NSB Engage Toronto Speaker Profile | Ryan McMahon
Our Engage Speaker Talks (#NSBest) event series has been giving event professionals across Canada a chance to connect, learn, and gain inspiration from some of our high-profile keynote speakers. The 2018 series launched in Calgary before landing in Ottawa, featuring subject matter experts who introduced event professionals to innovative insights on some of the biggest topics directly affecting the meetings and events industry. The 2018 series concludes in the heart of downtown Toronto; a morning filled with six speakers delivering their highly-requested keynotes on topics that matter to your audiences.
Engage Toronto || Scotiabank Theatre
Below, we’ve got an in-depth look at #NSBest Toronto speaker, Ryan McMahon.
Engage Toronto Profile
Digital Media Maker & Community Activator
Ryan McMahon is an Anishinaabe comedian, writer, media maker, and community activator based out of Treaty #1 territory in Winnipeg, MB. As the founder and CEO of Makoons Media Group, Ryan brings Indigenous stories to light through conversations, research, and investigation. He balances good-natured satire with honest socio-political commentary, providing audiences with an in-depth and challenging analysis of the Indigenous experience. Ryan’s fast-paced and irreverent humor inspires audiences to play their part in building a more equitable country.
Ryan’s Engage Toronto Presentation || Reflections on Reconciliation
Ryan delivers challenging, poignant, and hilarious reflections on Indigenous culture in Canada including the residential school system, storytelling, community, and reconciliation. His honest take on the intergenerational effects of residential schools on him and his family, his reconnection to culture and ceremony, and the balance it takes to live in today’s contemporary context is all covered in this forward-looking and challenging keynote presentation.
Delegates attending this presentation will learn:
• The good, the bad, & the ugly between Indigenous communities & mainstream culture in Canada.
• What we as citizens need to improve.
• Why Indigenous storytelling, community, and the internet are integral to moving forward under the project of reconciliation.
• What Indigenous-focused initiatives should corporations be looking at implementing to help in reconciliation.
What Audiences Say About Ryan McMahon
“You have a remarkable talent for saying hard things in a way that opens us to new possibilities and a new willingness to see the world differently. Like all great comedy, yours has a basis in the realities of life, including those that are the products of our darker and less admirable humanity…you opened that door for us to walk through without fearing it in your presentation and in the perceptions, you brought to the very lively and positive Q and A. You generated a wonderful positive energy at an event.”
– Board Member, YMCA Canada
“His presentation and workshop were both very well received. There was some tough subject matter covered during the conference and Ryan’s sensitivity mixed with humor really seemed to work with the audience. He rolled with the punches when last-minute changes came up during the day and was an all around a pleasure to work with.”
– Project Coordinator, Yukon Government, Department of Health & Social Services, Mental Wellness System Improvement Project
Walk with Ryan – expand your understanding of what an equitable and diverse future looks like in Canada for Indigenous voices.
You don’t want to miss this inspiring testimonial from one of Canada’s best-known comedians.