AI Is Transforming Speaker Development

... Are we teaching it?

Over the past few weeks, I’ve seen a shift—one that has quietly, but unmistakably, arrived in the world of speaker development.

It happened earlier this month at WEvolution, during Tim McNeely’s powerful fellowship graduation presentation: How to Train Your AI. As he walked us through how to customize and train AI to reflect our unique voice and message, the room became electric. Every attendee had their device out—testing prompts, refining answers, customizing their AI to help create meaningful content.

And again this past weekend, during a content creation course, we saw something similar: the audience wasn’t just learning—they were leading. Speakers were actively asking how to use AI to generate content, develop outlines, and accelerate their writing process.

This wasn’t casual curiosity.
It was momentum.
It was clarity.

Our speaker audiences are no longer on the sidelines of the AI conversation—they’re in it. Fully. And now the question becomes:

Are we, as coaches, trainers, and educators, prepared to guide them?

The Role of AI in Modern Content Creation

AI is no longer a novelty or a futuristic tool reserved for marketing teams and tech circles. It’s become a co-creator—when used intentionally, ethically, and strategically. And for content creators, especially speakers, it's a game changer.

Many of us have discovered that AI can:

• Learn our voice, tone, and positioning
• Reflect our frameworks and values
• Help us refine our message, structure our content, and repurpose material
• Streamline the heavy lift of early drafts and ideation

And yet, in many speaker development programs in 2025, AI is still treated as an optional mention—if it’s mentioned at all.

It’s time we evolve our teaching strategies.

Not because AI is replacing human creativity, but because it's amplifying it—and our students are already using it. They’re asking deeper questions, creating content faster, and expecting their coaches to understand how to integrate AI into content planning, speech writing, and messaging refinement.

Embracing the Shift—Together

This is not about abandoning what we’ve always taught.
It’s about enhancing it.

AI is not a threat to our process. It’s a tool that allows us to get to the heart of our message more efficiently. It helps us experiment, explore new directions, and refine our ideas with greater speed and focus.

Our role, as speaker development professionals, is to stay current—not for the sake of tech adoption, but for the sake of alignment. If our audiences are already building with AI, it’s our responsibility to support them in doing it well.

A New Kind of Workshop for a New Kind of Content Creation

In response to this growing need, I’ve expanded my virtual workshop, The Dynamic Approach to Content Creation, into a full-day virtual content creation retreat. This isn’t a lecture on how to use ChatGPT. It’s a hands-on, 6-hour immersive experience where we integrate the best of traditional content strategy with the intelligence of AI.

We’ll cover how to:

• Customize AI to reflect your brand, voice, and message
• Use it to brainstorm and structure talks
• Develop high-integrity content more efficiently
• Repurpose material across platforms without losing authenticity

This retreat is designed for speakers/educators who want to merge alignment with acceleration—and who want to bring this new skillset back to their communities.

You can learn more or register here:
👉 The Dynamic Approach to Content Creation

As educators, we are often the ones who hold the flashlight—showing others the path forward.

But every now and then, the light comes from the room itself.
This is one of those times.

Our speakers are evolving.
It’s time our teaching does, too.