Melissa Clark-Reynolds

Melissa Clark-Reynolds is a street-smart futurist and tech entrepreneur who helps leaders cut through noise, tackle change head-on and build clear pathways to tomorrow.

Trained by the Institute for the Future and appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the technology industry, she’s worked with everyone from Spark and IAG to NASA and Australian Pork, tackling everything from company strategy to digital disruption. Melissa brings principled insight and practical tools that help teams turn uncertainty into direction.

People often leave her sessions with their minds blown and their thinking reset — about risk, responsibility, and what to act on now. Whether she’s guiding a CEO through a tough transition or challenging a conference audience on the future of AI, Melissa is known for her grounded foresight and ability to call it like it is, with clarity and warmth.

Melissa Clark-Reynolds Talks About:

What’s Next? Turning Signals into Strategy

Ever wish your team had a crystal ball? While the future may be uncertain, it’s not unknowable.

In this highly customised keynote, Melissa Clark-Reynolds brings sharp analysis and grounded insight to help you see what’s coming – and what to do about it. Melissa doesn’t just predict trends; she decodes the 10 most important signals from the future.

Expect an energising session that leaves you thinking differently — and ready to act.

Format: 50-minute keynote + interactive session

Audience: Scales from boardroom to centre stage

Key Takeaways

·        The 5 megatrends most likely to shape your industry over the next decade

·        How to spot signals before they become trends

·        Reframe how you see your company’s risks and opportunities

·        Apply Futures Thinking to build more agile, resilient strategy

Reimagining What’s Possible

What if “impossible” was just a starting point?

In this interactive keynote, futurist Melissa Clark-Reynolds invites you to stretch your thinking, challenge assumptions, and rediscover the power of imagination — not as fantasy, but as a strategic tool for navigating real change. Drawing on cutting-edge insights and grounded foresight, Melissa shows you how to spot the future hiding in plain sight, and how we can build momentum toward it, together.

Every attendee plays a part in this session. Through guided activities and collective exploration, together we’ll uncover new possibilities, connect the dots others miss, and leave energised to lead with vision and courage.

Format: 90-minute keynote + interactive session

Audience: Scales from boardroom to centre stage

Key Takeaways

·        Inspired teams make better futures

·        Imagination is more important than knowledge in a highly changing world

·        Making the future happen is a team sport

·        The future is often hiding in plain sight — if you know how to look

·        Learn to read the signals and get ahead of your biggest challenges — or your competition

Turning Chaos into Opportunity

Making Sense of the Mess

AI, Robotics, deepfake science, geopolitical unrest, labour shortages and social change – is it all too hard to keep up?

In this keynote, futurist and tech entrepreneur Melissa Clark-Reynolds shares practical tools for spotting patterns in the noise and turning today’s turbulence into tomorrow’s advantage. With a clear-eyed view of what’s coming — and what’s already here — she’ll help you reframe uncertainty as a catalyst for action and growth.

Format: 45-50 min keynote + Q&A

Audience: Wide appeal – Technical, Business, and Leadership

Key Takeaways

·        The present is messy and contradictory. And the future will be too

·        The next digital divide is between those who use AI and those who don’t

·        You can’t build productivity by simply hiring more people

·        Conversations around the water cooler are not about what you think they are

·        You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you — expect more supply chain shock

·        The next pandemic is already on its way

·        Build resilience NOW if you want to win later

Owning the Future

Intellectual Property vs. the World

What do Prince, GitHub, gene editing, the future of advertising, and identity theft have in common? They all raise big questions about ownership in an AI-driven world.

As artificial intelligence reshapes how we create, share, and commercialise ideas, the rules around intellectual property — and the very notion of “original” — are being stress-tested. In this keynote, futurist and tech entrepreneur Melissa Clark-Reynolds explores the shifting landscape of knowledge, creativity, and control. From deepfakes to data scraping, she unpacks what leaders need to understand now to protect their value, their work, and their integrity.

Format: 45-50 min keynote + Q&A

Audience: Wide appeal – Technical, Business, and Leadership

Key Takeaways

·        AI forces us all to ask: who owns what now

·        Large Language Models rely on enormous amounts of data to learn and recombine into novel ideas and products

·        How do you protect your own IP? And what’s at stake if you don’t?

·        What happens if you use other people’s IP?

·        “Truthiness” and trust: responding to a world of deepfakes and synthetic media

·        Navigating the new operating system of creativity, commerce, and control

Leading When Nothing Is Certain

AI disruption. Economic volatility. Shifting work models. It’s a lot — and it’s accelerating.

In this keynote, Melissa Clark-Reynolds tackles the hard questions facing today’s leaders: How do you lead when the ground keeps shifting? What do you do when the way you’ve always worked no longer works? And how do you stay focused — and human — as AI rewrites the rules of business, productivity, and value?

This is not just a tech story. It’s a leadership one. From billing models to job redesign, Melissa shares clear frameworks and practical mindsets to help leaders navigate change, manage transition, and make confident decisions in a messy, fast-moving world.

Format: 40 min keynote + Q&A perfect for opening or closing, scales from boardroom to main stage

Audience: Wide appeal – Technical, Business, and Leadership

Key Takeaways

·        AI won’t take your job, but someone using it might

·        New tech means new business models, operating models, and ways of working

·        Some jobs are disappearing now. More are on the way

·        If you charge by the hour, what happens when your week’s work takes 3 hours?

·        Leadership in uncertainty means letting go of control and doubling down on clarity

·        Mindsets and leadership principles we need now more than ever