Keynotes

The Rise of the Servant Challenger

Nate Brown

In a world where most organizations are crippled by inertia, the ability to cultivate challengers is a rare superpower. These are remarkable people who have the confidence, desire, and capability to push the boundaries of the status quo. Customer Service environments are especially ripe for this type of disruption...but with an edifying twist. Introducing the "Servant Challenger" mentality! This TED style keynote will provide leaders with a new coaching strategy as we work to elevate service workers to their full potential.

About the Speaker

Nate Brown loves two things very much...customer experience and community. Fortunately, these concepts go hand-in-hand! As a community builder, Nate co-founded CX Accelerator in 2018. Quickly growing to well over four thousand members, this vibrant collection of CX leaders is helping one another to maximize their career and accomplish remarkable things in service to others.

As a Customer Experience executive and consultant, Nate has built up contact centers from scratch, anchored complex CX functions, and helped to foster exceptional employee-customer connections in dozens of organizations. He's worked in a variety of industries including gaming, SaaS, technology, retail and healthcare for brands such as CHEP, WB Games, UL, BMI, and Bosch.

Shortly after authoring The Ultimate CX Primer, Brown was dubbed the “CX Influencer of the Year” by CloudCherry, and a top global CX thought leader by ICMI, Exceeders, Netomi, and MartechVibe to name a few. Nate was voted "most impactful influencer in the CX landscape for 2023" by Kustomer. He has been widely recognized for a unique ability to infuse energy and excitement into the work of CX for employees at all levels of the organization. When not "CX'ing, Brown is a competitive disc golfer, certified pickleball instructor, husband to a super cool wife, and dad of two incredible daughters.

State of the Industry

Brad Cleveland

Never before have contact centers faced so much change. Join us for this highly anticipated update from ICMI Founding Partner Brad Cleveland. In a dynamic, rapid-fire format, Brad will tackle the most pressing questions we’re hearing from the ICMI community. He will spotlight the critical developments rapidly transforming contact centers and outline the urgent steps leaders must take now to ensure their contact centers and organizations thrive in 2025 and beyond. With his signature insight, objectivity, and sense of humor, Brad will cut through the industry noise and hype to identify the priorities that matter most.

About the Speaker

Brad Cleveland is recognized globally for his contributions to customer strategy and management. He was a founding partner in ICMI and has worked across 45 states and over 60 countries for many of today’s most recognized organizations—American Express, Apple, USAA, and others, as well as the governments of Australia, the U.S., and Canada. Brad is the author of Contact Center Management on Fast Forward, the profession’s top-selling management book. His latest book, Leading the Customer Experience, is a recipient of the NYC Big Book distinguished favorite award. His LinkedIn Learning courses have reached over 1 million views. Today, Brad serves as Senior Advisor to ICMI, and is an in-demand speaker, trainer, and consultant.

CX AI Realized: From Hype to High-Impact Results

Brett Forman

Artificial Intelligence has rapidly progressed from an overhyped buzzword to an essential part of every business strategy, with generative AI emerging as a particularly disruptive force. Yet, many organizations barely scratch the surface of AI’s true potential in CX. This keynote unveils strategies to harness AI’s full potential, showcasing innovating applications reshaping the industry. Through practical, proven strategies showcased in case studies from trailblazing leaders, you’ll gain actionable insights on cutting-edge AI implementation, ROI measurement, and balancing automation with the human touch. Don’t miss this opportunity to catapult your CX strategy into the future. The AI-powered CX transformation is here – are you ready to lead it?

About the Speaker

Leading Enlighten AI at NICE, Brett's focus is on translating evolving AI technologies into strategic business solutions. With a strong background in customer experience analytics, operations, consulting, and client management he excels in fostering high-performance teams that drive client engagement and realize business value.

The skills honed over years in leadership roles, including advanced data usage and cross-functional collaboration, empower him to address client needs effectively. Our team's commitment to innovation and excellence has solidified NICE's reputation as a leader in customer experience analytics.

BECOMING AN IDEA FACTORY: How to Turn Yourself (and Your Organization) Into an Innovation Machine

Kyle Scheele

If there’s one belief that is holding you back from getting the most out of your team, it’s this one: some people are creative, and some people aren’t. That belief is based on outdated ideas about what creativity means, where it comes from, and who gets to harness it. The truth is, creativity is a skill like any other: it can be learned.

In the same way that we teach employees how to track expenses, process invoices, and jiggle the lock just right to get into the supply closet, we can teach them how to be more creative, how to have better ideas, and how to build a culture where innovation is a natural byproduct.
In this talk, Kyle will:
• Inspire audience members to harness your own capacity for creativity and innovation
• Give practical tips for how to get more (and better!) ideas out of yourself and your team
• Share the 5 things that every idea needs
• Help you avoid common idea-killers in your organization

About the Speaker

Turning 30, artist and speaker Kyle Scheele wanted to do something unusual to mark this milestone. Instead of a birthday bash, he decided to hold a funeral to memorialize the decade of his life that was ending. Building a 16-foot Viking ship out of cardboard, he invited friends to help him set it on fire—a symbolic farewell to his 20s and all the grief, regret, and mistakes that accompanied those years. When the video of his Viking funeral went viral, it encouraged many others to let go of past hurts as well. Moved by the response he received, Kyle planned a second funeral (this time with a 30-foot cardboard Viking ship) and asked people to share the things they carried—the bad choices, disappointments, heartaches, and negative thinking that they wanted to lay to rest. He received more than 20,000 responses from around the world—stories both heartbreaking and hilarious, painful and inspiring.
Scheele's crazy ideas have been featured in the Washington Post, Fast Company, GoalCast, UpWorthy, BuzzFeed, Yahoo! and more. Videos of his projects have been viewed over 200 million times. But what’s even cooler is this: by chasing his own crazy ideas, he's inspired other people to chase theirs.

FEAR(LESS) LEADERSHIP

Dr. Rebecca Heiss 

As leaders it’s imperative that we are self-aware. And yet research finds that nearly 90% of us…aren’t. We have to find new ways of understanding our fears, our strengths, our shortcomings, and all of the ways that our brains keep sabotaging us from being the most effective leaders we can be. That’s where Rebecca comes in by providing immediately applicable strategies to intervene with our self-limiting instincts.

KEY TAKEAWAYS
1. Break through barriers to optimal performance.
2. Build self-awareness and fear(less) culture.
3. Drive your company to be more profitable and productive.

About the Speaker

Dr. Heiss is a stress expert dedicated to transforming our fears into fuel we can use through her T-minus 3 Technique. Her research has been designated "transformative" by the National Science Foundation. When she's not on a stage, she is happiest when hiking or surfing with her two spoiled rotten dogs Guinness and Murphy.