Doug Manuel

President, Doug Manuel USA Inc. Founder and CEO, Doug Manuel International sàrl. President, Lighting Up Lives (my NGO)

Doug Manuel is a speaker and performer specialising in bringing collaboration to life. He has performed at TED Global and with Oprah, and for nearly 3 decades he has been delivering interactive virtual and in-person programs for clients such as IMD, Harvard Business School, P&G, The World Economic Forum, and LVMH. An ex-BBC documentary producer, he has spent extensive periods of time pursuing and sharing his passion for African music and culture, whilst focusing on his personal and professional development. He is the creator of ‘Do You Speak Djembe?’ an award nominated stage show (Chicago JEFF Awards). His is currently producing a documentary called BEATS AS ONE which explores the need for timeless indigenous African wisdom for our boardrooms and beyond. His not for profit ‘Lighting Up Lives’, encourages partnerships with rural villagers in Senegal inspiring and supporting local action to solve local problems, fostering collaboration, and putting words into action.

  • Doug Manuel Keynote Speaker Fee Fee range is for U.S. events, depending on location and organization type

    $20,001 - $30,000

  • Languages Spoken

    English

  • Travels From

    United Kingdom (UK)

  • Doug Manuel Keynote Speaker Fee Fee range is for U.S. events, depending on location and organization type

    $20,001 - $30,000

  • Languages Spoken

    English

  • Travels From

    United Kingdom (UK)

Suggested Keynote Speaker Programs

The Soul of Business: GO BACK TO BASICS TO CONNECT PURPOSE TO PERFORMANCE

Bringing the timeless wisdom of an Indigenous culture to the Western Boardroom. At a time when employee engagement and talent retention is at an all time low THE SOUL OF BUSINESS is a unique interactive keynote that leads audiences to a renewed sense of vitality, ...

Bringing the timeless wisdom of an Indigenous culture to the Western Boardroom.

At a time when employee engagement and talent retention is at an all time low THE SOUL OF BUSINESS is a unique interactive keynote that leads audiences to a renewed sense of vitality, purpose and passion.

Taking a deep dive into the wisdom of West African indigenous culture with featured excerpts from Doug Manuel’s documentary ‘BEATS AS ONE’, this keynote explores the positive effects that these philosophies can have in our Western boardrooms and beyond.

This immersive experience teaches participants to re-learn common human values, and encourages well-being and a sense of belonging in the workplace. Participants explore their own personal purpose, and to tie that to the purpose of their organization.

Infused with live musical performances, story telling, music and rhythm, and incredible imagery, this unique keynote uses Doug’s 3 step process to foster collective synergy. It takes participants on a journey of personal reflection, small group sharing, and collective music making with body percussion (and performance enhancing exercises when delivered virtually).

Audience members are left with immediately actionable take-aways that bring engagement and collaboration to life in new and dynamic ways.

KEYNOTE TAKE AWAYS:

  • FIND PURPOSE: One of the greatest drivers for success.
  • DEVELOP PERSONAL LEADERSHIP: Develop active listening and empathy to build an authentic collaborative culture.
  • DISCOVER COLLABORATION IN ACTION: A relevant experience demonstrating to teams that they are stronger together.
  • LEARN AGILITY: Sharpen your capacity to act rather than react in dealing with life’s circumstances.
  • CULTIVATE EMPATHY: Through readdressing common human values, improve the ability to connect with others and develop a better understanding of those around you.

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Do You Speak Djembe? UNLOCK YOUR TEAM'S COLLABORATIVE POTENTIAL WITH THE ULTIMATE UNIFYING EXPERIENCE

Described as Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in action, this is a ground-breaking, immersive experience for conferences and corporate teams. Chosen by Oprah to lead her 3rd SuperSoul Sessions and by TedX Hollywood and TED Global to explore how technology can enhance ...

Described as Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in action, this is a ground-breaking, immersive experience for conferences and corporate teams.

Chosen by Oprah to lead her 3rd SuperSoul Sessions and by TedX Hollywood and TED Global to explore how technology can enhance humanity, this is an opportunity to exponentially boost engagement and collaboration.

Following hundreds of hit performances in Paris, tours through Europe and a 4-month run at Chicago’s Apollo Theatre, award nominated ‘Do You Speak Djembe?’ is now a keynote experience for corporate teams.

Lead by motivational speaker, and the show’s creator Doug Manuel ‘Do You Speak Djembe?’ guarantees to bring collaboration to life.

With drums for every audience member if client’s are looking to make their event extraordinary, book ‘Do You Speak Djembe?’, make music together, and ensure that the audience are the stars of the experience.

Through the power of rhythm and the drum, Doug and his on-stage band of world class musicians inspire, motivate and unite audiences of any size.

Together they learn to play djembe to the very music they grew up with, from Otis Reading to Sister Sledge, from Prince to Michael Jackson, Pharell Williams and beyond. They will explore the very roots of music in our shared ancestry and discover that through mutual universal human values that we have more in common than what we believe separates us.

(The repertoire can be adapted according to client’s requests).

This experience brings teams energy and purpose.

KEYNOTE TAKE AWAYS:

  • Reunite your teams and partners in ways that they have never previously experienced.
  • Animate, engage and energize your audience
  • Create a positive attitude and team spirit that the team can own
  • Strengthen your brand and your team’s sense of purpose
  • Experience a powerful moment of collaboration in action
  • Learn techniques to foster collaboration through Doug’s presentation NB This keynote experience can be combined with Doug’s solo keynote THE SOUL OF BUSINESS.

Learn More

About Keynote Speaker Doug Manuel

Doug Manuel is a keynote speaker, workshop leader and performer and is known for fostering purpose driven engagement and collaboration.

Creator of the internationally acclaimed stage show ‘Do You Speak Djembe?’ nominated for two JEFF awards, for more than 25 years, Doug has been delivering keynotes and leading learning laboratories for multinationals, sports teams, leading business schools and NGOs – not to mention TEDx, TED Global and Oprah Winfrey. His talks, workshops and breakout sessions use stories, music, and rhythm to break down barriers and create an interactive, multi-sensory learning experiences.

In 1995 Doug’s love of Africa was born. At that time he was working on BBC documentary about African elephants, and in parallel he attended a djembe (drumming) workshop. In 1997 he gave up his 8 year career as a BBC documentary producer to travel to West Africa to study the djembe.

What began as corporate drumming workshops aimed to boost team effectiveness has evolved and developed into a deep dive into the wisdom of West African indigenous culture and the positive effects that these philosophies can have in our Western boardrooms. He is currently making a documentary on this subject entitled ‘Beats As One’ which is due to be released in December 2023.

Doug also leads his charity ‘Lighting Up Lives’, whose pilot project partners with the villagers of Abéné in Senegal, inspiring and supporting local action to solve local problems such as energy, health, sanitation and education. The charity builds bridges between Africa and the occident, fostering collaboration and putting words into action.

Doug’s methodology has been endorsed by IMD Business school in Lausanne, Switzerland and he continues to work with clients in every sector to help teams connect purpose to performance.

Whether it be tired and disengaged virtual teams, or reuniting fragmented teams in person post pandemic with meaning and purpose, Doug’s programs and keynotes drive energy and passion and enhance active listening, communication, empathy and ultimately performance.

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