Have you ever had that feeling of knowing exactly what’s going to happen next? That you’ve somehow tapped into the universe at a deeper level? That happened for me back in 2016 when I caught a glimpse of the future of keynote speaking.
What I saw was a future not dissimilar to what was happening in the music industry with the rise of Spotify. Music very quickly became commodified and musicians could no longer expect to make a living from selling CDs. If musicians wanted to make a living, they needed to lean into live
Leaning into live meant more than just performing your songs in front of an audience—it meant creating an experience that was so big and so unique that it couldn’t be replicated online. Online was just a teaser for what was really possible.
I saw a future where owning the whole Rolling Stones back catalogue no longer qualified you as a fan. The only qualification was whether you’d seen them live. At least twice. Across two continents. I saw a future where the number one question people would ask is, “But were you there?”
And so I set out to learn what I could from live music acts and apply it to keynote speaking.
I found out (perhaps unsurprisingly) they didn’t use PowerPoint to create their visuals—they live-mixed HD video feeds using platforms like Resolume.
So I spent the next 18 months learning how to use Resolume.
I found out bands didn’t necessarily use the same set list for each performance and often made it up on the fly in response to the audience.
So I created non-linear keynotes that could evolve in response to the audience.
I found out they used pyrotechnics…
…I stopped myself just in time.
In 2018, I did my first keynote using Resolume to live-mix video content. Appropriately, it was at the Melbourne Arts Centre at an event called Melbourne LIVE
The response I got from the audience was amazing, so I doubled down and worked with a sound designer to add music and sound effects.
This was the future of keynoting. I was sure of it.
So I doubled down again and rebranded my business as Simon Waller Live
This was most definitely the future.
And then I doubled down again and commissioned the most expensive marketing video I’d ever done to spread my gospel.
I enlisted the help of David Dixon from Rhetoric Films and we went out and filmed at White Night Festival to show people what live looked like. Dave came to my gigs to capture my keynotes and we sat down for an interview after an event in Bendigo so I could tell everyone about the future I’d seen.
This was going to be the most epic video ever—and we had to get it right.
Finally, on 22 January 2020, after months spent getting the edit right, I received the video from Dave and I loved it!
This was going to show people the power of live…
…and then (less than two months later) Victoria went into lockdown.
Suddenly everything was about online, everyone was going virtual, and my epic video had become entirely irrelevant.
I appreciate global pandemics can be hard to predict, but I still felt like I’d missed something. I had obsessed over this idea for years, completely convinced that I knew what was going to happen next—and then suddenly the future I’d envisioned felt inconceivable.
It wasn’t until two years later that the need for live events re-emerged. As the fog of the pandemic years began to lift, people needed to reconnect with their team—or possibly even meet them for the first time. The power of live became about bringing people back together.
The future I’d envisioned was not just conceivable again, it was now more important than ever.
Or so I thought.
I now know that as much as live events were important after the pandemic, in 2025 leaning into live has become more important still.
The extraordinary improvements in generative AI, the enshittification of social platforms, and the polarisation of online content mean that we can no longer rely on digital environments to develop relationships and build community.
If we want trust, understanding and belonging, we need places where people can come together to learn, connect, and be inspired.
Now is the time to lean into live.
I know this video is starting to show its age, but I still love it. I believe the underlying message is as true now as it was when we filmed it back in February 2019.
Sometimes, when we glimpse the future, we don’t always appreciate how far into the future we can see.
Simon
