ABOUT SIMON waller
THERE'S SOME THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
the power of live
For millennia, human beings have used the power of stories to share knowledge and ideas. Most often, stories were used to pass on knowledge gleaned from the past, but they are just as powerful for sharing lessons from the future. Perhaps more than my expertise as a futurist, it’s my passion for storytelling that sets me apart. I love nothing more than crafting and sharing stories that challenge our understanding of the present and get audiences to think more strategically about the future.
As a keynote speaker, I’ve always been inspired by the live music acts and their ability to bring an audience together. To me, live music has always been about more than just the music; it’s about creating a multi-sensory experience that the audience will never forget.
Over the last few years, I’ve increasingly brought this approach into my keynote presentations. Using the same cutting edge video and sound mixing tools used by the world’s biggest live acts, and combining it with little moments of joy (such as home baked, AI designed biscuits), I aim to create immersive and unique experiences that are impossible to replicate in a virtual world.
This experiential focus has also influenced the consulting work I do with organisations. Whether it be hand crafting future scenarios to get participants thinking bigger about their organisations future or interactive decision making workshops to find a way forward, I believe engagement and experience is the precursor to meaningful learning.
my story
My first exposure to the idea of futurism came while on a camper van trip in 2005. During a three month stint travelling through the West Australian outback I read Bernard Salt’s The Big Picture which sought to predict what a future Australia might look like through the lens of demographics.
I was immediately captivated, by both the content of the book and by the processes used in its research and analysis. I immediately wanted to learn more about how to create stories about the future that weren’t just science fiction but were, in a way, science fact.
On return to Perth, I started researching futurism and enrolled in a post graduate Futures Thinking program at Curtin University. Then, in 2008, I then joined Rio Tinto where I became one of the founding members of the company’s internal scenario planning team.
After leaving Rio Tinto in 2010 I moved to Melbourne to establish my own futures agency. Since then I have supported dozens of organisations, delivered hundreds of keynotes, and spoken to thousands of CEOs and business leaders on how scenario planning and other futures thinking techniques can help them better understand and prepare for the future.
