Bill Conerly

Bill Conerly's Speech Descriptions

The Economic Outlook: Your Company’s Opportunities and Risks in the Evolving Business Cycle

Why this program: Every business is impacted by the economy; it’s always top of mind for small business owners and corporate executives. Dr. Conerly uses common-sense explanations and simple graphics rather than tedious statistics and complex theories.

Key takeaways:

• Outlook for major sectors of the economy, with emphasis on those most important to the audience. (For example, lumber companies hear more about housing starts, while credit unions hear more about consumer spending and borrowing.)
• How the global economy will evolve, and what that means for audience members.
• Forecast for inflation and major commodity prices. (Again, with emphasis on those costs most important to the audience.)
• The risk of recession and how businesses can protect themselves.
• Politics? Dr. Conerly never uses the platform to push his own party, but he discusses critical political issues from the perspective of “What does this mean for the economy?”

Why this speaker:

Dr. Bill Conerly has been forecasting the economy since 1980—he’s seen it all. He’s also been showing business leaders how the economy will impact their companies—and guiding them to develop plans that will be resilient in any economy.

Normal customization emphasizes those sectors of the economy of greatest impact on the audience. Regional audiences hear “an outsider’s perspective” on the local economy. Audience interaction is flexible; discuss your preferences with Dr. Conerly.

Leadership in Today’s Tight Labor Market: Retaining and Recruiting High Productivity Employees

Why this program: The tight labor market is the greatest business challenge today, and it will continue for a decade.

Key takeaways:

• The secret of employee retention—and it’s not money.
• Finding new employees: where the fish are biting.
• Hiring, retaining and motivating millennials.

Why this speaker: In 2008, in the middle of the recession, Dr. Bill Conerly projected a tight labor market in the next decade and began offering advice on employee retention and recruitment. He identified the best business practices in research for his book, The Flexible Stance: Thriving in a Boom/Bust Economy.

Benefits of this program: Attendees will take back to the office strategies they can implement immediately to increase employee retention, raise recruiting success rates, and build a high productivity workforce.

The Next Decade: What Businesses Should Do TODAY to Prepare for Tomorrow

Why this program: Most business leaders spend time on urgent matters, but not much time on the big picture of how the world is changing. Having some key trends in mind helps executives make better day-to-day decisions.

Key takeaways depend on the audience; here are some possibilities:

• Demographics and worker availability: what to do now to prepare for when the Baby Boomers retire.
• Borrowing will be very cheap for those with great financials, but unavailable for others. How to protect your business’s access to credit.
• Your future taxes will be higher due to upcoming growth of the federal deficit; how to incorporate this into your business and personal financial planning.
• Business cycles will be more extreme than in recent years; how to protect your company from recessions, and how to gain all you can in booms.
• Technology, costs and customers: how new capabilities will allow you to clean your competitors’ clocks—or risk having your own clock cleaned.
• Globalization: Will changing political attitudes about foreign trade take us back to less globalized business? What you should do now to protect your overseas sales or supply chain.

Why this speaker:

Dr. Conerly is an economic futurist emphasizes the most likely economic changes, avoiding excessive speculation and uncertainty. He provides action steps that business leaders can take today to prepare for the coming decade.

Specifics are adjusted for the particular audience. This topic can include some audience interaction.

Business in an Uncertain Economy: The Best Strategies for Businesses in an Ever-changing World

Why this program: Business rises or falls with the economy, but change also comes from technology, social attitudes, government and competition. Companies need The Flexible Stance: ready to expand, ready to cut expenses, ready to shift direction. They also need to know when to implement these changes.

Key takeaways:

• Sources of uncertainty, and how they will impact a business.
• How to keep your business ready for expansion while protecting against recession.
• The role of contingency plans, both upside and downside, in a thriving business.
• How to develop a culture of flexibility throughout the organization.

Why this speaker:

Dr. Bill Conerly wrote The Flexible Stance: Thriving in a Boom/Bust Economy to help business leaders capture upside possibilities while protecting against downside risks. It’s the best book on managing with uncertainty about the future.

This topic can be a keynote or a training seminar.

Prepare for Perpetual Change—Capture Opportunities and Avoid Risk in an Uncertain World

Why this program: Companies are beset by continual changes in the economy, technology, social attitudes, government regulation and competition. Top leaders help their team members adjust smoothly to enable the organization to seize opportunities and avoid risks.

Key takeaways:

• How a leader prepares the organization for change.
• Action steps to develop a culture that changes smoothly.
• Best business practices to thrive in an ever-changing environment.
• Developing employees who succeed in a changing world.

The audience hears examples from Dr. Conerly’s latest book, The Flexible Stance: Thriving in a Boom/Bust Economy. These illustrations come from companies large and small, in a variety of industries.

The presentation works well with substantial audience interaction; activities are adjusted to fit audience size.

Tailored speeches
Dr. Conerly creates specialized content upon request. Some past presentations were:

• Log Exports to the Far East
• Foodservice and the Economy
• Adapting Your Consulting Expertise to an Uncertain Future
• The Future of Manufacturing

Call to discuss your needs.

Audience Interaction: Dr. Conerly enjoys leading interaction among audience members. These activities can be dialed up or dialed down to meet the meeting organizer’s preferences.

Keynote or Workshop? Most of these topics can be conducted either as a keynote to a large audience or as a workshop for a smaller group.