Member since March 2026
Reed Jones is an AI keynote speaker, workshop facilitator, and founder of The AI Department. As a fractional Chief AI Officer, Reed helps non-technical teams and women leaders turn AI from an overwhelming buzzword into a practical advantage. She is MIT Certified in Human-Centered AI Leadership, a Perplexity AI Business Fellow, a Certified AI Educator, and a Founding Member of the She Leads AI Society.
With 15+ years of professional communication experience — including a decade on-air as a morning show host — Reed brings a rare combination of deep AI expertise and an extraordinary ability to make complex topics feel approachable and actionable. She has trained 200+ professionals in AI adoption and spoken at events including Burns & McDonnell Network of Women, Override Conference, MIT AI Powered Women Conference, the Axios Cybersecurity Roundtable, BizBash Live, and the CREATE Conference (She Leads AI).
Reed's talks blend live demos, research-backed insights, and genuine warmth that turns a room full of skeptics into confident AI users. Her signature keynotes include "Effective Communication: Women and AI," "How to Talk to Strangers (and Like It)," and "The AI Dictionary Nobody Wrote for You." Each can be delivered as a keynote (30–60 min), workshop (60–90 min), or interactive session with live demos.
Reed is passionate about making AI accessible, actionable, and human-centered — especially for women and non-technical professionals who feel left behind by the pace of the AI revolution. She believes that communication skills ARE AI skills, and that anyone can become AI-confident with the right guide. Her mission is to close the AI confidence gap one audience at a time, turning overwhelm into empowerment and curiosity into capability.
At one of Reed's early AI workshops, a woman raised her hand and said she was terrified to try AI tools because she thought she'd "break something." By the end of the session — after live demos and hands-on practice — that same woman was showing her neighbor a ChatGPT prompt she'd written herself, laughing at how easy it had been. That moment captures everything Reed does: she doesn't just teach tools, she dismantles fear. Audiences leave not just informed, but genuinely confident they already have the skills to start.
Reed spent a decade as a morning show host and on-air communicator — a career that sharpened her ability to explain anything to anyone, quickly and compellingly. When the AI wave hit, she didn't just learn the tools; she saw the gap: millions of smart, capable people — especially women — were being left out of the conversation because AI felt too technical, too fast, and too intimidating. So she founded The AI Department to change that. Today, as a fractional Chief AI Officer and certified AI educator, Reed combines her communication superpower with deep AI expertise to help teams and leaders go from AI-curious to AI-confident.
What if the key to stronger AI work — and a happier life — was learning to have better conversations with strangers? This talk blends the science of human connection with practical AI-powered tools to help audiences network in a way that actually feels good.
Backed by American Psychological Association research showing that deeper conversations (even with strangers) lead to greater happiness and stronger social bonds, Reed Jones reframes networking entirely — away from self-promotion and toward genuine curiosity. The result? Connections that feel energizing instead of exhausting, and insights that make AI practitioners more human-centered in their work.
Audiences will walk away with:
- A mindset shift from "I need to be impressive" to "I want to find what's impressive about them"
- Four types of connections to cultivate and how to approach each
- A practical one-sentence introduction formula and AI prompt to craft their own
- Unlock questions that get people talking about what they actually care about
- A contact tracking system and AI follow-up message generator to maintain relationships
- Strategies for both in-person and virtual/hybrid networking events
This talk is ideal for professional conferences, women's leadership events, ERGs, and any audience looking to build more meaningful networks in an increasingly digital world. It can be delivered as a keynote (30–60 min) or interactive workshop (60–90 min). Suitable for all experience levels.
Most women already have everything they need to use AI effectively — they just don't know it yet. This talk reframes AI not as a technical skill to be learned, but as a communication skill women already possess.
Drawing on research from UC Berkeley, Stanford, Harvard, Deloitte, and BCG, Reed Jones explores the real reason behind the AI gender gap (spoiler: it's not ability) and makes the case that the skills women use every day — providing context, asking follow-up questions, refining answers, anticipating needs — are exactly what makes a great AI user.
Audiences will leave with:
- A practical prompting framework (Context, Role, Task, Format) they can apply immediately
- Live demonstrations using real workplace scenarios
- Confidence that they are not behind — they're actually built for this
- Actionable tools and sample prompts to use the same day
This talk is ideal for women's professional networks, ERGs, corporate teams, and conferences. It can be delivered as a keynote (30–60 min) or an interactive workshop (60–90 min) with live demos and audience participation. No technical background required — novice to intermediate level.
At one of Reed's early AI workshops, a woman raised her hand and said she was terrified to try AI tools because she thought she'd "break something." By the end of the session — after live demos and hands-on practice — that same woman was showing her neighbor a ChatGPT prompt she'd written herself, laughing at how easy it had been. That moment captures everything Reed does: she doesn't just teach tools, she dismantles fear. Audiences leave not just informed, but genuinely confident they already have the skills to start.
Reed spent a decade as a morning show host and on-air communicator — a career that sharpened her ability to explain anything to anyone, quickly and compellingly. When the AI wave hit, she didn't just learn the tools; she saw the gap: millions of smart, capable people — especially women — were being left out of the conversation because AI felt too technical, too fast, and too intimidating. So she founded The AI Department to change that. Today, as a fractional Chief AI Officer and certified AI educator, Reed combines her communication superpower with deep AI expertise to help teams and leaders go from AI-curious to AI-confident.
What if the key to stronger AI work — and a happier life — was learning to have better conversations with strangers? This talk blends the science of human connection with practical AI-powered tools to help audiences network in a way that actually feels good.
Backed by American Psychological Association research showing that deeper conversations (even with strangers) lead to greater happiness and stronger social bonds, Reed Jones reframes networking entirely — away from self-promotion and toward genuine curiosity. The result? Connections that feel energizing instead of exhausting, and insights that make AI practitioners more human-centered in their work.
Audiences will walk away with:
- A mindset shift from "I need to be impressive" to "I want to find what's impressive about them"
- Four types of connections to cultivate and how to approach each
- A practical one-sentence introduction formula and AI prompt to craft their own
- Unlock questions that get people talking about what they actually care about
- A contact tracking system and AI follow-up message generator to maintain relationships
- Strategies for both in-person and virtual/hybrid networking events
This talk is ideal for professional conferences, women's leadership events, ERGs, and any audience looking to build more meaningful networks in an increasingly digital world. It can be delivered as a keynote (30–60 min) or interactive workshop (60–90 min). Suitable for all experience levels.
Most women already have everything they need to use AI effectively — they just don't know it yet. This talk reframes AI not as a technical skill to be learned, but as a communication skill women already possess.
Drawing on research from UC Berkeley, Stanford, Harvard, Deloitte, and BCG, Reed Jones explores the real reason behind the AI gender gap (spoiler: it's not ability) and makes the case that the skills women use every day — providing context, asking follow-up questions, refining answers, anticipating needs — are exactly what makes a great AI user.
Audiences will leave with:
- A practical prompting framework (Context, Role, Task, Format) they can apply immediately
- Live demonstrations using real workplace scenarios
- Confidence that they are not behind — they're actually built for this
- Actionable tools and sample prompts to use the same day
This talk is ideal for women's professional networks, ERGs, corporate teams, and conferences. It can be delivered as a keynote (30–60 min) or an interactive workshop (60–90 min) with live demos and audience participation. No technical background required — novice to intermediate level.
