Motivational Moments Meaningful Connections
CONFERENCES | EVENTS | OFFSITES
Quick Links: Future of Work. Leadership. Sales & Marketing.
Speaker Bio
When nothing is visibly broken but something fundamental is missing, Fishy helps leaders rebuild the human connection that drives trust, conviction and performance. His work speaks to a leadership reality where clarity, trust and belief are no longer created by saying more, but by how leaders show up when attention is scarce, and pressure is high.
David Fish, known as Fishy, is one of Australia’s most respected voices on strategic presence, leadership visibility, and human connection in a distracted world. His work sits at the intersection of storytelling, neuroscience, and real-world leadership under pressure. He speaks to leaders and teams who are performing well on the surface, but sense that something vital is being diluted or lost along the way.
Fishy’s expertise is built on lived experience, grounded in a deep commitment to evidence-based research. He spent decades in senior global advertising and strategy roles, including Chief Strategy Officer positions, advising organisations on how to cut through noise, earn trust, and make ideas land when the stakes are high.
Alongside this, he is a champion aviator and record-setting pilot, experiences that shaped his understanding of focus, fear, decision-making under pressure, and presence when performance truly matters. Today, his work spans organisations such as LinkedIn, Uber, and Microsoft, as well as executive leadership teams and members of the Australian Defence Force in transition.
Clients turn to Fishy when the challenge is not a lack of action, but connection. Leaders are visible but not felt. Teams are aligned on paper but disconnected in practice. Communication is polished but fails to build belief. Market-leading products struggle to convert the way they should.
These challenges are addressed through three core keynote territories.
Future of Work, Culture and Connection - view keynotes
Exploring how distraction, uncertainty, pace of change, and digital saturation are reshaping human connection, trust, alignment, and the security of belonging at work, and what leaders must do to reclaim the human performance edge.
Leadership Impact and Visibility - view keynotes
Examining how leaders show up when pressure is high, attention is scarce, and authority can no longer rely on role or reputation, and how grounded clarity, conviction, and presence are built in the moments that matter most.
Brand, Influence and Sales- view keynotes
Reframing how ideas, value, and differentiation are communicated in crowded, risk-averse markets so belief is built, trust is earned, and decisions move forward instead of stalling in indecision.
Fishy tackles complex human behaviour with an energetic yet grounded and deeply engaging style. He does not rely on hype, but delivers impact in his own quietly entertaining way. His sessions are thoughtful, story-driven, and genuinely challenging, drawing on unexpected lived stories and practical frameworks that make complex human dynamics easy to recognise and act on.
Audiences leave with practical language, tools, and insight they can use immediately to lead with clarity, build trust faster, and reconnect people to the work that matters.
“What an insightful keynote it was! We have been doing these conferences for a long time now, and I have never been asked by so many people for slides after the event. You highlight an issue we all relate to, and you have given us a new perspective to navigate the challenges. I look at myself differently now...”
President FESPA Australia Association
Future of Work, Culture
& Connection Keynotes
Keynote Quick Links: The Illusion of Connection. The Human Workplace. The Uncertainty Cycle.
Reclaiming the human edge in a distracted World
We have never been more connected, yet many people feel more isolated and unseen than ever. This keynote reveals how digital habits and surface-level interactions create the illusion of connection, quietly eroding identity and weakening trust and belonging.
It invites audiences to break the attention-validation cycle and reconnect with what technology cannot replace. Genuine human presence, clear meaning and authentic connection that is felt, not performed.
Keynote: The Illusion of Connection
Perfect for:
Company-wide annual offsites, all-hands events, association or industry conferences with broad mixed audiences, leadership summits, hybrid or digital-transformation forums focused on culture and connection.
Audience takeaways:
Recognise the illusion: how digital habits, performance pressure and perfection culture create disconnection at work and in life.
Rebuild trust and belonging: understand the science of human connection and how small moments of presence reshape teams and relationships.
Show up with conviction: learn how to be seen, heard and remembered for who you are, not just what you do.
Why organisers book this keynote:
This keynote delivers a universal message that resonates across levels, industries and roles. A high-empathy keynote that unites diverse audiences around a shared challenge: how to stay human in a hyper-connected world.
How trust, presence, and belonging drive the future of work
As automation accelerates and AI reshapes how we communicate and collaborate, the question isn’t what technology can do; it’s what remains human. The Human Workplace explores how trust, presence, and belonging have become the real differentiators in a world led by change. It challenges leaders and teams to build cultures fuelled by curiosity, courage, and genuine connection, reminding us that the future of work isn’t about smarter machines, but stronger relationships.
Keynote: The Human Workplace
Perfect for:
Organisations navigating change and AI-driven shifts, HR and culture conferences, company offsites and all-hands, and leadership summits focused on trust, engagement, and human connection.
Audience takeaways:
Lead the change: build trust and connection inside increasingly digital working environments.
Stay human at scale: strengthen communication, confidence and empathy in technology-driven environments.
Signal conviction: show up with clarity and presence that cuts through noise, fear and uncertainty.
Why organisers book this keynote:
A keynote that gives HR, people and leadership audiences both the language and tools to rebuild belonging where it matters most: inside the business.
Strategic presence in a messy world - What to do when pressure rises and certainty drops.
The future is less predictable, change happens faster, and disruption is no longer a one-off event. In this cycle of uncertainty, people start searching for signs that they are safe. That search creates second-guessing, hesitation, and friction that slowly erodes performance if left unchecked.
This keynote shows what strategic presence looks like in real time when pressure rises and there are no perfect answers. It is built around three behaviours that elevate presence in a messy world: clarity with integrity, consistency when it counts, and alignment in chaos.
Keynote: The Uncertainty Cycle
Perfect for:
Company offsites and divisional forums, transformation and AI disruption themed events, sales and delivery kick-offs where momentum matters, and operational environments where trust and clarity are linked to performance.
Audience takeaways:
Reduce fear and second-guessing. Learn how to create clarity with integrity when there are no perfect answers.
Build trust through consistency. Understand the behaviours people watch most under pressure, and the habits that quietly break trust.
Restore alignment in chaos. Spot when teams are drifting and use a simple reset to restore connection and coordinated action.
Why organisers book this keynote:
It meets a universal modern problem without turning into a generic leadership talk. Audiences leave with a shared language for navigating uncertainty, and three practical behaviours that hold performance when disruption becomes the backdrop.
Leadership Impact &
Visibility Keynotes
The new rules of visible leadership
In an age where every voice competes for attention, the leaders who stand apart are not the loudest; they are the most relevant. Loud Enough to Lead explores what real visibility looks like in a world where relevance now matters more than volume.
This keynote challenges leaders to move beyond performative tactics and instead build strategic presence. It shows how expertise, insight, and authenticity create credibility that earns attention, builds trust, and delivers impact without chasing algorithms hacks.
Keynote: Loud Enough to Lead
Perfect for:
Leadership conferences, marketing and communication events, executive offsites, and professional-services forums exploring thought leadership and visibility.
Audience takeaways:
Lead with clarity, not noise: Understand the difference between performance visibility and purposeful visibility, and why audiences crave meaning over marketing.
Build authority through substance: Learn how to share ideas that shape conversations and turn expertise into strategic presence.
Humanise your leadership identity: Find the confidence to show up online, on stage, and in conversation with the depth and conviction that builds both authority and trust.
Why organisers book this keynote:
It’s ideal for leaders and organisations seeking to amplify expertise, communicate with authority, and strengthen their reputation through how they show up publicly.
Brand, Influence &
Sales Keynotes
Keynote: The Attention Paradox
Building brands that don’t shout, they attract
We’ve never had more ways to be seen or more ways to be ignored. In today’s attention economy, attention is too often mistaken for impact, driving behaviours that distract rather than attract. The Attention Paradox challenges this obsession and reframes what it really takes to be remembered, recalled, and chosen.
Grounded in behavioural science and brand strategy, it reveals why attention without meaning is empty and why the brands that win are relatable, differentiated, and lead with a distinctive story that makes them not just consistent, but unforgettable.
Perfect for:
Marketing leaders, business owners, founders, and companies focused on brand building for business growth.
Audience takeaways:
Stop chasing attention, start creating association. Understand how memory, emotion, and fluency decide which brands buyers recall first.
Show up where you can win. Learn how relatable context and simplicity cut through complexity to make you the easy choice.
Build commercial connection. Turn recognition into trust and attention into traction by mastering the strategy of showing up on purpose.
Why organisers book this keynote:
Smart, strategic, and grounded in simple steps every business can apply, it stands out in a sea of generic marketing keynotes that sell services rather than help solve a critical problem.
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