID hit, some speakers could not—or chose not to—pivot, and their businesses never recovered.
We also observed increasing competition and cannibalization within the industry:
- Technology companies that once partnered are now competing with each other
- Intermediary companies are competing aggressively for the first time on price or commission structure
- Intermediaries and service providers are expanding beyond their traditional business models to capture more revenue by coaching beginner speakers
- A massive speaker training and development firm folded, exposing some ethically challenging practices in the business
- The market is being aggressively flooded at higher-than-normal levels by speakers offering training to other speakers
Seeing how these players might evolve across different future scenarios was particularly revealing.
Why Foresight Matters
This is the kind of work I do as a futurist.
The process we used in the lab was actually simpler than what I do with clients, but it illustrates the power of foresight.
Foresight helps organizations:
- Mitigate risk
- Identify emerging opportunities
- Gain confidence and clarity about strategic decisions
The future rarely unfolds exactly as expected. In 2018, we would not have predicted the world we’re living in today.
But many elements of today’s world were already visible in early signals, and foresight practitioners saw parts of our current reality as strong possibilities.
Foresight helps us see those signals more clearly and prepare.
More importantly, it allows us not just to react to the future—but to actively co-invent a better one.
Special thanks to my fellow speakers who contributed their briliance:
- Glen Guyton, Workforce Futurist,
- Tony Chatman, Change Leadership Keynote Speaker
- Rob Ferre, Keynote Speaker, Emcee, Host
- Anton Gunn, Leadership and Culture Expert
- Denise Hamilton, Inclusion Specialist Keynote Speaker
- Jason O. Harris, Trust & Leadership Keynote Speaker
- Joe Mull, Employee Commitment Expert & Speaker
- Vincent Phipps, Communication Engagement Specialist & Keynote Speaker
- John Register, Resilience Keynote Speaker
- Cara Stilletto, Workforce Retention Expert Speaker
