Geoff Kirkwood

Born in Sydney in 1944, Geoff Kirkwood grew up and did his schooling in Newcastle. He is now recognized as one of Australia’s top experts in the area of referral marketing. While he is obviously an entrepreneur and even lists that as his occupation on immigration documents when entering overseas countries on a speaking tour, he was relatively late in recognizing this talent. Geoff initially took the safe and conservative path of government employment forging a successful career in both Sydney and Canberra. However in 1973 he recognized that his talents lay in private enterprise when he started building a second career in sales and marketing in the manufacturing and building industries. During this time he discovered a passion and talent for both leadership and public speaking. He still holds the record for the fastest time from new member to District Governor in Toastmasters International in NSW. As the Master Franchisee, he built the largest networking organisation in Australia (Business Network International) from 750 members to 3500 in just six years, thus being the fastest growing country in the world in 2003. He is also responsible for creating and trademarking “International Networking Week”, now celebrated each February in 41 countries. He has helped over 6,000 people improve their communication skills through his “Communicate with Confidence” seminars and is now a sought after mentor with his “45 minutes and you buy the coffee” sessions that have changed the lives of many business people, hence his passion for mentoring. Based in Brisbane, Geoff relaxes singing in a community choir, running his own dinner party competition called Men Who Cook, reads up to 50 books a year and is a member of the National Speakers Association of Australia.