Why Jim, and How It Works

Your event is a critical investment. Here is why leadership teams and associations choose Jim Carroll, how he builds every keynote around your industry, and what happens after you reach out.

Three Reasons Leaders Choose Jim: Researched. Relevant. Actionable.

Researched. Every keynote is built on 25–50+ hours of research into your sector. Audiences notice: “How long have you been a farmer?” one asked after an agriculture keynote.
Relevant. Thirty years of pattern recognition, graded in public: Jim has tracked trends since the 1990s, and in 2026 he graded more than 20 years of his own keynote predictions against what actually happened.
Actionable. 2,000+ keynotes for organizations from NASA and Disney to The World Bank, each ending with a practical action map and delivered with humour and high energy.

Reason #1, Researched: Deep Research Into Your Industry

Every industry is facing its own unique disruption. A generic speech isn’t an option.

Every keynote gets 25–50+ hours of customized research: client calls, industry research, event objectives, trend analysis and current developments.

No Two Keynotes Are the Same

This research-based approach has earned the trust of world-leading organizations: guiding NASA on space industry leadership, helping The Walt Disney organization innovate amid business-model change, and helping the PGA of America navigate the realities of its industry. For your critical event, “experience matters, and industry experience matters.”

From Brief to Keynote: KPMG Ireland

The goal: KPMG was investing $200 million in an AI hub in its Dublin office, and wanted its 2024 leadership meeting to look past the near term to the disruptive opportunities ahead.

The keynote: AI Megatrends: Opportunity and Disruption, built around that investment, for about 1,100 professional staff.

Read the case study →

Concise Industry Insight

Jim is constantly on the prowl for new, transformative trends. He knows how to summarize his insight in a concise, clear fashion.

Watch this short clip for his thoughts on the ‘future of manufacturing’ – it’s but one example of the depth of his insight into many global industries.

Reason #2, Relevant: Thirty Years of Pattern Recognition

Jim doesn’t just make predictions; he checks them. The Trends Scorecard grades more than 20 years of his keynote predictions against what actually happened across 11 industries, misses included.

Some of the calls on record: clicks-and-mortar retail (1996), digital health and the empowered patient in Good Health Online (1997), mobile banking (2009), and the smartphone as a credit card (2012).

Trusted for CEO & Leadership Events

In today’s hyper-velocity economy, CEOs must align their leadership teams to a faster, transformative future.

Jim is the trusted partner for these critical offsite events, delivering in-depth, customized keynotes for organizations that set a tone of transformation and opportunity from the start.

Three Kinds of Events

Leadership meetings and offsites: concise, detailed insight for a CEO and senior team. For leadership teams →

Association and industry conferences: a customized opening or closing keynote on where your industry is going. Industries →

Customer and partner events: your value proposition, put in the context of your customers’ future. Customer events →

Reason #3, Actionable: Stage Energy That Moves People to Act

Customization is a personal commitment: it’s Jim’s job to build his material around your issues, and to challenge your audience with an energy that inspires action.

A Personal Message from Jim

It’s your event, and it’s my job to build my material to your issues.

Powerful Motivation

The era of disruption demands that leaders understand how to align to a faster future. In this keynote in Muscat, Oman, Jim is challenging an audience of thousands to the mindset that matters going forward into a faster future.

BUILD A BRIEF FOR MY EVENT SEE THE CASE STUDIES

How It Works

The conversation. Jim’s first question: “What do you need to accomplish?” An extensive pre-event consultation aligns the keynote with your strategic objectives, themes and desired outcomes.
The research. Jim’s system continually scans emerging trends, from AI to genomics, and their impact across dozens of industries. That global insight is then woven into deep research on your organization and sector.
The keynote. The intelligence becomes a powerful, actionable narrative, delivered on your stage or from Jim’s virtual broadcast studio.
What comes next. Your audience leaves with a clear framework for turning disruption into opportunity.

Listen → research → map the trends → build the story → connect the room → leave a playbook.

After you reach out: Jim reads and answers every inquiry personally, usually the same day. Fees on request; booking through a bureau or direct costs the same.

The futurist you hire when the audience knows generic won’t be good enough.

2027 Briefs

Here’s what that actually looks like.

Board & trustee leadership

Shaping the Future, Trustee to Trustee

Open the brief →

Roads & infrastructure

Paving the Future

Preview the brief →

2027 Brief: Resilience is a system capability. Biological, climate, operational, information, economic, supply chain and human.

Agriculture & food systems

Farming 2036

Preview the brief →

Three audiences. Three industries. Three entirely different conversations. The keynote isn’t customized by changing the logo on the opening slide. It is rebuilt around the world the audience walks into every morning.

Explore the 2027 Briefs →