Keynote topics

Three keynotes on AI, work and human change.

Each keynote stands on its own and is tailored to the sector, audience and purpose of the event.

Laurens Waling, smiling, outdoor portrait
Keynote 01

More talent than you see

Organisations are working harder to find people, while much of the talent they need sits outside the profiles they usually search for. I show what changes when you look beyond qualifications and job titles to tasks, skills, experience and capacity to learn.

Using examples from recruitment, internal mobility and the wider labour market, I explain what AI can already do, where human judgement still matters, and how a baker can turn out to be a strong fit for a technical role.

Topics I can tailor

  • The future of work: from jobs to agility
  • AI in organisations: from hype to decisions
  • Skills-based organising: making talent visible

Best for

  • Executives and boards
  • HR leaders and recruitment
  • Healthcare and public-sector organisations facing staffing shortages

Your audience takes home

  • Why recruiting harder doesn’t work, and what does
  • A clear-eyed view of what AI can genuinely do today
  • Concrete first steps for their own organisation
Laurens Waling in conversation on stage, beside a large screen with a data visualisation
Every keynote is tailored after an intake with the organiser.
Keynote 02

Agentic HR

AI is moving beyond giving advice. It can now carry out tasks, from finding candidates and gathering information to scheduling conversations and supporting people through a process.

I make the shift from hype to practice, showing which tasks can be automated, where clear boundaries are needed and who remains accountable when AI begins to act.

Best for

  • HR and recruitment leaders
  • Management teams facing AI decisions
  • HR-tech and workforce-management conferences

Your audience takes home

  • What agentic AI changes in day-to-day HR work
  • Which choices you do, and don’t, hand to AI
  • How HR professionals keep oversight of what AI carries out
Laurens Waling on stage in a full, darkened theatre
From a leadership team of eight to a room of eight hundred.
Keynote 03

Leading people through AI-driven change

Change rarely fails because the strategy is unclear. It fails when the strategy touches routines, status, security and trust. Drawing on more than twenty years of organisational change, 150+ projects, Part-up and my training at Sioo, I show how to turn agreement on paper into change in practice.

I also share what I underestimated myself. A technically better solution does not automatically win people over. Change requires an honest conversation about what people hope to gain and what they are afraid of losing.

Topics I can tailor

  • Leadership and behaviour in change
  • From plan to everyday practice
  • What AI asks of collaboration and trust

Best for

  • Leadership days and offsites
  • Boards and programme managers in transition
  • Executive and public-sector conferences

Your audience takes home

  • Why good plans stall when behaviour does not change
  • Interventions that can start tomorrow
  • Which human qualities become more important through AI
“

Laurens challenges leaders who continue to rely on a traditional command-and-control approach. His message is also hopeful: a new generation approaches change differently. Recognise that momentum and work with it, rather than against it.

Martin van RijnFormer Dutch Minister for Medical Care and former State Secretary for Health, Welfare and Sport

Which story fits your audience?

Tell me who will be in the room and what conversation you want to start. I will recommend the keynote or combination that fits best.

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