01 Sep Speaker Spotlight: Riaz Meghji | Human Connection & Leadership
Riaz Meghji keynote speaker programs start from a claim most leadership content avoids making: human connection is a skill, not a personality trait, and it can be taught. He spent 17 years as a broadcaster interviewing everyone from Tom Cruise to Salman Rushdie, then wrote the book on what he learned. Collaborative Agency Group books him for leadership conferences, sales kickoffs, and association meetings. Here is what his programs cover and who books them.
What a Riaz Meghji Keynote Speaker Program Covers
His book, Every Conversation Counts: The 5 Habits of Human Connection That Build Extraordinary Relationships, is the spine of the work. The five habits are specific and observable, which is what separates this from the general category of connection and empathy talks — an audience leaves with behaviors to practice rather than a feeling to hold onto.
He delivers three main programs: Every Conversation Counts for leadership audiences, Relationships First for sales organizations, and a customer service version built around connection as competitive advantage. His work has been featured in Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, and Financial Post.
Who Books Riaz Meghji
Corporate leadership conferences, sales kickoffs, team offsites, and association events where the organization is trying to rebuild trust or engagement. He is a strong fit for hybrid and distributed workforces, because the isolation problem he addresses is the one those organizations actually have.
The broadcast background is the differentiator worth understanding. Seventeen years hosting CityTV’s Breakfast Television, MTV Canada, CTV News, and TEDxVancouver means he has drawn authenticity out of guests on a live clock thousands of times. He holds a business degree from Simon Fraser University and studied leadership communication at Harvard Extension School, so the material is grounded rather than purely anecdotal.
What Audiences Take Away
A method for the conversations they were already going to have. Managers leave able to run a one-on-one that surfaces what is actually going on, and sellers leave with an approach to discovery that does not sound like a discovery script.
The reframe that does the most work is treating connection as a discipline with repeatable inputs. That lands with audiences who have sat through empathy sessions and found nothing to do on Monday. More options are on the leadership speakers page.
Where He Fits on the Agenda
He works in either the opening or closing slot, which is unusual. As an opener he sets a tone that makes the rest of the agenda’s breakouts more productive, because people talk to each other differently afterward. As a closer he gives the room a practice to take home, which is the job of a closing keynote.
Where he does not fit: a purely tactical agenda with no appetite for culture work. If the meeting is entirely numbers and product, book someone else. Tell us the agenda and we will be straight with you about it.
The Bottom Line
Riaz Meghji is the right keynote speaker when an organization has an engagement or trust problem it has been describing in vague terms and wants something concrete to do about it. Two decades of interviewing, a bestselling framework, and programs built separately for leadership, sales, and service audiences. Collaborative Agency Group can check his availability and current fees, and our guide on how to book a speaker covers the rest of the process.
Interested in booking Riaz Meghji for your next event?
Collaborative Agency Group can check his availability, confirm fees, and help you decide whether he is the right fit for your audience. Call 617-243-3889 or reach out below.
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