Keynote Talks
Helping audiences understand how their stories, scientific and technical expertise, or information about community realities can shape policymakers’ and the public’s decisions in the age of AI.
Across civic organizations, nonprofits, government, and universities, people are working to address complex societal challenges such as health, environment, energy, economic opportunity, national security, and emerging technologies.
At the same time, artificial intelligence is transforming how information is produced and shared for policymaker and public decision-making.
Yet policymaker and public decisions are not driven by information alone.
They are shaped by how scientific and technical expertise, personal stories, or information about community realities come together in real-world decision environments.
Through keynote talks that combine big ideas with practical frameworks, Dr. Deborah Stine helps audiences understand how policymakers and public decisions are made and how community members, professionals, and organizations can help inform and influence decisions about the societal issues they care about.
Experience and Speaking Engagements
Dr. Deborah Stine brings experience across national and community policy environments, helping connect scientific and technical expertise with real-world decisions.
Her background includes work with:
- The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy
- Congressional Research Service, a thinktank for Congress
- The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
- Carnegie Mellon University, as Professor of the Practice in Engineering and Public Policy
She has delivered talks for organizations working across science, technology, policy, and societal challenges.
Examples include:
- Google
- United Nations
- Reimagine Appalachia
- Catalyst Connection
- Sigma Xi
She has also spoken at universities, including:
- University of Notre Dame
- West Virginia University
- University of Virginia
- Princeton University
Why Event Organizers Book
These Keynotes
Event organizers invite Dr. Stine because her talks combine real-world policy insight with practical frameworks audiences can immediately apply. Drawing on experience across the White House, Congress, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, and community-level policy work, she helps audiences understand how policymaker and public decisions are actually shaped.
Her talks are inspirational, practical, and mission-driven, helping audiences see how they can play meaningful roles in addressing societal challenges.
Keynote Topics
From Insight to Societal Impact in the Age of AI
Ideal Audience
General audiences, civic organizations, nonprofit communities, and conferences focused on societal challenges.
Description
This keynote invites audiences to reflect on the societal problems they care about.
Participants then discover how their own stories and knowledge of their community can shape policymakers’ and the public’s decisions on the societal issues they care about, alongside scientific and technical expertise.
Using the Skills–Stories–Spaces framework, the talk explains how expertise, personal stories, and information about community realities interact in policymaker decision environments.
The result is a practical way for community members and organizations to better understand how decisions are made and how they can inform and influence them.
Audience Outcomes
Participants will learn how to:
- Recognize how their stories and knowledge of their community can shape policymaker and public decisions, alongside scientific and technical expertise.
- Understand how they can use the Skills–Stories–Spaces framework to inform and influence policymaker and public decisions.
- Apply the Analyze–Communicate–Engage (ACE) approach to help inform and influence policymaker and public decisions about the societal issues they care about.
From Expertise to Impact in the Age of AI
Ideal Audience
Scientists, engineers, health professionals, academic researchers, and technical experts working on societal challenges.
Description
Scientists, engineers, and health professionals generate valuable knowledge about complex societal challenges. Yet much of that insight never shapes policymaker decisions.
This keynote focuses on helping experts translate scientific and technical expertise into insights policymakers and the public can use.
The talk introduces the Skills–Stories–Spaces framework, explaining how expertise, stories, and information about community realities interact in policymaker decision environments.
Participants then learn how to evaluate policy options using the 4E policy lens, which considers:
- Effectiveness – whether a policy achieves its intended goals
- Efficiency – whether resources are used wisely
- Equity – who benefits and who bears the burden
- Ease of Political Acceptability – whether the policy is politically feasible
Participants also learn how to combine analysis, communication, and engagement (ACE) to increase the real-world impact of their work.
Audience Outcomes
Participants will learn how to:
- Apply the Skills–Stories–Spaces framework to connect expertise, stories, and information about community realities in policymaker decision environments.
- Evaluate policy options using the 4E policy lens (Effectiveness, Efficiency, Equity, Ease of Political Acceptability).
- Combine analysis, communication, and engagement (ACE) to increase the policy impact of their work.
Making Smart Community Decisions About AI Data Centers
Ideal Audience
Community leaders, local governments, economic development organizations, civic groups, and regional decision-makers.
Description
Communities across the country are facing important decisions about whether and how to use generative AI technologies and whether to host AI data centers.
These decisions involve complex questions related to economic opportunity, energy demand, water use, workforce impacts, and community priorities.
This keynote helps communities understand how to evaluate these decisions with greater clarity and confidence.
Participants learn how communities can engage in conversations about AI development while considering long-term societal impacts.
Audience Outcomes
Participants will learn how to:
- Ask the right questions about generative AI technologies and AI data centers before decisions are made.
- Learn how to evaluate potential community benefits, economic impacts, infrastructure demands, and environmental considerations.
- Identify the information and answers communities need before moving forward with AI-related decisions.
Helping Audiences Inform and Influence Decisions
Across civic organizations, nonprofits, government, and universities, organizations are seeking better ways to connect expertise, stories, and information about community realities with policymaker and public decision-making.
Through keynote speaking, Dr. Deborah Stine helps audiences understand how those elements interact and how they can play meaningful roles in shaping decisions that affect their communities.
If your organization is working to address complex societal challenges and wants to help its members better understand how policymakers and public decisions are shaped, schedule a discovery call to explore how a keynote talk can support your goals.
