Shelly Palmer

Professor of Advanced Media in Residence, Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications; CEO, The Palmer Group; Past President, National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences; Creator, Advanced Media Emmy Awards at CES; Amazon #1 Bestselling Author, Blockchain – Cryptocurrency, NFTs & Smart Contracts; Technology and Business Correspondent, Fox 5 Good Day New York; Regular Commentator, CNN; LinkedIn Top Voice in Technology.

Shelly Palmer makes AI make sense. Audiences leave with a clear view of what’s happening now, what’s coming next, and what to do about it Monday morning. A Fortune 500 advisor, Syracuse professor, and CNN and Fox 5 tech commentator, he turns complex technology into practical business strategy.

Shelly Palmer’s speaking fee:$40K - $70K

Web

Shelly Palmer

Shelly Palmer doesn’t predict the future. He explains the present so clearly that the future becomes obvious. As CEO of The Palmer Group, he advises Fortune 500 leadership teams on putting generative AI, agents, and agentic systems to work. His keynotes come from the front lines of real enterprise deployments, not theory. Known for telling it like he sees it and for making complex technology sound simple, Shelly gives audiences a fast, funny, unvarnished look at where AI, media, and marketing are headed. He also gives them concrete frameworks they can apply immediately. He is Professor of Advanced Media in Residence at Syracuse University’s Newhouse School, a regular tech commentator on CNN and Fox 5’s Good Day New York, a past president of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, and a patented inventor. That combination gives him rare range on stage as technologist, strategist, and entertainer. Organizers and audiences consistently rank him among their highest-rated speakers.

Shelly Palmer’s Speech Topics

Quantum Computing

Quantum computing is moving from the physics lab toward the boardroom. In plain English, Shelly Palmer explains what quantum computers are, how they differ from classical computers, and why they matter for business. He covers where the technology really stands, which industries are likely to feel it first, and the very real cybersecurity risk of quantum computers breaking today’s encryption. Attendees leave knowing how to separate genuine progress from hype, what to ask their technology teams, and what steps to take now so their organizations are ready when quantum arrives.

Data-Driven Decision Making

Every company says it’s data-driven. Few actually are. Shelly Palmer explains how to turn data into action, and why AI makes that more urgent than ever. He covers how to ask better questions, build a data culture leaders trust, avoid the traps of vanity metrics and analysis paralysis, and use AI to surface insights faster without giving up human judgment. Drawing on his work with Fortune 500 companies and his book Data-Driven Thinking, Shelly gives attendees practical tools to make faster, smarter decisions and align their teams around the numbers that matter.

The Future of Work

AI agents are joining the workforce, and every organization will need to rethink how work gets done. Shelly Palmer explores what happens when people and AI systems work side by side: which tasks get automated, which roles get augmented, and which skills matter most. He takes on the questions leaders are actually asking about productivity, hiring, training, and organizational design, without the fear or the hype. Attendees leave with a practical framework for leading hybrid human/AI teams, preparing their people for what’s next, and building an organization that gets more capable as the technology does.

Practical AI

AI is rewriting every step of the marketing funnel, from how customers discover products to how campaigns are planned, produced, and measured. Shelly Palmer shows what’s working now: AI-powered creative and personalization at scale, first-party data strategies, and what happens to search and media when customers hand buying decisions to AI agents. He separates real capability from vendor hype and explains how marketing organizations, agency relationships, and budgets need to change. Attendees leave with a clear-eyed view of where the industry is headed and a practical playbook for putting AI to work across their own marketing and advertising operations.