Keynote SpeakersKate Ancketill is a leading global retail and business futurist and speaker, exploring consumer trends, brands, hospitality, technology and societal change.
For 25 years, Kate ran the London-based business futurist consultancy GDR Creative Intelligence, serving as an innovation partner to more than 100 of the world’s largest brands, including P&G, Tesco, Sephora, Microsoft, Google, Samsung, Pepsi, LVMH, and Coca-Cola.
Named Best AI & Future Technology Speaker at the 2025 Speaker Awards and one of BizTech Magazine’s Top 30 IT Influencers in 2024, she continues to bring those same signals directly to conference stages, corporate summits and executive boardrooms worldwide.
What sets Kate apart is where she looks. Most speakers stay inside one industry’s news cycle; Kate reads them all as a single picture – a bank learning from beauty, a retailer borrowing a loyalty trick from mobile gaming, a hotel’s customer flow reshaping an automotive showroom.
It’s not a framework or a checklist – after 25 years of paying attention across every sector at once, she simply notices the connections other people miss.
“FASCINATING AND SCARY 9.25/10”
Owen James: A Meeting of Minds conference
Every keynote is built from the same lens – the signal, the technology making it real, and the macro forces that decide whether it lasts – and can be delivered as a 30–45 minute conference session, a webinar, a panel contribution, or a half-day interactive board briefing.
As the NRF’s Martine Reardon, CMO & EVP of Content and Retail Strategy, puts it: “Kate gets among the highest feedback for speakers at the NRF Big Show every year — that’s why we’ve invited her to give the trends keynote for ten years running.”
Kate’s Keynote: Why Everyone Should Become a Futurist:
A practical toolkit for projecting three to five years ahead – built from experience, not theory.
Most “future of business” talks leave audiences dazzled, entertained – and utterly directionless. They shower delegates with ten-year blue-sky predictions, Silicon Valley hype, and science fiction concepts that look incredible on a screen, but leave audiences and leadership teams asking the exact same question on Monday morning: “So… what are we actually supposed to do with this?”
This keynote is built differently…
“Why Everyone Should Become a Futurist” isn’t a list of speculative predictions. It is a pragmatic, battle-tested mindset and toolkit built from 25 years of tracking global cross-sector market shifts for the world’s most iconic brands.
Instead of showing your audience a distant crystal ball, Kate Ancketill hands them the exact lens she uses to spot early market signals, connect hidden dots across global industries, and make high-ROI decisions three to five years ahead of the competition.
What Your Audience Will Experience:
This isn’t a passive presentation; it is an instinct-sharpening masterclass delivered with high-velocity visuals, zero tech jargon, and unassailable real-world proof.
- A Sharpened Market Instinct: Move away from static checklists and rigid frameworks. Delegates learn how to read global consumer shifts, economic headwinds, and tech emerging in Seoul, Shenzhen, or Silicon Valley like a seasoned analyst.
- The 3-to-5-Year Planning Horizon: Leave ten-year blue-sky gazing behind. Kate focuses squarely on the actionable runway where CMOs, CX leaders, and executive boards make real capital allocations and strategic pivots.
- Demographics Without Abstractions: Stop treating Gen Z and Generation Alpha as demographic buzzwords. Gain a clear, grounded picture of how upcoming generations actually spend, trust, and consume in an AI-saturated world.
- Pragmatic AI & Tech Realism: Cut through the noise of AI hype. Understand where automation creates friction-free ROI and where human connection remains your most lucrative competitive advantage.
Kate’s speaking expertise includes:
- Futurism
- Consumer Trends
- The Metaverse
- Artificial Intelligence
- Disruptive Business Models
- Sustainability
- Customer Experience
- Retail
- Hospitality
- E-commerce Trends
- Marketing & Brands
