Byron Waller, Keynote Speaker
A teenager who flew
around the world.
Now standing in your room
At fifteen, Byron Waller became the youngest pilot in history to fly around the world. He did it while living with Crohn's disease. His story turns a room silent in the first sixty seconds, then sends it home talking about what's possible.
A story your
audience hasn't
heard before
Most keynote speakers can tell you what they did. Byron can show you, on a wall-sized world map, the route he flew at fifteen years old in a single-engine aircraft across oceans, deserts and continents, while managing a chronic disease that nearly grounded him for life.
His talks are not motivational platitudes. They are specific, visual and built around a single message: capability is built one flight, one chapter, one hard decision at a time. Audiences leave with a framework, not a feeling.
He is one of the only public speakers in the world who can authentically address aviation, STEM education, chronic illness, teenage resilience and high-stakes decision-making in the same session.
Watch Byron hold a room at EAA AirVenture
EAA AirVenture · Forum Stage 10 · Oshkosh, Wisconsin
One minute of stage presence
Eight talks, one story
Patient to Pilot
The full arc. Diagnosis at fourteen, first flight, around-the-world flight at fifteen. A story about agency under conditions you did not choose.
The Flight Plan
A framework for breaking impossible goals into legs. How a teenager planned 39 country crossings, and what executives, students and founders can use tomorrow.
Wheels Up
A talk for children and teenagers about aviation as a real career, what learning to fly actually costs, and how to start. Adaptable to age group. Also available for university and young adult audiences who want to hear how a teenage dream became a world flight.
Flying with Crohn's
Living and performing with chronic illness. Honest, practical, and credible for healthcare audiences and advocacy events.
Go / No Go
The cockpit forces you to make binary decisions with imperfect information. Byron reframes the aviation go or no go call as a leadership model for knowing when to commit, when to pause, and when to turn back.
Flying into Headwinds
Weather, bureaucracy, mechanical issues and Crohn's flare-ups all tried to stop the flight. This talk is about how to keep momentum when every external signal says wait.
Mission Control
The public narrative focuses on the pilot, but the circumnavigation was built by parents, mentors, mechanics, sponsors and air traffic controllers. A talk about invisible support systems and the myth of doing it alone.
Flying with Purpose
From a world flight to a foundation: how Byron turned a personal milestone into a vehicle for charity, advocacy and the next generation of young people.
How Byron
shows up
30 to 45 minutes on stage with cinema-grade footage from the around-the-world flight. Walk-on music, branded backdrop, hand-held mic or lectern.
Moderated conversation up to 60 minutes. Ideal for awards nights, leadership offsites and donor events.
Half-day school program: assembly talk plus small-group session with aviation and STEM students. Aircraft fly-in available where airfield access permits.
For Australian events, Byron can discuss an optional aircraft-on-display activation, subject to location, airfield access, insurance and logistics.
30 to 45 minute remote keynote delivered from Brisbane studio with broadcast-quality audio and live Q&A.
Add-on for VIPs and sponsor guests. Photo line, signed copies of Byron's books on request.
Ask about adding the aircraft on display as part of the event experience.
Ideal for sponsor activations, aviation events, education programs and high-impact Australian keynote bookings.
Built for rooms that need to be moved
Let's put Byron
on your stage
Fees are scaled by audience size, geography and format. School and not-for-profit rates available. Travel and accommodation are billed at cost from Brisbane, Australia.