Speaking Events
For speaking inquiries, please contact Tom Neilssen at BrightSight Speakers and/or reach out to Maggie for a free consult.
Book Clubs, Maggie will be happy to make an appearance!
Select Upcoming Events
Festival du Làc
Les Merveilles d'Incertitude (The Wonders of Uncertainty)
June 8th - 9th, 2024
9:30 am - 6:30 pm
Vesenaz, Switzerland
Maggie Jackson will appear at one of Switzerland’s most renowned literary festivals to speak about her acclaimed new book, Uncertain. The only Anglophone author to be featured at the Festival du LÀC in Geneva, Jackson will speak on the event’s opening day, Saturday June 8, from 12:15 - 1 p.m. She also will be available to sign books throughout the weekend-long event, which attracts thousands of avid readers, writers, and publishers. Now in its third year, the Festival will feature 100 noted authors, including novelist Jean-Baptiste Andrea, the 2023 winner of the Prix Goncourt, France’s most prestigious literary award. Biographer Pierre Assouline will preside over the festival and novelist Metin Arditi is the guest of honor.
Free and open to all. Learn more here.
Featured Speaker at National Cancer Institute “Innovation Lab”
July 16th, 2024
12:00 pm
Virtual
Maggie presents a brief invited “Provocation” on uncertainty’s unexpected wisdom at an Innovation Lab hosted by the National Cancer Institute, the federal government's principal agency for cancer research and training. The event will explore new ways to communicate evolving information related to cancer care, with participants including clinicians, researchers, patient advocates, and journalists. A new understanding of human uncertainty is a hot topic in healthcare, as reported by Maggie in Uncertain.
Uncertainty as Wisdom in Motion: A Keynote to the Association of Art Museum Directors
October 14th, 2024
10:00 - 11:00 am
Museum of Contemporary Art (Invite-only)
Denver, CO
How can cultural institutions and their leaders navigate a world of rising tensions and seemingly endless change with curiosity, resilience, and an open mind? Why are fertile pauses, productive unsureness, and the controlled drift of reverie essential cognitive stances for both preserving and furthering human ingenuity? In this keynote to the AAMD, Maggie reveals the startling gifts of a mindset little studied until recently, even in psychology. Far from being synonymous with weakness and inertia, uncertainty jolts us from the routine and assumed into spaces for exploring unseen meaning. It is an essential driver of good decision-making under duress and a proven path to human flourishing. There is no better time to be unsure.
Practicing Uncertainty with Skill and Care at a Thriving Startup
November 13th, 2024
11:30 - 12:30 am
New York City, NY
In this interactive keynote at Starface World's annual retreat, Maggie will share with the makers of the popular star-shaped skincare patches the secrets to practicing skillful not-knowing in an age of volatility. Startups inhabit a world of constant change and relentless questions. Unsureness can help their leaders and employees to tame their anxieties, grow their resilience and adaptability, and take their rapid-growth firms to higher levels. Launched in 2019, Starface World is a New York-based company whose acne-treatment stickers have become a fashion statement and celebrity accessory. Private Event.
The Surprising Wisdom of Uncertainty in an Age of Flux and Angst
December 4th, 2024
6:00 pm
Redwood Library and Athenæum
50 Bellevue Ave.
Newport, RI
How can unsureness help us stand up for what's right and begin to heal the divisions of our day? Why does ambivalence make leaders more resourceful? Why is the uncertainty we fear actually essential for curiosity, adaptability, and resilience? Join pioneering author Maggie Jackson for an interactive talk on her acclaimed new book Uncertain: The Wisdom and Wonder of Being Unsure. Drawing on cutting-edge reporting from Paris to Los Angeles and in-depth multidisciplinary research, Jackson reveals the scientific discoveries upending our outdated notions of uncertainty as weakness. Far from luring us into inertia, uncertainty is an overlooked mark of superior expertise; a proven path to mental well-being; and a remarkable antidote to the narrow-mindedness of our day. Co-hosted by the Yale Association of Rhode Island. Book Signing to Follow. Tickets: $10 for Members. $20 for Non-Members.
Register here.
Updating Our Mistaken Notions of Uncertainty in the New Year
January 24th, 2025
6:00 - 7:00 pm
Symposium Books
240 Westminster Street
Providence, RI
Ring in 2025 with a New Take on Uncertainty! Drawing on reporting and research from Paris to Los Angeles, Uncertain reveals the scientific discoveries upending our outdated notions of uncertainty as weakness. Far from luring us into inertia, uncertainty is an unsung mark of superior expertise; a proven path to mental well-being; and a remarkable antidote to the narrow-mindedness of our day. Packed with vibrant stories, practical strategies, and fascinating findings, Uncertain injects hope into a realm of angst and fear. Join author Maggie Jackson for an interactive talk and signing at Symposium Books in historic downtown Providence. Free!
Opening Day Solo Talk at SXSW
March 7th, 2025
4:00 pm
Marriot Austin Downtown
304 E Cesar Chavez St
Austin, TX
Maggie takes the stage on the opening day of the renowned SXSW conference and festival to present "Uncertainty: A Path to Flourishing (and Survival) in an Age of Flux". She will explore three key modes of uncertainty-in-action for 2025 and beyond, plus proven strategies for wielding this mindset to boost workflow, team performance, and personal well-being. Humanity stands on the cusp of a seismic shift in its approach to not-knowing. It's not outrageous - and increasingly it's necessary - to envision a future in which uncertainty can save humanity. With more than 300,000 attendees in-person and online, SXSW is an event not to be missed!
Uncertain at One of the Country's Largest Book Festivals
March 15th, 2025
1:30 - 4:30 pm
Tucson Festival of Books, Indie Authors Tent
University of Arizona
Four hundred authors! More than 125,000 visitors! Uncertain will be featured on the opening day of the two-day Tucson Festival of Books, one of the largest of its kind. You can find Maggie all Saturday afternoon in the Indie Authors Tent at the heart of the Festival, which raises millions to literacy causes. Ask a question. Pick up a signed copy. Learn strategies for turning anxiety into resilience and rigidity into brilliance. In an age of rising flux, there’s no better time to be skillfully unsure.
Free. Learn more here.
World 50 Presents: Uncertainy’s Wisdom for CSOs
March 26th, 2025
Brooklyn Winery
Brooklyn, NY
Chief sustainability officers operate at the epicenter of workplace change, from tensions over where and how to work to the strains of doing business in a shifting climate. Drawing on cutting-edge science and vivid case studies, Maggie reveals why productive uncertainty fuels exceptional performance in times of flux. She takes us inside "our brain on uncertainty" and the ingenious teamwork that put the Rovers on Mars. She brings us into top operating rooms to learn why the best experts "inhabit the question" to succeed in a crisis. The lessons are clear: uncertainty is not weakness, but the skill that sets the best talent apart today.
The Wisdom of Uncertainty as a Counterpoint to the PolyCrisis
April 11th - 13th, 2025
Time TBA
Garrison Institute
Garrison, NY
The PolyOpportunity conferences bring together leaders, experts, creatives, and changemakers to explore how to nurture positive multi-disciplinary trends that confront and tame the current "polycrisis", the amalgam of interconnected global crises from climate change to polarization and authoritarianism. At this PolyOpportunity weekend retreat in a former monastery 90 minutes north of New York City, Maggie will share compelling findings from Uncertain on the surprising links between not-knowing and the cognitive skills most needed today: resilience, curiosity, adaptability, creativity.
Hosted by the Acosta Institute and the House of Beautiful Business. Limited space, early registration encouraged. Details here.
Invite Maggie to Speak
Above: Maggie at Google’s I/O Conference
Below: Maggie at a Strand Bookstore event for Uncertain
The Families and Work Institute
Harvard Business School
Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business
The Embassy of Sweden — D.C.
CNN Town Hall
Arena Stage/Civil Dialogues in D.C.
The New York Public Library
American Association of Museums
Google's I/O Conference, as one of the first external speakers
The Atlantic-Google Summit on Humanity+Tech
Association of Art Museum Directors
Forbes Chief Marketing Officers Summit
The Local Online Advertising Conference
Business Marketing Association
As a keynote speaker, moderator, and panelist, Maggie has addressed…
…and many other organizations and gatherings worldwide.
For speaking inquiries, please contact Tom Neilssen at BrightSight Speakers
“Maggie is an amazing speaker and her talk as part of our Distinguished Speaker Series for HR leaders from some of the world's top organizations was fascinating. Drawing on her deep research and reporting, she taught listeners practical strategies for harnessing uncertainty to achieve better problem-solving, collaboration, and approaching life with a curious mindset.”
— Jennifer Fraone, Director of Corporate Partnerships, Boston College Center for Work & Family
“I know two things for sure: Uncertain is a wonderful, thought-provoking, and enlightening read, and Maggie Jackson is phenomenal and engaging as a speaker. She offers a refreshing reminder that not only is it okay to be uncertain but that uncertainty can lead to greatness.”
— Veronica Chappelle-McNair, Ellucian