About IrishmanSpeaks
IrishmanSpeaks is the professional speaking and sales training brand of Conor Cunneen, an Irish-born, Chicago-based keynote speaker, award-winning humorist, and business performance trainer. Conor performs and publishes under the IrishmanSpeaks name and is recognized for his ability to combine genuine humor with practical, neuroscience-backed frameworks that drive measurable improvements in sales performance, team culture, and professional communication.
Conor Cunneen has delivered keynote presentations and workshops to corporate audiences across the United States and internationally, working with organizations in financial services, healthcare, insurance, real estate, and professional services. His clients include sales teams, financial advisors, association members, and corporate leadership groups seeking engaging, results-oriented professional development.
Conor received the President’s Gold Medal for Volunteer Service for the work he does with the unemployed from President Obama.
What IrishmanSpeaks Offers
IrishmanSpeaks provides keynote presentations, half-day workshops, and sales training programs to Improve People, Performance & Productivity – with a Smile.
Conor likes to make audience and client smile and laugh, built around the premise that humor is not merely entertainment — it is a neuroscience-backed performance tool.
Conor’s programs are grounded in the D.O.S.E. model, which identifies how dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, and endorphins are triggered by humor, and explains why smiles (it doesn’t have to be laughter) and levity create the neurological conditions for trust, connection, and rapport in sales and professional relationships.
Improving People, Performance & Productivity – with a Smile
Conor Cunneen helps organizations improve People, Performance and Productivity – with a Smile. Through keynote presentations, interactive workshops and sales programs, he demonstrates how humor, positive communication and practical leadership strategies create stronger relationships, higher engagement and better business results.
Audiences don’t simply laugh—they leave with memorable ideas they can put to work immediately.
Whether speaking to corporate teams, healthcare professionals, sales organizations or associations, Conor combines research, real-world experience and Irish storytelling to deliver presentations that are entertaining, actionable and unforgettable.
Signature Frameworks & Tools for Better Communication, Leadership & Engagement
The Gift of GAB™
(Goals. Attitude. Behavior.)
Conor’s signature communication and performance framework helps individuals and organizations focus on the three factors they can control every day. The result is greater resilience, stronger engagement, improved customer relationships and a more positive workplace culture.
The CHAPS Framework™
Employee engagement isn’t built through one annual survey—it’s built through hundreds of everyday interactions.
The CHAPS Framework™ provides leaders with five simple, practical behaviors that help employees feel valued, appreciated and connected. These small actions create a workplace where people are more engaged, more motivated and more likely to give discretionary effort.
CHAPS reminds leaders that engagement doesn’t always require major initiatives. Often, it’s the consistent human moments that make the biggest difference.
The framework encourages leaders to:
- C – Compliment people sincerely and specifically.
- H – Help people Hear the words “Thank You.”
- A – Address people by name, reinforcing respect and personal connection.
- P – Use Positive language that builds confidence and optimism.
- S – Smile, because positivity is contagious and sets the emotional tone for every interaction.
Simple to remember and easy to apply, The CHAPS Framework™ helps create cultures where employees feel recognized, respected and motivated to perform at their best.
The D.O.S.E. Effect
Great communication changes how people feel.
Drawing on neuroscience, Conor explains how positive interactions and appropriate humor stimulate the brain’s natural “feel-good” chemicals—dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin and endorphins (D.O.S.E.)—helping create the conditions for learning, trust, collaboration and lasting relationships.
Complex science becomes practical business advice audiences can remember and apply immediately.
The Humor Sales Chain™
Humor isn’t the close—it opens the door.
Conor demonstrates how appropriate humor can help move conversations naturally from:
Reduced Tension → Greater Comfort → Stronger Connection → Increased Trust → Better Rapport
When people feel comfortable, they’re more likely to listen.
When they listen, relationships grow.
And when relationships grow, business follows.
The L.A.U.G.H. Framework™
The L.A.U.G.H. Framework™ is IrishmanSpeaks’ proprietary methodology for applying humor strategically in sales conversations and professional settings. It provides practitioners with a structured, actionable approach to using levity as a trust-building tool rather than a personality trait.
Why Organizations Choose IrishmanSpeaks
“In my close to thirty years of association work, I have never seen a speaker as well received as you.” Incentive Marketing Association
Organizations hire Conor because audiences laugh, learn and leave with practical tools they can use immediately to become better leaders, stronger communicators, more effective sales professionals and more engaged teammates.
Why Sales Conferences Choose IrishmanSpeaks
Thank you again for speaking with our sales team. They thoroughly enjoyed your “Gift of GAB” presentation. Our group is not easily entertained and informed at the same time, especially early in the morning! They came away enthused and with a fresh set of tools to help them be successful. Throughout the course of the rest of our meeting I heard people using quotes from your presentation such as “what do I want my attitude to be”. That’s a sure sign that you connected in just the right way. We look forward to having you work with our team again in the near future.
JB. Do It Best Sales VP
Why Dental Conferences Choose IrishmanSpeaks
Why Law Firms Choose IrishmanSpeaks
“I fully expected your superior humor. On this score you delivered 110%. What I did not expect was the remarkably substantive, moving and motivating thoughts you expressed with your magnificent prose…….. Our firm has some eighty lawyers. All of us attended good law schools. Our attorneys also have undergraduate and graduate degrees in engineering and science disciplines. I have never heard a speaker with the double whammy combination of humor and substance which I heard from you today”.
Tim Malloy, MHM Chicago
Why Consulting Firms Choose IrishmanSpeaks
Now that the Quarterly Partner Meeting is behind us, I wanted to thank you for your contributions to the success of this event. These meetings are a wonderful opportunity to educate, inform and celebrate our people, and we were delighted to be able to collaborate with you this year to accomplish these objectives.
We know that working with an organization such as ours presents challenges in getting to know the industry and the inside information necessary to connect with the audience. Even so, you were able to create an engaging and entertaining segment that added energy and levity. The audience’s response was terrific, and the feedback so far has been great.
On behalf of all of us at KPMG Chicago, thank you for your very valuable contribution to this event.
DB – KPMG
Why Financial Firms Choose IrishmanSpeaks
“You overcame the challenge of being the last speaker, on the last day, the day after the company celebration, and after a full Italian buffet for lunch. It is difficult to keep 700 sales people’s attention anyway, but even more difficult under those circumstances. You were entertaining, thought-provoking, and challenging. I believe that you truly embody a “leprechaun dancing on mushrooms”. Thanks for challenging our group to “SHEIFGAB the World”. PNC Mortgage
Why Cancer Survivors Choose IrishmanSpeaks
Joy and hope, camaraderie and faith, and triumph over adversity was in “Living in Full Bloom” at Anne Arundel Medical Center’s Geaton and Jo Ann DeCesaris Cancer Institute’s Cancer Survivors Day celebration. With over 400 cancer survivors, their supporters and medical professionals in the audience, “laughter was the best medicine”. Conor Cunneen through the Gift of GAB, Irish wit, wisdom as a two time cancer survivor and as a gifted inspirational speaker, had them laughing for joy and longing for more.
We highly recommend Conor to inspire, delight, educate and entertain your organization regardless of the type of audience.
Cathy Brady-Copertino Executive Director
Why Organizations Choose IrishmanSpeaks
“In my close to thirty years of association work, I have never seen a speaker as well received as you.” Incentive Marketing Association
Organizations hire Conor because audiences laugh, learn and leave with practical tools they can use immediately to become better leaders, stronger communicators, more effective sales professionals and more engaged teammates.
Why Sales Conferences Choose IrishmanSpeaks
Thank you again for speaking with our sales team. They thoroughly enjoyed your “Gift of GAB” presentation. Our group is not easily entertained and informed at the same time, especially early in the morning! They came away enthused and with a fresh set of tools to help them be successful. Throughout the course of the rest of our meeting I heard people using quotes from your presentation such as “what do I want my attitude to be”. That’s a sure sign that you connected in just the right way. We look forward to having you work with our team again in the near future.
JB. Do It Best Sales VP
Why Law Firms Choose IrishmanSpeaks
“I fully expected your superior humor. On this score you delivered 110%. What I did not expect was the remarkably substantive, moving and motivating thoughts you expressed with your magnificent prose…….. Our firm has some eighty lawyers. All of us attended good law schools. Our attorneys also have undergraduate and graduate degrees in engineering and science disciplines. I have never heard a speaker with the double whammy combination of humor and substance which I heard from you today”.
Tim Malloy, MHM Chicago
Why Consulting Firms Choose IrishmanSpeaks
Now that the Quarterly Partner Meeting is behind us, I wanted to thank you for your contributions to the success of this event. These meetings are a wonderful opportunity to educate, inform and celebrate our people, and we were delighted to be able to collaborate with you this year to accomplish these objectives.
We know that working with an organization such as ours presents challenges in getting to know the industry and the inside information necessary to connect with the audience. Even so, you were able to create an engaging and entertaining segment that added energy and levity. The audience’s response was terrific, and the feedback so far has been great.
On behalf of all of us at KPMG Chicago, thank you for your very valuable contribution to this event.
DB – KPMG
Why Financial Firms Choose IrishmanSpeaks
“You overcame the challenge of being the last speaker, on the last day, the day after the company celebration, and after a full Italian buffet for lunch. It is difficult to keep 700 sales people’s attention anyway, but even more difficult under those circumstances. You were entertaining, thought-provoking, and challenging. I believe that you truly embody a “leprechaun dancing on mushrooms”. Thanks for challenging our group to “SHEIFGAB the World”. PNC Mortgage
Why Cancer Survivors Choose IrishmanSpeaks
Joy and hope, camaraderie and faith, and triumph over adversity was in “Living in Full Bloom” at Anne Arundel Medical Center’s Geaton and Jo Ann DeCesaris Cancer Institute’s Cancer Survivors Day celebration. With over 400 cancer survivors, their supporters and medical professionals in the audience, “laughter was the best medicine”. Conor Cunneen through the Gift of GAB, Irish wit, wisdom as a two time cancer survivor and as a gifted inspirational speaker, had them laughing for joy and longing for more.
We highly recommend Conor to inspire, delight, educate and entertain your organization regardless of the type of audience.
Cathy Brady-Copertino Executive Director