Epic Events Podcast with
Seth Dechtman

The Analogue You – Being Human Isn’t Automatic Anymore

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  • Seth Dechtman

    Seth Dechtman is the keynote curator behind The Keynote Curators, where he connects event organizers with speakers whose ideas stay with an audience long after they leave the stage. Before moving into keynote speaking and events, he spent six years as a high school teacher and coached basketball. He has lived in four countries, visited 52, and speaks several languages, a background that shapes how he thinks about people, ideas, and connection.

About the Episode

Can your audience tell when a keynote was written by AI?

In this episode, Muhammad Younas sits down with Seth Dechtman to talk about staying human in an event industry that keeps getting more automated. Seth shares his idea of “Analog You”: being human isn’t automatic anymore. With screens pulling at our attention all day, real connection now has to be designed on purpose, and live events are one of the few places where it still happens naturally.
The conversation gets into how AI is changing the stage. Seth uses AI every day, but he treats it like a sculptor treats a chisel; the person holding it still does the work. He explains why overproduced keynotes lose the room. When the slides and script feel too polished, people walk out impressed by the production and forget the message. The best speakers, he says, disappear on stage so their idea is what stays.
You’ll also hear how to vet speakers beyond their sizzle reels, how to collect feedback that tells you something useful, and where AI can help event teams most, especially in matching attendees with the right people to meet. If you book speakers or plan event programs, this episode is a good reminder of what people come to events for.

Key Takeaways:

  • Let AI handle the first draft, then own the last 15%: cut lines, remove phrases you’d never say, and make sure it sounds like you.
  • Try drafting by voice: speak the full idea into your phone, pauses and all, then shape it down into the final piece.
  • Use AI matchmaking to set up real in-person meetings at your event, not just LinkedIn follows. It helps introverts most, and many event professionals are introverts themselves.
  • Don’t book a speaker on their sizzle reel alone. Talk to organizers who have hired them and ask around in your own community.
  • Look for speakers whose ideas get repeated. If past clients describe the talk using the speaker’s own language, the message landed.
  • Use AI to research and structure a talk, but rehearse it live. Practice is where speakers find the laughs, the pauses, and the moments that let a room react.
  • Collect speaker feedback right after the session through an app survey or a quick paper form. Emails sent days later get fewer and weaker responses.
  • When someone says “that was great,” ask what stood out to them. The specific answer is where the useful feedback is.
  • Hold a debrief call after the event to review what worked, what didn’t, and what the speaker should have known going in.
  • Start with why people come to your event, then design for conversation. Surprising attendees doesn’t have to cost more money.