Mike Walsh

Mike Walsh

Futurist  |  Leading Authority on the Intersection of Emerging Technologies - Consumer Behavior and Fast Growth Markets
Other info

Speaker fees: We're not able to provide this information on the website. Please call us on 0450 077 997 for more information.

About Mike

“Mike is a dynamic and high energy presenter, blending a multimedia feast of video, high impact visuals and mind blowing case studies of innovation from his personal experiences in cutting edge ...”

Mike Walsh delivers an engaging blend of first hand stories, global case studies and cutting edge research into consumer and technology trends. His presentations on the future of business and technology are provoking and inspiring, providing trans-formative advice for many industry sectors from finance to telecommunications and retail. Mike has the ability to bring the future alive for his audiences making his keynote presentations and workshops memorable and valuable.

Constantly traveling the world for the best ideas, Mike distils the most relevant insights into tailored keynotes that allow any audience to not only understand, but also start to influence the future direction of their industry. Rather than focusing on the distant future, Mike focuses on the next five years – scanning the near horizon for disruptive technologies and consumer innovations on the verge of hitting critical mass, and then translating these into usable business strategies.

Author of the best selling book ‘Futuretainment’ and publisher of the ‘Disruptive Future’ newsletter read by thousands of professionals in the media and entertainment space, Mike’s unique insights and operating experience in emerging markets makes him an expert on the growing influence of consumers in BRIC countries on breakthrough innovation and business transformation.

Mike has been a pioneer in the digital space since the 1990s, running both successful start-up ventures as well as holding senior leadership positions in established media organisations. With a background in corporate law and management consulting, Mike began his career at XT3, a spin out from McKinsey and one of the first digital consulting firms created to help major companies embrace the embroynic Web. During the first dotcom boom, Mike launched the technology publishing group internet.com in Australia, which went on to become the leading local technology news and events platform in the country. He also founded and ran Jupiter Research in the Asia Pacific, one of the first research agencies to track the early adoption of e-commerce and digital business models by online consumers. During this period, he was recognised as one of Australia’s “Top 30 Entrepreneurs Under 30” by the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age Newspaper.

After his experiences in the Web space, Mike spent five years in senior strategy roles at News Corporation where he helped shape the digital strategy for both their Australian newspaper and Asian TV divisions. Directly engaged by the CEO of Star TV to provide the company with a digital roadmap for their operations, he began his in-depth research into the fast growth markets of Asia.

While in Hong Kong and inspired by the dramatic changes taking place in China and India, Mike founded his latest venture, Tomorrow – an innovation research lab focused on emerging technology and disruptive consumer behaviour. Always in demand for his fresh insights and practical future focused strategies – Mike has advised the CEOs and senior management teams at multinational companies include the BBC, Fujifilm, Richemont, MSN, Star TV, Televisa, Philips, and HSBC.

Mike’s new book, “The Divergence” (published 2012), charts the rise of online consumers in these emerging markets, and shows that tomorrow’s Web will be radically different to conventional Western models and will require entirely new engagement strategies. Mike’s views have appeared in a wide range of international publications including Business Week, Forbes and Wallpaper Magazine.

Mike is a dynamic and high energy presenter, blending a multimedia feast of video, high impact visuals and mind blowing case studies of innovation from his personal experiences in cutting edge global markets. Whether a conference, strategy offsite or an intimate boardroom discussion – Mike’s presentations act as a powerful catalyst for innovation, strategic planning and brand inspiration.

“Rather than a technologist, I see myself as an anthropologist looking at the disruptive impact of innovation on consumer behaviour.”- Mike Walsh

Watch Mike in action

What people say about Mike

Very insightful and full of powerful content. I really found your “next actions” a very useful tool for turning ideas into a concrete follow up to drive change.

– David Velazquez, VP Operations China of Mercedes Benz Financial Services

It’s nice to hit the pause button and reflect on us as individuals, the industry, and the world. I don’t get to do this enough leading the busy life I do, so your address gave me some reflective time and an interesting perspective of our journey as a society.

– Catherine Vissiere, Senior Marketing Manager of Microsoft

Great job trying to get our industry to think about people first before developing technology. We are engineers at heart that just want to start building things, but many times we miss the mark.

– Aaron Arvizu, Global Client Sales Director of Intel Corporation

A wake-up call for us to prepare for the needs of the next generation. I am glad the board of directors attended this session. Thank you.

– Ai Leen Yeoh, Head of Customer Analytics of RHB Bank

Insightful and entertaining at the same time, I loved the way you structured it, with concrete suggested actions. Useful ideas regardless of the business, so I suspect our customers will find great value in it. You are an excellent speaker!

– Morella Urbina, Director - Customer Services Organization Ops of Compuware

Mike bridged IT legacy practices with the future reality. All too often IT takes the technology centric view and Mike called us to action to engage our customers, not publish to them.

– Matthew Groom, Sr. Director of Luxottica

Loved the presentation and gained a greater understanding of the need for us to move forward quickly to engage our people and our customers. Some amazing “a-ha” moments for me.

– Nikki Franz, Training Manager SA/NT of Commonwealth Bank of Australia

I thought the presentation was spot on. I wish my former industry, newspapers, would have embraced change much sooner … and would have implemented a much different strategy than is presently engaged.

– Bill Joyner, Vice President Corporate Banking of BBVA Compass

Stunning—one of the best and most engaging presentations I have witnessed!

– Shane Hinchliffe, Knowledge Manager of LinkWater

Impressed with the level of research you did to speak to the audience rather than deliver a generic message. Probably the one session that I will share and use because it gives a structure to driving innovation and thinking strategically.

– Elaine Legault, Director, Production Services of Montreal Convention Centre

Great session Mike, I liked your premise of customer-focused innovation and finding out the “one thing” that would make the board spill their coffee.

– Doug Farndale, Cloud Director of Cisco

Very insightful. Loved the discussion of the future of mobile, integration of social media and the need to identify how to best use the telemetry from this to drive sales and customer satisfaction.

– Joseph Dizeo, National Account Manager of Verizon Wireless

Mike, you were awesome. You transformed the 5 big trends in IT into something much more useful for how to plan our companies. I’ve heard and read a lot about these trends but never with your focus.

– Fabrizio Alves, CEO of VANTIX Tecnologia, Brasil

Very well done! The cultural/anthropologic dimensions as related to technology innovation is a fantastic theme to explore and to get people to ponder more in thinking about people’s behaviors, the root of them and how this impacts their adoption and use of technology.

– Jay Jarrett, Director Strategy and Transformation of Raytheon

Thanks for a very good presentation at the summit! You pinpointed a number of observations relevant for me in my every day work as a leader.

– Knut Ingvar Eriksen, VP Technology/ CTO of Telenor

Mike went far above and beyond what is expected of a hired speaker. We appreciate the time he spent with us, the way he immersed himself in the experience of our conference, and the interest he took in our business and in the needs and the feedback of our attendees. Mike was great to work with and we would recommend him wholeheartedly to anyone searching for a dynamic and thoughtful speaker.

– Bryant Kirk, Chief Operating Officer of The Newport Group

Amazingly fresh presentation with tons of thought leadership and practical actions to take the next step in evolving our teams.

– Daniel Serraon, Category Insights Manager of Red Bull

I found the global perspective quite helpful, particularly in understanding the role of anthropological/cultural nuances in the customer perspective.

– Lenny Rhee, Director of Corporate Strategy of AT&T

Amazing! Mike made me think about how we can look at service to our business differently. I just emailed our CIO with some ideas and he got right back to me and said “DO IT!”

– Michele Gough, Director, IT Service Management of AmerisourceBergen

Amazing! Mike was the perfect anchor to bring the conference to a high energy, thought-provoking close. He had the attention of everyone in the audience. The post-conference survey has shown Mike was one of the most valuable speakers. Mike had another company that was looking at him for the same date but we swooped in and put a firm commitment on his calendar. I feel sorry for the other company that let him slip away. Not really—their loss was our gain. Thanks Mike!

– Amy Czyrka, User Community Director of Compuware

For any company that wants to remain relevant and embrace change – Mike’s presentation will be of benefit. Mike’s presentation was thought provoking and very engaging. He provided examples that left us with some great takeaways, which we’ve already started to implement in our daily work lives. I would highly recommend him.

– Gabrielle Diogo, Sr. Analyst National Sales Operations & Events of Verizon Wireless

Mike was a hit … pure and simple. His message, I believe, resonated with our audience much more than I would have anticipated. He was a true delight.

– Jeanette Paschal, Conference Planner of the Small Business Investor Alliance

The session inspired me a lot. I just started my new leadership role in Sony Mexico one month ago. The idea of replacing e-mail with Facebook is exactly what I want to do. Those insights into the future are a great eye opener to rebuild our mid-range planning.

– Takao Kuroda, President of Sony Mexico

You rocked it!

– Mark Stanley, VP & GM, Latin America of Sony Entertainment/Playstation

I have been responsible for finding many guests speakers over the years at various car brands I have worked for and the reaction to you was the best I have seen anywhere. It was inspirational and most importantly for us totally supported our outlook on what we want to do with Bentley.

– Andrew Roberts, Head of Brand Communications of Bentley Motors Limited