Speaking

Kevan Gilbert is a public speaker and available for events you might be organizing.

More About Kevan

Kevan Gilbert is a human-centered designer, writer, and facilitator with over two decades of experience guiding organizations through change. He is passionate about helping teams collaborate more effectively and unlock their creative potential.

Kevan's career began in Vancouver, where he earned a Communications degree and accidentally fell into leading digital change at Union Gospel Mission. He later moved into project management and content strategy at Domain7, a digital transformation agency. It was there that he discovered his passion for facilitation and began leading collaborative design workshops for clients around the world, including the World Bank and Imperial College London.

Recognizing the importance of co-creation, Kevan founded Co.school to help teach and facilitate the skills of collaboration. Through Co.school, he has inspired change at organizations such as the Vancouver Foundation, Alberta Children's Hospital Foundation, and Vancity Credit Union.

Kevan is a gifted storyteller and communicator who brings warmth, humor, and accessibility to his presentations. He is known for his ability to engage audiences and make complex topics easy to understand.

Kevan is also a strong advocate for neurodiversity and supporting families with diverse needs. He is raising four children with support needs, including autism and ADHD, and embraces his own adult ADHD diagnosis.

Kevan speaks on these types of topics:

  • Facilitation and co-creation: What it takes to collaborate and make things together
  • Creativity and innovation: Frameworks for finding new ideas
  • Systems thinking and change leadership: How to lead through complexity
  • Storytelling and communication: Effective communication and story-building
  • Digital transformation and technology disruption: The empathetic side of building through technology disruption

Testimonials

“Kevan brings real curiosity, genuine enthusiasm, and thoughtful insights to any project or event. Most recently, he graciously presented the keynote address at a conference I was chairing for publication professionals for CASE. He inspired the audience to reexamine how they can create meaningful work with a creative vision that is inclusive and respectful. We left with a renewed drive to cultivate true collaboration and creative partnerships across our workspaces and personal lives. Kevan is a true gem, and it is always an honor to get a chance to have him on board.” - Beth Elzer, CASE conference organizer

“As one of the organizers of the Vancouver UX Awards, I've engaged Kevan twice as an MC, sponsor, and facilitator of our annual Demo Day event. He's been absolutely fantastic to collaborate with! He's great in front of a full room (150+ people), always prepared, is comfortable with unscripted moments, and adds humour and seriousness in the right doses. Everyone loves the energy he brings to this event, and his point of view about raising the bar on collaboration and community. Thanks Kevan!!” - Mallory O'Connor, organizer

"I'm happy to report that, to this day, I still get comments about Kevan's session: story, education, humour.But it wasn't only the conference itself that made Kevan such a star. It was all the collaboration work we did with him in the lead-up to the conference that made him really shine. His collaborative style made him a pleasure to work with. And that is a sign of true leadership." - Patrick Lannigan, marketing veteran

“Kevan is a visionary healer for a disconnected world. High energy, zany playfulness, and wicked intelligence make him magnetic on stage as a speaker and improv maniac.”
- Kate Sutherland, Founding Faculty, THNK School of Creative Leadership

“Kevan has an innate understanding of performance, humor, timing, and crowds – a force that needs to be unleashed and shared with others. His inner child shines through, making my inner child want to come out and play.”- Nancy Pon, Global sport and entertainment manager

Your wording, awareness and approach was so open, safe and inclusive. I appreciated that you kept the focus on continually bringing forward the voices that were shared and not feeling the need to add or teach. It was remarkable and rare. - Session participant

“You left us open hearted, open minded, and inspired to lead a positive change whether it’s a big or a small one. I have yet to see this level of engagement from our staff before which is all thanks to your masterful facilitation of this conversation.” - Canadian Dept of Heritage, participant

Past presentations

  • BC Disability Summit - Vancouver, BC (2024): Working together across differences
  • Impossible Conference - Vancouver, BC (2023): Keynote: A Call to Co-Creation 
  • MCC -  Virtual (2023): Creativity for Everyperson: Communicating ideas effectively 
  • Ubisoft Global Producer’s Summit - France (2022): Leading innovation processes 
  • GovX UK - London, UK  (2021): Co-Designing Public Services with Citizens
  • IAP2 Conference - Virtual (2021): Practicing Inclusive Engagement
  • Canadian Department of Heritage  - Virtual (2021): A Call to Co-Creation
  • BC Innovation Hub - Virtual (2020): A Call to Co-Creation
  • Cascad.AI - Seattle, WA (2019): Responsible and ethical adoption of AI (Moderator) 
  • SXSWedu - Austin Texas (2018): The Changemaker’s Challenge 
  • FutureEdTech - London, UK (2019): The Collaborative Leadership Imperative
  • CASE Conference -  Atlanta, GA (2019): Keynote: The Creative’s Curse (And how to break it)
  • Royal Roads University - Victoria, BC (2019) -  Empathy and digital technology
  • First West Credit Union Leadership Summit - Whistler, BC (2019): Design thinking seminar 
  • Government of Canada's Pacific Innovation Fair - Vancouver, BC (2019) - Leading change
  • Vancouver UX Awards - Vancouver, BC (2017, 2018, 2019) - Host and Opening Keynote 
  • Design Thinking Day - Vancouver, BC - (2016, 2017, 2019) - Lead facilitator 
  • ContentEd Live - London, UK (2018): Keynote: Collaboration in complex systems
  • MacKay CEO Forums - Vancouver, BC (2018): The Listening Organization
  • Central1 Momentum Conference - Vancouver, BC (2017) - Empathy & design in virtual reality 
  • eduWeb Digital Summit - Denver, CO (2016): Stakeholders Are Not The Problem
  • HighEdWeb West - Riverside, CA (2016): Stakeholders Are Not the Problem 
  • SIT Interchange - Toronto, ON (2016): Keynote and collaborative session on design thinking 
  • BCAMA Vision - Vancouver, BC (2016): Hands-on prototyping for marketers
  • Disney Interactive - Kelowna, BC (2015): Empathy and storytelling for digital experiences 
  • Now What? Web Conference - Sioux Falls, SD (2015): Creating a healthy digital culture
  • Kwantlen Polytechnic University - Vancouver, BC (2014): Empathy and storytelling
  • Simon Fraser University - Vancouver, BC (2013): Ethics and empathy in marketing
  • BCIT - Vancouver, BC (2013):  Crafting human-centered digital content
  • UBC Continuing Studies - Vancouver, BC (2013): Digital Storytelling Class instructor 
  • TedX TWU - Langley, BC (2012): Vulnerability and empathy in storytelling

Available talks to view online

Creating a Healthy Digital Culture: How empathy can transform our organizations
Talk on using digital/content strategy/product development for culture change, at the NowWhat? conference 2015 Presented at the Now What Conference in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, April 2015. Deane Barker of Blend Interactive is a low-key legend in the space of CMS strategy. He himself wrote the book on
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Co-Designing Public Services with Citizens
In 2021, I had the privilege to present at GovX Digital in the UK (now under the banner of Government Transformation Magazine.) My contribution was in the topic area of How to Build a Better Citizen Experience. Along the way, one of the other contributions was this podcast dialogue with
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A Call to Co-Creation (Virtual version)
Presented in 2021 This 20-minute, virtual version of “A Call to Creation” was shared with an international audience of participants in the Masters of Leadership program with TWU.
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