Alan Burchell - The Power of Plants

What Event Planners Can Expect

When you hire Alan Burchell, you are not just hiring a keynote speaker. You are gaining a true event partner who will make your job easier and your event shine.

From the very first conversation, Alan approaches every engagement with the professionalism and precision of an engineer and the charisma of an experienced presenter. He understands that for event organizers, reliability, clarity, and communication matter just as much as stage presence.

Here is what you can expect when you book Alan:

Exceptional Communication and Coordination: Alan proactively connects with event planners well in advance of the event to confirm logistics, timing, and technical details. He schedules time to discuss your event goals, audience profile, session format, and desired outcomes so that the presentation aligns perfectly with your vision.

Customized Content: Every audience is different, and Alan tailors his keynote to resonate with yours. Whether speaking to HR leaders, architects, sustainability professionals, or corporate teams, he integrates relevant case studies, visuals, and industry examples to ensure each talk feels uniquely crafted for your event.

Dependability and Professionalism: Punctuality is nonnegotiable. Alan arrives early, fully prepared, and ready to adapt to the flow of your event. He communicates clearly with stage managers, A/V teams, and staff, ensuring flawless transitions and zero stress for your production crew.

Technical Preparedness: Alan brings all his own presentation backups (USB, cloud, PDF, and slides) and always performs a pre-event tech check with your A/V team. He ensures compatibility with your system and rehearses on-site to fine-tune lighting, audio, and visuals so everything runs seamlessly.

No Surprises, No Stress: As a former project manager and consultant, Alan is meticulous with details. You can count on him to deliver exactly what he promises, exceed expectations, and make you look great in front of your leadership team and audience.

Engagement Beyond the Stage: Alan is happy to participate in pre-event promotions, interviews, or panel discussions, and often stays afterward for Q&A, networking, or media opportunities. His approachable demeanor makes him a favorite among attendees and organizers alike.

Post-Event Collaboration: After the talk, Alan can provide follow-up resources, share key takeaways for internal recaps, and contribute to event highlight materials or sustainability-focused content if requested.

In short, when you hire Alan, you can relax and focus on your audience because he has everything else covered.

What Audiences Can Expect

When Alan takes the stage, audiences quickly see that this is no ordinary sustainability talk. Through his keynote “The Power of Plants,” he reveals the hidden potential of vegetation to transform workplaces, buildings, and cities not just for aesthetics, but for performance, health, and innovation.

Alan combines vivid imagery, data-driven insights, and engaging storytelling to show how reconnecting people with nature can:

- Boost team performance, creativity, and focus

- Improve mental and physical health in indoor environments

- Reduce building energy costs and increase asset value

- Strengthen community resilience against climate change

- Inspire new ways of designing products, spaces, and systems

Each presentation is energetic, visual, and interactive. Alan uses real project imagery from Urbanstrong installations, audience participation, and humor drawn from his background in improv comedy to keep people laughing while learning.

He bridges science, design, and human experience, showing how plants are not just decoration but living technology that can solve modern problems of wellness, productivity, and climate resilience. His storytelling transforms abstract sustainability principles into actionable inspiration that attendees can bring back to their offices, cities, and communities.

Audiences leave feeling:

- Educated about the measurable impact of biophilic and regenerative design

- Inspired to implement positive change in their buildings, workplaces, and policies

- Energized to think differently about sustainability as both a moral and business opportunity

- Connected to a shared vision of greener, healthier, more resilient cities

Alan’s talks are equally at home on corporate stages, architecture expos, HR conferences, sustainability summits, and leadership retreats. Whether he is speaking to 50 people or 1,000, he brings authenticity, humor, and hope to every room.

“I believe in the power of plants to improve our buildings, companies and communities.” — Alan Burchell

Optional Add-On or Speaker Deliverables

For event planners who want even more value, Alan can also provide:

- Branded “Power of Plants” resource sheets for attendees (digital or printed)

- Follow-up breakout sessions for smaller leadership or design teams

- Media interviews or video clips to help promote your event

- On-site sustainability walk-throughs or consultations for venues looking to showcase their own green efforts

Summary
Event planners love working with Alan because he is organized, responsive, and fully invested in making their event a success. Audiences love him because he is authentic, inspiring, and easy to relate to.

With Alan, you are not just booking a talk. You are creating an experience that bridges nature, business, and human performance in a way your audience will remember long after the event ends.

Alan Burchell is the Principal of Brooklyn-based award-winning green building consultancy and design-build firm Urbanstrong, where he helps companies, real estate developers and communities harness the power of plants to improve the performance of their teams, buildings, and cities. A professional engineer, LEED-AP, and Green Roof Professional, Alan has spent more than a decade transforming rooftops and walls across North America into living, breathing ecosystems that deliver measurable returns in wellness, resilience, and profitability.

Through his keynote “The Power of Plants,” Alan reveals how vegetation can be leveraged as technology — to strengthen mental and physical health, enhance productivity, reduce operational costs, and make our buildings and cities more resilient to climate change. His talks bridge science, design, and storytelling, showing how nature can inspire better teams, products, and systems.

Alan is also the co-founder of The NYC Agriculture Collective, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit advancing urban farming and local food systems. He has spoken at the United Nations, appeared on MSNBC, trained architects and engineers, advised municipal governments, and provided expert testimony on sustainable development.

Drawing from work and travel on all seven continents — and from his training in improv and stand-up comedy — Alan blends technical expertise with humor and humanity, leaving audiences informed, inspired, and motivated to act.

“I believe in the power of plants to improve our buildings, companies and communities.”