Tala Sage speaking to an outdoor audience

Tala Sage
Keynotes & Workshops

Leadership
Begins Within

Talks and workshops that call leaders, adult and youth alike, to stop performing and start showing up authentically as one integrated human in a complex world of technology, relationships, and self.

Book Tala to speak
Portrait of Tala Sage

01 · ABOUT

A LIFETIME OF 
DYNAMIC LEADERSHIP

Raised unconventionally on a Llama Farm in Southern Indiana to hippie parents who spared no expense in his highly empowered upbringing, Tala has been in leadership since he was a young teenager. His work encapsulates facilitating transformation for small groups, speaking in front of thousands, and producing large-scale events including festivals such as Burning Man, Bass Coast, and Lightning in a Bottle.  Along the way he built a multi-million dollar business with a team of 35 & serving over 10,000 customers, learning what it actually takes to keep a team, a culture, and, most importantly,  himself intact while under pressure.

That work now runs through coaching, keynotes, spoken word poetry performance, DJing and workshops. The through-line is congruence: people can feel when a leader's words, actions, and nervous system are out of step, and no strategy survives that gap for long.  Tala works with the interior side of leadership, presence, honesty, regulation, and repair, because that is where trust is either built or quietly lost.

HELPING CULTIVATE INTEGRATED, COURAGEOUS LEADERS WHOSE INNER LIVES MATCH THEIR OUTER IMPACT.

02 · TALKS

Seven talks

Each one tailored to the room. Keynote, workshop, or both.

Subjects:LeadershipAI and the Future of WorkYouth and Emerging Leaders

01

The Integration Gap

LEADERSHIP

People fracture into founder, partner, parent, leader, friend, and perform each role instead of living as one congruent human. This talk names that pattern and offers integration, not optimization, as the way out.

AUDIENCE: Corporate leadership offsites, executive conferences, entrepreneur communities

02

Leadership Begins Within

LEADERSHIP

People intuitively sense when someone's words, actions, and nervous system don't align. Congruence creates trust; performance erodes it. A leadership talk grounded in Authentic Relating and nervous system regulation.

AUDIENCE: Executive teams, leadership development programs, HR conferences

03

Beauty Is Not Ornamental

LEADERSHIP

Beauty, celebration, and play aren't luxuries, they're essential infrastructure for building the kinds of humans capable of building a healthier world. Drawn from 20 years of festival and event production.

AUDIENCE: Culture-focused corporate events, creative industries, closing keynotes

04

What AI Can't Integrate For You

AI and the Future of Work

AI can accelerate almost everything except the internal work of becoming one congruent person. The organizations racing to adopt it without doing that work will scale their dysfunction faster, not fix it. This talk names what AI adoption actually exposes about leadership and culture.

AUDIENCE: Tech and business conferences, AI adoption and innovation events

05

Presence in the Age of Automation

AI and the Future of Work

As AI absorbs more technical and creative tasks, the leaders and cultures that thrive will be the ones who've done the internal work. Presence and psychological safety are what AI can't replicate.

AUDIENCE: HR and people-ops conferences, tech-adjacent companies, future-of-work summits

06

Leadership for Young People Who Don't Feel Like Leaders Yet

Youth and Emerging Leaders

Young people are told to wait, to get older, more credentialed, more sure of themselves. Leadership is learned by doing it scared, not by waiting to feel ready.

AUDIENCE: HIGH SCHOOL & COLLEGE LEADERSHIP PROGRAMS, YOUTH COUNCILS, CIVIC ORGANIZATIONS

07

Finding Your Real Self Before the World Tells You Who to Be

Youth and Emerging Leaders

Identity fragmentation is just beginning at this age rather than already calcified. Growth is remembering who you are beneath the adaptations, not becoming someone new.

AUDIENCE: SCHOOLS, YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH & WELLBEING PROGRAMS, YOUNG-ADULT LEADERSHIP RETREATS

03 · PROVEN ON STAGE

In the room

On stage

Tala Sage hosting a panel on stage at a company summit
"Tala's stage presence is top-notch. Whenever we put a mic in his hand the room became completely electrified."

DAVE SANDOVAL, CEO 
PURIUM HEALTH PRODUCTS

In the room

Tala Sage facilitating a panel conversation with a seated audience
"Tala holds groups so expertly. His safe invitation to explore the self, balanced with his encouragement to expand beyond the comfort zone is invigorating"

DAPHNE LEGER, 
KEYNOTE SPEAKER & FACILITATOR

As a storyteller

Tala Sage speaking at a tech conference, black and white
"He had the crowd wrapped around every word, practically begging to know what would happen next."

BEN FANSTON, HOST 
THE MOTH STORYSLAM, SAN FRANCISCO

More from the stage

Tala Sage on stage with a mic stand in front of a full cast
Tala Sage telling a story with a microphone under stage lighting
Tala Sage speaking on a stage beside tropical flowers
Tala Sage speaking in front of a Purium step and repeat
Tala Sage presenting beside a projection screen
Tala Sage facilitating a daytime outdoor workshop
Tala Sage speaking into a handheld mic, black and white
Portrait of Tala Sage in a red patterned shirt

04 · FORMAT & BOOKING

How it works

Formats

Keynote, workshop, or both

Duration

15 minutes to 1 hour, tailored

Delivery

In-person, virtual, hybrid

ADDITIONAL OPTIONS

Spoken Word Poetry or Songs

What you will always get

DYNAMIC. INSPIRING. Unforgettable.

05 · SIZZLE REEL

Watch

Reel coming soon

Currently in production

06 · CONTACT

Let's put this
in front of
your people

Tell me about the room, the audience, and what you want them walking out with. We will shape the talk from there.

Tala Sage outdoors in a colorful floral shirt and patterned cap