Chris’s life has been quite a journey, an amazing journey.

From humble beginnings growing up poor on a farm in Zimbabwe, to creating and delivering some of the  biggest mass participation sports events across three continents including the 60,000 participant Singapore Marathon. Some of the true highlights include working on the Sydney 2000 Olympics and meeting Sir Richard Branson at his home on Necker Island.

Along the way he has had many incredible opportunities to speak in front of crowds of thousands of people through to intimate small groups of CEO’s in the likes of Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, The Philippines, Malaysia, Bali, England, Italy, South Africa and USA.

Chris considers himself to be incredibly fortunate to have the opportunity to draw upon his life experiences to help and inspire people to create a bigger impact.

He is often booked by conference organisers and businesses who are looking for someone with a unique story to inspire delegates and staff, whilst at the same time delivering relevant business and life lessons.

His talks have ranged from motivational and inspirational to industry specific topics and the sharing of business lessons and case studies and plenty in between. Chris also has considerable experience as a Master of Ceremonies or host as well as facilitating workshops and meetings.

All of his presentations are highly adaptable and can be tailored to suit a conference theme or business objective. He has received huge accolades for presentations ranging from keynotes through to short TED style talks.

Audiences have included Fortune 500 CEO’s, entrepreneurs, staff from across all functional areas of the business spectrum, volunteers, students and the media.

If you are looking for an impactful speaker, with a unique story please click here. Chris would be delighted to share his showreel and have a discussion about tailoring a presentation to create maximum impact for your audience.

Chris has spoken across the globe including:

Below is a sample of his current keynotes.

The Gift of Disaster  |  The Power of Pause  |  Strength in Numbers  |  The Power of Mass Participation Events

THE GIFT OF DISASTER
Transforming adversity into opportunity

Join Chris on an enthralling marathon that starts with him growing up poor on a farm in Zimbabwe, part of which was in the midst of an independence war, and takes him on an amazing journey across three continents to becoming recognised as a global leader in the mass participation industry and delivering events for over one million people.

Discover how dealing with ‘disasters’, including highway collapse and even deaths, when delivering some of the biggest Mass Participation event projects such as the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon with 60,000 participants and over 5,000 staff, contractors and volunteers presented incredible learning ‘gifts’, many of which are relevant to any business or person.

During this presentation Chris will use case studies to share his insights into …

·  How to create and adapt plans when disaster strikes
·  Identifying and engaging stakeholders
·  Why getting clarity on the real issue is so critical
·  Defining hierarchy and chain of command
·  What the keys to effective empowerment are
·  How to prepare to “expect the unexpected”
·  Why the review process is so crucial

The presentation is highly adaptable and can be tailored both in terms of content and duration. Chris can integrate business objectives and conference themes to help reinforce your message and drive specific impact and outcomes. From a timing perspective, the Gift of Disaster has already inspired audiences as a short TED style format through to an hour-long keynote and various options in between. It can also be transformed into an interactive workshop.

The Gift of Disaster is suitable for a range of audiences from executive teams through to general staff and entrepreneurs and even students.

THE POWER OF PAUSE
The massive value of stepping back before moving forward

Chris will take you on a journey highlighting the value of stepping back before moving forward in times of crisis. He will share real life examples from both his personal life, which started off growing up poor on a farm in Zimbabwe, and his experiences building an international business delivering some of the biggest mass participation events including the 60,000 participant Singapore Marathon.

He may share the time that a call from the police in Kuala Lumpur to warn him of intelligence that a political demonstration would disrupt a huge cycling event presented an amazing opportunity to pause and evaluate before ultimately postponing the event.

Almost certainly, he will outline the critical role that the power of pause played in the communication following the death of a participant and he will no doubt tell you the occasions when he got it wrong and the lessons that were learned.

During this presentation Chris will use case studies to share his insights into …

·  Why pausing can be so important
·  What information should be gathered and evaluated
·  Which stakeholders to engage with and how
·  Whether to use an existing plan or create a new one
·  How to communicate with multiple stakeholders
·  When is the right time to “press play” after the pause
·  What are the keys to applying the lessons in the future

This presentation is highly adaptable and can be tailored both in terms of content and duration. Chris can integrate business objectives and conference themes to help reinforce your message and drive specific impact and outcomes. From a timing perspective, the Power of Pause is effective as a one hour keynote or in a TED style format and various options in between. It can also be delivered as an interactive workshop.

The Power of Pause is suitable for a range of audiences from executive teams through to general staff and entrepreneurs and even students.

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS
Creating powerful impact through partnership and collaboration

60,000 runners, 5,000 staff and volunteers, over 40km of city roads closed, three start points, one finish point, live international TV broadcast, sponsors, multiple government agencies and suppliers and the list goes on. Impossible to deliver an event of this magnitude successfully without partnership and collaboration.

Join Chris as he takes you on a behind-the-scenes journey to explore some of the partnerships and collaborations that make events like the Singapore Marathon one of the biggest and most successful in Asia. Most of the learnings are relevant to any business.

During this presentation Chris will use case studies to share his insights into …

·  How to identify and partner with the many existing and potential stakeholders
·  How to ensure clear articulation of objectives
·  Why a “win-win” mindset is critical
·  How to get the plan right
·  What the keys to an effective organisation structure are
·  How to manage communication across such a massive team
·  How to prepare for and respond to crisis

This presentation is highly adaptable and can be tailored both in terms of content and duration. Chris can integrate business objectives and conference themes to help reinforce your message and drive specific impact and outcomes. From a timing perspective, Strength in Numbers is most effective as a one hour keynote or as an interactive workshop.

Strength in numbers is suitable for a range of audiences from executive teams through to operational, commercial and marketing teams as well as entrepreneurs and even students.

THE POWER OF MASS PARTICIPATION EVENTS
Delivering huge impact for multiple stakeholders

The Mass Participation industry has shown phenomenal global growth in recent years especially in Asia where a burgeoning middle class is increasingly drawn towards an active lifestyle. These events provide a tremendous platform for sponsors, partners, cities and governments to engage with participants over an extended period but the opportunities do not stop there.

According to Mr Lim Teck Yin, CEO of Sport Singapore “Mass participation events are an essential element to any city’s sports strategy. They have the widest reach and are the most visible manifestation of any narrative of a livable city”. Like the ripple effect of a stone thrown into a pond the event sits at the core and has the potential to positively impact multiple stakeholders and in some cases to foster and grow their own ecosystem.

Chris Robb is a 30-year veteran of the industry, the author of Mass Participation Sports Events and widely recognised as a leader in the industry. During this presentation, he will share case studies to outline …

·  How governments can benefit across sport, tourism and health and why the support of governments is crucial to success
·  Who are the people that typically participate
·  What opportunities and benefits exist for brands and sponsors
·  Why there are opportunities to create an ecosystem that goes far beyond the event
·  What some of the challenges are and how best to overcome them
·  How regional destinations can benefit
·  What are the multiple revenue streams

This presentation can be tailored to focus on a particular segment and is best delivered as a keynote of at least 30 minutes to one hour. It can be very effective as an interactive workshop with outcomes including the creation of an event strategy.

The Power of Mass Participation Events is suitable for Government representatives from tourism, health and sport, city and regional event teams, brand marketing, sponsorship and corporate communication teams, event industry practitioners and students.

ENGAGE CHRIS TO SPEAK AT YOUR EVENT