Innovation keynote speakers Shannon Phillips and Tristan Ham bring deep expertise, sharp wit and a distinctly human approach to the stage, challenging assumptions, sparking better thinking and making innovation genuinely engaging, individually or as a dynamic duo.
Keynotes and speaking experiences that challenge assumptions, spark better thinking, and make innovation genuinely engaging. Shannon Phillips and Tristan Ham bring deep expertise, sharp wit and a distinctly human approach to the stage — individually or as a dynamic duo.
Shannon wants to know why you’re doing it that way. Tristan wants to know what we’re going to try instead. Together, things get interesting.
Shannon Phillips is a self-professed innovation nerd with a habit of asking the questions most organizations overlook. With a background in biomedical science and a deep interest in human behaviour, decision-making and organizational systems, Shannon has spent his career exploring why innovation comes naturally to humams, yet can become surprisingly difficult inside organizations.
The hidden systems, assumptions and behaviours that quietly work against innovation.
Why organizations can look incredibly innovative while producing surprisingly little value.
What really stops employees from contributing ideas, experimenting and moving good thinking forward.
Why curiosity, judgment and human insight become more valuable, not less, as AI becomes ubiquitous.
Humans are naturally curious. Organizations are remarkably good at training curiosity out of us. Why does that happen, and how can leaders reverse it?
Why participation changes behaviour, and why people are far more likely to act on decisions they helped shape.
Tristan Ham has spent his career figuring out how people actually learn, engage and change. With a background spanning theatre, adult education, entrepreneurship, human services and innovation, Tristan brings an unusually human approach to helping people make sense of complex ideas.
As co-founder of Unbounded Thinking, and through his work supporting entrepreneurs and emerging ventures, Tristan has helped teams test ideas, tell better stories, navigate uncertainty and turn abstract concepts into something people can actually use. He has a particular talent for making complicated things feel simple, without making them simplistic.
Energetic, witty and highly interactive, Tristan doesn’t believe audiences learn much by sitting quietly through another presentation. His sessions are designed to get people thinking, talking, experimenting and participating. Whether he’s facilitating a workshop or speaking from the stage, Tristan makes serious work feel engaging, accessible and genuinely fun.
How to tell the story behind an idea so people actually understand it, remember it and want to support it.
Turn assumptions into quick experiments and learn before committing serious time or money.
How teams communicate, experiment and move ideas forward together.
How to keep moving when the answer isn’t obvious and the path hasn’t been mapped yet.
Great ideas don’t move themselves forward, people do. A practical, entertaining look at group dynamics, communication and how to create the conditions where people actually contribute, challenge and collaborate.
Why participation beats passive learning, and how experimentation, interaction and experience turn ideas into understanding and understanding into action.
At Unbounded Thinking, we live and breathe innovation. Bound by a firm conviction that every organization holds untapped potential, we’re here to help you unlock it.
