Neal Fullerton Keynote Speaker

Have you ever seen 500 audience members playing Beethoven at a conference?

Neal Fullerton can energise any event with his highly interactive musical sessions. His talks deliver a vivid “musical metaphor” to illustrate teamwork and demonstrate what can be achieved by working together effectively. Passionate about music and an engaging speaker, he has performed at hundreds of conferences in the UK, Europe and Scandinavia.

He uses very simple instruments (tuned plastic tubes called “Boomwhackers” that produce different notes when struck), which are handed out to the audience. With these basic resources he transforms the “audience” into “participants” and can literally get 500 conference delegates all working together and playing Beethoven’s 9th symphony!

Neal brings experience from diverse areas including music, business, communication and entertainment. His journey has led him from the Royal College of Music to music therapy, and from there to the entertainment world, working internationally as a professional musician and entertainer for many years. His business experience includes working with several international blue-chip companies in the UK, such as Pilkington and Bausch & Lomb, where he ran successful sales teams. He has also worked with key players in the Scandinavian oil industry including ConocoPhillips and Statoil, creating and delivering customised training courses in business presentation skills.

The common thread to his work is communication and teamwork. Neal says: “Think of any good band – The Rolling Stones, Duke Ellington & His Orchestra or the Royal Philharmonic – they’re all really good “teams” that communicate effectively to produce harmony.”

What makes his talks unusual is the interactive element. At the climax of the session, the audience members actually get to achieve something musically, as a unified group, that they would never have believed possible. Not only does this illustrate effective teamwork and create a shared feeling of accomplishment, but it’s also great fun. What’s more, with the entire audience actively involved and contributing, there is an atmosphere of engagement and participation. This in turn positively impacts the following sessions of the conference.

A musical energiser session delivers many benefits for a seminar or conference, such as:

• Energising the audience
• Demonstrating teamwork
• Re-focusing the group after lunch
• Motivating the group
• Kick-starting a meeting
• Breaking the ice
• Getting people talking to each other

Key takeaways include:

• We need each other
• Cooperation is essential
• Everyone has something to contribute
• We need to “stick to the plan”
• Listening is important
• Communication is vital
• Existing resources can be used creatively to achieve different outcomes
• Maintaining your focus is key
• Leadership is necessary