Keynote Speaker

Priya Parker

Facilitator, Strategic Advisor, Author, and Life-long Curious Student, Brooklyn, NY

Priya Parker roundPriya Parker is helping us take a deeper look at how anyone can create collective meaning in modern life, one gathering at a time. She is a facilitator, strategic advisor, acclaimed author of The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why it Matters, the executive producer and host of the New York Times podcast, Together Apart, and the host of The Art of Gathering Digital Course. Parker has spent 20 years helping leaders and communities have complicated conversations about community and identity and vision at moments of transition. Trained in the field of conflict resolution, Parker has worked on race relations on American college campuses and on peace processes in the Arab world, southern Africa, and India.

Parker is a founding member of the Sustained Dialogue Campus Network. She studied organizational design at M.I.T., public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, and political and social thought at the University of Virginia.

Parker’s The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters (Riverhead, 2018) has been named a Best Business Book of the Year by Amazon, Esquire Magazine, NPR, the Financial Times, 1-800-CEO-READS and Bloomberg. She has spoken on the TED MainStage, and her TEDx talk on purpose has been viewed over 3 million times. Parker’s work has been featured in numerous outlets including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, NPR, TED.com, Forbes.com, Real Simple Magazine, Oprah.com, Bloomberg, Glamour, the Today Show, and Morning Joe. She lives in Brooklyn, NY with her husband, Anand Giridharadas, and their two children.

www.priyaparker.com


GENERAL SESSION KEYNOTE ADDRESS

Priya Parker will present their Keynote Address at the General Session on Thursday, May 1, 2025, 8:45am-9:45am in the Palm Springs Convention Center. 

Gathering to Create Belonging

There is a growing “belonging” crisis in modern, diverse workplaces where work happens via remote and hybrid formats. When we’re not in the same room as our colleagues and the workforce is in the midst of drastic changes, how do leaders create a sense of meaning, belonging, and purpose for their teams? How do we create a sense of belonging without all having to be the same? How do we honor our differences? In this provocative, funny, and warm moderated conversation, conflict resolution facilitator and author Priya Parker provides candid, practical, lens-shifting advice on vital 21st-century leadership skills. As a seasoned group facilitator, educator, and researcher, she breaks down the anatomy of meaningful connections and gives us the skills needed to create meaningful shared experiences, one gathering at a time. 

 
Do you have a relevant and thoughtful question for Priya Parker? Help guide and shape the community conversation. Submit your question here


Keynote Meet & Greet and Book Signing

Priya Parker will also be participating in our Keynote Meet & Greet and Book Signing event on Thursday, May 1st at the BOOST Collaborative Booth in the Exhibit Hall. You can pre-purchase their book in your online account. Their books will NOT be available for sale during the conference. Please make sure to pre-order your book in your online account before April 1st. 

The Art of Gathering How We Meet and Why It Matters book jacketThe Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters

In The Art of Gathering, Priya Parker argues that the gatherings in our lives are lackluster and unproductive—which they don't have to be. We rely too much on routine and the conventions of gatherings when we should focus on distinctiveness and the people involved. At a time when coming together is more important than ever, Parker sets forth a human-centered approach to gathering that will help everyone create meaningful, memorable experiences, large and small, for work and for play.

Drawing on her expertise as a facilitator of high-powered gatherings around the world, Parker takes us inside events of all kinds to show what works, what doesn't, and why. She investigates a wide array of gatherings—conferences, meetings, a courtroom, a flash-mob party, an Arab-Israeli summer camp—and explains how simple, specific changes can invigorate any group experience.

The result is a book that's both journey and guide, full of exciting ideas with real-world applications. The Art of Gathering will forever alter the way you look at your next meeting, industry conference, dinner party, and backyard barbecue—and how you host and attend them.

Click here to add this book to your registration. 


EDUCATE YOUR TEAM ON Priya Parker

BOOST is proud to bring prominent experts, researchers, and leaders to our General Sessions. We have created a useful guide to support your learning prior to attending the BOOST Conference. Download our guide on How to Educate Your Team About Priya Parker and share these with your team so you know what to expect from our 2025 BOOST Conference Keynote Speaker.

Click the image to download.

Priya Parker BOOST Keynote Guide 

Please note: Name badges are required to attend all BOOST Conference events including meals and workshops 

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