US$10,000Per keynote, plus travel
David Thomason Stage
The keynotes, the briefings, and what it’s like to bring thirty years inside Asia to your audience.
Trusted by Boards, Chambers and Governments
- Chartwell Speakers
- London Speaker Bureau
- Speakers Associates
- Ovations
David Isn’t a Futurist or a China Expert. He Works There
There are two common types of Asia speaker: the one who predicts the future, and the one whose China knowledge is out of date. David is neither. He lives and works in the region right now, so your audience gets the real story from someone who’s actually in it. That’s why he’s being booked by Beijing lawyers and UAE government leaders, not just conference organisers.
The Talks
The Topic Architecture
Everything David speaks about sits under one idea he calls WEYO, the belief that the biggest opportunities open up when West and East, young and old, work together. These talks are how that idea reaches your audience: WEYO is the why. The North-South Corridor is the where. The Nine Bend Bridge is the how. Three Cups of Tea is how trust gets built.
Three Cups of Tea
The rules of doing business in Asia. Trust comes first, always, and it’s built in a set order: stranger, then friend, then family, and only then business. David shows your audience why deals stall when you skip the sequence, and how relationships actually get built in the region.
The Nine Bend Bridge
Getting into Asian markets is never a straight line. Using an old Shanghai bridge as his model, David walks your audience through the bends every deal takes, and why each one should pay off along the way, not just at the finish.
The Geopolitics of AI
David’s most current talk, updated every booking cycle to track whatever’s dominating the news right now. For audiences who want a fresh, of-the-moment read on how AI is reshaping power and business, not a deck written two years ago and never touched since.
Beyond the Keynote
Not Every Room Needs a Stage
When a keynote isn’t the right fit, David works with teams in other ways:
Board & Executive Briefings
A closed-door session for boards and leadership teams. Instead of a general talk, David builds it around the specific decision you’re facing in the region, so you leave with a clear read on the call in front of you.
Crisis & Disruption Workshops
When the old approach stops working overnight, a supply-chain shock, a sudden regulatory change, a market behaving in ways your strategy didn’t expect, David runs a live, hands-on session to work through it with your team in the room.
Market Immersion, On the Ground
For leaders who want more than a briefing. David takes you into the region itself, a guided, in-market experience led by someone who’s done business there for thirty years, not a tour guide with an itinerary.
The Corridor Briefing
A focused, live session that walks a board or delegation through where Asia is really headed and what it means for your specific industry. Booked and delivered as its own session, start to finish.
Free Executive Resources
Two Frameworks
The models behind David’s keynotes, written down so your team can put them to work.
Three Cups of Tea
The Rules of Asian Business
How trust is actually built in Asia, and why deals stall when you skip a step.
- The Stranger, Friend, Family sequence, step by step
- Where Western teams move too fast, and how to pace the relationship
- Drawn from three decades of deals across the region
The Nine Bend Bridge
The Corridor Edition
A route from first meeting to signed deal, with a reward at every step.
- Every bend of the process, mapped in full
- How to win something real before the deal closes
- Built from live deals across the Corridor
In Their Words
From the committees, boards, and bureaus who’ve put David in front of their audiences.
“David Thomas is one of those rare individuals who bridges worlds, geographic, cultural, and commercial. His insights into Asia and the opportunities it presents are timely, practical, and deeply informed by lived experience.”
“David is a highly informed Asia specialist. His presentation had a very sound conceptual base, to which he built very pragmatic examples of where we need to focus in the coming years. His candour and up-to-date comments really added value.”
“Possibly no-one he doesn’t know across the Asia Pacific. Trust, reputation, integrity, that is what David is recognised for.”
Recent Enquiries
The Market Is Moving Now
Neither buyer was a corporate event organiser in the narrow sense. This is the calibre of room already choosing this read.
Both landed in the last month, unprompted.
300 senior lawyers, Beijing
“China, ASEAN and the World in a Time of Strategic Rebalancing.”
Government and business leaders, UAE
“The future of global energy security, supply chain resilience, and the security of strategic waterways.”
The Price and the Process
A keynote is US$10,000, plus travel.
Everything You Need to Recommend David
Everything a committee, EA, or bureau needs to put David forward internally: his bio, photography, video reel, and the full topic list, in one place.
Prefer to book through a bureau you already work with? David is represented by Chartwell Speakers, London Speaker Bureau, Speakers Associates, and Ovations.
Book David Thomas
Bring the Insider’s Read to Your Stage
Give your audience thirty years on the ground experience in Asia, first-hand, current, and impossible to get anywhere else.
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