Caspar Berry Profile Picture

Keynote SpeakerCaspar Berry

Specialist in the subjects of risk, decision making, innovation and leadership

Caspar started his working life at the age of 16 as an actor in the first two series of UK BBC drama Byker Grove with “Ant and Dec”. They went on to become two of the most famous people in the UK and Caspar went on to study economics at... Read more

Biography

Caspar started his working life at the age of 16 as an actor in the first two series of UK BBC drama Byker Grove with “Ant and Dec”. They went on to become two of the most famous people in the UK and Caspar went on to study economics at Cambridge where he had early commercial success directing award-winning short films and TV commercials from the age of 18. He went on to write two feature films which were produced by Film Four and Columbia Tri Star before he graduated. He did not get a very good degree.

He went on to write and direct in the film and television industry for much of the next four years before deciding that he was heading towards the age of 30 without having lived much of life outside of that crazy and unreal world. So aged 26, he decided to take a risk and move to Las Vegas with his life savings in his pocket.

Playing poker was disciplining, testing and demanding but also incredibly emotionally rewarding as he conquered the challenges it posed and made a living as a professional poker player at the tables of Las Vegas.

After three years, however, he decided that his future lay away from the poker table and he returned to the UK and set up Twenty First Century Media which he built to a team of 40 before selling to Bob Geldof’s Ten Alps plc.

At around this time, in 2005, the poker boom happened, and Caspar had already started speaking professionally so he moved to London to create a portfolio career as a trainer for the Mind Gym by day (delivering over 400 sessions to 100 companies) and a TV poker commentator by night (doing over 2000 hours of live broadcasting on poker channels and Sky Sports).In 2006 he was asked to be one of the two poker advisors on the James Bond movie “Casino Royale”, tasked with training the actors up to look like professional poker players for the key scenes.

In the last 21 years Caspar has delivered nearly 3,000 speeches and training sessions in more than 30 countries for nearly 500 organisations including Google, Visa, IBM, McDonalds, Coca Cola, Microsoft and the BBC.

"Brilliant, intelligent messages delivered with passion and knowledge. The best talk from an outside speaker I have ever seen." Jonathan Walsh, Corporate Marketing and Communication Director, Nestle
"Caspar's presentation stimulated a great deal of very productive discussion about all our attitudes to risk taking and really helped crystallise some of the critical decisions we need to make across the business. It helped us understand each other as individuals and will be talked about and referenced for a long time to come. We would highly recommend it to any executive team in business." Darren Blackhurst, Chief Merchandising Officer, ASDA Walmart
"Caspar is an inspirational speaker but does it with content and delivery that captures the imagination and challenges the audience to really think in a different way. His delivery is interactive, entertaining and very thought provoking and is fantastic for delivering a great session with a difference." Sian Doyle, Director of Retail, EE
“I thought the session was excellent.” Karl Trumper, Sales and Service Director, Barclays Bank plc
"Hearing Caspar speak is an illuminating experience for any individual or team who have achieved success but want to gain that little extra "edge". He offers great insight into the psychology of really successful people and I would unhesitatingly recommend him for any event." Lawrence Dallaglio, Rugby World Cup Winner
"A really fun and relevant afternoon which looks at business in a very different way. Caspar, your session was fantastic and the highlight of the day. Well done. The PayPal team is still talking about it." Geoff Iddison, CEO, PayPal

Popular Talks by Caspar Berry

  • Risk-taking and decision-making

    Using the metaphor of poker to explain how to make better decisions and embrace risk in order to achieve long-term goals.

  • Uncertainty and VUCA

    Providing tools to overcome the challenges of volatile, unpredictable, complex and ambiguous circumstances.

  • Leadership, culture and change

    Helping leaders and teams rewire culture to embrace risk, drive innovation, and adapt to change.

  • Courage, resilience and mindset

    Inspiring audiences to push past risk-aversion, build resilience, and persist when the going gets tough.

  • Intuition, psychology and behavioural biases

    Exploring how emotions, intuition, and subconscious biases influence decision-making.

  • Truth and lies

    A keynote on honesty and deception in business and life, built around the metaphor of bluffing in poker.

  • Poker team-building