How to Book Keynote Speakers for AI & the Future of Work Events in 2026

There’s a certain topic of conversation that is about to take over the world even more as it becomes more present in our everyday lives. AI has become something bigger than anyone thought it would be years ago, when it was first introduced as a tool to help with certain tasks we participate in every day. There has been an uptick in AI/productivity topics in 2026 events for people to go and speak about. 

Audiences crave talks that explore AI's impact on teams while reinforcing human connection, trust, and a sense of belonging to avoid alienation. We want to guide people through this in a way that doesn’t feel like they are losing the human element and are gaining the most valuable information possible.

In this blog, we will explain how to book keynote speakers for AI events and discuss what the future holds for work events in 2026.

Is This What Audiences Want in 2026?

This part of the blog is meant to anchor our booking decisions to align with what people want to see in 2026. There are a whole slew of topics that can be appealing to people this year, but AI has become one of the top ones, and the speeches themselves can cover many different aspects of AI, whether it’s to support it or fight against it.

Some of these integrated topics around AI include listening to speakers talk about the displacement of your job by AI and the fear of that possibility, pressure on your job to do more efficient work that AI could get done faster and at the cost of not being paid to do it, trusting AI to do something that doesn’t affect your privacy and other rights, or something like the reinforcement of having human connection without AI removing that. We mentioned that, up top in the intro, human connection and trust are important to help us not lose the human element.

So when we ask the question, is this what audiences want to hear in 2026? These are topics that speak to people on a level that is important for their future. People, more often than not, want to hear someone speak about something that could negatively affect their lives and be reassured that everything will be ok. These are tough times to navigate, with AI becoming bigger and bigger by the day.

Mistakes That Could Be Made Booking AI Speakers

The thing we want to focus on is making sure that we are uniquely against any form of a generic AI-focused topic that promotes it be in favor of it. We want to be diverse with the topics we set out to approach, which makes it fair but also makes it so that it isn’t a mistake that comes back on us in the future when booking speakers. 

In terms of who we would book, we are looking for people who are not too technical for an audience that’s looking for the simplest explanations of how things work. In this space, credibility goes a long way, and that’s something we look for in all speakers we want to book, and not shy away from that. 

We know how sensitive people can be around AI. Booking a speaker who keeps this in mind is a sure-fire way to get them to come back and continue speaking on the topics they speak to. Finally, a big mistake would be if a speaker didn’t connect AI to our everyday lives. Making it a general topic doesn’t get the point across enough.

Some Keynote Speakers Who Work BEST For This

The future of these work events in 2026 is predicated on these mistakes not being made. On top of that, it is also important to find the right speakers that you need to make sure the topic of AI is communicated well enough:

When you think of AI and its effect on your job, your next thought is to think of how that affects company culture. We have the perfect speaker for you on that! Brian Miller comes from a background of speaking to company culture, and with AI affecting how people work around other employees, this is something that Brian will speak to heavily and make sure to give you a conversational speech to make sure you feel involved and heard.

Mike Shoreman would also be a great choice for discussion around AI. The skills that Mike brings as an orator are next level, but the thing that makes him the PERFECT candidate as a keynote speaker is that he works with students. The younger generations are learning to grow up with AI, and that can be a big danger if not handled correctly. He even works with mental health, and if you are a student looking for your dream job and AI affects it negatively, he can help you through this and reassure you to push harder. That’s what we want in all of our speakers, and people like Mike and Brian are who you need the most.