Now booking 2026 keynotes
Leading the
AI
Revolution
Keynotes, executive sessions, and board briefings that give leaders and their teams the clarity to understand what's happening with AI — and the confidence to act on it.
Trusted by leading institutions since 2011
What a good AI booking looks like
Three things a great AI keynote has to get right.
- [01]Your audience leaves with a clear understanding of what's happening with AI — how it works, how people are responding, and what it means for their business.
- [02]Your speaker can hold the room — and the Q&A — with operators, executives, and skeptics in the same audience.
- [03]The talk lands in the room and keeps working after — quoted in meetings, shared with teams, and driving the decisions that follow.
That's the bar Will is booked to hit.
What your audience walks out with
Specific moves they can make this quarter.
Leadership
How to set direction in an unfinished transition, sponsor the right pilots, and keep your team confident while the ground keeps moving.
Marketing
What to change about your content, SEO, and brand so customers can actually find you in AI search.
Product & revenue
Where AI opens real new offers, pricing, and services — and where the math doesn't work yet.
The organization
What to build internally, who should build it, and what it costs to get moving this quarter.
Leaders leave with a clear read on what's happening, how AI works, how the market is responding, and what it means for their business.
On the mic
Stages Will has spoken from.
Keynote · AI Ready RVA Summit
Hamilton Beach Brands · Board of Directors
Innovation & AI Keynote
VCU International Business Forum
CBS6 · Virginia This Morning
As featured in
Signature keynotes
The keynote
library.
Behind the work
BEHIND THE
KEYNOTE
Will runs four companies through the same AI transition he speaks about. The keynotes are field reports from inside the work — what shipped, what failed, what it cost, what the numbers say.
In action
On stage, in the work, every week.
About Will
The work behind the talks.
On stage
The Power of Possibility · Science Museum of Virginia
Will Melton is founder and CEO of Xponent21, a digital marketing and AI search visibility agency working with brands nationally. He authored The AI SEO Content Accelerator, the 14-step framework his team uses to win placement in Google AI Mode, ChatGPT, and Perplexity.
He co-founded AI Ready RVA, runs the 52-apps-in-2026 challenge at Will Melton Studio, founded and publishes Channel RVA, and teaches at the University of Richmond. Recent builds include CARL Intelligence, a free Claude-powered assistant his team shipped for the AI Ready RVA community. Virginia Business named him to its 100 People to Meet list; Style Weekly named him Top 40 Under 40.
Every talk is built on work he's still doing — in production, with Claude and Anthropic's tooling, on real client problems.
Leadership
Founder & CEO
Xponent21
Co-founder, Acting Board Chair
AI Ready RVA
Founder
Richmond Water
Founder & Publisher
Channel RVA
Board
ChamberRVA
Former Board Service
- Leadership Metro Richmond
- Housing Families First
- Economic Development Commission, City of New Haven
- Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen
- Kiwanis Club of Williamsburg
Teaching & Training
VCU School of Business
University of Richmond
Robins School
University of Richmond
School of Professional & Continuing Studies · Instructor
Hamilton Beach Brands
Board of Directors
SCORE · DAMA RVA · ChamberRVA · Greater New Haven Chamber
Recognition
100 People to Meet
Virginia Business
Top 40 Under 40
Style Weekly
Recent reflections
From the field
From Survival to Significance
The book is coming. Get the first chapter now.
Pre-publish chapters, the tools built alongside the writing, and a note the day it launches.
Ready when you are
Book a call, or
send the details.
Fifteen minutes is usually enough to know if it's a fit. No fit, no pressure.