Inspirational Key Note Speaker - Backdrop Leadership

Motivational, Inspirational, Funny and at times Poignant Key Note Speaker for every event!

Jon Gibson is an engaging and honest keynote speaker whose story is built on resilience, risk taking and real experience. From growing up on a council estate in the North East and struggling at school, to rising through leadership in education and building a successful consultancy and coaching business, Jon’s journey is anything but conventional. Blending insight, humour and powerful storytelling, he shares lessons from a life shaped by setbacks, growth and reinvention. With a background in Drama and Theatre Studies, Jon brings energy and presence to every talk, offering practical advice, honest reflection and plenty of laughter. The result is an inspiring, relatable keynote that challenges thinking, builds confidence and leaves audiences feeling motivated to take their next step.

Professional Events

Jon delivers high-impact keynote sessions for conferences, leadership events and organisational away days, tailored to audiences navigating complexity, pressure and change. His talks draw on years of experience supporting leaders across education, business and the charity sector, offering practical insights into leadership, resilience and productivity. Combining credibility with storytelling, Jon creates engaging, thought-provoking sessions that leave professionals with clear takeaways they can apply immediately; whether that’s leading teams more effectively, managing pressure or rethinking how they approach their work.

Young People

Jon is a powerful speaker for young people, offering a message that is both honest and hopeful. Drawing on his own experiences of struggling at school and finding his way later in life, he speaks directly to students about resilience, self-belief and the reality that success doesn’t follow a single path. His talks are engaging, down-to-earth and often humorous, helping young people see that setbacks do not define them and that there is always an opportunity to move forward, grow and succeed in their own way.

Social Events

For social and informal events, Jon brings a warm, humorous and highly relatable style that connects with a wide range of audiences. His storytelling shines in these settings, as he shares honest reflections, humorous failures and life lessons that resonate far beyond the workplace. With a natural ability to read the room, Jon creates a relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere while still leaving audiences with meaningful insights about resilience, growth and the importance of not taking yourself too seriously.

Schools and Colleges

With a deep background in education and leadership, Jon delivers keynote sessions and talks that resonate strongly with schools, colleges and staff teams. His experience leading in education and conducting extensive consultancy work across a wide range of settings brings both credibility and relevance to his sessions. Whether speaking to staff, leaders or whole communities, Jon combines practical insight with a human approach focusing on wellbeing, leadership, resilience and sustainable improvement in a way that reflects the real pressures and opportunities within education today.

Get In Touch

Have Some Questions?

Almost everyone can benefit from coaching or mentoring.

If you are ready to set yourself professional or personal goals, want to make a positive difference in your life (at work or at home) then the coaching and mentoring team can help you.

The short answer is yes.

The Backdrop team have a wide range of experience in mainstream, independent and special schools and have supported hundreds of settings.

Whatever your issue, we will introduce you to the right person for your needs. Contact us for an initial chat

See ‘Get in Touch’ at the top of the page.

As you’d expect, the exact cost depends upon the service you need, but we will endeavour to work to your budget.

Please contact us and we will discuss your needs and give you a great cost effective quote.

Following our positive Ofsted inspection in 2017 we were keen to continue to drive improvements, especially to have a cohesive system in place to develop our strategic aims and development plans across education, therapy and care provided at St Rose’s for students with physical disabilities and complex health needs. Jon was recommended as someone who might be able to support us, and we were lucky enough to engage his services in 2018. At the beginning he listened to what we wanted and was able to translate our thoughts into a Strategic Plan and corresponding development plans. This has grown over the last 5 years and we now have a clear process that our self-evaluation feeds into as well as performance reviews for all staff. He has helped us to work with education, therapy and care staff to quality assure our offer. As well as this he has helped us to focus our governance and has provided support and training to our governing body. Jon has supported us to keep up to date with changes in legislation and continues to suggest ways that we can make improvements. He continues to challenge us during each visit and there is no doubt that the quality of what we do has improved as a result. This was borne out in a recent care inspection when we received outstanding for leadership and management. We appreciate the approach he takes which is collaborative and non-threatening and supportive, allowing us to develop processes and strategy.

- Principal

'[Backdrop] has provided me with valuable guidance in how to raise attainment of PP children in our school. [Their] advice has been incredibly important in shaping our PP policies and plans, giving us a solid base on which to build on.' (Pupil Premium Review)

- Primary Assistant Headteacher and PP lead

Jon was an excellent coach, he encouraged me to think about problems from a different perspective and, through coaching models, was able to provide me with a valuable framework for communication.'

- Coachee - School Leader

'It was a very positive day, insightful and enabled me to reflect on my own practice as well as exploring the rationale and strategy behind the practice in place at [the school]. It was a pleasure to work alongside Jon and to learn from him, understanding the craft of reviewing to elicit authentic, transparent and thoughtful information from the staff team at the school.'

- NLE

'Very thorough, but realistic. I feel that some of the additional resources will be used routinely from now on...'

- Secondary SENCO

Jon Gibson – Key Note Speaker