Caspar berry

Biography I started my career as an actor as the lead in the first two series of Byker Grove on BBC1 alongside Ant and Dec. After two years of doing this – during my A levels – I was fortunate enough to get into Cambridge to read Economics where I spent most of my time directing theatre such as the Cambridge footlights and working with such talented performers as Olivia Colman, David Mitchell and Robert Webb.

After setting my sights on becoming a professional film writer, I had my first screenplay produced by Film Four whilst still in my final year of university. By the time I was 23 I was writing for Miramax and Columbia Tri Star. And my future looked pretty certain. Then at 25, I took the decision that would dramatically change my life forever: I moved to Las Vegas and became a professional poker player!

In many of my seminars I speak about both the motivations and consequences of this decision and ask participants to think in similar terms about the significant decisions that have defined their life to date.

I played poker professionally for most of the next 3 years of my life during which time I made a good living pitting my wits against the game’s best known players. It was a great period of my life during which time I learned many of the key messages which I now impart to businesses today. At the same time, there was something unfulfilling about it. Poker is a lonely pursuit which does n’t contribute anything to society really and I still had the urge to create things and work as part of a fulfilling team.

So, in 2002, I returned to the UK and co-founded Twenty First Century Media - building it into the fastest growing audio visual media company in the North East of England before selling it in 2008 to Bob Geldof’s media giant, Ten Alps.

It was while still at the helm of Twenty First Century Media that I began my career as a speaker and catalyst for new thinking within business about risk-taking and decision-making. Initially, I combined this role with my work as a speaker and broadcaster on the subject of poker. This was at the beginning of the poker boom and it was during this time that I had the privilege of being o ne of the two poker advisors on the James Bond movie, Casino Royale.

Then, in 2005 I become a trainer for The Mind Gym who schooled me in the fundamental skills of delivery and facilitation which laid the foundations for my work as a serious speaker and trainer for business using poker as merely a metaphor for the risks and decisions that we all take every day. I worked for them for two years before going alone in 2007.

In total, I have now been a professional motivational and keynote speaker for the last 7 years during which time I have delivered over 1,000 speeches for over 200 great companies around the world such as Google, Visa, KPMG, HSBC and IBM. I have earned a worldwide reputation as a highly professional and impactful speaker who catalyses change in any audience.

My key messages – which address the need to take calculated risk in order to achieve success – are timeless and non-sector-specific. This makes them perfect for any training day or conference where new ideas, innovation, leadership, decision-making or change are being discussed or debated.

Caspar Berry - Speeches I was fortunate enough to begin my speaking career as a trainer for The Mind Gym for whom I delivered over 400 sessions to senior teams over three years. Using their basic methodology as my touchstone, I have created a number of different speeches and sessions covering a wide variety of topics within the areas of risk taking and decision making.

Each speech outlined here can be tailored to meet your specific needs and in many cases blended with other speeches to form delicious concoctions. As detailed, the speeches work in a variety of formats including 30/45/60 and 90 minutes. They are also perfectly complemented by my range of seminars and training sessions for groups who want something more interactive and practical for their offsite or training day (see Seminars).

1) Risk Taking and Decision Making in Poker, Business and Life The first speech I wrote, it looks what a decision actually is and asks how well we make them, or whether we could make them differently or better. It identifies and defines the origins of fear of failure and concludes by advocating a technique to embrace this fear in order to motivate us to make more courageous decisions as a result.

Suitable For: People in any organisation who have to make decisions; who have to lead and take responsibility and motivate others. People involved in finance will understand the basic learning.

Great at the beginning, after lunch or end of a day. Works in 30/45/60/90 minute and workshop/seminar form (see Seminars)

2) Lucky in Business, Lucky in Life Understanding what luck is and how it works creates a powerful and effective message about how we approach life and how lucky we all really are. Referencing a very broad range of subject areas from the lottery to the holocaust – this speech motivates people to change the focus of their thinking away from that which is disempowering towards that which is positive, proactive and powerful.

Suitable For: Large teams of people of any level in any organisation who need rousing and lifting in difficult times. Better close to a day than opener on account of the emotional content. Leaves people feeling lucky and determined to fulfil their potential. Works in 30/45/60 minute and longer seminar/workshop forms (see Seminars).

3) Innovation, Creativity and the Survival of the Fittest What does it take to innovate successfully? Literally hundreds of failures along the way. Using the metaphor of Darwinian evolution I show that most brilliant systems of adaptation to change fail millions of times in order to survive and how, in a world of continual change, the companies who embrace this philosophy will be best place to come through the uncertainty ahead.

Suitable For: Small or large teams in organisations who are used to innovating as part of what they do (such as FMCG) but want new and challenging perspectives on it to galvanise and motivate.

Catalyses thought and provokes discussion. Works in 30/45/60/90 and workshop/seminar form (See Seminars)

4) Decisive Leadership: Courage, Bravery and Perspective What do great leaders do when they make decisions? Ultimately they are prepared to sacrifice themselves for the good of what is right and for the good of the group. This speech looks at what courage and bravery are and uses material like the 7/7 testimonies (that is the extraordinary selflessness of a few random, normal people caught up in a disaster) to ask whether we all have courage within us and that in fact leaders are not born or made but the product of circumstance and humanity.

Suitable For: Small or larger groups of leaders in an organization who want to be challenged, stimulated and moved to leave their comfort zone. Content leaves people thinking deeply about the way they lead. Excellent opener and closer to a day. Works in 30/45/60 minute forms.

5) Embracing Uncertainty: How to Step into the Unknown In many ways, my most personal and emotional speech but - like all of them - highly relevant to business today. Identifies the source of uncertainty before looking at its effect on us all economically, psychologically and culturally. It takes the audience on a journey through Black Swans and fractal mathematics before concluding that a certain world would be a boring one! It is the way in which we rise to the challenge of the unknown that defines who we are!

Suitable For: People with a knowledge of risk, particularly in finance and similar, who want stimulating opening or close to their day/session. The speech is both intellectually stimulating and emotionally impactful for those who are already interested in the subject. Works in 30/45/50 minute forms.

6) Intuition, Judgement and Expert Expertise I use this speech to demonstrate just how powerful our intuition is before applying that concept to all sorts of other areas of life. It references Malcolm Gladwell's Blink but takes the principles further by placing "judgement" into the context of the decision making process as a whole. Crucially, like all the speeches, it shows us how we can make better decisions in the future, through anecdote, finding and fact.

Suitable For: Decision makers and those who want to be both intellectually stimulated and moved to change. Perfect for the body of any day’s agenda in which people are thinking about why they do what they do. Works in 30/45/60 Minute forms.

7) Rational Emotions in Poker, Business and Life We're scared of flying when the most dangerous part of any flight is the car journey to the airport and we're all terrified of terrorist attack when we're 1000 times more likely to die of stroke. This speech exposes many of the decisions we make in business to be bunkum and seeks to stop us all making decisions that don't serve any of us very well at all.

Suitable for: Conferences where a range of issues are being discussed. While not rousing or emotional the speech is quirky, interesting, off beat and highly thought provoking. Excellent as an opener or thought catalyst during a day’s programme. Works in 30/45/60 minute forms.

8) Motivating, Nudging, Influencing and Persuading This speech is about why we do what we do. Specifically, this speech is aimed at people who have to motivate and influence others in order to communicate the kinds of things which stimulate our subconscious mind to do things differently. Drawing on a popular body of work at the moment which is known by many (but understood by few) this speech makes the subject funny and engaging and relevant to anyone who has to persuade others.

Suitable For: Anyone who has to motivate others from leaders to sales people. Rousing beginning and end to a day. Works in 30/45/60 minute forms.

Caspar Berry – Seminars

About 40% of my work involves the delivery of sessions longer than 1 hour in more interactive form.

These would tend to focus on smaller groups although they can be for anything up to 150 people or even more.

Lasting for anything from 90 minutes up to a whole day – though often around the half day mark – these sessions are for groups who want to do make the theory real to them and their team. As with the speeches, these seminars can be tailored to suit individual groups.

Risk Taking and Decision Making: Why we do what we do Depending on the time available and my client’s priorities, this session brings together the subject areas of risk analysis, decision making science and behavioural economics drawing heavily on psychology throughout. Using poker as the recurring metaphor but focussed on business at all times, the session seeks to uncover what drives us, how we decide anything and how we can change.

Suitable For: Any management or senior team who want to understand how they can change themselves and others. Also highly relevant for leaders who need to address resource allocation.

Brings together the leadership, the economic and the strategic. Recommend at least half a day or whole day – excellent followed by poker in the evening for the group.

Decision Making: Intuition versus emotion Similar in intention though more contained in scope than the main seminar on risk-taking and decision making, this seminar focuses on behavioural economics and the subject of judgement. It asks how judgement can be improved upon and how behavioural biases can be eliminated from what we do with the aim of better decision making as a result.

Suitable For: Any management or senior team who want to understand how they make decisions and how they can do it better. Recommend 2 hours to half a day but longer form works very well.

Positivity and Proactivity: The more you practise...

Seminar form of the speech of the same name, this seminar/workshop focuses on individual responsibility and proactivity. Using Dr Stephen Covey’s seminal Circles of Influence the seminar moves people to a place where they appreciate that the opposite of luck is responsibility and that apparently “lucky” people and teams simply do certain things better than others.

Suitable For: Any team of any age and level who are willing to be pushed and provoked. In these circumstances, the seminar can be very powerful and forces them to face up to the challenges of leading themselves and others. Works in half a day and can be combined with other seminars if a whole day is allocated.

Innovation and Creativity: Tools not rules Seminar form of the speech of the same name, this seminar/workshop is fun, energising, HIGHLY interactive and incredibly useful. It teaches a group of people the numinous truths of creativity before empowering them with a series of incredibly productive tools for how to produce a torrent of ideas for any problem. A great experience with lasting learning.

Suitable For: ANY team of people who are willing to leave their comfort zone and learn new skills. A great half day workshop as part of a day or offsite which is tasked with creating new solutions to problems. Works in half or full day form.

Testimonials “Brilliant, intelligent messages delivered with passion and knowledge. The best talk from an outside speaker I have ever seen.”

Jonathan Walsh, Corporate Marketing and Communication Director, Nestle “I thought the session was excellent.”

Karl Trumper, Sales and Service Director, Barclays plc “Risk is a really important issue for the Home Office and it was refreshing and I think very effective to have a discussion of how we increase our appetite for, and effectiveness in managing risk with such good humour. Your mixture of personal anecdotes, real life examples created an excellent learning opportunity. The feedback we received has been uniformly excellent. Learning can be fun!”

Kevin White, HR Director General, Home Office “A really fun and relevant afternoon which looks at business in a very different way. Caspar, your session was fantastic and the highlight of the day. Well done. The PayPal team is still talking about it”.

Geoff Iddison, CEO, PayPal "Caspar's presentation stimulated a great deal of very productive discussion about all our attitudes to risk taking and really helped crystallise some of the critical decisions we need to make across the business. It helped us understand each other as individuals and will be talked about and referenced for a long time to come. We would highly recommend it to any executive team in business."

Darren Blackhurst, Chief Merchandising Officer, Asda "Caspar is an inspirational speaker but does it with content and delivery that captures the imagination and challenges the audience to really think in a different way. His delivery is interactive, entertaining and very thought provoking and is fantastic for delivering a great session with a difference."

Sian Doyle, Director of Retail, Orange “Every time I see Caspar in action I get more and more impressed. He talks with such conviction, experience and humour that it's a real pleasure to be in his company.”

John Inverdale, Broadcaster, BBC “Please accept my thanks for your contribution at last week’s conference. The feedback from delegates has been absolutely superb. I think you have really ‘raised the bar’ in terms of quality and relevance. Once again – many thanks – you helped make it a very special day for us.”

Peter Perry, Operations Director, Welsh Water “A genuinely staggering session” Graham Bowland, Managing Director, Surgical Innovations "Hearing Caspar speak is an illuminating experience for any individual or team who have achieved success but want to gain that little extra "edge". He offers great insight into the psychology of really successful people and I would unhesitatingly recommend him for any event."

Lawrence Dallaglio, Rugby World Cup Winner.

“The feedback on the presentation was excellent – everyone on the board was really impressed and we will definitely be in contact to book Caspar again.”

Faye Gilbert, SC Johnson

Delegate Feedback “The main feedback from our delegates was that Caspar was the best speaker of the entire event! We would certainly use him again.”

Alarm Risk Managers Conference 2009 “You received an average feedback score of 9 out of 10. This was the highest of the day. From my perspective I would say that it was the perfect way to end the formal part of the day. It provided an alternative view of risk: the presentation was amusing, entertaining and also thought provoking. It set the evening up perfectly and those that participated in the poker all said that they very much enjoyed the event.”

Mark Redding, Account Manager, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Underwriting “I just wanted to drop you a note to say a thank you for last night’s event. The event went really, really well. Caspar was fab and the feedback was excellent - scoring 5 out 5 on all the feedback forms! Middlesbrough Council were delighted. Have a great weekend and once again 'big thanks' for making the event such a success! It really was a pleasure working with you.”

Lisa Higgins, Partner, WeDo Marketing “THANK YOU- the session was a great success and you scored a lot of 10s with an average of 9.2 so well done.

Made me think a lot about my decision making process!”

Peter Sutcliffe, Group Vice Chairman, The Academy for Chief executives “Our audience of Company Directors and decision makers are used to hearing some of the best speakers on the circuit but the comments after Caspar Berry's talk were of universal praise with many members telling me that Caspar was, ‘most definitely the best speaker this year’. A superb job and I can't thank you enough, my problem now is how to find future speakers to match it!

Stephen Harvard Davis, Events Committee, Institute of Directors, Hertfordshire “Caspar's presentation was engaging and entertaining and there was a noticeable ‘buzz’ in the room. He was excellent in getting across some really serious business messages with just the right amount of humour. The feedback from members and guests was that he was one of the best speakers they'd ever heard.”

Ron Lynch, Regional Director, Institute of Directors, East Midlands “Great result last week, average score of 9.5 which puts you in the very top bracket – well done. Some excellent key messages delivered with style, passion and humour at just the right pace. You deserve great success. The guys have asked me to organise another session for their senior management, if you are up for that?”

Simon Lester, Chairman ACE7, The Academy for Chief Executives “Thank you for your involvement in our recent customer conference. You really did steal the show. The buzz around the session during and after was really great and I can see it will be a conversation piece for many months to come.”

Simon Rubin, Managing Director , First Data UK “Your contribution was rated ‘good’ or ‘very good’ by 100% delegates, so thank you very much for all your efforts in delivering another inspiring presentation. A number of delegates went out of their way to come and see me during lunch to say how much they enjoyed listening to you! Thank you.”

Joanna Rogers, Conference & Seminar Organiser, Chartered Institute of Housing “Thank you so much for your outstanding presentation at the conference in Singapore, it was compelling and exactly as we discussed, the feedback from our delegates has been first class. Indeed the whole conference was a resounding success for us and you added so significantly to that, so thanks.”

Wayne Handley General Manager, Apogee Financial Planning

Intellect, Stimulation and Learning

“Caspar’s session was engaging and intelligent. He uses his experience from playing poker in Vegas with a Cambridge education in Economics to present a unique and captivating presentation. I came away feeling energised and entertained and the main learning points were that sometimes, calculated risks are very much worth taking.

Without them, it's difficult to get the big winnings! It really gets you to think about your own mind-set in a very different way. The feedback has been very positive.”

Patrick McCann, Head of Training, Berwin Leighton Paisner “An extraordinarily powerful message for leaders. It’s credible, relevant and demands immediate attention from leaders who, by being too scared to fail in the short term, risk their long term success.”

Mike Wilsher, Managing Director, The Executive Foundation “Caspar’s interesting and lively style helped open debate and allowed managers to start to think and come to some consensus about “when we can and cannot take risk" to deliver better outcomes. His use of real examples kept the discussions interesting and provided a context outside our normal business, but which could be related back to it! Staff left the day thinking this had been one of the most successful Leadership days we have had in recent years.”

Richard Cresswell, Regional Director, Environment Agency, South West Region "Made me realise what has stopped me developing my own potential. A 'light bulb' experience!"

Sarah Crookes, Business Manager, Nottingham Community Housing Association “Caspar's presentation was right on the mark. He achieved exactly what I wanted, which was to make my team face the reality that they will inevitably fail more often than they succeed. Overcoming that fear of failure will, I am sure, encourage them all to stretch themselves that little bit further”.

Neil Yule, Sales & Marketing Director, Flaktwoods “I have retained and understood far more about risk management from Caspar than from any other presentation or training session I have attended.”

John Paskin, Former Head of Programmes, BP Integration Supply & Trading “The event was just the right balance of getting the message across combined with a great amount of fun and interactivity. The energy Caspar puts into the event is infectious. Everyone in the team said how they came away with higher levels of motivation and a clearer understanding of how well thought through calculated risk taking can be of benefit to them and the business. Definitely recommended!”

Mark Bainbridge, General Manager, Media, Sony "Caspar brought new insight to an audience of experienced risk managers and auditors."

Bryan Dennis, National School of Government "I loved that Caspar made me think in a different way. He was not the normal motivational speaker. I took quite a lot back to the workplace where I was really challenged to think differently."

Orange Area Manager “I found the course to be innovative and thought provoking. Caspar turned what can often be a dry subject into an energetic enjoyable development session. When considering risk now this course provides me with an excellent reference point.”

Darren Bird, Assistant Director, Human Resource Services Department, The Metropolitan Police “I believe that you make people think, and that is a brilliant skill.”

Lawrence Watson, Head of Sales & Marketing, Rank Hovis

Why Book Caspar?

Like anyone, I find it difficult to “sell myself” – especially on a couple of sides of A4. This is particularly true in terms of my work as a speaker because there are so many great speakers who deserve your attention. Also, you’re very unlikely to make a decision based on anything other than a detailed conversation with me during which I will be as keen as you to find out whether I am suitable for your event. But if you’ve never met me, here are the seven reasons why I think it’s worth finding out more about me and what I do.

1) I have delivered over 1,000 speeches and seminars Speaking has gone through a small revolution in the last few years with a large number of people giving it a go.

Many of them are very good, of course, but – while I am the first to advocate taking a risk – you simply can’t afford to be let down by your speaker or trainer. I believe that my track record over 7 years now says a lot for my quality as a speaker and trainer of great reliability and professionalism.

3) I offer you a 100% money back guarantee Let’s be honest, if I let you down, a refund of my fee is not going to make it up to you. The most important thing to you – after all your time and dedication – is that your event is absolutely perfect and the speakers you eventually choose are a completely vital part of that.

2) I have worked for hundreds of clients, many repeatedly I am very proud to have built up such a client list over the seven years in which I have been speaking and training.

They include some of the biggest companies on the planet – such as Google and IBM – but also SMEs and public sector bodies. Since my work is about decisionmaking in business, it is relevant and applicable to companies of any size and/or sector. I feel as comfortable speaking to a conference of 5,000 as I do to s senior team of 5 although the methods of communication and conversations are very different. See my client list for many more examples of my clients over the years.

My offer is intended to demonstrate to you my commitment to that cause. As someone who has done this many times, I know what is necessary to create the kind of impact you are looking for and it’s my job to deliver that every time.

I will work with you to establish what it is that represents and constitutes success and if I don’t deliver against that I’m not interested in receiving my fee.

Fortunately, at the time of reading this, I have not yet been asked to make such a refund but the offer is genuine and meaningful and a glance at my testimonials gives you an idea of the high standards that I set myself in everything I do.

5) My testimonials are second to none Feel free to download the PDF on the testimonials page of this website where you will find testimony from board level individuals from companies such as ASDA, Nestle, Barclays, Orange, Paypal, SC Johnson and The Home Office as well as over 100 tributes from just some of my many clients.

6) My material is relevant to everyone in business The science of decision-making is ultimately about why we do what we do and what we become as a result. It has relevance for people’s personal and professional lives and is genuinely applicable to any team in any company in any sector in business today. It is about inspiring leadership, managing change, increasing efficiency and motivating others. It opens people up to the value of opportunity and shows them how to overcome their natural fear of failure. Ultimately everything we do comes down to a decision. There’s a science of how to make decisions well.

I make that science accessible and fun.

4) I will entertain, inform and move your audience Some speakers are fascinating; others are flamboyant; some have great stories to tell; for others it’s the way they tell’em! For me a great speaker should be all of this and more...

It’s not enough to tell people what they’ve heard before – however brilliantly. Likewise, it’s not meaningful to inform people in a way that doesn’t also inspire them.

Too many jokes and it becomes stand-up. Too much learning and it becomes a lesson.

In all my work I try and deliver new and challenging concepts in a way which make people both think and feel differently. In many of my presentations I combine mathematics with emotion that seeks to prove a point but also move people to want to make the change that it requires.

Ultimately this change is crucial. People should be catalysed into conversation about how to incorporate the learning into their life and the principles into their performance.

7) I will create something unique just for you While I have general subject areas about which I speak, I always write each draft of every speech in a bespoke manner. The key message, overall duration and level of interaction can all be tailored to fit your particular needs.

As a full-time professional speaker, meeting your demands is my only priority and to that end I am available for as long as necessary in advance of the event in order to create something that we both feel is absolutely right.