Marc Convey
Marc Convey – The Gift Of Adversity
Marc Convey is a motivational speaker, writer, and resilience advocate whose life was transformed by a near-fatal accident at the age of 14. His powerful keynote, The Gift of Adversity, draws from lived experience to help audiences reframe challenges, unlock resilience, and find meaning in even the darkest moments. Marc doesn’t just talk about overcoming adversity — he shows people how to grow through it.
Now based in Brighton, Marc’s career has taken him from the hectic world of live poker tournaments through forming his own video production company to building a non-profit organisation focused on “working with purpose”. In his current role – as speaker, writer and spokesperson – he is telling his own story for the first time.
Marc’s journey is a compelling narrative of thriving against all odds. As a 14-year-old boy, Marc was involved in a fire that left him with enduring physical and emotional scars. Instead of letting his injuries define his future, Marc made a decision very early on to manage his own recovery and leverage his experience to become a source of strength, both to himself and others. His narrative is a powerful testament to the transformative power of post-traumatic growth, to never let anything stand in your way, to look within for the resources you need to live your own life.
Today, Marc stands as a captivating and engaging speaker, traversing the globe sharing his story, insights, and the profound impact that travel has had on his perspective. His mission extends beyond his personal narrative, encompassing a commitment to raising awareness about burn injuries and advocating for creating and living a life you love. As a poker commentator for many years, Marc has already led an extraordinary life – travelling internationally and becoming intimately involved in the strange world of high-stakes poker, where millions are won (or lost) in the turn of a card.
Marc’s accident may have marked a major turning point in his life – and had a huge impact on his friends and family – but it has made him the person he is today: strong, funny, warm and inspirational.
SPEAKING TOPICS
Marc Convey is a motivational speaker, writer, and resilience advocate whose life was transformed by a near-fatal accident at the age of 14. His powerful keynote, The Gift of Adversity, draws from lived experience to help audiences reframe challenges, unlock resilience, and find meaning in even the darkest moments. Marc doesn’t just talk about overcoming adversity — he shows people how to grow through it.
The Gift of Adversity
What if the hardest thing you’ve ever faced held the key to your strength? What if the story you’ve been running from… could become the story that changes everything? In this powerful and uplifting keynote, Marc Convey shares the lessons he learned from surviving a life-changing fire as a teenager — and how adversity became his greatest teacher. But this isn’t just a talk about resilience. It’s an invitation to look at your own life differently. Marc introduces The Gift of Adversity philosophy: a practical and heartfelt approach to reframing past experiences, navigating change in the present, and building resilience for whatever’s ahead. He invites the audience to reflect, laugh, and find meaning in their own stories — while learning tools that foster personal growth, team connection, and high performance.
Key Takeaways
- Discover how adversity can uncover your most authentic self
- Learn to reframe setbacks as opportunities for growth and connection
- Build emotional resilience without toxic positivity
- Develop a renewed perspective on purpose, change, and inner strength
- Leave with practical tools to better support yourself — and others — through hard times
Other talks Marc has delivered –
- Change as Opportunity: how to thrive in an ever-changing world
- Dealing with fear: how to transform adversity into a roadmap for growth
- Leading from Within: Building Resilience as the Cornerstone of Effective Leadership
- Nurturing the self to create a dynamic and thriving team culture
“Beyond survival, Marc's story of thriving against all odds drew gasps from the audience at Brighton Dome. The theme of the evening was suicide prevention. Marc's impassioned words inspired both suicide attempt survivors, and families bereaved by suicide, to believe that post traumatic growth is not only possible, but achievable.”
— Hema Patel, Baton of Hope
Marc came to speak for us at our annual team offsite. The themes for the day were collaboration, resilience and wellbeing. Marc did an astounding job at engaging the team and talking with honesty and humour about his story. He drew on his wide-ranging experiences, to share how we has worked to overcome adversity: drawing on tools and relationships that were relatable for an audience of mixed ages, experiences and backgrounds. After the session, I had feedback from across the team on how much value and motivation they had taken from hearing Marc’s talk.
— Cristina Proietti, Head of Commercial Ops, WHSmith Travel
