Drew Thompson

Your company’s biggest bottleneck isn’t capital — it’s you.

This keynote introduces Drew Thompson’s signature framework for deploying AI infrastructure that multiplies executive and team output without multiplying hours or headcount. Through live demonstrations, audience interaction, and the kind of humor that makes skeptics put their phones down, Drew walks audiences through the exact system he built to serve 30,000+ professionals at Real Brokerage.

Audiences will learn: – How to build a “Digital Twin” — an AI-powered extension of your expertise that works while you sleep – The three AI systems every organization needs (and the ones wasting your money) – Why the companies winning with AI aren’t spending more — they’re thinking differently – A step-by-step blueprint for creating Fortune 500-level leverage on any budget

Best for: C-suite executives, operations leaders, business owners, association members navigating AI adoption Format: 45-75 minutes | Keynote + optional 90-min workshop add-on Signature element: Live AI demo — Drew builds something with the audience in real time, proving the framework works before they leave the room

The real threat isn’t AI replacing your people — it’s your people freezing because they don’t know how to work with it.

Drew Thompson has seen it at every level: talented professionals paralyzed by the gap between what AI can do and what they know how to do with it. This keynote reframes AI adoption as a leadership and emotional intelligence challenge, not a technology challenge.

Drawing on behavioral science, live audience interaction, and his experience training 30,000+ professionals through real AI adoption (not theoretical adoption), Drew gives leaders a practical playbook for moving their teams from fear to fluency.

Audiences will learn:

• Why AI resistance is an emotional response, not a logical one and how to lead through it
• The three stages of AI adoption and where most teams get stuck
• How to create psychological safety around experimentation and failure
• Drew’s “Permission Protocol” for building a culture where people try new things without fear

Best for: HR leaders, C-suite executives, department heads, any audience navigating organizational change Format: 45-60 minutes

This keynote is unlike anything else on the circuit.

Drew Thompson was raised by a single mother who survived 64 surgeries. She taught him something that no business school, no leadership book, and no AI tool can replicate: that the ability to laugh — especially when everything is falling apart — is the most powerful force in any room.

Drew took that lesson from a childhood spent in hospital waiting rooms to a career on television at a young age, through building and selling an ad agency, coaching thousands of professionals, and leading AI adoption for one of the largest companies in his industry. Along the way, he learned one thing that nobody talks about at business conferences: the person who can make the room laugh owns the room.

This isn’t a comedy show. It’s a masterclass in using humor as a strategic tool for connection, leadership, influence, and resilience. Drew combines his performance background with real business psychology to show audiences why the most successful leaders are almost always the funniest — and how anyone can develop this skill.

Audiences will learn:

• Why humor creates trust faster than any leadership framework
• How to use strategic levity to break resistance and accelerate buy-in
• The connection between laughter, resilience, and high performance
• Practical techniques for bringing appropriate humor into high-stakes situations

Best for: Leadership retreats, association galas, awards ceremonies, any audience that needs energy and inspiration

Format: 45-60 minutes | Perfect for opening or closing keynote slots