James Poulter
AI & Voice Technology Expert & Future of Work Speaker
James Poulter is the former Head of Lego Group’s Emerging Platform team and a leading thought leader and keynote speaker on the future of work, voice technology, conversational artificial intelligence, and social media.
“Voice is the antidote to our digital distraction” – James Poulter
James is the founder of Voice2, the UK’s leading Voice and Conversational Ai Community and in December 2018 launched Vixen Labs – which is a company that specialises in Voice User Experience (VUX) which includes design and strategy – helping companies to embody their brand and give their customers greater experiences.
They believe that Voice-First interfaces and Conversational Artificial Intelligence have the power to make the way we experience the internet and the content on it more human, empathetic and healthier for everyone.
Previously as Head of The LEGO Group’s Emerging Platforms & Partnerships team as part of the Digital Consumer Engagement division, James Poulter pursued new technologies, platforms, and partners to build digital consumer engagement with LEGO customers, shoppers and consumers on a global basis.
James is an experienced marketer and communications professional with over 10 years of experience. He previously was the Head of Social Media for LEGO’s social network for Kids, LEGO Life – which launched globally in 2017 and has since grown to over 2m active users regularly posting their content to the world’s first global and safe social network for kids.
As well as devising and developing social features such as LEGO Life’s emoji keyboard, custom characters, and moderation systems, James oversaw the launch of LEGO’s global partnership with GIPHY leading the LEGO channel to accrue over 1 Billion GIF views in its first year.
Prior to joining LEGO, James worked for a number of the world’s leading marketing, advertising and public relations firms including Edelman and Ogilvy leading digital marketing, mobile and social campaigns both in EMEA and globally as well as new business efforts for clients such as Diageo, Unilever, Bose, PayPal, HP and Adobe.
Outside of work, James is an advisor to the Church of England’s digital board is also the host of the show “Signal” for The MediaNet which explores on a monthly basis the intersection between faith, media, and technology.
SPEAKING TOPICS
James is in demand as a keynote speaker for technology events and private client events and speaks on subjects such as –
Ambient Technology–In this presentation James talks on the impact of voice assistance, AI and conversational technology and how it is becoming the anecdote to our digital distraction and impact it will have and can have in the future. Learn where to begin in the world of voice marketing and move towards it.
2025 – Autonomous Connected & Enabled– In this presentation James takes you into the not too distant future to look at the real impact of new and advancing existing technologies and how they will impact individuals lives in a 24 hour period and what long term benefits they will bring.
The Ethics & Morality of Digital Technology – What happens when Alexa wants to divest her shares at Amazon? Or Siri wants to get baptized? We are living in a world where the AIs we live with every day take steps towards general intelligence. At the same time we want ever more functionality out of our devices, yet must give up more privacy to get there. In this session James examines the potential pitfalls and prospects of a more technologically enabled world – through the lens of it’s impact on our morals and values.
Play + Work = Innovation Culture – When we blend the best of play with the best of work we get a culture that truly moves people to innovation. In this talk James will show you where your organisation sits on the “innovation pendulum” and how you can shift from a siloed approach to an culture of innovation.
New Presentation –
CTL – ALT- DEL – The Digital Revolution has already changed the way we work and communicate with our clients, but the future of the workplace has faced further challenges with the impact of COVID-19. In this presentation James Poulter looks at how you can continue to build a culture of innovation and what will need to change in order for companies to evolve to the new ways of working. Using some real-life examples from his time at Lego, Edelman and Ogilvy, James looks at what new controls (CTL) will need to be in place to allow a return to work. What will need to be altered (ALT) to allow your team to innovate, work together and still maybe work from home with a new work/life balance – and what will need to deleted (DEL) from previous ways of working. There is no choice now to innovate – innovate is essential to survive.
Webinars/Online sessions
During the coronavirus pandemic, James has been speaking online at events about the future of work as well as offering his own video blogs –
THE INNOVATION PENDULUM
In this episode of #innovationculture James looks at the Innovation Pendulum – where is your business right now? And Is the COVID19 crisis forcing you to work in new ways?
THE VOICE COFFEE BREAK
In this video James examines the latest smart speaker research from voicebot.ai – and discusses the impacts for brands and agencies considering Voice as part of their Digital Marketing and Innovation strategies. Click here to see both
PODCASTS
James has featured on a number of podcasts and is the host of Signal for the MediaNet. Some podcasts links are below –
Vux World – Voice First Brand Strategy
Bringing AI to Lego Interview
Shiny New Objects – Interview
To hear an interview with James please listen to the “Practical Futurist Podcast Series” – James is featured in Episode 3 talking to Andrew Grill – To Listen Click Here
“One of the few people I've met that have the real ability to read people and situations well, and act on that knowledge in ways that lead to real interpersonal effectiveness. In the fast-paced and dynamic digital environment, there are some situations where entrepreneurs often find themselves struggling to steer safely out of a conversational jam - James definitely does not have that problem, he loves sharing his experience to help others build their business or community”
— TeComm & Lebero Events.
“JP is full of energy, ideas, and passion for technology. He is a very strong networker and collaborator who is always looking to support new projects and initiatives and is focused on ensuring he has a strong knowledge and expertise on whatever the “next big thing” around the corner is. He also has a fantastic network and is a valued sparring partner on many topics - from Voice to Blockchain via GIFs and Emojis. It has been great working with him at LEGO Group”
— Lego
“JP is the ultimate collaborator. He empowers his teammates and shares his knowledge of digital trends and technologies at every opportunity. He is the first person to volunteer for a hackathon and is an exceptional facilitator of strategic partnerships. JP was a key member to the development of LEGO's social app LEGO Life (launched #1 in Kids category), and the driving force behind the LEGO emoji language (featured on Jimmy Fallon).
— Mixed Reality, Microsoft.
“In this new age of digital marketing and pr, there are few people in the UK that absolutely 'get it'. Those that do have been busy proving just how valuable this new way of doing things is to business and James is one of those people. Knows his stuff, explains it in an easy to understand way and keeps his eye on future trends and how it all fits together”
— Business & Mindset Mentor.
“I thought that James’ talk was intuitional, intentiona and intelligent. His delivery style was very much the zeitgeist of our times. It inspired a vast amount of ideas”
— Syniad 2019 – Cardiff University
