Speaker of the day: Paul Fontaine — Leadership and Management

Paul Fontaine – Inspiring Adventurer & Professional Speaker | The Living Embodiment of Joyful Resilience

Paul Fontaine is a certified professional speaker (AFCP), a committed adventurer, and a true everyday hero. Afflicted with cystic fibrosis and having only 55% lung capacity, he pushes back every day against the limits the disease tries to impose on him.

His athletic journey is astonishing: marathons, ascent of Mont Blanc, Mount Kilimanjaro, solo crossing of the Alps (620 km, 40,000 m of positive elevation gain), mountain races, trails, and participation in seven TEDx conferences. In May 2024, he will proudly carry the Olympic Flame in Sète.

But beyond the physical feats, Paul conveys a message of life, hope, and Love. On stage as in life, he embodies a joyful resilience, fiercely optimistic, touching, and contagious.

His authenticity, raw energy, and spontaneity move audiences. He describes himself as an "uncompromising Care Bear": gentle and luminous, yet impactful and unfiltered when it comes to awakening everyone's inner power.

🏆 Notable Achievements

• 🎖️ Finisher of multiple marathons and trails despite reduced respiratory capacity

• 🏔️ Ascent of Mont Blanc (4,810 m) and Kilimanjaro (5,895 m)

• 🥾 Self-sufficient crossing of the Alps (Thonon-les-Bains to Nice)

• 🎙️ Speaker at 7 TEDx events (La Rochelle, Toulouse, Montpellier, Lyon…)

• 🧠 Certified coach in motivational neuroscience (INA Paris)

• 🌍 Patron of IMOCA V&B-Mayenne – Skipper Maxime Sorel

• 🌟 Voted best speaker at Audacity Day

• 🎤 Regular speaker at companies, seminars, conferences, schools, sporting events

Language spoken by the speaker:

• French

🧭 Themes & Areas of Expertise

• Resilience & self-transcendence

• Motivation & personal development

• Meaning, hope, values & quest for meaning

• Inclusion & disability

• Well-being & Quality of Life at Work (QWL)

• Personal & collective transformation

• Audacity, empowerment & optimism

• Team cohesion & human leadership

Paul Fontaine's interventions leave a lasting impression. Every word is embodied, every punchline springs from lived experience. He transforms vulnerability into strength, illness into a driving force, and doubt into audacity.

What makes his conferences unforgettable:

💥 Exceptional stage energy: he speaks with his gut and his heart. Laughter, tears, thrills guaranteed.
💡 Power of the message: "Love & Action" is his credo. He reconnects us to the essential.
🎯 Lasting emotional impact: he captivates you with his gaze, pierces you with his voice, transforms you through your soul.
🌱 A profoundly human speaker: no pathos, but a vibrant intensity of hope, commitment, and love for life.