Plenary Speakers

Sir Bob Geldof

Bob Geldof was one of the most well known pop personalities of his era with two UK number 1 singles to his credit and a starring appearance in the film of Pink Floyd’s ‘The Wall’. In 1984 he turned his attention to the dreadful famine that was plaguing Ethiopia, leading to the single "Do They Know It’s Christmas?”. This one song sold over three million copies and, thanks to Geldof’s foresight in gaining financial control of every aspect of the record’s production, manufacture and distribution, Famine Relief received over 96 pence from each of the £1.35 retail record sales. The next year saw Geldof organise the mammoth Live Aid extravaganza in which Geldof herded rock’s elite to play before a worldwide television audience of over 1,000,000,000.

By 1992 Bob had established himself as a highly astute businessman with his co-ownership of the television production house Planet 24 (later sold to Carlton Television), pioneer of the early morning television series The Big Breakfast. In the late 90s he co-founded online travel agent Deckchair.com and later in 1999 co-founded Ten Alps Communications. Ten Alps has been hugely successful, producing high profile documentaries for the BBC, Channel 4, Five, Sky One and Discovery. In February 2005 Bob was the recipient of the Rose d’Or Charity Award, presented in remembrance of Sir Peter Ustinov at a special reception at the Swiss Embassy.

Read about Bob’s keynote Making a Difference

12.00pm Friday 21 May

Dan Ariely

Dan Ariely is the James B. Duke Professor of Behavioural Economics at Duke University, where he holds appointments at the Fuqua School of Business, The Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, and the department of Economics. In addition, Dan is a visiting professor in MIT’s Program in Media Arts and Sciences. He is also the author of ‘Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions’.

Dan earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Tel Aviv University, his master’s and doctorate degrees in cognitive psychology from the University of North Carolina, and a doctorate in Business Administration from Duke University. His research has been published in leading psychology, economics and marketing and management research journals, and has been featured in the New York Times, The New Yorker Magazine, The Washington Post and The Financial Times among others.

Read about Dan’s presentation Predictably Irrational

11.15am Friday 21 May

Neil Rackham

Neil Rackham is known throughout the world as a speaker, writer and highly original thinker on sales and marketing issues. Three of his books have been on the New York Times best seller list and his works have been translated into over 50 languages. He has been Chairman and CEO of three international research and consulting firms. He first gained international recognition in the 1970s when he led the largest ever research study of successful selling and sales effectiveness. This massive project involved a team of 30 researchers who studied 35,000 sales calls in over 20 countries. The research took 12 years at a cost, in today’s dollars, of $30 million. The results lead to his groundbreaking classic SPIN® Selling, McGraw Hill’s best selling business book ever.

Neil has been an advisor on sales performance to several of the Fortune 100 largest companies in the United States and his book ‘Rethinking The Sales Force’ has received wide acclaim from critics, academics and salespeople. It is required reading at many leading business schools. His work in sales training has won him the Instructional Systems Association lifetime award for Innovation in Training and Instruction.

Read about Neil’s presentation Success in Sales: Under the Microscope

4.30pm Wednesday 19 May

John Flavell

John Flavell was appointed General Manager Distribution, NAB Broker in October 2009. Prior to that John held the role of Head of Broker Sales since March 2007. In his role John is responsible for will take responsibility for building partnerships with mortgage brokers through the distribution of the full range of group product solutions including Homeside, NAB, MLC and Allianz brands.

John is responsible for the management of the national sales team comprising Senior Relationship Managers, Relationship Managers and Specialist resources. John is also responsible for the management and growth of relationships with key aggregator groups, including exploring opportunities to better support these businesses.

Prior to joining NAB Broker John held a number of senior roles in the mortgage broking industry including State Manager NSW for Aussie Home Loans and State Manager VIC, TAS, SA for RAMS. Other roles prior to NAB Broker also include a range of senior management roles in the information technology and telecommunications industry for Powertel and Telstra Corporation. John has completed studies in Valuations (Bachelor of Business Property) at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.

Read about John’s presentation Busting the Myths Around Cost of Funds

9.05am Friday 21 May