Ideas that stay with people long after the event ends.
Keynotes for senior leaders, founders and the teams around them who have heard enough inspiration. Each one is built around a single argument, and designed to be used the following Monday.
Speaking professionally since my twenties · TEDx three times · Global stages
One through-line: the decisions that matter, made and made to land.
The BRAVE Leader
Making the call in the moments that matter.
Most leaders already know the right call. Built on David's book The BRAVE Leader, this talk is about the courage to make it, and what changes for a leader, a team and a business when the call is made.
The audience leaves with the five moments where courage is tested (the BRAVE Model), what helps experienced leaders act on the calls they already know are right, and language for raising the decision nobody wants to name.
Best for: leadership conferences · senior team offsites · banks and professional services · founder and investor summits
Unforgettable by Design
The craft of high-stakes presentations.
The presentations that matter most, to a board, an investor, a major client or a whole company, are rarely the ones leaders prepare best. The ones people remember are built, not improvised: designed backwards from the decision the room needs to make, then delivered with clear thinking under pressure.
The audience leaves with how to design a presentation from the outcome back using the CRAFT model, why most presentation advice makes leaders worse, how to say less and land more, and how to take the hard question without losing the room.
Best for: leadership teams facing boards, investors or major clients · communications and sales conferences · pitch events and demo days · founder programmes
Scale Without Breaking
Stewardship, resilience and leading without burning out.
The leaders organisations need most are often the ones running closest to empty, inside systems that reward speed over stewardship. This talk is about leading for the long run: with integrity, patience and accountability, and building teams that grow stronger under pressure instead of burning out.
- Stewardship is measured in years, not quarters.
- Integrity costs more than compromise. Count it anyway.
- Be urgent about effort and patient with results.
- Resilience is a system, not a personality trait.
- Build teams that grow stronger under pressure, not just survive it.
- Rest is part of the work, not a reward for it.
Best for: scale-ups and fast-growing organisations · senior team offsites · HR, people and wellbeing conferences · banks and professional services · organisations going through sustained change or growth
"Your audience has been in enough rooms. David McQueen is one of the few speakers who changes the way people think, not just the way they feel for forty minutes."
"I have sat through a lot of communications sessions. This was the only one where I changed something immediately the next day."
- A first conversation. 30 minutes on your audience and what you need them to leave with.
- Brief and tailoring. I adapt the talk to your sector, stage and context.
- A check-in a week before. Logistics, AV and any last changes.
- Delivery and follow-up. I stay for Q&A where I can, then send the resources mentioned.
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