Keynote speaker · Author of The Next Rung
Chris Simmance
AI realist, builder and author
I build the AI tools that displace knowledge workers, advise the firms adopting them, and wrote the book about what that costs.
The Next Rung, Practical Inspiration Publishing, out January 2027.
Sixty seconds of Chris on stage.
The 2026 Raleigh Lecture, Drapers' Hall. Around 200 students, teachers and City figures, on the theme AI for Good.
The position
The Builder's Dilemma
Chris builds AI tools that displace knowledge workers. He advises the firms adopting them. And he wrote a book about what that does to the people on the receiving end. He leads with that tension rather than hiding it.
He builds the tools
Founder of Orca, an AI operations platform used inside professional services firms, which is to say he builds the thing that prevents the next hire.
He advises the firms
Through the OMG Center he advises agency principals and firm owners on AI adoption, where the honest conclusion is often "you need fewer people".
He wrote the book
The Next Rung is about the mid-career professionals those decisions land on. Practical Inspiration Publishing, January 2027. He writes from inside the contradiction.
Signature keynotes
Three talks
A natural arc across the three, or any one as a standalone keynote. Dilemma, then audit, then direction. Each is built to leave a room with something to do, not something to fear.
The Builder's Dilemma: what AI is really doing to knowledge work
The honest insider view, told by someone building the tools. Why this automation wave behaves differently from every one before it, and why the coordination layer of knowledge work goes first. No scare, no sales pitch, just what he can see from where he is standing.
Your audience will leave able to
- Explain why the historical mechanism that re-employed displaced workers is breaking this time.
- See which roles sit in the blast radius, and why the educated and well-paid are hit first.
- Tell the difference between adopting AI and redesigning around it, and why only one changes the headcount.
The Honest Audit: your real exposure to AI displacement
Most people ask "could AI do my job". That is the wrong question. The right one is whether the economics make it rational for your employer to replace what you do within your working life. Chris turns that into a practical audit you can run on a role, a team, or a whole firm, at the task level rather than the job title.
Your audience will leave able to
- Run a task-level audit that separates what AI absorbs from the judgement, context and relationships it does not.
- Replace a gut feeling with a number they can act on.
- Spot the dual-income and fixed-cost risks that turn a job loss into a household crisis.
Direction, Not Prediction: how to position for what's coming
Nobody can predict exactly how the next decade plays out, and betting on one outcome is how people get caught out. Positioning for several is how they stay safe. Chris sets out what survives, what does not, and the no-regrets moves that hold up whichever way the market breaks.
Your audience will leave able to
- Know which capabilities hold their value when credentials commoditise.
- Build runway: owned assets, trust networks, lower fixed costs, range over narrow specialism.
- Apply the navigator test that separates resilient positioning from optimising a dying process.
- Walk out with a short, ranked list of actions and a reason to start this week.
Keynote, 30 to 60 minutes. Also fireside chats, on-stage Q&A, leadership workshops and panels. UK-based, available internationally. Every talk is tailored to the audience in the room.
The record
Where he has stood
The Next Rung
Practical Inspiration Publishing
Out January 2027 · pre-order at thenextrung.co
- Keynote, the 2026 Raleigh Lecture, Worshipful Company of EntrepreneursDrapers' Hall · ~200 students, teachers and City figures
- InfluencersLDN panelStationers' Hall · May 2026
- Pärnu Management Conference, leadership keynoteEstonia · 2024
- Digital Marketing EuropeTallinn · 2024
- UnGagged LondonRated one of the highest-scoring sessions
- Earlier and international rangeinOrbit (Slovenia), 3XE Digital (Ireland), BrightonSEO, Booking Manager Summit, International Charter Expo
Booked ahead
- IIBA / BCS, City of London3 November 2026
- GEO EliteNovember 2026
- PMI LondonJanuary 2027
- CIPD KentJanuary 2027
- CI ConversationsMarch 2027
- UCL careersDate being set
What people say
From the people who have booked him
Tee Dobinson · Event Organiser & Education Committee Chair, The Worshipful Company of Entrepreneurs
Nick Wilsdon · Search Product Owner, Vodafone Group
Jennifer Hoffman · Marketing Director, DeepCrawl
Fernando Angulo · Head of International Partnerships, SEMrush
Janusz Stabik · GYDA
Why book Chris
What the room leaves with
Watch him speak
See a room hold its breath
The sixty-second reel is at the top of the page. These clips each take one argument from the talks and land it in under a minute. Nearly 16,000 views between them.
Booking
Put him in front of your room
UK enquiries
Direct
Email with the event, the audience and the date, and you will get a straight answer on fit and availability. Or book a call directly into his diary.
Email a speaking enquiryInternational & agency enquiries
Via Encore Speakers
Chris is represented for international and agency bookings by Encore Speakers. Enquiries go straight to the agency and are picked up quickly.
Enquire via Encore