Our Keynote Speakers
Trystan Reese:
An audience-first approach
My approach is always to start with my audience. I take what I know about their lived experiences to craft my story using language and analogies that will be relevant to them. I present tools and ideas that will move them forward in their understanding of trans identities, issues, stories, and families. I’ll consider, for example:
Their current understanding of trans issues
Their orientation to the world (are they parents? doctors? teachers? students?)
The important events in their lives as a group
If I'm at a conference for entrepreneurs, I'm going to tell my story from a lens of possibility and imagining new futures. If I'm working with students, I talk about my childhood and coming out. If there are a lot of parents in the audience, I usually share quite a bit about my relationship with my parents and what it was like for them to see me come out, transition, and become a parent. When there are teachers in the audience, I share my experiences in education and share tools for building safe learning spaces.
It’s important to me to use humor and emotional vulnerability in my storytelling to keep my message down to earth, relatable, and accessible. I hope my audiences laugh, cry, and learn a lot along the way.
“Enlightening, smart, funny, poignant, and radically informative.”
– Wendy Davis, Postpartum Support International
Past keynotes
Out & Equal Workplace Summit (October 2018)
Seattle, Washington
World Domination Summit (2019)
Portland, Oregon
"The Seahorse Dad: My year as a pregnant man" (April 2019)
Sponsored by The Arts Center of Corvallis
Whiteside Theater, Corvallis, OR
The Mystery Box Show (April 2018)
The Alberta Rose Theatre, Portland, OR
“For over 90 minutes, Trystan had our audience of over a hundred at the edge of their seats, attentive, engaged, and enraptured.
The audience laughed and cried and loved everything about Trystan and his story. The feedback forms were overwhelmingly favorable, several saying Trystan was the best speaker they had seen on campus.”
– Monmouth University
“Enlightening, smart, funny, poignant, and radically informative.”
“Trystan delivered one of the best conference keynotes I've ever heard—enlightening, smart, funny, poignant, and radically informative. He managed to teach and provoke new perspectives, without any tone of judgement for attendees who did not yet know the facts and insights he shared. We are all subject to the ignorance of our culture, and yet some, like Trystan, challenge and forge a new path. With love and creativity, Trystan shared with a crowd of 550+, the most compelling journey. And bonus points for arriving early for keynote and having a flawless powerpoint to add the best mix of story and science.”
– Wendy Davis, Postpartum Support International
“Students, faculty, as well as community members in attendance were completely captivated by Trystan’s humor, sensitivity, and profound knowledge.”
“Trystan is an absolutely inspiring facilitator, and brought incomparable energy to a room filled with future clinicians and medical students. From the very first contact Trystan facilitated a seamless organization process… Students, faculty, as well as community members in attendance were completely captivated by Trystan’s humor, sensitivity and profound knowledge. He imparted imperative wisdom on all of us, and left us enthused to continue our education, as well as continue to push for the inclusion of sensitive, affirmative, and evidence based care for the LGBTQ and particularly trans community.”
– Columbia University
Past keynote clients include…
