Keynotes

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.

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the most out of your team, it’s this one: some people are creative, and some people aren’t. That belief is based on outdated ideas about what creativity means, where it comes from, and who gets to harness it.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.