AC Coppens

AC Coppens Speaking Topics

• The Art of Moderating Conversations

  In a world that feels increasingly loud, fast and polarized, while everyone’s talking and sharing, who knows how to connect the dots? Who can guide the conversation forward? Who bridges the voices in the room - and beyond? This Talk proposes a new lens on moderation - not just as a logistical task for panels, but as a high-impact leadership skill, transformative for our lives, work, and shared futures. One that’s essential not only at conferences, but in companies, communities, and everyday life. Drawing from over a decade of high-stakes moderations across tech, culture, business, and politics, AC unpacks how the tools of professional moderators can empower everyone to lead better conversations. As today, we don’t need more noise: we need people who can guide others to listen openly, think in layers, and act in ways that reflect a fuller picture of the world.

  Attendee results:

  • How to orchestrate a discussion, from shaping narratives to mediating opposing views
  • Practical hacks: how to ask great questions, manage tricky dynamics, and move people from talk to action.
  • Unexpected stories from backstage (and onstage): the moments where conversations almost fell apart, and why they didn’t.
  • How to hold the space between, draw out the best in others, and reveal orientation through perspective.

• How Much of You is Actually On Stage?

  In this talk, AC explores stage presence through the lens of theatre, psychology and leadership. Drawing on over twenty years as a theatre artist and more than fifteen years as a speaker, TED presenter and moderator, AC asks: what does authenticity really mean when we are on stage? Is the difference between playing a character and “being yourself” on stage really about fiction versus truth or about degrees of composition? Which parts of ourselves step forward under observation? And who, or what, is actually in control? AC will reframe authenticity not as “less performance,” but as conscious performance. Participants discover why technique does not distance us from presence, but liberates it, how the audience effect reshapes identity in real time, and why mastery of voice, body and intention creates freedom rather than artifice.

  Attendee results:

  • Stay present under audience pressure
  • Distinguish intention from social approval
  • Avoid derailment in high-stakes conversations
  • Transform presence into co-created momentum

• Film and Entertainment in the Age of AI

  When was the last time you streamed a film? Was it truly your choice, or an algorithm’s? Did you scroll past content today without knowing whether it was made by a human or AI? We are immersed in media, and artificial intelligence is not only changing how films are produced: it is redefining entertainment itself. Meanwhile, media is becoming "liquid": adaptive, modular, data-driven. Stories are no longer fixed works but dynamic streams shaped in real time for platforms, audiences and moods. What does this mean for cinema - as cultural heritage, shared ritual, collective memory - in an age of synthetic media and predictive systems? If younger generations live more in feeds than theaters, what happens to cultural memory? How do we protect trust and democratic discourse amid synthetic images and cloned voices? And is this shift inevitable — or still ours to shape?

  Attendees results:

  • Insight into the newest trends and future of film and entertainment
  • A systemic view of how AI is embedded across the entire entertainment value chain
  • A renewed understanding of cinema’s role as a collective space in an individualized media age
  • Concrete ways to act around transparency, rights, fair compensation, and digital sovereignty
  • How to move from awareness to accountable action

• Moderating & Hosting Duties

  Blending critical thinking, creative strategy and future-oriented research, as well as a solid background in the performing arts, AC Coppens is a seasoned moderator, host and speaker at major international events whether on location, hybrid or digital-only formats, in English, French or German.

  Ranging from keynotes to intimate fireside chats, to moderating lively thought-provoking discussions and hosting multi-day conferences, AC bring the audience along in an unique interactive way.