"I found great resonance with your ideas." - Vint Cert, VP, Google

"Changing the world for the good never seemed more appealing possible." - Ed Asner, former President, Screen Actors Guild

"... one of the smartest, most creative, most relentlessly ethical speakers I've ever seen on the meetings industry stage. He knows his stuff. He's literally written the book on CSR... an irresistible motivator for action." - Mitchell Beer, President, Meeting Planners International

David Berman, FGDC, CGD, R.G.D. was recently named a high-level advisor to the United Nations in how design can be used to help fulfill the Millennium Development Goals. His recent book Do Good Design (Pearson/Peachpit 2009) is now available in 4 languages has extended his speaking journey to over 30 countries.

He is a thought leader who helps organizations get great things done, through the memorable motivation and techniques he provides for applying strategy, design thinking, ethics, creative branding and accessible sustainable communications to business problems.

As well as continuuing to serve as Ethics chair for Canada's professional design society, and a board member and sustainability chair for the international body for graphic design, Icograda, he has over 25 years of experience in design and strategic communications, including Web design, environmental graphics, airport signage systems, monument design, wayfinding design, and software interface development.

As an internationally-acclaimed expert speaker, facilitator, communications strategist, graphic designer, typographer and ethics chair, his thought-provoking speaking and professional development engagements have brought him to over 30 countries in the past few years.

He presents keynotes, workshops, seminars, and books that change attitudes. He also provides custom on-site training, consultation, and one-on-one coaching. David makes the complicated fun, understandable and memorable.

David has been called the "David Suzuki of design". Since 1984, David worked to establish a code of ethics which embraces social responsibility for designers throughout Canada. The Society of Graphic Designers of Canada ratified his draft nationally in May 2000, which has been adopted as an international model by Icograda, the world body for communication design.

David is a senior strategic consultant to many of Canada's largest Web sites. His clients include IBM, the International Space Station, the Canadian government, the World Bank, and the Aga Khan Foundation.

He served as the first elected president of the Association of Registered Graphic Designers of Ontario, North America's first accredited graphic design organization, from 1997 to 1999. He drafted the association's constitution and Rules of Professional Conduct and authored Ontario's accreditation examination section on ethics and professional responsibility. In 1999, the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada named him a Fellow (the second youngest to have achieved Canada's highest professional standing in this field) for his work on the Code of Ethics, accreditation and other national issues. In 2000, he was elected Vice-President Ethics of the Society, and has served as National Ethics Chair since 2002. Since 2005, he is also a Vice-President and Treasurer of Icograda, having been re-elected to a second term in October 2007, and a third term in 2009.

As early as high school, he created and produced a magazine which was distributed in four countries. While training at the University of Waterloo in computer science and at Carleton University in psychology and typography, he became deeply involved with the student press. David also worked in the federal government as a computer systems analyst before turning his passion into his career. Many consider his knowledge of typography and electronic publishing, which he has taught as part of college curricula, to be unmatched in Canada's national capital. David's revolutionary, practical systems that ensure strategic communications projects deliver on time, on budget, and on target have helped hundreds of organizations creatively apply themselves more effectively toward strategic outcomes.

Early in his career he developed a lasting interest in plain writing and information design, which has led to the design of and development of a paper for the Prime Minister's office on a system to republish the laws of Canada using plain writing and design. His work includes award-winning projects for the City of Ottawa, the Ontario government, and Canada's federal government. Notable assignments involving plain design, accessibility, custom typeface design, and knowledge management principles include work for IBM, Justice Canada, HRDC, Canada Revenue Agency, the Region of Ottawa-Carleton and Daniel Libeskind. He has also provided design, branding, and consulting work for Metropolitan Life, the Sierra Club, Statistics Canada, Treasury Board, and the Department of Canadian Heritage, including extensive work involving applying content management principles, accessibility and common look and feel guidelines to large government Web sites.

David has been actively involved in volunteer activities since his youth. In his professional career, he has for many years been a supporter of organizations such as Inter Pares and CISV. More recently David has been working on projects to assist with tiger conservation in Thailand.

David is dedicated to realizing the potential of communicators to help improve the human condition and the global environment. He helps local and international audiences align their professional and personal values, recognize their power and stewardship role, then challenges them to apply their skills to help repair the World: honestly sharing messages the World desperately needs to hear, rather than messages crafted to mislead.

David has juried many competitions internationally, including:

• DaimlerChrysler OpenAd Competition (International)
• ArabAd KREA Advertising Awards (Kuwait)
• Jury President, Magdalena Design Awards (Slovenia)
• Bubu Awards (Indonesia)
• Iron Designers 2009 (Australia)
• Alberta Oil and Gas Annual Report Awards (Canada)
• Do Good 50x70 Jury (Italy)
• Design For All Europe Accessibility Awards 2009 (Italy)
• Graphex (Canada)

David also is a member of the editorial board of Pool Magazine.

David's opinions have been featured in the Financial Post, Ottawa Citizen, Marketing, ArabAd, Applied Arts, DesignEdge, Item, Print magazine, the Vancouver Sun.

He holds secret security clearance with the Canadian government.

He is a National Professional Member of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers and the International Federation for Professional Speakers.

Popular Keynotes

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Web Sites:  Get the Web Results You Deserve

Over the past ten years, David Berman has developed systems that help non-technicians to get the strategic results they deserve through highly effective Web sites. He has coached and facilitated hundreds of managers, designers, and programmers, and his travels have brought him to a dozen countries. Along the way, he has discovered common properties in the sites that succeed and in the people who drive them. In this keynote lecture, David will share with you nuggets of uncommon sense: seven pivotal ideas that will help you get the outcomes you deserve from your Web presence.

"How Logo Can We Go?": Branding & Social Responsibility

"Over 95% of the designers who have ever lived are alive today. Together, we have the power to define what professionalism in the communications industry will be about: helping increase market share or helping repair the World." - David Berman

Are we aware of the influence we wield as professional communicators in the new economics of globalized branding and messaging? And once we are, where lies our responsibility, our opportunity, our ethics, our culpability, our balance?

In this powerfully-illustrated presentation, David demonstrates how global branding strategies are the most powerful tools used today to encourage over-consumption amongst growing Developing World populations, resulting in the largest long-term threat to global harmony and the environment. Communications professionals have more conspicuous power than they realize, and play a core role in helping some corporations mislead audiences in order to invent unfulfilled "needs" in larger and larger markets. In a World where design has become a recognized corporate asset, creative people have the opportunity to use their persuasive skills responsibly and to accelerate awareness of the messages the World really needs shared. Recent developments regarding professionalism and ethics offer hope. Designers and other professionals need to choose what their still-young professions will be about: creating visual lies to help sell stuff, or helping repair the World by bridging knowledge and understanding.

Greener Meetings, Greener Budgets: Professional Climate Change

In this upbeat presentation, David Berman demonstrates how meeting professionals can embrace the attitudes and techniques of hosting greener meetings, while saving money, saving resources, and sleeping better at night... as an example of how meeting professionals can courageously entrench a deeper commitment to social responsibility into their professionalism. Most want greener events, but don't know how to make them happen. David will inspire you to choose greener tactics for your next event that can save money, yet not increase effort. You don't have to do everything at once: he'll help show you where to start: adjusting to the climate change that is taking place in the meetings industry.

As professionals involved in the planning and hosting of meetings and conferences, we have the power to make better choices, serving as an example to all those whose lives we touch... while doing more with less. It's time to choose what professionalism in the meetings industry will be about: creating events that are part of the problem, or helping repair the World by bringing people and ideas together in harmony with a brighter future for both our industry and our civilization.

Most Requested Programs

Designing Your Life: "Not Another Time Management Seminar!"

Always running to catch up? Praying for green lights? In basket overflowing? Feeling out of control? Staying late? Too much to do? Not enough time for family, for friends, for yourself? Interruptions throwing you off track? Having less fun? Feeling too overwhelmed to be creative or focus on your larger goals? Choose to take control of the madness. We've all heard about time and priority management seminars ... find the time for something different.

Managing time and balancing priorities is a top concern for professionals because we often work with short-term deadlines that demand innovation under stress. It's challenging to stay creative when your focus is fractured and the clock is ticking. Harder still is to make progress on larger, less urgent goals at the same time. We don't lack time: we lack front-end clarity. We don't need to manage time: we need to manage information and assign priorities. Only when we know where it is we want to go, can we figure out how to get there as fast as possible. Take the first step toward designing your life: take this seminar and learn how David gets so much done

Successful Management of Web Projects:  Great Sites, On Time and On Budget!

This seminar teaches essential principles for delivering effective Web and new media projects on time and on budget! Learn a proven system for planning and managing Web sites, including immediately applicable information that will make you think, then do. David Berman's process addresses project management issues specific to the Web, resulting in quality control, quality assurance, and timely delivery for Web and new media projects. You will become more valuable to your organization by equipping yourself with a step-by-step process which will reduce risk and stress, anticipate hurdles, and increase your chances of making your Web project a success by building quality in at every step.

Developing Your Web Strategy: "The 10 Ingredients to Starting Successful Sites"

Learn the successful and straightforward methodology that has helped hundreds of organizations utilize the Web to not just get results, but get the results that help fulfill their missions. Participants get to work through a case study (two-day version only), gaining hands-on experience as they learn the principles of applying strategic techniques in marrying Web implementation to organizational objectives). Attend this seminar to learn a step-by-step system that will apply a strategic approach to planning your Web presence, whether crafting it for the first time or elevating existing sites to higher effectiveness. David's celebrated approach addresses strategic issues specific to the Internet, and builds buy-in from everyone on the way, resulting in solutions that don't just work right: they get the right things done.

You will become more valuable to your organization by equipping yourself with a paradigm that identifies the Web as a strategic tool. The result will reduce organizational risk and personal stress, avoid hurdles and optimize measurable results. With a strong strategic framework, you'll get the results you are looking for.

Web Accessibility and CLF 2.0: Easy Steps For Including Your Entire Audience

Demystify accessibility standards! Most adults suffer from some level of disability or difficulty that can be mitigated through accessible Web site design. By using the immediately-applicable tips and techniques you'll learn in this powerful one-day Web accessibility seminar, not only will you comply with standards: you'll be broadening the audience for your Web site while enriching the experience of all your visitors.

David Berman will convince you of why accessibility and standards are important for everybody, then provide in-depth familiarity with federal and international guidelines that will help your Web presence be a more effective resource for your entire audience. You'll also gain familiarity with technologies that help people with specific disabilities and difficulties. The full-day seminar includes a thorough review of pertinent standards to comply with the Canadian government's world-leading Common Look and Feel 2.0 policy and international W3C guidelines, as well as testing recommendations for both. Finally, you'll venture into where accessibility meets usability. Not only will you leave with ideas you can use right away, you may also gain a whole new attitude towards how technology can improve lives. By the end of the day you willnot only be aware of why accessibility and standards affect everyone: you'll be equipped with a thorough understanding of what needs to be done and how.

Principles of Graphic Design and Electronic Publishing: "Communicating Effectively On All Channels"

"Excellent design, consistently implemented, sends messages on two levels: overtly, it communicates the content; covertly, it communicates confidence."

In this seminar David Berman helps you explore the qualities of excellent visual design and how they can be realized through the variety of technologies we use to publish today. You will have the opportunity to take full advantage of the experience and knowledge of over twenty years marrying great cognitive design principles with electronic publishing technologies.

Real-Time Ethics: Prospering Through Principles in Your Professional Life

Can I be socially responsible and still earn a living? Can I work in my industry and still be true to my ethics? Can I say no to a assignment I don't believe in without losing a job? Yes, yes, and yes!

The true measure of our commitment to ethics as professionals is not in lofty ideals, but in the choices we make every day in our work. The good news is that these dilemmas have answers: choices that aren't just good for your principles, but are also good for your customers... and your career. Attend this event if you are challenged with the kind of tough situations professionals are confronted with day-to-day. Learn refreshing approaches, in a forum that is fun and thought-provoking, to a professionalism that will have you sleeping well every night.

Some of the clients and locations David has provided keynotes, workshops, custom training and seminars:

ACI Manitoba

Algonquin College

ARC The Hotel

Association for Manitoba Archivists

Brookstreet Hotel

Caldas University (Colombia)

Canadian Association of Professional Speakers

Canadian Museum of Nature

Canada Revenue Agency

Carleton University

Central Academy of Fine Arts (China)

CapCHI (Computer-Human Interaction)

Concordia University

Daegu Conference Center (Korea)

Federal University of Pernambuco (Brazil)

Forum of Federations

Go Training

Havana Conference Center (Cuba)

Health Canada

Hong Kong Design Centre (Hong Kong)

House of Commons

Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts (Hungary)

Icograda

Indigo Hotel

Industry Canada

International Advertising Association (Bahrain)

International Centre for Creative Innovation and Sustainability (Denmark)

Internet Institute

Lebanese American University (Lebanon)

London College of Printing (United Kingdom)

Magdalena Festival (Slovenia)

Manitoba Public Insurance

Meeting Planners International

Multiset Users Group

National Research Council

National University at Pernambuco (Brazil)

Nortel Networks

Ottawa Senators Hockey Club

Performance Management Consultants

PPAC

Promotional Products Association International

Public Service Commission of Canada

Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada

Québec City Tourism

Society of Graphic Designers of Canada

Statistics Canada

Tasmeem Doha

Union for Democratic Communications

Virginia Commonwealth University (Qatar)

Virginia Commonwealth University (United States)

Yarmouk University (Jordan)

What Clients Say:

"David is an exceptional facilitator and extremely knowledgeable in the field."
- Jane Hawksworth, Royal Roads University, Victoria (Canada)

"...perhaps the most compelling of all the presentations [at the Czech Republic international ICOGRADA conference] came from Canada's own David Berman."
- Sara Curtis, Editor, Applied Arts Magazine, Toronto (Canada)

"It is always good to be reminded about good behaviour."
- Nete Oensholt, Lego Corporation, Copenhagen (Denmark)

"We were left enlightened by his information, ideas, and projects ... we hope to invite Mr. Berman for another visit in the coming year."
- Matt Woolman, Acting Chair, Virginia Commonwealth University (USA)

"Due to his profound knowledge on the subject, his positive thinking, his humour and especially his readiness to question his own statements...pure inspiration! Thank you."
- Selma Prodanovic, Brainswork, Vienna (Austria)

"Excellent event. David is spot on."
 - Sheikha Haya Al Khalifa, Manama (Bahrain)

"You have a unique gift for teaching."
 - Parvin Kolahdooz, NRC Internet Services, Ottawa (Canada)