David Marquet

Type: Keynot, expert on leadership and organizational design

David is an energetic speaker whose claim to fame is his success as a Navy Captain. During his time in the Navy, he took over the lowest ranked submarine, and through superb leadership skills, turned it into the highest performing sub in the US Navy.

Pros: Very entertaining speaker who engages the audience and uses a few interactive polling questions to involve the audience in the presentation. The presentation I saw was a combination of leadership topics and interesting stories about his time as a Navy Captain.

Cons: His presentation is a little bit like Mike Abrashoff, whose presentation is about the Captain who turns around the ship.

Bottom Line: Entertaining speaker who was informative and entertaining. Fits well with any military or nautical theme.

Rating: 8              Crew Member: Video Lead

John Foley

Type: Keynote

Pros: I have to admit that I didn’t know who John Foley was before his keynote, and had never seen him on any of our clients’ keynote lists. After seeing his presentation I have to wonder why I haven’t seen him before.

John mixes stories with leadership insight into a high energy, entertaining and informative keynote. One very unique aspect of John’s presentation is his use of videos from his time as a Blue Angel. The most interesting was a video showing the training and ongoing evaluation that each pilot goes through as part of the Blue Angels team.

John was a lunch speaker at the conference where I saw him speak. Even in this difficult time slot, the audience quickly became actively invested and interacted well with John’s presentation.

Of particular note, John stayed and took pictures with attendees and answered questions for at least 45 minutes after his presentation.

Cons: None.

Bottom Line: Great speaker who should be on everyone’s short list.

For More Info: johnfoleyinc.com