Andrea Jones-Rooy
5 Techniques to Make the Most of Your People Data
Andrea Jones-Rooy
Keynote Speaker
Founder, The Data Thinking Revolution
“I believe everyone in the world can – and should – learn to think like a data scientist. Our ability to make humanity-saving discoveries depends on it.” – Andrea Jones-Rooy
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Andrea Jones-Rooy'S SPEAKING FEE Under $25,000
You’ve never seen a speaker quite like Andrea Jones-Rooy. As a data scientist with a focus on the role of creativity and imagination in making discoveries – who also happens to be a standup comedian – prepare yourselves for a keynote talk that is as much inspiring and energizing as it is informative and perspective-shifting.
Jones-Rooy’s key message is that data is all around us, and it’s very exciting, but we could be doing so much more with it. Currently, we tend to think of data science and AI as exclusively the domain of programmers, mathematicians, and engineers. We also tend to think of data as a source of answers. Instead, Jones-Rooy advocates that the lowest-hanging fruit for discovery are often at the intersection of technical skills and substantive expertise, and that we need more creatives, artists, practitioners, and subject matter experts involved in data science. And, data is much more useful when we think of it as a starting point for questions rather than an ending point.
If you’re looking to upskill your team in terms of data science or AI, kick off a digital or data-centric initiative, or bring together “tech” and “non-tech” branches of your organization, look no further for your next event than Andrea Jones-Rooy. She has a particular expertise in social and people data as well, so expect examples everyone can relate to from everyday life. She has spoken at organizations across a range of industries – from tech to healthcare to law to insurance, her message works across the board.
Jones-Rooy is the founder of The Data Thinking Revolution, an organization dedicated to bringing rigor, clarity of thought, and critical thinking to the wide world of data, analytics, and insights. She has worked for nearly ten years as a research consultant and speaker for organizations as diverse as Global Fortune 500s, to tech companies, to the UN on how to more thoughtfully, efficiently, and effectively use data to ask and answer questions they care about.
In addition, Jones-Rooy hosts Behind the Data, a podcast that is part of the Daily Tech News Show network, that uncovers the human stories, imagination, and creativity behind the datasets that power our lives. She also regularly contributes articles and makes appearances on outlets as diverse as Bloomberg, The Daily Tech News Show, Sirius XM, The Daily Beast, FiveThirtyEight, Quartz, and more. She’s sought out for her unique ability to get everyone excited about quantitative work, see how it affects their lives, and learn new ways we can all get involved – not just “math people” (a dangerous term, by the way).
Previously, Jones-Rooy was a professor and the Director of Undergraduate Studies at the NYU Center for Data Science, where she developed and taught their perpetually waitlisted flagship undergraduate course Data Science for Everyone to thousands of students. Her signature style of energy, passion, and curiosity have brought students from all majors across the university to her courses. She has also since created YouTube videos and an online accompanying text that highlight the key concepts from the course.
She holds a Ph.D. in political science with a focus on complex systems from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and has previously taught at NYU Shanghai and Carnegie Mellon University. She is also a standup comedian and circus performer who performs in New York’s top clubs and all over the world – so while her keynotes are of course professional and serious, you can definitely expect a little unforgettable je ne sais quoi sparkle as well.
Featured Videos
Andrea Jones-Rooy
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Andrea Jones-Rooy
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Andrea Jones-Rooy on the Impact of Social & Data Science on Diversity
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Andrea Jones-Rooy
5 Techniques to Make the Most of Your People Data
Andrea Jones-Rooy’s Speech Topics
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The Art and Science of Making Discoveries With Data (And Why Data Science Needs You!)
This is Andrea Jone Rooy’s most-requested topic, and for good reason. We currently have more data than we know what to do with, but we also constantly feel like we need more. How can we actually make sure we’re doing the most with our data and actually use it to learn more about the questions we care about? Jones-Rooy argues there are three ingredients to really making ground-shifting discoveries with data: science, art, and interdisciplinary collaboration. In this talk she shares concrete ways that all of us – regardless of our technical training – can and should get involved in data science and AI today.
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How (And Why) to Actually Think Outside the Box
Andrea Jones-Rooy’s most recent work is on the power of seemingly unrelated skills to spark innovation and discovery. As a standup comedian and circus performer who is also an accomplished data scientist, Jones-Rooy knows firsthand how powerful doing something else can be when it comes to solving complex and tricky problems we care about. In this high-energy, interactive talk, Jones-Rooy invites attendees to share their most unusual hobbies, interests, and jobs, and in real time weaves the group’s diverse experiences into a narrative of how these seemingly unrelated pursuits are actually helping them in their job – and why and how to harness their superpowers even more when it comes to solving problems, making discoveries, and adapting on the fly to a changing world.
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Make the Most of Artificial Intelligence (Even if You’re Afraid of It)
Artificial intelligence feels like it’s coming on fast and quickly changing everything. In some ways this is true, but in others, AI has been around for a long time. In this three-part interdisciplinary presentation, Andrea Jones-Rooy shares the surprising history of AI – including its long and rich roots in philosophy, cognition, and linguistics – and helps situate the current revolution in a broader quest to understand what makes us human. She then catches the audience up on the current conversations and state of the art of AI – what are the new things we can do now? What are the limitations? What’s exciting, and what’s making us nervous? Finally, she closes with concrete, hands-on tips for everyone, especially those new to AI or intimidated by it, to get involved in ways that are thoughtful, clarifying, and informative. This is a great presentation if your organization is starting its AI transformation and you want to build enthusiasm and awareness into your process and culture.
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How to Tell Compelling Stories With Data
If you’ve made a discovery with data but can’t communicate it with anyone – did you really make a discovery at all? A myth about data is that it’s dry and boring. In fact, data is a dynamic, changing, and endlessly fascinating potential subject for a great story – be it suspenseful, inspiring, wonder-invoking, or all of the above. In this talk, Andrea Jones-Rooy weaves in her best lessons from standup comedy and storytelling into a set of concrete techniques you can use to make your data come to life. Specifically, Jones-Rooy encourages you to tap into their own curiosity and imagination, be transparent about the strengths and limitations of the data, and invite audience members into your own journey of discovery. Plus, learn how to effectively wield jargon, graphs, and even equations in ways that invite people in to what you love about your data and the problems you’re working on, regardless of their technical expertise.
Andrea Jones-Rooy Topics & Types
- Business Speakers
- Business Growth & Trends Speakers
- Comedians
- Communication Speakers
- Corporate Culture Speakers
- Creativity Speakers
- Diversity & Inclusion Speakers
- Education Speakers
- Employee Engagement Speakers
- Entertaining Speakers
- Humorous Speakers
- Innovation Speakers
- Motivational Speakers
- Peak Performance Speakers
- Political Speakers
- Political Comedians & Satirists
- Productivity Speakers
- Professors
- Science Speakers
- Technology Speakers
- Thought-Provoking Speakers
- Virtual Speakers
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