Ken Jennings

Greatest Jeopardy! Player of All Time, Jeopardy! Co-Host & Best-Selling Author

Ken Jennings

Greatest Jeopardy! Player of All Time, Jeopardy! Co-Host & Best-Selling Author

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Biography

When it comes to quiz shows, no one has done it better than Ken Jennings. The former Utah software engineer rose to fame in 2004 when he spent six months as a contestant on Jeopardy! His 75-game streak and $2.52 million in winnings are still Jeopardy! records today. In 2020, he was named the show's "Greatest of All Time" after winning a prime-time tournament against legendary champs James Holzhauer and Brad Rutter and earned an additional $1 million. In 2022, he signed on as a permanent co-host for the show with Mayim Bialik.

Jennings’ success as a Jeopardy! winner should come as no surprise. A native of Seattle, he spent 15 years in South Korea and Singapore. His father worked as an attorney there. The only lifeline to American pop culture at the time was the Armed Forces Network, where he watched Jeopardy! after school every afternoon. He dreamed of being on the show. But as life got busy, the fantasy faded away.

Jennings returned to the U.S. and while at Brigham Young University, he captained the university’s successful quiz bowl team and began writing and editing questions for National Academic Quiz Tournaments. He noticed a lot of his friends and acquaintances from the world of quiz bowl appearing on game shows—allowing them to pay off student loans or buy cars with their winnings. His long-ago dream of competing on Jeopardy! was revived. And in 2004 that fantasy became a reality.

In the wake of Jennings’ life-changing Jeopardy! reign, he appeared on TV shows from The Tonight Show to The Simpsons to Sesame Street. Barbara Walters named him one of the 10 most interesting people of the year. Jennings is the author of 13 books, including New York Times bestsellers like Maphead, about geography obsessives, and Because I Said So, debunking parenting myths, and his most recent, 100 Places to See After You Die: A Travel Guide to the Afterlife.

As a speaker, Jennings appears at college and corporate events nationwide, covering topics ranging from the importance of education to artificial intelligence (specifically his encounter with IBM’s Watson) to his love of geography—always sharing his insider stories from behind the scenes at Jeopardy!

Speaker Videos

TedTalk : Ken Jennings: Watson, Jeopardy and me, the obsolete know-it-all

WGU 2019 Salt Lake City Master's Commencement Address from Ken Jennings

Virtual Keynote: Winning When the Game Changes

Knowledge Is What Connects People

Defending Trivia

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Speech Topics

Adapt to Win: Lessons from the Greatest of All Time Jeopardy! Champion

How should organizations adapt to change, especially in a world like today's where the changes are so constant and dramatic? In 2020, Ken Jennings was invited back onto Jeopardy! for a "Greatest of All Time" tournament, but it was a very different quiz show from the one where he won 74 games in a row in 2004. Champions like “Jeopardy James” and the new strategies of Jeopardy!'s "moneyball" era changed the game from the ground up. Sharing backstage secrets of tactics and technology from America’s favorite quiz show, Ken shares what he learned about preparation, agility, fast adaptation, strategy and risk on the way to becoming the show's "GOAT."

Secrets of the Jeopardy! Champ: Backstage at America's Favorite Quiz Show

If you've ever sprawled on your couch and mumbled responses to Alex Trebek, you might have the idea that Jeopardy! is a fairly quiet, polite, mild-mannered game. Not so in the studio! Ken Jennings, Jeopardy!’s longest winning streak champion and Jeopardy! co-host, takes you backstage on the set of the famous game show and describes the overwhelming, exhausting experience of playing on the show—whether you're on for just one night or, like Ken, for six straight months. How do the buzzers work?  How many shows do they tape in a day? What's Alex like? All of Jeopardy!'s backstage secrets will be revealed.

Can You Beat the GOAT?: An Interactive Quiz Show Event with Ken Jennings

Set up your own trivia competition with Greatest of All Time Jeopardy! Champion Ken Jennings as your host or the ultimate contestant. It’s a crowd-pleasing tournament that can be tailored to your event’s message or mission. Perfect for corporate or college audiences or for charitable fundraisers.

And the Answer Is: Why Is It Better to Be a Generalist?

Question: This type of person brings wide-ranging knowledge to complex problems, can learn new information quickly and gives employers a competitive edge in an increasingly changing, ever-complex and increasingly AI-run world. In this entertaining and insightful talk, "Greatest of All Time" Jeopardy! player Ken Jennings celebrates the advantages of being a person who thinks outside of multiple boxes. Drawing upon his journey of lifelong learning that took him from being a computer scientist to being a bestselling author of books on multiple subjects, Ken celebrates the advantages of broad general knowledge in an increasingly specialized world. He also provides insights on how being a culturally literate, knowledgeable generalist advances innovative thinking, creative problem-solving and improves decision-making and adaptability to change. This is a highly engaging and thought-provoking talk for a range of audiences, especially Jeopardy! fans.

Artificial Intelligence: Are Humans in Jeopardy?

In 2011, all-time Jeopardy! champ Ken Jennings took on his greatest challenge ever: Representing the human race against IBM’s “Watson,” the super-intelligent supercomputer specifically designed to beat the world’s best players at Jeopardy! When Watson won, Ken became the most celebrated person to lose his job to AI. He won’t be the last. In this fascinating talk, bestselling author and former computer programmer Jennings shares a behind-the-scenes account of his epic battle with Watson. He also poses important questions for anyone interested in—or, thanks to Hollywood, terrified by—the idea of increasingly sentient machines that can reason and learn.

Maphead: Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography Wonks

In April 2013, in the wake of Russia's annexation of the Crimea, a Washington Post poll found that only 1 in 6 Americans could find the Ukraine on a map, and the average guess was wrong by more than 1,800 miles. America's oft-reported struggle with geography is really a symptom of a wider problem: "ingraphicacy," a deep discomfort with spatial tasks and diagrams of all kinds. Maps have been behind some of the greatest achievements in human history, from Columbus' voyage to the birth of epidemiology to the Apollo moon landing. They are beautiful, elegant solutions to an age-old problem: how do we visualize the parts of our world we can't see right now? Is it too late for maps? In this keynote presentation, author and all-time Jeopardy! champ Ken Jennings takes us inside the past, present and future of maps, illuminating what they can teach us about our world and ourselves.

Testimonials

"It was a life-changing experience getting to work with Ken Jennings. His talk was fascinating and insightful and he is so charismatic, making the crowd laugh many times. Everyone at APB was so helpful throughout the process, making sure we were well informed and prepared leading up to the event. The team did such a great job working with all parties to make sure the event was a success!"

- Bryant University

"Just wanted to pop in and let you know that Ken Jennings was an absolute GRAND SLAM. He was engaging, interesting—fantastic talk, crowd just LOVED him. He’s everything we hoped he would be and more. The mix of humor, info about the show, the defense of trivia, etc. was just terrific. What a great program."

- Shell

“Ken was the best speaker we’ve ever had for this event. To say that he was a hit is an understatement. Beyond his story being fascinating, his presentation style, delivery, and humor was perfection. Plus, he couldn’t have been any nicer of a person, that’s what I liked most. Following the session, social media was abuzz. I shared with him on the way out that his session was the best we’ve had."

- Northeastern University

"When it comes to a guest who clears the board, Ken Jennings is it. He was wonderfully kind and inquisitive with our students and alumni and delivered a message that has great power. It's very difficult in these divisive and sometimes toxic times to find a speaker who is able to bring people together with wisdom, humor and a celebration of something each of us has the ability to seize: the power of our minds and the importance of preparation, curiosity and lifelong learning. Andrew Walker and his APB team worked to help make a large event with a number of many moving pieces as easy and seamless as possible."

- DePauw University

"Thank you SO much for all the time and attention your team and Ken gave in order to create these segments. And thank you to Ken for being such a great sport during our game show! We really appreciate it! They turned out wonderfully and we’ve had great feedback from viewers!"

- Anaplan

“That was a blast. Thanks again for joining our crew for a special event earlier today. I know the group had a really fun time with you and it's not overlooked how much hearing from a legend like yourself can inspire and energize these CEOs.”

- FirstMark (Venture Capital)

“He did an amazing job in SLC, and we think he would be a hit in Seattle as well! Everyone absolutely loved him.”

- Western Governors University

"Ken Jennings was wonderful as the opening keynote speaker for our conference! His presentation was entertaining and his message about the value of being inquisitive was an important one for our audience. Ken was engaging to listen to, especially with his natural way of talking and telling stories and his presentation was a good reminder that we should continue to feed our curiosity."

- Global Learning

"Our group was really delighted with Ken and his presentation. Thank you so much for recommending him! Of course he was knowledgeable, but he was also entertaining and engaging. He was very skilled at understanding his audience. He was a huge hit!! We couldn't be more pleased."

- Fort Worth Lecture Foundation

"Ken was terrific! Very nice guy, excellent speaker, and our members were very positive with their comments."

- Executive Director, Association of Corporate Counsel

"Ken absolutely killed it! The audience was raving about him afterward and the presentation went off without a hitch. Please send our sincere thanks for his time and participation. Thanks so much for your help facilitating once again!"

- Marketing Manager, AOL Networks

"The event went very well. Everyone was engaged, asked a lot of questions during the question and answer period, and bought one of Ken's books to get signed. All in all it was a great event! Thank you for helping me find such a wonderful academic speaker!"

- Vice President, University of Lethbridge

"The Ken Jennings lecture was absolutely fantastic. We had great attendance, and everyone walked away from the lecture thrilled. I also wanted to say that both your office & Ken himself were extremely easy to work with. Thanks!"

- Student Activities Office, University of Michigan-Dearborn

"The whole evening went great! Ken was very accommodating and interesting to the audience. Thanks for all of your assistance!"

- Director of Student Activities, Eureka College