Speaking & Storytelling Advisor to Business Leaders

teaching Audiences how to differentiate easier and resonate deeper

“Multiple attendees came running up to me and said, ‘That was the best keynote I’ve ever seen!’”

—Mary Jo, Events Director (booked Jay multiple times, including to open their prestigious 10-year anniversary)

For more than a decade, in-person and online, Jay Acunzo has helped attendees and organizations compete on the influence of their ideas, not the volume of their marketing.

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Looking for Jay’s materials for the big day?

Bios, headshots, and other assets for your event.

 
 
 
 

“I was literally saying to our event manager:

“we hit it out of the ballpark with this guy!”

—Veronica Martinez, Events & Partner Marketing Specialist

 
 
 

Select Upcoming Talks

Jay speaks across sectors, both publicly and privately, customizing his talks to his clients' needs. A few recent engagements include:

June 18 - Growth In Reverse PRO (virtual)
July 11-2 - BookThinkers LIVE (Boston, MA)
October 1 - The Content Summit (Odense, Denmark)
November 2-4 - B2B Forum (Boston, MA)
November 20 - Video Marketing Success (virtual)

 
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Jay’s Storytelling from the stage:

 

“Our entire company needs to hear this”

Through timely thinking, customized speeches, and irresistible stage presence, Jay gets Rave Reviews from event organizers and attendees

 

“Jay was every meeting planner’s dream come true.”

“Attendees and my leadership team kept commenting over and over on how meaningful and memorable his session was. I very much appreciated how customized his session was to our very diverse audience. We loved him so much, we’re already booking him for another event!”

— Haley Sevalstad, on behalf of her global brand client

 
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“I mean, if we’re all crying in the first keynote, I am going to say B2BSMX is a success.”

- Annette Falvo, National Account Director, Demand Gen Report

 
 


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“An original thinker and dynamic presenter, Jay is becoming one of the "must-see" speakers at any marketing and communication event.”

—Joe Pulizzi, bestselling author and creator of two industry-leading events (Content Marketing World and Content Entrepreneur Expo)

 
 
 
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“The first thing I heard at the conclusion of Jay’s presentation was that attendees were looking at things from a different perspective. He really knocked it out of the park. He connects to the audience in a real way, making it a conversation, not a speech. You feel involved and drawn into his stories.”

—Jacquie Francisco, Managing Partner, The Brand Establishment

 
 
 
 


[ Popular Speech topics ]

Jay customizes every speech to ensure maximum impact for your audience.



Jay’s most-booked keynote:

Be Their Favorite:

How to Stand Out and Become the Buyer’s Pick, Without the Exhausting Race for Attention

We keep hearing about “the sea of sameness,” but being different isn’t actually the goal. You can be incredibly different in ways that still repel buyers. If you want them to pick you, stick with you, and refer you despite the noise, you have to master something else: resonance.

Resonance makes you their favorite. Resonance sparks action. Resonance drives revenue. But in our race for reach, the ideas that once set us apart have been commodified, and the harder we push them, the less effective we become.

In this empowering talk, Jay Acunzo will show you how to stand out easier by resonating deeper. You’ll learn the Idea Impact Matrix, a framework for increasing the impact of any idea. You’ll stop filling feeds and use Content Arcs that build momentum, and you’ll walk away ready to compete on the influence of your marketing, not the volume.

Remember, when people make choices, they play favorites. Are you one of them?

In this session, Attendees learn:

  1. How to use the Idea Impact Matrix to increase your influence.

  2. The 1 missing ingredient in our marketing to spark action.

  3. A method to message and own an idea buyers remember and repeat as the reason you were their first and only choice.

 



The Last Great Advantage

Mastering Public speaking, humanity’s Biggest Differentiator in the A.I. Era

In the AI era, there is one skill that remains defensible, irreplaceable, and more important than before. It increases your value everywhere and ensures others want to align with you and take action because of you: public speaking.

No ChatGPT prompt can replace it. No Claude terminal is taking the stage at their event. Gemini isn’t speaking to boards, teams, prospects, or partners.

This is the last—and biggest—competitive edge in growing our businesses, our careers, and our causes.

In this practical, engaging session, Jay will show attendees how to make public speaking their superpower. He will dissect real examples from standout speakers, extract their frameworks, and give attendees tools to immediately apply. They'll leave with concrete techniques that work—and the confidence to make your next talk your best one yet.

Because in a world where AI can do pretty much everything, the one thing it can't do is stand in front of another person or group and deliver with the presence, conviction, and human connection that turns ideas into action. This is the last great advantage.

In this session, Attendees learn:

  1. A repeatable structure to develop presentations with less stress and greater impact.

  2. The 3 missing elements from most talks, and how to wield them

  3. How to ensure people lean in, take notes, and take action when you speak

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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“Jay Acunzo is relevant, thought-provoking, and entertaining. While Jay is a sought after speaker with a big resume of experience, he is also approachable and eager to tailor his presentations to the audience’s needs. He provides realistic and actionable takeaways that all levels of professionals want to implement.”

—Julie Huval, Head of Marketing, Beck Technology

 
 
 
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“As a speaker, Jay has an incredible ability to relate to the audience and perform with impeccable polish. He is a seasoned speaker, and it shows. As a host, I was particularly gratified with the reaction from the attendees, who stayed well past the end of the event to speak to him and have been contacting me personally to thank me.”

—Devin Bramhall, B2B community leader + agency CEO

 

 

 
 
 
 

Meet JaY

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For a bio meant to be read out loud to announce Jay to the stage, see these resources for event organizers.

Jay Acunzo helps business leaders become stronger speakers and storytellers, so they can differentiate and resonate.

After working in media and marketing roles at brands like Google and HubSpot, Jay wrote the book Break the Wheel and began touring globally as a keynote speaker. Brands like Mailchimp, Salesforce, Wistia, and GoDaddy, plus dozens of individual authors, founders, execs, and creators trust Jay to develop their stories, speeches, and thought leadership.

Jay lives in the Boston area with his family as a proud Yankees and Knicks fan (yes, enemy territory). In the 60 seconds per week he’s not creating stuff for work or making his kids laugh, he likes to shoot hoops, sip nice bourbons, cook with his wife, and daydream about telling stories like his storytelling hero, Anthony Bourdain.

🏅 “A marketing newsletter you need to subscribe to.” (Forbes)

🏅 One of Boston’s “50 On Fire” (American City Business Journals)

🏅 “One of 15 must-hear marketing podcasters” (LinkedIn Editors)

🏅 “One of the 50 most influential B2B voices.” (TopRank Influencer Marketing)

Watch an interview with Jay on differentiation, Modern Marketing, storytelling, and how to resonate in a noisy world

 
Book Jay for your next event