Guides for speakers

19 free guides on building, testing, and pitching a talk - and on using AI as a thought partner instead of a ghostwriter. No account needed.

AI will happily write you a talk nobody wants to hear

Ask a chat tool to write a keynote and it gives you something fluent, even, and completely generic. It reads like it was written by a machine because it was, and an audience knows inside ninety seconds.

Used as a thought partner instead of a ghostwriter, the same tool is worth real hours: it will argue with your premise, find the slow middle, and ask the hostile question you were hoping nobody would. That takes knowing what to ask for, which is what these are.

Start Here

The operating rules for using AI as a thought partner, plus the context block you paste into every chat.

How to Use AI as a Thought Partner 5 min
The operating rules for working with any AI chat tool on your talk - what it does, what it never does, and what you never paste in.
Your Speaker Context Block 6 min
A fill-in template you paste at the top of every AI chat so it always knows who you are, who you speak to, and how you sound.
Running Two Tracks 6 min
Decide when a second audience is worth its own track, work out what stays shared between the two, and test whether a bio is actually written for the room it is going into.

Finding Your Ideas

Find the talk only you can give, test it before you write it, and turn a story into a teaching point.

Finding the Talk Only You Can Give 6 min
Use AI to mine your own experience for the specific angle nobody else on the circuit can speak to.
Testing a Talk Idea Before You Write It 6 min
Run your idea past AI as a skeptical stand-in for your real audience before you spend a single hour writing it.
Turning a Story Into a Teaching Point 6 min
Take a story you've lived and find the lesson inside it that an audience can carry out the door and use.

Crafting the Talk

Build the structure, write the open and close, cut to time, and write titles and descriptions that get picked.

Structure First, Then Words 7 min
Build the skeleton of your talk - the open, the one idea, the signposts, the close - before you write a single polished sentence.
Writing the Open 6 min
Draft and pressure-test the first ninety seconds of your talk, where the audience decides whether to lean in or check their phone.
Writing the Close and the Call to Action 6 min
Land the ending that ties back to your open and gives the audience one clear thing to do differently on Monday.
Cutting a Talk to Time 6 min
Take a talk that runs long and cut it down without losing the structure that makes it work.
Titles and Session Descriptions That Get Picked 7 min
Write the title, the 50-word and 150-word descriptions, and the three takeaways that a program committee actually reads and selects.

Evaluating a Draft

Get an honest read from three audience personas, score a draft against a rubric, and find the slow parts.

The Honest Audience Read 7 min
Run your draft past three AI personas - the skeptic, the practitioner, and the meeting planner - to hear how different people in the room will actually react.
Scoring a Draft Against a Rubric 6 min
Build a simple rubric for what your talk needs to do, then have AI score a draft against it so you know exactly what to fix next.
Finding the Slow Parts 6 min
Find the sections of a draft where an audience's attention is most likely to drop, and fix the pacing before you're on stage finding out live.

Rehearsing

Rehearse from a transcript, drill Q&A against a tough AI audience, and run the day-before checklist.

Rehearsing With a Transcript 7 min
Record yourself giving the talk, transcribe it, and have AI find the filler words, the pacing problems, and the spots where you lost the thread.
Q&A Drills 6 min
Have AI play a tough audience member and fire real questions at you, so the first hard question you face isn't in front of a live room.
The Day-Before Checklist 5 min
A short AI-guided pass the day before you speak - not more rehearsal, a final check that nothing's been missed.

Booking the Gig

Answer a CFP without sounding like AI wrote it, and prep for a call with a meeting planner.

Answering a CFP With AI Without Sounding Like AI 6 min
Use AI to move fast through a call-for-proposals form while keeping every answer in your own voice, not the generic register AI defaults to.
The Planner Call Prep 6 min
Get ready for a call with a meeting planner or event organizer - the questions they'll ask, the questions you should ask back, and how to talk about your fee.