Book Bri Williams for your next event

Everything in business is about getting someone to do something.

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Everything in business is about getting someone to do something. So imagine making that easier?

Called “The Linnaeus of human behaviour” by Ogilvy Vice Chair Rory Sutherland, Bri Williams is one of Australia's leading authorities on decision science and the art of influencing action.

She’s also feared for her life three times. Once in an earthquake, once when running from an elephant and once when she realised that her corporate role managing a $400m product wasn’t why she was on this planet!

Which is why, since 2011, Bri has been fusing her qualifications in psychology and finance to show businesses how to get better results by using her proprietary behavioural techniques. Clients include CBA, Suncorp, IAG, Vicinity Centres, GMHBA, Australian Unity, federal and state governments, WPP, Ambulance Victoria, MYOB, Chanel, IntuitMailchimp, ARN and Mirvac, along with member associations like CPA Australia, RCSA and the Caravan Industry Association of Australia.

Featured regularly in the media, including A Current Affair, 7 News, ABC radio, 3AW, Triple M, The Sunday Age and Mumbrella, Bri writes for Smartcompany and has authored five books, including “The Behavioural Economics of Business” and “The How of Habits”.

Audiences love Bri’s highly engaging and humorous delivery, relatable stories and pragmatic advice, bookers and planners love Bri’s responsiveness, reliability and commitment to their event, and Bri loves igniting people’s interest in the amazing world of decision science.

Expertise

Talking Points

The behavioural science of influencing action

Marketers and business owners spend a whole lot of time and money trying to get customers to buy, click or call. But it feels like a game of whack-a-mole. No sooner has the latest social media platform launched than last week’s influencer has #hashtagged their way into obscurity.

Turns out that focussing on the fast-paced whims of customers is a fast way to burn money and burn out. Instead, by understanding how humans are wired to make decisions from an evolutionary perspective you can build products and campaigns that will outwit and outlast the latest fads.

In The Behavioural Science of Influencing Action, Bri will share the three reasons customers won’t do what you want them to do. Using the smarts of behavioural science, you’ll learn:

- Common mistakes we make when trying to influence action
- Why there’s a gap in the customer insight’s landscape and how to fill it
- What behavioural economics is and why it’s important
- How to anticipate and address three barriers to your customers doing what you want them to do

Designing for Connection: Behavioural Science in the Hybrid Workplace Ecosystem

Modern workplaces are increasingly functioning as “connected ecosystems”, blending remote, hybrid, in-person, and virtual collaboration, along with AI agents and multi-generational teams.

This keynote explores the implications for leaders at all levels, and uses behavioural science to provide a galvanising framework for connection.

Key Takeaways:
- Learn how workspace design (physical or virtual) influences group dynamics, including creativity, collaboration and productivity.
- Discover how to influence engagement, inclusion, psychological safety, and belonging.
- Design rituals, micro-behaviors, and social norms that keep people connected, even when physically dispersed.

ACDC: The Science of Engagement

If you don't get the attention of your customers, you don't exist. If you don't engage them, they'll never proceed.

We're living in a fast-paced, digitally fragmented age of communications, so it's never been more difficult and more important to get, hold and convert your audience's attention.

That's what ACDC is about. Attention: Capture, Direct, Convert.

Key takeaways:
- Understand the emerging science of attention
- Be able to optimise the 3 stages of engagement;
- Feel invigorated about the potential for engaging your audience, whether that's customers or colleagues.

From Automation to Collaboration: Behavioural Science in AI-First Workplaces

AI has changed the game. While we marvel at technological innovations, we’re left grappling with psychological implications.

This keynote explores the transition from automating tasks to collaborating in new ways.

Once AI strips the ‘work’ away, the value of a ‘job’ relies even more heavily on each individual’s ability to work with and through others. It’s the new age of soft skills.

Key Takeaways:
- Learn how to get teams to embrace AI
- Understand the new role of human talent and decision-making
- Discover how to position AI to customers, stakeholders and suppliers
- Apply science to design and shape behaviour

Change Management’s Blindspot & Why So Many Programs Fail

Many change management programs rely on a flawed assumption: that awareness leads to action. Models like ADKAR, Kotter and Lewin all begin with the idea that if people understand the need for change, they’ll embrace it. But awareness is neither necessary nor sufficient. People can know what needs to change and still do nothing. Habits, environment and design cues often drive behaviour more effectively than logic or motivation.

This keynote challenges traditional thinking and provides a behavioural science lens on what actually triggers change. It shows how shifting environments, nudging defaults and shaping habits can unlock real transformation—often without people realising it’s happening.

Key Takeaways:
- Understand why awareness alone doesn’t drive behaviour change
- Learn how to design change initiatives that work with, not against, human behaviour
- Discover practical tools for shaping habits and environments to increase adoption and follow-through
- Reframe your approach to change to achieve outcomes more efficiently and sustainably

How to Make Prices More Appealing Without Changing Them

Pricing isn’t just about numbers—it’s about perception. Most people assume prices are processed logically, but in reality, small cues can dramatically shape how customers interpret value. From removing dollar signs to adjusting formatting and using strategic anchors, behavioural science reveals that the way a price is presented can be just as powerful as the number itself.

This keynote explores the psychology behind pricing and offers practical strategies to help businesses make their prices feel more appealing—without reducing them by a single cent.

Key Takeaways:
- Learn how simple formatting changes (like removing dollar signs or commas) influence perception of cost
- Understand the role of magnitude representation and why fewer characters make a price feel smaller
- Discover how anchoring and framing can help reposition your price as better value
- Apply behavioural pricing principles to drive conversions and increase perceived affordability

Two Paths to Persuasion

Influence starts with one question: Does the person you’re trying to persuade want to change? Bri Williams breaks down two distinct approaches to persuasion based on behavioural science. If someone is motivated, you can guide them to find their own reasons to act. If they’re resistant, subtle environmental cues can shift behaviour without triggering pushback.

This keynote equips leaders, marketers and change agents with practical tools to influence decisions and drive action, even when motivation is low.

Disappearing Fruit Boxes

In corporate life, culture isn’t shaped by what leaders say; it’s shaped by what they signal. When the fruit boxes disappeared from the office kitchen, it wasn’t just about cost-cutting. It was a subtle but powerful shift in messaging. The apples and bananas weren’t about nutrition; they were about care. Their absence signalled something deeper: a change in priorities, a culture shift.

This keynote explores how small, symbolic actions influence employee perception more than formal communications. Bri shares real-world examples and behavioural insights to help leaders understand how everyday decisions impact engagement, trust and performance.

Hotel with no Room Numbers

Not all conventions are worth following, but some exist for a reason. In this keynote, Bri Williams uses behavioural science to explore when breaking the rules helps business, and when it hurts. From confusing hotel layouts to counterproductive password policies, Bri shows how well-intentioned decisions can backfire when they ignore human behaviour.
This session helps leaders and teams identify which conventions support customer outcomes, and which ones need rethinking.

Skills We Need to Recruit for in Today's Workplace
Workplaces have long prioritised candidates who present as ‘good students’—those who follow instructions, memorise information, and perform well under structured assessment. But these are exactly the skills AI now does better and faster. The modern workplace doesn’t need more memorisers; it needs learners—people who are adaptable, inquisitive and unafraid of ambiguity.

This keynote challenges outdated recruitment mindsets and offers a compelling case for hiring curiosity over compliance, and exploration over execution.

Key Takeaways:
- Understand the difference between being a good student and a true learner
- Learn why traditional markers of competence are becoming less relevant in a world of automation
- Discover what qualities to prioritise in your hiring process to future-proof your team
- Gain practical tools to assess for adaptability, curiosity and critical thinking in candidates

Dealing with Difficult People

Do you run into difficult people more than you'd like?

People who don't listen, fly off the handle, ignore or undermine you or fail to deliver on what they promise?

Let Bri relieve you of that burden.

In this session Bri will share techniques from behavioural science to help you influence difficult people more effectively.

Here's what your audience will learn:
- What makes them difficult
- How to use personality profiling to anticipate the problems you're likely to encounter
- How to use science to overcome resistance

By the end of the session they will:
- Have a new way of looking at difficult people
- Be able to identify the source of disconnection
- Know what to do influence difficult people to do what you want them to

Topics

Business

Innovation

Digital

Politics & Advocacy

Leadership

Media

Video

Bri Williams | Behavioural Expert | Saxton Speakers

Feedback

Bri Williams is the Linnaeus of human behaviour. ... keep reading Ogilvy Australia

Bri’s presentation ‘Lazy, Scared and Confused: Behavioural Economics and the Modern Customer’ at Mumbrella 360 was by far one of the most insightful and useful presentations of the conference.

National Australia Bank

Bri Williams has spoken at a number of CPA Australia events over the years. Bri is a highly engaging and well researched presenter who demonstrates expert knowledge on the psychological drivers behind human behaviour. Bri has consistently received great reviews from our delegates and can easily cater her topics to a broad range of sessions to fit program requirements. I would not hesitate to recommend Bri Williams as a presenter at your next event.

CPA Australia

I just wanted to say a huge thank you for the presentation yesterday! It was so fab and I’ve had incredible feedback from the team – especially on how useful the framework is! Thank you for being so engaging over VC – we were so impressed, and I hope I get to work with you again soon.

JLL