Ilja's customer fans
A selection of testimonials and references
Karim Rached Project Director, Europe Finance / Marriott Hotels International
"We were all delighted with Ilja – his keynote address/speech was 'on point' and exactly what we were looking for. His 'change message' was easy to understand for our multi-cultural audience, delivered with good humor and self-deprecation – the attendees loved it! We particularly appreciated that he took time afterwards and made a real effort to connect with our delegates during breaks and meals for the rest of the day. From first contact, he was easy to work with and his preparation was immaculate, he worked seamlessly with our conference production company and was generally very easy to get along with – a very likeable individual with a good, positive and constructive message. Just what we'd been looking for!"
Andreas Spiess, Vice President Business Management I Kao Salon Division - Global Goldwell I KMS
"Best in class" - is the only way to express the excellence of Ilja's presentation during our 2019 Kick Off Conference. With his down-to-earth style and presence he reached the hearts and minds of the members of our diverse multi-cultural organization to see change as an opportunity. "Oh Yeah" was authentic, inspirational and memorable. It was easy to understand and follow his positive, energetic, very professional and also entertaining speech. This paved the way for one of the best kick-off conferences we have held for our Global Salon Business Organization and ignited the positive mindset for the way we will experience change in the future. The positive feedback was overwhelming – big thanks to you Ilja.
Emilia Grover, Head of Human Resources Development | WWK Insurance
Dear Mr. Grzeskowitz, Finally, I would like to thank you very much for the wonderful presentation!! I'm fortunate to be able to get a lot of positive feedback. Many colleagues have already approached me to tell me that they found your lecture really great, rousing, motivating, inspiring and encouraging to finally tackle a topic.
Bettina Höner Head of Marketing / EK/servicegroup
Thank you very much for your amazing presentation at this year's Entrepreneurs' Congress. You greatly enriched the event and we received a lot of positive feedback on your presentation! You managed to captivate the audience with energy and humour - everyone could take something away for themselves.
Jacek Dudkiewicz International Business Development / Rhenus Logistics AG and Co. KG
Your presentation was great stuff!
Theodor Micklinghoff Head of Sales for Major Customers / Telekom Deutschland GmbH
Changes start in the mind. For ninety very inspiring minutes, Ilja Grzeskowitz has shown us, how to create the necessary mindset
Bernd Eckl Executive Vice President Sales, Marketing, Business Development & Corporate Communications / Getrag International GmbH
Change – it´s the attitude that decides if we succeed or not. Thank you for the inspiring presentation!
Roger Muhr & Martina Merki Head of Marketing / BMW Financial Services Switzerland
We were able to win Ilja Grzeskowitz as a keynote speaker for our BMW Financial Services dealer event and were very satisfied with our choice. Working with Mr. Grzeskowitz was very professional and extremely pleasant right from the start. In addition to the topic of change management, he also dealt with our industry-specific topics in the best possible way. Mr. Grzeskowitz inspired and moved our guests with an exciting presentation, whereby the humour was not neglected. We would like to thank Ilja Grzeskowitz for his valuable and stimulating contribution to our event and can highly recommend him. Dear Ilja, we wish you continued success and joy in your work. Thank you again for your presence and commitment at our event.
Reinhard Peter Managing Director / Top 250 conference hotels / re|pe|con
The hotel industry is facing lots of changes. Therefore, the keynote speech from Ilja Grzeskowitz was the perfect ending of our conference. Every single attendee got lots of new ideas, specific tools and the courage to implement them as well.
Klaus Ullmann Head of Sales Promotion / Raiffeisenbank Oberösterreich AG
Ilja rocked our team right after lunch, on the hottest day of the year. Making change happen, that was the theme of his talk in front of our 250 leaders, and he inspired them all with his insightful speech about the 4 C´s of change. A very valuable preparation for the upcoming challenges of the future, and he even provided the necessary tools to master them. Awesome!
Thomas Dold Managing Director / Dymatrix Consulting Group
OhYeah! That's our reaction after choosing Ilja Grzeskowitz as the closing keynote speaker for our Summit 2016. The feedback of the audience was great. At the end of our first day of the conference, he managed to energise our guests once again and, above all, to set new impulses. The feedback from our guests was consistently positive.”
Thomas Dold Managing Director / Dymatrix Consulting Group
Your presentation was perfect for or conference. You gave the audience lot of valuable ideas and specific steps on how to implement them. Very usable for our partners.
Hanns-Peter Winfeder Chairman / Entrepreneurs' Association Mülheim Economy
Thanks for the passionate keynote speech. Ilja Grzeskowitz's messages left a noticeable impression, and we can take a lot from it for ourselves and our company.
Sabine Konradi Segment Marketing Manager / HIMA Paul Hildebrandt GmbH
Our audience loved you. Thank you very much for your outstanding keynote speech and the amazing show!!!
Rolf Plessing Manager Service Engineering Construction / Daimler AG
Change Management. Ilja nailed the topic on the head, inspired the team and inspired everyone with great style, humor and storytelling. Until next time…!"
Elisabeth Tanke Sugimoto Senior Manager Culture, Change & Talent Management / SWISS International Air Lines Ltd.
“Thanks, Ilja, for sharing your passion for change as a chance to go beyond our self-created limitations. You touched and encouraged our SWISS audience with your witty life and business anecdotes. Audience reviews stated it was the best event of this kind ever!”
Taric Karroum Human Resources / Procter & Gamble
Your presentation was great! I'm a big fan of yours!
dr Heike Schiffler Management / Tetra Pak GmbH & Co KG
“You know what change is all about, when you listen to the real life experiences of this great keynote speaker. To hear Ilja Grzeskowitz speak energizes and inspires.
Jürgen Roßberg Chief Finance President / Chief Finance Directorate Hesse
With his authentic and energetic keynote speech, Ilja Grzeskowitz has challenged our leaders to think different, make a change and use the new tools in the daily business: Leave their comfort zone, take a changece and be a role model Oh Yeah!
FH Prof. Dipl.-Ing. dr technical Börge Kummert Deputy Head of Innovation Management / Campus02 Graz
Dear Ilja, thank you once again for your magnificent keynote speech. The feedback from our 500 guests is overwhelming.
Stephan Dayß Specialist / SV Sparkassenversicherung
Mr. Grzeskowitz is an extremely professional, likeable and authentic speaker. With his unique style, he is able to get the attention of everyone right from the start. His content is deep, and he speaks with a lot of expertise. Thank you for an outstanding speech!
dr Axel Breitbach Managing Director | KFW IPEX Bank
Ilja supported our internal management conference with his keynote speech on acting in times of uncertainty. He did a great job. Not only his insights were very informative and inspirational but also the way he presented was captivating and highly entertaining. We had many very positive feedbacks from the participating management.
Kai Kowalewsky Director Materials Management / BITZER Kühlmaschinenbau GmbH
Thank you for your great contribution to the topic of change at our international meeting. Your keynote was very refreshing and so entertaining that the hour flew by. With your vividly presented content, you were able to set new impulses and inspire us to rethink our perspective on changes. In short - the feedback was excellent - you left a lasting impression.
Christian Repnik Managing Director / SIP Personalservice GmbH, Graz Austria
With a lot of charm and in a cool, modern way, Ilja Grzeskowitz managed to work out the importance of a positive attitude with our team in a very short time. We are excited!
Jörg Barth CD Capability Manager DA-CH / Unilever Food Solutions
Iljas keynote was inspiring and entertaining. With his likable personality he wow´ed the audience from the very first minute and his key messages were on point
Phillipp Pohoralek, Country Manager Germany, neuraxpharm
Ilja's presentation at our kick-off was great! He integrated the previous presentations excellently and inspired and motivated the team even more. I look forward to many more events with his support.
Franz-Josef Scherl, Niederlassungsleiter Bayern / Telekom Deutschland GmbH
“Ilja explained the topic of “change” and how to deal with it very clearly and in a way that everyone could understand. If you didn't enjoy the changes, it's your own fault. Ilja not only makes it very practical, but also super exciting and entertaining with his style and examples. A tip for anyone who either enjoys change or is afraid of it.”
Boris Winkelmann, CEO DPD Group
Oh yes! Your inspiring and encouraging words were a highlight at our management conference.
Ahmed Zakaria, Software Engineer / SAP
Ilja's talk on "Change and Transformation" during SAP S/4HANA cloud day 2020 was exceptional. I personally found it the highlight of the event. Ilja is not really your typical motivational speaker, he wasn't just promoting the benefits of change but he brought us tactics and clever approaches to hack our minds and be on the track to become the best version of ourselves. Thank you for being authentic, to the point, and impactful.
Katja Dietrich, Event Marketing Manager / CANCOM GmbH
Ilja added lots of value to our conference and he nailed it with his closing keynote speech. He was the perfect choice as a speaker. Because of his content, but even more for his personality.
René Kruk, Managing Director / Festool Germany GmbH
Mr. Grzeskowitz won our sales team with his personal and down to earth attitude. His speech inspired everybody to want to be a part of the change.
Sonja Bongers, Executive Assistant, Jagenberg Group
Initial restrained interest, coupled with a good portion of curiosity on the part of our management team, very quickly turned into great euphoria (according to the German dictionary Duden, a temporary overly cheerful and confident mood, high spirits, state of optimistic enthusiasm, intoxicatingly heightened exuberant feeling). Many thanks for that Ilya! We took away quite a lot from your inspiring talk."
Nicole Lichius Head of Communication/CSR / Pernod Ricard Germany
Many thanks to Ilja Grzeskowitz. A big thank you to Ilja Grzeskowitz. He kicked of our annual management conference with his keynote speech, and the feedback was great. He was easy to work with and brought a lot of value for every participant.
Armin Schneider-Lenhof / Head of Marketing KUMAVISION AG
With his likeable manner, practical examples and personal stories, Ilja easily manages to captivate the audience, make them think, boost their motivation and elicit loud shouts of "Au Ja". Ilja's presentation was the highlight of our customer event! We are already looking forward to seeing you again soon.
Sonia Wedell-Castellano, Sales Director / Deutsche Messe AG
It was a lot of fun working with Mr. Grzeskowitz. Thank you very much for the inspiring and outstanding Keynote Speech. Mr. Grzeskowitz has inspired us with his charming and very likeable personality. With real life storytelling, heart and humour, he showed us how to be able to deal with change. A great speaker who we are very pleased to recommend.
Jürgen Herrmann, Managing Director Marketing / Ritter Sport
Ilja Grzeskowitz teaches change like no one else. How? So that you can't wait to take action, because it's fun. And why? Because it is fun! His speech was full of great content and highly emotional. Thank you, our team is ready.
Tanja Günther, Head of Internal Consulting / Kelvion GmbH
It was simply amazing. Ilja didn't just give a keynote speech, but managed to transport the message of change with simple and relevant examples. He highly customized his content, and everybody in the audience felt how easy dealing with change can be. Everyone got the message that change is a choice we need to make. Every single day. He energised the room, and sometimes you could hear a needle drop. He was highly entertaining and was able to “get” everyone in the room: Americans, Chinese and the Europeans. He also did not hide the pitfalls in the "change process" and the fact that courage and willingness to take risks are also part of it; so not everything is always SIMPLE. The buzzer and the slogan "Oh yeah!" are as SIMPLE as they are powerful and made us feel that anything is possible if everyone just said yes, I want this! His personal experiences helped us to realize that CHANGE can become a personal roller coaster.
Claudia Bellanti, City of Iphofen Tourism/Culture/Economic Development/Sport
Ilja's presentation at our wine tourism symposium was exactly the right speaker at the right place at the right time. Many listeners have been gratefully shaken up after the long Corona break and, with his help, have shed their fear of change. With a spirited AuJa! we Franconian wine tourism stakeholders will continue motivated. His words are still resonating in people's minds a few days later, and the fresh and amusing rhetoric provided the appropriate impetus. Many thanks for this!
Melanie Achhammer Head of Marketing / Fischer Automobile Amberg
Mr. Grzeskowitz's keynote speech was very inspiring, practical and had just the right dose of humour. Many colleagues are still talking about it today! He left a lasting impression.
Christin Kohnke, HR Director / Nespresso Germany GmbH
Ilja Grzeskowitz was just great as our keynote speaker. We have received consistently positive feedback. He left a lasting impression.
Erich Aschenbrenner Deputy Chairman of the Board / GeVaS Gesellschaft für Vermögensbildung und Sicherheit AG
Dear Ilja, we´d like to say THANK YOU for your inspiring keynote speech and so many valuable impulses at our kick-off event. It was a great way into start the new year!
Beate Rosenfeld PRIMEPULSE SE / Head of Group Brand & Communication
Ilja's keynote at our General Management Meeting exceeded all expectations. His personal and casual style makes his presentations inspiring and motivating.
Anne Magritz Personnel Manager Ambau Personnel Service
We would like to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the engaging keynote speech yesterday. You moved us deeply with your words and your presentation. You were just as real and authentic in our briefing call as you were in your inspiring keynote speech. Your presentation was valuable, transported the right messages and suited the audience perfectly. You adapted your words individually to our topic "Team game - nobody wins alone!" and repeatedly made reference to AMBAU PS and the needs of our customers. The customers were just as enthusiastic as our team was. Our customers spoke of an "extreme enrichment for private and professional life", "consciously want to focus on new opportunities" and took many positive thoughts home with them. Colleagues and customers were infected by your passion. They were all inspired and spread the feeling of wanting to change something and to be braver, to question themselves. We thank you for your refreshing words, the important messages and the lasting impression you left on many of us.
Chris Popp, Director of Sales & Marketing / Diequa Corporation, Chicago, IL. USA
Making changes happen is never easy. However, after following Mr. Grzeskowitz's change formula, it definitely became doable. It was worth traveling so far to hear his presentation. It's made a big impact on how I look at my situation.
Anke Kotkamp, German Savings Banks and Giro Association / Project Manager digitally design promotional loan processes
Mr. Grzeskowitz's keynote speech was both inspiring and practical and very appropriate for the closing of our conference. He quickly built rapport with our board members and inspired them to lead the change and actively shape the future.
Martin Skoda, Head Medical Science Liaison / Biogen GmbH
Ilja´s keynote speech was outstanding and everybody felt inspired and valued the authenticity. We especially loved the fact, that Ilja customized his speech with all our wished from the pre-event briefing, and even used some of the content other speakers of the day were talking about. To sum it up: It was a brilliant speech and we already asked him to come back for another one.
Franziska Wagner, Project Manager Events / German MTM Association
OhYeah! Great speech. Our guests were raving about it!
Daniela Engel Editor / Konradin Media Group
The keynote speech by Ilja Grzeskowitz was very well received by the participants of the entrepreneur forum. The feedback was consistently positive.
Thomas Harlander, Manager / Capgemini Inventory
I had the chance to book Ilja for a customer's keynote, in short: super inspiring keynote, with wit and charm from an extraordinary speaker! Ilja is highly professional and knows what he is talking about and how to wow his audience. However, he is by no means aloof or instructive and hit the nerve of the participants with his keynote. I am delighted and I highly recommend Ilja. I'm definitely looking forward to the next keynote.
Berthold Gassmann Chairman of the Board / Dagema eG
Your keynote speech was on point and fitted our general theme perfectly. It was humorous and yet very convincing. You got to the point and made many entrepreneurs think and hopefully take action. In short: your presentation was great and deserved great applause. Kudos!
A. Yekta Kolemenoglu President / Neta Ltd., Istanbul Turkey
Thank you for your excellent speech. The presentation and the content were great and it was never boring, but very entertaining. After turning back to Turkey, the first thing I did was to show my team the notes I took during your keynote. Your ideas are very valuable in a market that changes rapidly.
Kim Müller, Head of Corporate Communications, E.ON Grid Solutions
"We laughed a lot, were surprised 'oh, really?!' and said 'Au Ja' again and again. Ilja's lecture and workshop sessions gave us new thoughts and courage to think and tackle things differently. Ilya brought a lot of energy to our conference."
Christine Heimes, Manager Global Service and Parts Operations / Daimler AG / Global Service Training
“We were all excited! The lecture was very relaxed, suitable for the audience, very descriptive and with a message that was very important to us. During the following days there was always a lot of discussion from the day before. We're all still in the #oh yeah! – mode! And that's exactly what we wanted to experience together. Many thanks to Mr. Grzeskowitz for that.”
Rafael Hafen, Account Manager / Roche Diagnostics Schweiz
We had the pleasure of welcoming Ilja Grzeskowitz as a key note speaker at our internal Roche Diagnostics (Switzerland) AG company event. His demeanor is professional, very affable and courteous. He got on really well with the entire event staff and did everything he could to ensure that his contribution was a success. The topic of the lecture was transformation. Ilja treated the topic in a very entertaining, eloquent and unusual way in his lecture. The audience not only hung on his every word as if captivated, but also took the core statements beyond the event into everyday life. The organizing team only received positive feedback on their appearance. I can highly recommend Ilja Grzeskowitz as a speaker. His performances are a unique experience.
Michaela Staudenmayer, Volksbank Göppingen eG / Marketing & Kommunikation
"Ilja Grzeskowitz was a guest speaker at our kick-off event for the digitization offensive. His lecture was very impressive, emotional, supported by strong images and stories. He was able to captivate our employees right from the start and take them along on the path of change. He will stay in our memories for a long time because of his charm and his wit."
Alexander Lapp, Manager Strategy & Processes Asia Pacific / Lapp Holding
Dear Ilja, thank you again for the energetic, refreshing and exciting keynote! A lot of our colleagues have been talking about TNT and #OhYeah all the time since the weekend - we're so happy to see how much you've all motivated us.
Markus National Sales Manager / abbvie Germany GmbH
Bold & entertaining speech on the subject of change with many examples that will stay in people's minds for a long time - Oh Yeah!
Matthias Reinig, Head of Corporate Communications / Takeda Pharma GmbH
The keynote was brilliant in terms of content and rhetoric.
Dirk Hoffmann Management Spokesman / LBS Saar
There are people who talk a lot. And there are people who really have something to say. You, Mr. Grzeskowitz, belong to the second category.
Frank Moritz German Pension Insurance Berlin-Brandenburg / Deputy Public Relations
Our management team loved your keynote speech. An inspiring hour that challenged us to look into the mirror and explained how to approach change processes and how to master the associated challenges.
The entire team CRO area / HSH Nordbank AG
Change is the new normal! With this sentence and very practical insights, Mr. Grzeskowitz hit the right tone for our situation and gave us new impulses for our everyday work in a humorous way.
Ronja Nunn Events & Congresses | Straumann Group
Great praise and an even bigger thank you for Ilja's presentation at our sales conference. It was a huge success and the audience had a lot of fun!!!
Ines Massih-Richter Head of Business Services | Investment and marketing company Saxony-Anhalt mbH
Dear Ilja, a very, very big thank you for your really important and great contribution to our Entrepreneur Day. Your presentation was refreshing, gave courage and made us want to change. Thank you very much for that!
Dr. Christof Schumacher, Chairman of the Information & Consulting Division / WKO Upper Austria
The FORUM IC 2018 was a great success. Your motivating and contentwise outstanding speech was awesome. Big thanks for being our Keynote Speaker.
Nadine Paschke, Customer Program Manager / Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH
Iljas engaging keynote speech has inspired our guests at the Paperworld Assistant Day. Great speech!
Reinhard Kleber, Head of Bavaria / Hypovereinsbank / Unicredit
Of course, our feedback comes in the form of the 4 W's: Moving forward - everyone was able to take a lot with them for their life - fitted in very well with the current situation. World class - your lecture inspired us very much and convinced us with its lively nature. Valuable - thought provoking. Important - to have your external view of the event and to explain things using simple examples.
Dr. Ralf Dingeldein Managing Partner / Willenbrock|Linde Group
Dear Mr. Grzeskowitz: Great speech! That was a great presentation you gave today at #Willenbrock on the occasion of our annual kick-off "We are Sales!". It was very motivating and inspiring, the team is ready!!!
Martin Kleindl, Head of Management Secretariat / Sparkasse Ingolstadt
Ilja Grzeskowitz embodies the new speaker generation without airs and graces. He inspires his audience with his relaxed manner and his clear and understandable speech. He knows how to work out important topics and put them in focus. focus on the needs of his customer. Listening to him transforms the fear of change into a wanting desire to chase for the huge opportunities out there.
Günther Probst, Managing Director / Schmachtl GmbH, Austria
Your presentation was extremely valuable to me and helped me to recall the key points in the opportunity management process and the need to motivate employees that goes along with it.
Christin Müller, Sales Manager / Schloss Basthorst
Thank you for the great evening. Ilja Grzeskowitz was a TOP choice as a speaker!
Michael Papenberg Head of Sales / Provincial Rheinland Versicherung AG
Ilja Grzeskowitz provided important impulses at our sales conference with his lively, authentic presentation: Changes. Conference Speaker who makes a Difference! Compliments and many thanks.
Siegfried Fruehwirth, Managing Director / Gemba Austria
Mr. Grzeskowitz, we would like to thank you for your great contribution. It enriched our day immensely.
Dennis Jacobsen, Senior Manager / KF Andersen Leadership Academy
We were impressed with Mr. Grzeskowitz's strong combination of communication skills, leadership paired with extensive business experience and the high level of personal energy, motivational outlook towards individuals and the group, as well as his positive attitude.
Salwa Abboud, HR Manager/HRBP EMEA FTAP / PALL Corporation
“Dear Ilja, THANK YOU for your inspiring keynote speech. This was by far the best keynote. We were truly inspired and energized. Oh YEAH! Again, big thanks, it was awesome!
Julia Hauser Marketing Specialist / Allegion
The audience at our customer day was completely enthusiastic about the presentation. Great entertainment. Perfect time management. Competently improvised when the technology went on strike. Ilja Grzeskowitz conveyed the topic of change management in an informative and amusing way and gave the audience practical tips along the way.
Harm Van Tongeren Managing Director D/A/CH / Unilever Food Solutions
"Thank you very much for your refreshing, very inspiring and spirited presentation on January 19th at the DA-CH conference in the Audi Forum Neckarsulm. Not only the German team, but also the employees in Vienna and Thayngen, who were connected via video conference, were very impressed. Your message of getting involved in something new, i.e. choosing, daring something new and then sticking with it, i.e. repeating it, fitted perfectly and resonated with everyone.”
Kai Feige CEO / Jocoon GmbH
Ilja gave the participants of our event a lot to think about. Even many days after the lecture, #AUJA's could still be heard and there was a lot of talk about personal New York. Now it's time to ACTION! Thanks Ilja!
dr Jürgen Wigger Managing Partner / BEWITAL petfood GmbH & Co. KG
Ilja Grzeskowitz planted the change gene in the audience. Our 400 customers were enthusiastic about his stirring presentation! The mixture of valuable content and the entertaining presentation ensured that every single guest felt like making a change and was able to take concrete ideas for their business with them.
Edgar Hogervorst Sales Manager / VarioDrive Aandrijf, The Netherlands
It was a pleasure to hear your enthusiastic speech about change management.