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AI keynote speaker, Kansas City
The room does not need another demo. It needs something it can use the same week.
Chris Kovac speaks on artificial intelligence (AI) to executive audiences, business groups and professional associations, in person and virtually. The aim of every session is the same: practical takeaways a room can start using immediately. Not theory, and nothing that only works in a demo.
The best thing an attendee can say afterward is that they got something that works in the real world and that they can use now.
More than twenty years on stage
Chris has spoken nationally for more than twenty years, on marketing, technology and return on investment long before AI arrived. He is a seasoned speaker who is now deep in AI, not an AI speaker who started in 2023.
Since 2023 he has delivered roughly forty Kansas City AI Club sessions, most of them to rooms of well over a hundred people. The largest room to date held 230 business owners and executives. Most sessions are built for CEOs and C-suites, business owners and leadership teams.
Governance and security first, then use cases
Most AI talks open with what the technology can do and leave the risks for the end, if they get there at all. Chris runs it the other way. Governance and security come first, because a room that understands the ground rules can actually act on what follows.
He also talks openly about the downsides: job displacement, environmental cost, hallucination. Roughly a quarter of any audience is skeptical about AI, and that skepticism gets acknowledged rather than argued with. Nothing about these sessions is pie in the sky.
No selling from the stage
Chris never sells from the stage. Not a soft pitch, not a closing slide, not a call to action disguised as a case study. At most there is a QR code linking to LinkedIn and one written line noting that kovac.ai does AI enablement work, never spoken aloud. A program chair books a speaker, not a sales presentation in front of the membership.
Every talk is built new
There is no stock keynote. AI moves quickly enough that a talk built six months ago is partly wrong by the time it is delivered, so every session is built for the specific audience and the current moment. An association of financial planners gets a financial planner build. Chris does not push back on a requested topic and turns down no AI-related subject.
How a session gets built
- An introductory conversation, no fee and no obligation
- A proposal, then a signed agreement
- A pre-discovery survey that shapes the discovery meeting
- A discovery meeting with the organizer
- An outline built collaboratively and sent for approval
The deck, sent in advance for approval in most cases
Two approval gates before anyone walks on stage. Organizers see the outline and, in most cases, the deck.
Keynotes and workshops are different work
A keynote inspires; a workshop informs. Keynotes run broad and are built to move a room. Workshops run hands-on with laptops open, covering the current AI landscape, what the major tools are actually good for, prompting from basics through advanced, and tested use cases the group works through in the session. Attendees leave with a best practice guide, and depending on the session a prompt worksheet and a list of major AI platforms mapped to the use cases they fit. Full detail is on the Training & Workshops page.
Formats
- In person and virtual, including virtual keynotes
- Keynotes, executive briefings, half-day and full-day workshops, panels and moderation
- Fees on inquiry
- Sessions for not-for-profit organizations are delivered without a fee
Selected credentials
- Co-founder and President, Kansas City AI Club
- Roughly forty Kansas City AI Club sessions delivered since 2023
- Largest room to date: 230 business owners and executives
- Panel moderator, artificial intelligence and human rights, Global Ties Kansas City, under the U.S. Department of State's International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP)
- Business Analytics Advisory Board and Marketing Advisory Council, Henry W. Bloch School of Management, University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC)
Common questions
What topics does Chris speak on?
Any AI topic an audience needs. Rather than working from a fixed talk, Chris builds each session around the theme the organizer brings and the room that will be in front of him.
Does he speak virtually?
Yes, including virtual keynotes. Most demand is still in person, and both formats get the same build process.
What does an audience leave with?
A counted set of practical takeaways, stated at the top of the session and delivered by the end, plus a best practice guide. Workshops add a prompt worksheet and a platform guide depending on length.
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