CHARLES GAUDET Signature keynotes: event promotional copy and program committee abstracts https://charlesgaudet.com/speaking-kit/ Each keynote runs as a 60 minute keynote, in person or virtual, or as a 90 minute or half-day workshop. ------------------------------------------------------------ KEYNOTE 1: Stop Buying AI. Start Leading the Work. https://charlesgaudet.com/talks/stop-buying-ai/ ------------------------------------------------------------ EVENT PROMOTIONAL COPY Your competitors can buy the same AI tools you can. What they can’t buy is how you lead. In this keynote, Charles Gaudet shows why more software rarely fixes a leadership problem, and what changes when people and AI agents work as one team. You’ll leave with a clearer view of where AI creates real leverage, where it only creates busywork, and how to lead both. PROGRAM COMMITTEE ABSTRACT Companies keep adding AI tools, yet the work itself barely changes. People are unsure where they fit. Leaders end up solving more problems, not fewer. AI agents can now take on real work, so the advantage is shifting. Every competitor can buy the same tools. Few know how to lead a team where people and agents work side by side. Charles Gaudet treats AI as a leadership question, not a technology purchase. An agent is a new kind of team member. It needs a clear job, a measure of success, and a person who owns the result. This isn’t about replacing people. It’s about making great people better. Attendees see how to redesign work around the strengths of people and AI agents, and how to hold both accountable for results. Audience takeaways: - Identify where AI creates real leverage and where it simply creates more busywork. - Discover how to redesign work around the strengths of humans and AI agents. - Learn how leaders can create accountability, ownership, and measurable results across human and agentic teams. Best for: AI conferences, executive leadership summits, CEO groups, and future-of-work events. ------------------------------------------------------------ KEYNOTE 2: The Invisible Shortlist: How Buyers Choose Before They Contact You https://charlesgaudet.com/talks/the-invisible-shortlist/ ------------------------------------------------------------ EVENT PROMOTIONAL COPY Your next customer may rule you out before your sales team knows they’re looking. Buyers now research, compare, and decide who makes the shortlist long before they reach out, and AI is speeding that up. Charles Gaudet takes you inside the hidden part of the buying journey and shows what it takes to be on the list when the first conversation finally happens. PROGRAM COMMITTEE ABSTRACT Sales teams see the inquiry, the meeting, and the proposal. They don’t see the decisions buyers made before any of that. By the time a buyer reaches out, the shortlist is often set. That hidden stretch is getting longer. Buyers do more of their own research, and AI now helps them find options, compare companies, and screen proposals. A credible company can be passed over without ever knowing it was considered. Charles Gaudet maps what buyers do before they make contact: how they discover options, how they evaluate them, and what earns a conversation. He shows why growth strategies built for a straight-line funnel are losing their edge. Attendees learn where they may be losing buyers they never see, and what kind of visibility, credibility, and proof gets a company onto the shortlist. Audience takeaways: - Understand how buyer behavior and AI are changing the way companies get discovered and selected. - Identify where prospective customers may be eliminating their company before making contact. - Discover how to build the visibility, credibility, and trust needed to get onto the buyer’s shortlist. Best for: Industry associations, business conferences, executive summits, and revenue leadership events. ------------------------------------------------------------ KEYNOTE 3: The Pre-Sold Buyer: Turn Content Into Trust Before the First Call https://charlesgaudet.com/talks/pre-sold/ ------------------------------------------------------------ EVENT PROMOTIONAL COPY More content doesn’t mean more customers. Most companies are publishing more and spending more, yet prospects still show up unsure and unready to buy. Charles Gaudet shows the difference between marketing that makes noise and marketing that builds trust. You’ll see how buyers come to prefer one company before the first sales call, and how to make yours the one they prefer. PROGRAM COMMITTEE ABSTRACT Companies are publishing more, spending more, and working harder for attention. The leads come in, but too many arrive unconvinced. The sales team is left to build trust from zero. Buyers now do their homework first. What they read, watch, and hear before the first call shapes who they trust. Marketing measured only by clicks and leads misses that work. Charles Gaudet’s view is that consumption drives conversion. The goal isn’t more content. It’s content that helps buyers understand your approach, trust your judgment, and prefer you before they speak with your team. He shows how different kinds of content do different jobs, and how to offer ready buyers a next step while others keep learning. Attendees learn to judge their marketing by the trust it builds, not the volume it produces. Audience takeaways: - Understand why producing more content rarely solves a demand problem. - Discover how to build buyer trust and preference before the sales conversation. - Learn how to create marketing that prepares prospects to buy instead of simply generating clicks and leads. Best for: Marketing conferences, sales summits, business growth events, and entrepreneurial communities. ------------------------------------------------------------ KEYNOTE 4: The Growth Trap: Why More Tactics Won’t Fix What’s Broken https://charlesgaudet.com/talks/the-growth-trap/ ------------------------------------------------------------ EVENT PROMOTIONAL COPY When growth stalls, most founders add another tactic, hire another person, or work even harder. But what if they’re solving the wrong problem? Charles Gaudet shows why successful companies hit a ceiling and how to find the real constraint behind it. You’ll leave knowing where to look first, and what it takes to build a company that grows without asking more of its founder. PROGRAM COMMITTEE ABSTRACT A soft pipeline looks like a marketing problem. Stalled sales look like a closing problem. A founder working longer hours looks like a hiring problem. The symptom leaders see is not always the constraint holding the company back. Leaders have more tactics, tools, and advice to choose from than ever. Adding one more is easy. Knowing which problem to solve first is hard, and a wrong guess costs time and money. Charles Gaudet starts with diagnosis, not prescription. Drawing on work with more than 1,000 founders, he shows how three parts of a business depend on each other: how it creates demand, how it turns demand into sales, and how its systems and team support execution. A weakness in one often shows up in another. Attendees learn how to find the constraint that matters most and choose where to focus next. Audience takeaways: - Discover why adding more marketing, more salespeople, or more effort doesn’t always create growth. - Learn how to identify the constraints that prevent a business from scaling. - Understand how demand generation, sales execution, and operational systems work together to create predictable growth. Best for: CEO retreats, entrepreneurial conferences, founder communities, and executive peer groups. ------------------------------------------------------------ Speaking fees and availability available upon inquiry. Book Charles: https://charlesgaudet.com/book/ Email: Charles@CharlesGaudet.com Speaker reel: https://charlesgaudet.com/talks/#reel