Stephen Yarwood Book as a speaker/entertainer for your next event

Key Points for Stephen Yarwood

  • Stephen Yarwood is a leading voice on AI and the future citizen: how artificial intelligence is reshaping the way people live, learn, work and participate.
  • He practises what he preaches. Stephen runs his own life and business on AI, with agentic workflows across leadership, productivity, health and home. Live proof, not theory.
  • Stephen helps businesses and governments turn disruption into direction, and coaches CEOs across Australia through the shift to agentic, contemporary leadership.
  • He is a internationally recognised futurist and urbanist on the future citizen, urban innovation, governance, leadership, strategic planning and managing change.
  • Stephen is engaging, interactive and thought-provoking. He makes complex ideas clear and tailors every session to the room, whether a boardroom, main stage, workshop or retreat.

Topics for Stephen Yarwood

  • Leading in the Age of AI - The future of leadership is more human, not less.
    Audiences leave with a clear read on how AI changes their role; how to lead teams through disruption; the questions every executive and board should be asking now.
    AI is rewriting how organisations decide, work and create value, and most leadership models haven’t caught up. Stephen shows leaders how to cut through the hype, make confident calls under uncertainty, and double down on the human skills machines can’t replace.
  • The Agentic Leader - Going agentic, personally and professionally.
    Audiences leave with where to start and what to automate first; how AI reshapes you and why leading yourself differently changes how you lead others.
    The next leadership edge isn’t knowing about AI, it’s running on it. Stephen shares his own move to an agentic operating system across work, health, home and travel, and what it teaches leaders about productivity, wellbeing and judgement. Part live case study, part practical playbook.
  • The Future Citizen - The people you’ll serve, employ and lead next.
    Audiences leave with a sharp profile of the future citizen; where today’s assumptions will break; how to design services, products and workplaces people actually want.
    Customers, staff and communities are changing faster than most strategies. AI, longer lives, new values and shifting demographics are rewriting how people will live. Stephen paints a vivid, evidence-based picture of tomorrow’s citizen and what it takes to stay relevant.
  • Strategic Foresight in an AI World - Turn uncertainty into your biggest advantage.
    Audiences leave with a method to turn trends into decisions; how to build strategy that survives surprise; where AI genuinely adds an edge.
    Most strategy still bets on a future that looks like the past. Stephen hands leaders a practical foresight toolkit to anticipate change, stress-test plans against multiple futures, and use AI to sharpen human judgement rather than replace it.
  • Future-Ready Governance - Sharper decisions for boards and elected leaders.
    Audiences leave with a framework for governing AI and innovation; sharper questions for the table; confidence to lead change, not just react.
    Boards and councils are being asked to govern AI, risk and disruption that didn’t exist a few years ago. As a former Lord Mayor, Stephen knows the chamber and the boardroom from the inside, and helps directors and elected members ask better questions and govern emerging technology.
  • The Future of Cities - How technology and design are reshaping where we live and work.
    Audiences leave with where cities are going and why; how AI and design shape liveability and value; what it means for their sector.
    The rules of city-making are being rewritten, from housing and CBDs to mobility, public space and liveability. Stephen blends frontline experience leading a capital city with a futurist’s

Testimonials for Stephen Yarwood

Entertaining and thoughtful presentation. Challenged the status quo and encouraged everyone to look beyond the present and consider opportunities and innovation into the future. 
City of Stonnington

Stephen Yarwood intimately understands cities and the role of innovation and technology in their evolution.  He is a dynamic thinker, effective collaborator and articulate communicator.
Premier
South Australia

Stephen Yarwoos is a big picture thinker able to distill complex ideas into useful solutions and real outcomes. His understanding of how cities work is outstanding and his commitment to advancing the planning profession, in a time of rapid change, is highly regarded in Australia.
President
Commonwealth Association of Planners & Past President, Planning Institute of Australia

Stephen Yarwood is an extremely well respected innovative and creative urban expert that is visionary but practical. His knowledge and experience would be a valuable asset to cities preparing for the future.
Past President
Australian Local Government Association & former Mayor of Marion

Stephen Yarwood is a visionary urbanist. A strategic thinker with an intimate understanding of how cities work today and should work in the future. Any city would benefit from his ideas and efforts.
Lord Mayor
Perth, Australia

A brilliantly innovative talk – clearly the best delivery for the last few years.
Former Mayor
Waitakere City, New Zealand

Stephen Yarwood really helped shift Adelaide into a 'can do' place. He has the capacity to see the big picture and has tremendous energy.
International authority on creative cities

Stephen Yarwood exudes energy and vitality, has a flair for future visioning and combines technical expertise with common sense pragmatism. Stephen was a strong and visionary Lord Mayor and is sought after as an international conference speaker.
Former Lord Mayor
Hobart