Gerrie Smits
Gerrie is a seasoned professional with 25 years of experience in industries disrupted by the internet.
Why you should book Gerrie Smits for your next event
- Gerrie has a wealth of experience dealing with digital disruption in a variety of industries, making him an ideal speaker for events focused on innovation, technology, and digital transformation.
- Gerrie is an engaging and inspiring speaker who can simplify complex concepts and ideas, making them accessible to audiences of all levels of technical knowledge.
- Gerrie is a versatile speaker who can tailor his talks and workshops to suit the specific needs and interests of his clients, ensuring that they get the most value from their investment in his services.
Gerrie is a versatile professional with a background in music, television, and civil service. He has over 25 years of experience in industries that have been disrupted by the internet and is an expert in dealing with the impact of digital disruption.
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Keynotes
Keynote by Gerrie Smits: Metaverse: immerse or curse?
If a giant like Facebook/Meta decides to pivot and embrace a tech trend, it's worth paying attention. But what is 'the Metaverse' and what does it mean for your business?
In this talk we'll unpack the tech, the hype and the potential impact.
What is the Metaverse? Is it more than some gaming?
What's the fuzz about? Why are people paying more for a virtual handbag than for the real deal? Why did 33 million people watch a Lil Nas X 'concert' on Roblox?
What are businesses like Nike and BMW and doing with it? What about advertising? What about digital real estate?
What about my industry? What can and should your business do?
How is it related to NFTs and Web3?
Keynote by Gerrie Smits: The future of finance
You’re correct. Bitcoin won’t ruffle finance’s feathers.
But there’s a lot more to blockchain and web3 than bitcoin. And chances are that this *will* ruffle finance’s feathers.
In this talk, we explore the wonderful WTF world of Decentralised Finance. What are the building blocks? What are stable coins?
What if you could use digital assets as collateral?
How will programmable money affect the future of payments and financial agreements?
These things are both real and futuristic. Together we’ll explore the potential impact of web3 on the world of finance. Can you safely ignore this or should you start exploring?
But there’s a lot more to blockchain and web3 than bitcoin. And chances are that this *will* ruffle finance’s feathers.
In this talk, we explore the wonderful WTF world of Decentralised Finance. What are the building blocks? What are stable coins?
What if you could use digital assets as collateral?
How will programmable money affect the future of payments and financial agreements?
These things are both real and futuristic. Together we’ll explore the potential impact of web3 on the world of finance. Can you safely ignore this or should you start exploring?
Keynote by Gerrie Smits: Customer Centricity is rubbish. Long live Customer Centricity
There’s more to Customer Centricity than your customer:
In times of hyper-fast tech developments, digital transformation and permachange, there is one solid, constant element: the customers. Also known as: people. And it’s the companies that truly understand their customers that will outlive any tech hype or (terrible word alert) disruption. Did you know that Amazon’s first principle of innovation is ‘relentless focus on the customer’?
This talk will show you that the key thing to being successful in these challenging times is putting the customer central. But customer centricity is not defining a socio-demographic target audience but truly understanding the needs of the people you work for. So we'll burst a few bubbles, offer a few tools and crack a few laughs while we’re there.
In times of hyper-fast tech developments, digital transformation and permachange, there is one solid, constant element: the customers. Also known as: people. And it’s the companies that truly understand their customers that will outlive any tech hype or (terrible word alert) disruption. Did you know that Amazon’s first principle of innovation is ‘relentless focus on the customer’?
This talk will show you that the key thing to being successful in these challenging times is putting the customer central. But customer centricity is not defining a socio-demographic target audience but truly understanding the needs of the people you work for. So we'll burst a few bubbles, offer a few tools and crack a few laughs while we’re there.
Keynote by Gerrie Smits: Is Web3 a fad or is it fundamental?
Forget NFTs and crypto. Web3 is more than JPEGs on a blockchain. But why are people so excited about this 'new internet’?
Since he wrote a book about blockchain in 2017 and got known for doing on-stage blockchain role-plays with an orange, Gerrie has been intrigued about the potential of this technology. Sure, it gave us crypto and NFTs. But the real fundamental impact of Web3 lies a lot deeper.
In this talk Gerrie will unravel the building blocks of Web3 and give an idea of how it can impact the way we do business together, how it can trigger data/AI ecosystems and how it can contribute to fair value creation. But as with any hype, how realistic is it?
Since he wrote a book about blockchain in 2017 and got known for doing on-stage blockchain role-plays with an orange, Gerrie has been intrigued about the potential of this technology. Sure, it gave us crypto and NFTs. But the real fundamental impact of Web3 lies a lot deeper.
In this talk Gerrie will unravel the building blocks of Web3 and give an idea of how it can impact the way we do business together, how it can trigger data/AI ecosystems and how it can contribute to fair value creation. But as with any hype, how realistic is it?
Keynote by Gerrie Smits: The Customer of The Now-Future
In this talk, Gerrie shows you how to understand consumer-centric trends to use them in your own context. Don’t pre-dict, but start pre-pare for the now-future.
Trying to predict the future is pretty pointless, really.
Instead, it's much more useful if we unravel current trends and map its potential impact on the customer.
Sure, the customer of the Now-Future is tech-enabled, but what is the effect this has? Hyper-personalisation, Digitally Connected,… What is happening now that we can extrapolate into the future?
Also, the customer of the Now-Future will still be a human (in most cases). So how do we use available tools to better understand deeper emotional and social needs? What if wearables can capture our emotions?
And thirdly, customers of the Now-Future will be more aware. It is very likely that people will have different expectations from organizations, brands and CEOs when it comes to transparency, privacy, digital detox and societal impact.
Gerrie Smits
Unlocking the power of digital disruption with Gerrie
Clients have called Gerrie accessible, enthusiastic and able to bring complex things in a simple way. He can live with that. He loves challenging the status quo, but is also experienced (read: old) enough to understand the value of common sense.
Gerrie has got 25 years of experience in industries that got disrupted by the internet, which makes him a hands-on expert in dealing with the impact of 'digital'. Through his talks and workshops he's inspired and helped a variety of clients, ranging from FMCG corporates to AI start-ups, from government agencies to the World Chambers Congress.
While he's in top of digital trends, the words he uses (too) often are 'user', 'why' and 'alignment'. A few years ago, he was so intrigued by blockchain, that he wrote a book about it ('Blockchain is WTF').
Before he fell in love with digital, he wrote about music, made television, founded 2 companies during his 15 years in London and was a civil servant. #generalist
Gerrie has got 25 years of experience in industries that got disrupted by the internet, which makes him a hands-on expert in dealing with the impact of 'digital'. Through his talks and workshops he's inspired and helped a variety of clients, ranging from FMCG corporates to AI start-ups, from government agencies to the World Chambers Congress.
While he's in top of digital trends, the words he uses (too) often are 'user', 'why' and 'alignment'. A few years ago, he was so intrigued by blockchain, that he wrote a book about it ('Blockchain is WTF').
Before he fell in love with digital, he wrote about music, made television, founded 2 companies during his 15 years in London and was a civil servant. #generalist
