Marty Wilson
Change, Resilience Health and Wellbeing, MC
Profile
Marty Wilson has spent his entire professional life studying resilience, partly because he was a full-time Stand-Up Comic for 8 years in the UK (and nobody knows how to bounce back from adversity like an Aussie Comic performing to the Brits!), but also because he is a relentless entrepreneur who has leapt from one successful career to another – he’s a Pharmacist turned Award-Winning Advertising Copywriter turned Stand Up Comic turned Bestselling Author and Speaker.
Current Work:
He has spoken to over 500,000 people since he first leapt up on stage in 1997. In his first 12 months, Marty won Australian Comic of the Year, appeared on The Footy Show, and was invited to the UK to become a full-time Stand-Up. He returned home in 2008 and now helps people and businesses use humour and levity to lead behaviour change in the areas of health and innovation.
Marty structures his programs on the results of over 1,000 interviews he has done with inspirational and successful people for his 11 and counting books in his bestselling What I Wish I Knew series. From footy coach Wayne Bennett to a Buddhist Nun who works with prisoners on death row in L.A., from Comic Anh Do to a mother of eleven children, from a 911 survivor to chef Maggie Beer. This makes his programs incredibly human and instantly relatable to a wide variety of audiences.
Media
Feedback
In today's fast paced world where the only constant is change, every organisation needs some time with Marty Wilson. He has a mountain of deeply thoughtful, thoroughly researched content that will help your people lose their fear of change. While he is totally hilarious, humour is just one of the many tools he uses to teach new ways of thinking and feeling about being out of your comfort zone.
Marty has that unique ability to combine meaningful insights with a delivery style that challenges individuals thinking and at the same time have the room in stitches of laughter. A rare gift. I thoroughly recommend Marty to any corporate event where you are looking for fun and well-researched meaning behind what you do for a living.
Finance is one sector where being resilient in the face of constant change is an absolute necessity. Regulation, interest rates, disruptive new business models, housing market trends, the influence of new technologies, etc etc - the only thing you can truly count on is that tomorrow won’t be like today. That’s why I’d recommend Marty Wilson to anyone in banking or finance. He approaches our inbuilt fear of “new" in a uniquely personal, practical way and gets your people to start the process of change and even embracing and looking forward to it. On top of that Marty is always open to tailoring his presentation around your objectives, he’s incredibly easy to work with and is just a really good guy. I’d recommend his programs to anyone putting a conference together.
In today’s frantic business landscape where accepting change is the 'price of admission' to having a successful business, your people need to meet Marty Wilson. His tips on leading people through times of change, innovation and disruption with lightness and humanity really hit the mark with my team. Marty has that powerful and persuasive style that marries powerful scientific research with deeply human stories that has your people enjoying every minute of his presentation. I'd recommend Marty as the perfect addition to any corporate event.
Marty is the funniest speaker I've seen in a long time, but he's much more than that. He is both thought-provoking and inspirational, with well-researched content delivered a relatable, human way. If your team needs an energy shot to cope with the relentless pace of business these days, they need a dose of Marty Wilson.
While Marty Wilson is a seriously funny guy, he is also a truly dynamic and thought provoking speaker. His content is thoroughly researched and built upon sharing through the lives of many, which really sets him apart from all other speakers.
If you are looking for someone who can stimulate discussion, engage, empathize, challenge in an authentic way, and make you laugh - Marty is the speaker! Marty was outstanding at our Retreat Conference 2018 involving 140 staff members from all areas of teaching and non teaching staff. His ability to connect to audience, as well as connect to hearts in capturing our mission was palpable! In fact one teacher said to me that he would have paid his own money to hear him as he brought such humor, song and music to our ears, but in such a way that it built resilience and trust in the room.
I think one of Marty's greatest assets is his approachability. Yes, he has deep insights into resilience through time of change, but lots of speakers have great content. Marty's gift is that, by using hilarious and deeply human stories, he can get those concepts across to any audience. We had Marty speak at one of our events, he spoke to a room full mostly of men who work all day up to their elbows in Parts and Accessories, and they loved him. You can tell he'd go over just as well in a room full of hairdressers - he has that knack of connecting with the deeper human side in all of us and that's what sets him apart as a speaker.
The first thing that impressed me about Marty was his flexibility and willingness to accommodate our business needs. Despite the short notice, Marty was able to re-arrange his schedule to fit with our schedule - a lot of speakers don’t do that. Then he took the time to meet with us to understand our business better so that he could create a session that was totally tailored to our specific needs and issues. As a result, Marty was able to illicit greater engagement by the team and we got fantastic feedback on the session. Marty is professional, insightful and adds a deeply human touch by sharing very personal stories which makes his teachings more credible. All this combined with his humorous delivery style makes him an absolute hit on the day.
Over the last 30 years we have had some truly incredible keynote speakers at our annual conference but, as I said on the day, Marty Wilson is the best we’ve had. He skilfully blends inspirational content, deeply touching stories, and "stand up comic level humour" into an hour that will be talked about for years to come. He was relaxed, easy to deal with, and an absolute hit on the day - perfect for any association looking to engage and motivate its members. The conference evaluations were very positive after such a inspiring start.
Marty took the stage at a crucial point in our event right after we’d just talked through the logistics of a restructure - we were merging two teams that didn’t know each other very well. So a room full of hesitancy, nervous tension, and even fear. A tough gig. But Marty had our people in the palm of his hand and broke down all those barriers in one hour. With a perfectly weighted combination of hysterically funny stories, psychological studies and moving accounts about getting through tough times in his own family, he broke down all the resistance to change and had the whole room feeling like one big team. Exactly what we needed.
It takes extraordinary skill to combine detailed scientific research with influential and actionable suggestions for embracing change into an entertaining evening that is casual, yet engaging at all levels. The audience (all scientists and researchers) loved his hilarious presentation and took away some key messages to better cope with the accelerating pace of change in our work and lives.
Marty Wilson presented to a room full of exhausted scientists at the end of a very long and intensive day…. a tough crowd! They absolutely loved him. Marty's energy was totally infectious and he won the room over immediately. But more than that, Marty had done his homework and really tailored his presentation to suite the audience. His keynote presentation was full of actionable, takeaway tips that the delegates can put into play immediately. Later that evening Marty MC’d our dinner and had the crowd in the palm of his hand there too. I have personally seen Marty present to two very different audiences, he is a high quality speaker who is a pleasure to work with, takes time learn about his audience and is highly focused on ensuring the event is a success. I would definitely use Marty's services again.
