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.”
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
Intentional: How to Finish What You Start
Setting goals is easy. Following through on them is a whole different story—and the gap between the two has nothing to do with discipline. It has everything to do with something most people have never been taught to see: the hidden values that drive every decision you make.
In this interactive keynote, Chris Bailey walks your audience through a “would you rather” exercise based on motivation research across 80+ countries—to discover their own personal core values in real time.
From there, he shares three practical tools from his new book, Intentional, which has received acclaim in the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Globe and Mail, Oprah Magazine, and others. These tactics help people protect what matters most from the noise of daily work. Part science, part storytelling, part genuine self-discovery.
Key takeaways include how to:
- Discover their core values through a real-time thought experiment they’ll reference long after the event.
- Use the Rule of Three to set daily intentions that keep priorities visible when distractions pile up.
- Reframe productivity—from getting more done to making room for the work and people that actually matter.
- Recognize when values are misaligned with daily work, and what to do about it.
- Lower the odds of procrastinating on the projects that matter most.
This presentation runs 45–75 minutes, including audience interaction and Q&A, with content customized to be most helpful to your audience.
Focus: How to Be More Productive in a World of Distraction
Our attention has never been as overwhelmed as it is today. And 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. By transforming how you manage your attention, the better you’ll be able to manage every aspect of your life.
In this story-driven, science backed keynote presentation, I share profound insights into how to take charge of your attention to achieve a greater sense of purpose and productivity throughout the day. I draw from my bestselling book, Hyperfocus, and the latest neuroscientific research to equip your audience with practical, immediately implementable strategies that will help them become more productive in a world of distraction.
Key takeaways include, how to:
- Manage attention to work with greater intention.
- 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.
This presentation runs 60 minutes, including Q&A, with strategies customized to be most helpful to your audience.
The Art of Productivity and High Performance
Over the last decade, I have experimented with pretty much 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 my quest to optimize my own performance, I have honed-in on a couple dozen productivity strategies that actually work. In this custom talk, I work directly with you to identify which of these research-backed tactics would best help their teams to enhance their productivity and performance and delivers a tailored keynote to guarantee results.
Key takeaways could include, how to:
- Prioritize what’s important every day, week, month, and year — including when things go wrong.
- Calculate your peak productivity periods to automatically become more productive and creative.
- Overcome procrastination, one of our largest time-wasters.
- Modify our external environment to be more conducive to focus.
- Train your brain to become more resilient against distraction in the first place.
This presentation runs 60 minutes, including Q&A, with strategies customized to be most helpful to your audience.
Workshop for teams
Half-day Productivity Intensive
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 Recap Newsletter
Sign up for the productivity recap.
Every couple of weeks, I send out my latest curated articles and helpful tips to becoming more productive through my newsletter, The Recap. No spam—ever.
