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Photo Credit:Scott Beale/Laughing Squid

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Rohit is a marketer, blogger, author, professor and popular keynote speaker on the future of marketing, social media and business. Unlike other speakers, he always describes himself first as a marketing expert and not as a "social media [insert guru-like title here]." His passion is delivering entertaining and useful presentations that keep audiences inspired and engaged with real life stories and examples. His expertise comes from directly working with dozens of real brands in his role at one of the largest marketing agencies in the world - and not from idle theory or second-hand knowledge. Rohit routinely combines humor with actionable advice and since publishing his first book globally in 8 languages, has been invited to speak at TEDx on Reinventing Marketing, as well as SXSW, CES, Wharton and many other business events around the world. He is currently writing his second book called Likeonomics and is accepting an extremely limited number of speaking engagements on the topic for the Fall of 2011. 

In addition to participating in over 100 industry events as a featured speaker (including solo keynotes and celebrity panel moderation) Rohit has also conducted private training seminars and workshops for many of the world's largest and most forward thinking brands including Amex, IBM, SABMiller, Swissôtel, World Bank, Google, Pfizer, Unilever and Intel. His most memorable qualities as a speaker, however, are his unpretentious presence at events, genuine ability to answer audience questions directly (based on real industry knowledge) and dedication to sharing insights instead of obvious truths.

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10 Reasons To Invite Me To Speak:

  1. I am a visual speaker. That means no boring bullet points, long winded rambling or underhanded sales pitches. Here's what one of my presentations looks like.
  2. My goal is to be entertaining AND useful. It's not that hard to get a speaker that can do one or the other. It's rare to find one that does both.
  3. No canned lectures. I customize my topic for each event I speak at, which means you're going to get a unique point of view no one has seen before. 
  4. Real life examples. I use plenty of examples in any talk I give, both from things I have worked on as well as best practices that audience members can learn from. My book has nearly 100 case studies and examples of real companies, and my presentations typically take the same example-centric approach.
  5. Marketing focus, not social media hype focused. Unlike many other speakers who call themselves "gurus," I am a marketing guy first and foremost ... which means I don't suffer from "social media blindness." My perspective on social media is refreshingly honest. I will share exactly where it might work, and also candidly talk about where it can be an overhyped waste of time and resources.
  6. Versatility. I am equally comfortable delivering a keynote speech to thousands, leading interactive discussions with small groups, or moderating a panel with big personalities.
  7. I'm not expensive ... yet. Many professional speakers charge five or six figure "honorariums." I have shared the stage and presented alongside many of them. But I have a full time job at Ogilvy and I'm not making my living on speaking fees - so I can afford to be more reasonable.
  8. Customized to your industry or country. Through my role at a large agency, I get to work on just about every industry vertical you can imagine. Last year the topics for 3 back to back events I participated in were Luxury Marketing, digital in Africa and social media for pharmaceutical companies. When speaking to a specific industry or country, I will always customize my examples to make sure audience members walk away feeling the presentation was relevant for them.
  9. I will BE part of your event. I talk often about approachability and to me that means being part of an event and spending time to get to know an audience. I'm not the kind of speaker that rushes to the airport 5 minutes after they get off stage. The success of your event matters to me, which is why I will use my social networks, blog and any other connections I can to help boost attendance and get more people at the event.
  10. Non-obvious content. You won't hear the same old advice from me in a speech that other speakers might offer. I have presented to rooms full of hard social media skeptics and directly after visionary speakers - and never have feedback that people heard the same thing twice.

More About Rohit ...

Rohit is a well recognized marketing authority, author, blogger and popular keynote speaker. His first book, Personality Not Included, is about putting more personality back into marketing is an international best seller and available in over 40 countries in 6 languages. He is a founding member of the 360 Digital Influence group at Ogilvy, one of the largest marketing agencies in the world and has led strategy for some of Ogilvy's largest clients including Intel, Lenovo, Unilever, Ford, and Virgin America. Rohit also authors the Influential Marketing blog, which has been called "educational and intellectual" by the Wall Street Journal and is one of the most widely read marketing blogs in the world.

Read even more about Rohit in this PRWeek Uk profile: "A Life Lived On Twitter." Visit the "About Rohit" page for his official bio, headshots, and everything else you'd ever want to know about him.

What I Speak About:

I have presented at conferences around the world on a range of topics relating to marketing, the future of business, personal branding, social media, recruiting, creativity and storytelling. True to my promise about never using scripted presentations, no two sessions are totally alike. Below are some sample titles from presentations I have given in the past year:

  • Reinventing Marketing (TEDx Penn Quarter - Washington DC)
     
  • The 7 Counterintuitive Truths Of Marketing (KEYNOTE - Canadian Marketing Association Annual Conference - Toronto)
  • Why Personality Matters: The Untold Secret Of Marketing In The Social Media Era (KEYNOTE - American Marketing Association - Austin)
  • 10 Ways Creativity Can Change Your Life (KEYNOTE - Network Of Indian Professionals Annual Conference)
  • How Marketers Can Tell Better Stories (Private client workshop session)
  • Curiosity Marketing: Using Secrets To Create Engagement (SXSW - Austin)
  • The Past, Present & Future Of Healthcare In 20 Inspired Tweets (ePatient Connections Conference - Philadelphia)
  • Why Social Media Is Like A Grizzly Bear (Association of Women In PR - New Jersey)
  • How Your Personal Brand Could Save The World (Brand Camp University - Detroit)
  • The PR Pro Of The Future (PRSA Webinar)
  • The Future of Destination & Tourism Marketing (Madrid Tourism)
  • Bringing Authenticity Back Into Marketing (Silicon Valley AMA - California)
  • The 9 Fatal Flaws Of Digital Public Relations (Bulldog Reporter Webinar)
  • Corporate Reputation & The CEO (KEYNOTE - European PR Congress - Kyiv, Ukraine)
  • Succeeding In A World Where Anyone Can Speak For Your Brand (KEYNOTE - iMedia Summit - Sydney, Australia)

 

2009 & 2010 Previous Speaking Engagements:

FuturTech Michigan Keynote | MarketingProfs Mixer Keynote | Future of Social Media London Keynote | AMA Houston Keynote | TelcoTV Expo Keynote | 2008 NetIP Conference |  BlogWorld Expo Keynote | European PR Congress 2008 Keynote | Interact DC 2008 Keynote | Online Community Summit Keynote | Executing Social Media Keynote | Small Biz Seminar w/ Frank Gruber | BMA SoCal Keynote | PSFK San Francisco | Mahogany Row Seminar DC | OMMA Social NY | Digital Media Conference | BlogPotomac Keynote | Jonny's Par-tay Live Show | IAB Leadership Forum | Mesh Toronto | ThirdWay Marketing Seminar NY Keynote | Gab With The Gurus Radio Show | WOMM-U Miami | New Communications Forum | Blogger Social | Online Community Business Forum Keynote  | Ad:Tech SF 08 | Innotech Portland Keynote | Future of Television |  | SXSW Interactive | MarketingProfs B2B | ERA eRetailer Summit | Wharton Business Technology Conference | Online Marketing Summit | Social Networking Conference Keynote

 

 

Speaking Samples

Testimonials

  • "The knowledge he holds in his head is like gold dust for any PRO trying to create a credible digital marketing strategy. In 30 minutes, he taught PRWeek more about how information is disseminated on the internet than most people learn in a decade of being a web consumer."
         - Alex Black, PRWeek UK

    "Rohit's blog is intellectual and educational."
         - Wall Street Journal

    "#curiosity marketing panel is the best SXSW one yet. Like a kickass college class you can't wait to go to. Rohit is like a Social Media Robin Williams."
         - @laurencook, Swarm Collective

    "Rohit’s presentation was one of the most successful in our chapter’s history. Drawing a crowd of over 200, including both members and non-members, he delivered a 30 minute presentation that was both insightful and entertaining on the topic of Web 2.0 ... his presentation drew rave reviews in our post-event survey. deliver real content in an entertaining and easily accessible style that will both draw and delight an audience."
         - Matt Ross, American Marketing Association

    "Rohit’s keynote talk with Mike Shinoda and Tim Ferris was definitely the highlight of the entire show! We had a huge crowd. Despite having spent the last two days and nights in Las Vegas working hard all day and having fun most of the night, all of our attendees were excited for this talk and woke up early to be there. They were not disappointed. Lots of Q&A after the talk and even after the keynote was officially over people kept Rohit and his panelists there for over an hour answering questions, taking pictures and signing autographs."
         - Rick Calvert, Founder Blogworld Expo