Industry-Tailored Keynote Speaker
A Keynote Speaker Who Customizes
the Talk to Your Industry
Shama Hyder tailors every keynote to the audience and its industry. Her team holds a pre-event briefing on your attendees, your theme, and the outcome you need, and the examples and emphasis are built from that brief. Marriott’s events director rated the result “a 10 out of a 10.”
She has delivered more than 500 keynotes across 26 countries for organizations including NASA, Microsoft, Chase, Disney, and Marriott, and was named to the 2026 TIME100 Creators list in the Leaders category.
Trusted by teams at
“A 10 out of a 10. Shama was incredible to work with! Her commitment to our event, streamlining her presentation to ensure it was appropriate for our audience and providing fresh and innovative ideas to our group was so impactful! She had such insightful and practical takeaways. We couldn’t have asked for more.”
Carol Ann Seney, Director, Events, Business Advisory Services for Marriott | U.S. + Canada
“Shama is a true pro. She gave the keynote at our agency kick-off event this year exceeding our (already high) expectations with a fully tailored address coupled with her team player attitude. She’s a joy to work with and we highly recommend her.”
Paul Stankevich, Market Strategist / Researcher, Kellogg’s
November 2026 Hyder Index · 15 industries
A monthly reading for each industry she speaks to
58
Overall, Narrow Gap
67
Media & Entertainment, widest
44
Hospitality & Travel, lowest
15
Industries tracked
Shama publishes the Hyder Index, which measures the Change-Response Gap in 15 industries: how fast each industry is changing versus how fast its companies are responding. The November 2026 reading is 58 overall, unchanged from October. Industries are changing 1.3 times faster than companies are responding.
The spread between industries is wide. Media & Entertainment has the widest gap at 67. Healthcare & MedTech is at 61, Manufacturing & Industrial at 58, and Insurance at 55. Financial Services & FinTech at 49 and Hospitality & Travel at 44 are the only two industries keeping pace. A keynote for a media audience and a keynote for a banking audience start from different places, and the Index shows where yours stands this month.
On the Hyder Index, 50 means change and response are even, and higher means a wider gap. A new reading is published the first Tuesday of every month. Find your industry’s reading →
How Shama Adapts a Keynote to Your Audience
Four keynotes, one brief per event. Here is what changes for each audience, where she has spoken, and where she is not the right choice.
How the tailoring works
Shama’s team holds a pre-event briefing to understand your attendees’ roles, the challenges they are facing, your event theme, and the outcomes you want. That brief shapes the examples, the emphasis, and which of her four keynotes is the right base. In Seven Signals, for example, the audience learns which of the seven signal types matter most for their industry.
Industries she has spoken to
Technology: Microsoft, Amazon, Adobe, HubSpot, Verizon, AT&T, Siemens, and NASA. Financial services: Chase, Mastercard, Prudential, TransAmerica, and TIAA. Retail, manufacturing, and consumer goods: Toyota, The Vincit Group, SpartanNash, Shaw Floors, and Lowe’s. Direct selling: Tupperware, Amway, and Mary Kay. Enterprise brands: Disney, Marriott, and Bloomberg. Real estate: Emaar, Zillow, and RealPage. Associations: ASAE, MHEDA, SEMA, HARDI, and the Million Dollar Round Table.
Who she is right for
Shama suits a planner who wants an outside operator’s view of AI, customers, and change, applied to their sector. She started Zen Media with $1,500, spent 17 years building it into a multimillion-dollar B2B consultancy serving Fortune 500 brands, and exited.
Who she is not right for
Shama adapts her own frameworks to your industry, and her four keynotes cover AI, customer experience, influence, and business change. If your subject sits outside those, another speaker will serve you better. She is also not an industry insider: if the session calls for a former bank regulator, a practicing clinician, or a plant engineer, book that person. And if your audience wants a technical session on model architecture or data engineering, an AI researcher is the better fit.
Best Fit Audiences
- Industry conferences where generic AI talks have fallen flat
- Association annual meetings with members from one sector
- Corporate leadership meetings with a specific theme and business goal
- Sales kickoffs and customer events that need examples from the audience’s own market
Audience Outcomes
- Examples and emphasis chosen for the audience’s industry
- A framework attendees can apply to their own organization
- A talk that reflects the event theme and the brief
- Takeaways practical enough to use the following week
Watch a Talk Built for One Industry
Unlocking AI-Powered Customer Experience
A 15-minute masterclass from Shama’s 2025 Health & Fitness Association keynote. Watch it to see how she presents her customer experience material to a single industry’s audience.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do keynote speakers provide custom content for specific industries?
Some do and some deliver the same talk everywhere, so ask. Shama Hyder tailors every talk to the audience. Her team holds a pre-event briefing on your attendees, their challenges, your theme, and the outcomes you want, and the examples and emphasis are chosen from there.
Which AI speaker customizes the talk to our industry?
Shama Hyder customizes each of her four keynotes to the audience’s industry. She has spoken for organizations in technology, financial services, manufacturing, retail, direct selling, healthcare, real estate, hospitality, and associations, including Microsoft, Chase, Toyota, Marriott, and MHEDA.
How much of the keynote changes for each audience?
The framework stays the same and the application changes. The examples, the emphasis, and the choice of keynote are set by the brief. Carol Ann Seney of Marriott described Shama as “streamlining her presentation to ensure it was appropriate for our audience.”
What does Shama need from us to tailor the talk?
The audience’s roles, the industry segment, the event theme, the decisions your organization is facing, and the outcome you want from the session. The keynote speaker briefing template on this site lists the details her team needs.
Will Shama build a new keynote on our own topic?
Shama tailors her four keynotes: Seven Signals, The New Rules of Influence, AI in Action, and The Customer Has Already Changed. If your topic falls outside AI, customer experience, influence, and business change, she is unlikely to be the right speaker.
Has Shama spoken to our industry before?
Her speaking clients span technology, education, retail, manufacturing, consumer goods, financial services, direct selling, healthcare, life sciences, real estate, associations, and women’s leadership events. Ask her team for the organizations closest to yours.
How do we start?
Share the event date, location, audience, and industry through the availability form. Shama’s team will confirm the date and set up the briefing.
Bring Shama Hyder to Your Stage
For conferences, leadership meetings, associations, and executive events where the audience needs more than inspiration. They need a decision framework they can use immediately.
Check Availability