--- title: "Michael Landsberg" description: "Book Michael Landsberg with K&M Productions for a keynote on mental health, resilience and workplace wellbeing for conferences, HR teams and leadership events." canonical: https://www.kmprod.com/speakers/speaker-michael-landsberg updated: 2026-08-10 16:59:52 --- # Michael Landsberg *Mental Health Keynote Speaker & Broadcaster; Founder, #SickNotWeak* ## Biography Michael Landsberg is a veteran Canadian broadcaster, prominent mental health conference speaker and advocate, and founder of the national charitable foundation #SickNotWeak. Landsberg joined *TSN* in 1984 and spent eighteen years as host of *Off the Record*, one of Canada's longest-running sports talk shows, from its 1997 debut to its 2015 finale. He later co-hosted TSN's *First Up* until 2021. Twice nominated for the Gemini Award for Best Host or Interviewer in a Sports Program or Sportscast, Landsberg served as Whistler Host for CTV's Olympic Daytime coverage during the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games and anchored TSN's Olympic Daytime during the 2012 London Games. In 2016, Landsberg founded *#SickNotWeak*, a Canadian charitable foundation dedicated to ending the stigma around mental illness. He is also a long-time ambassador for **Bell Let's Talk**, one of the country's leading mental health awareness initiatives. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he extended that work with *Isolation Nation*, a digital program addressing the mental health effects of social isolation. Today, Landsberg brings nearly four decades of broadcasting experience and firsthand advocacy work to corporate and conference stages, delivering keynotes that treat mental health as a leadership and workplace culture issue rather than a wellness add-on. ## Presentation Topics Michael Landsberg travels from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He offers several different mental health presentation formats including keynote presentations, fireside chats or moderated Q&A. ### Darkness and Hope: Depression, Sports, and Me Michael Landsberg was the charismatic and outspoken host of TSN's *Off the Record*—and from watching his show, you'd never guess that he has been battling mental illness and depression for most of his life. Lifting the stigma from this topic, Landsberg delivers a powerful and personal keynote on the dangerously misunderstood issues of depression and mental health. Depression can affect even the most successful of athletes—from Clara Hughes, one of the great amateur athletes in Canada, to four-time World Series winner Darryl Strawberry. Landsberg shares the story of his own battle with mental illness, as well as the unexplored stories of some of the world's most recognizable sports figures, to show us that recovery, strength and hope are possible in some of our darkest times. **Workshop & Interactive:** ### Off the Record Live and Customized for Your Audience Take the host of one of the most interesting and innovative shows ever produced in Canada. Add in your choice of audience members. Toss in some interesting questions and provocative issues, and what do you have? A session sure to create a buzz and be remembered with fondness long after your conference is over. In his live, customized version of his hit show, *Off The Record*, Michael Landsberg uses his skills as an interviewer and moderator to get a hand-picked group of your attendees on stage to discuss events of the day. Like only he can, Michael keeps things moving, injects a large dose of humour, and makes sure everyone—but especially, the audience—has a great time. *Off the Record Live* can be pure entertainment, or an innovative way to get across key messages and themes. You decide, and Michael can make it happen. ## About For eighteen years, Michael Landsberg built a career on getting other people to say the things they'd rather not say out loud. Then he turned the question on himself. In 2013, he made a documentary about it. Darkness and Hope: Depression, Sports, and Me put Landsberg's own struggle on screen alongside interviews with elite athletes carrying the same weight in silence — the film went on to earn a Canadian Screen Award nomination, and Landsberg was personally recognized with the organization's Humanitarian Award. The Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health later named him a Champion of Mental Health, not for talking about depression from a distance, but for refusing to. That refusal is still the engine behind every keynote he delivers. Landsberg doesn't present mental health as a topic to be managed with the right corporate language — he treats it as a conversation most rooms are afraid to start, and he starts it for them. Audiences don't leave with a wellness checklist. They leave having watched someone with everything to lose choose honesty anyway, and having quietly decided they might be able to do the same. ## Expertise - **Mental health advocacy & stigma reduction** is Landsberg's core keynote focus — drawing on his own decades-long experience with depression to give audiences language and permission to talk about what they've been taught to hide. - **Workplace mental health** is where Landsberg translates advocacy into organizational practice, helping leaders build cultures where employees can disclose struggles without fear of professional consequence. - **Vulnerability in leadership** draws on Landsberg's eighteen years interviewing high-pressure athletes and executives, showing audiences that openness — not stoicism — is what actually builds trust and resilience under pressure. - **Crisis communication and public disclosure** reflects Landsberg's own experience going public with a stigmatized diagnosis on national television, offering a rare first-person case study in managing personal risk while driving cultural change. - **Founder-level nonprofit leadership** — as founder of the charitable foundation #SickNotWeak, Landsberg speaks with direct experience building a mission-driven organization from a personal story into a national movement. ## What Clients Say > Unbelievably fantastic! We booked him for 3 events - he was THAT good. > > — Aecon (booked by K&M Productions) > Michael hit it out of the park! > > — MISA Ontario (Municipal Information Systems Assoc.)(booked by K&M Productions) ---