Cortney Harding

We’re no longer heading toward the future, we’re immersed in it. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Extended Reality (XR) are rapidly reshaping how we work, learn, connect, and create. Understanding these technologies isn’t just about keeping up with trends, it’s about preparing for a fundamental shift in how we experience the world.
In this keynote, we’ll cut through the buzzwords and understand what AI and XR really are, how they intersect, and what they mean for individuals, organizations, and society. From virtual collaboration powered by intelligent agents to training simulations that feel real enough to change behaviour, we’ll explore practical applications and the human impact.

Audience:

• Business and organizational leaders who want to understand the strategic implications of AI and XR.
• Innovation and digital transformation professionals interested in emerging technologies.
• L&D, HR, and training specialists exploring immersive learning and AI-enhanced development.
• Educators and academics interested in the convergence of AI and XR in teaching and research.
• Creative and tech professionals working at the intersection of storytelling, user experience, and emerging tools.
• General audiences who are tech-curious and want a clear, accessible understanding of what AI and XR really mean in practice.

The workplace is undergoing a seismic transformation. Artificial Intelligence, automation, Extended Reality (XR), and collaborative tech platforms are not just tools. They’re shaping how we think, decide, and interact at work.
This keynote takes a practical and provocative look at how emerging technologies are redefining productivity, decision-making, communication, and even leadership itself. From AI copilots and digital twins to immersive onboarding and decentralized teams, we’ll explore what’s already here, what’s next, and what it all means for the human side of work.

Audience:

• Business and organizational leaders looking to future-proof their workforce strategy.
• HR and L&D professionals reimagining talent development, recruitment, and employee engagement.
• Digital transformation officers and innovation leads tasked with driving change.
• Professionals and consultants who advise others on the future of work.
• Educators and researchers exploring the sociotechnical impact of emerging tech in the workplace.

The Real Edge Is Having Minds Trained for Discomfort, Not Roles Trained for Routine
Machines can write code, design presentations, and make data-driven decisions. The competitive edge is no longer efficiency, it’s emotional depth. As workplaces become more digitized and less predictable, what we need aren’t just roles trained for routine, but minds trained to lead through uncertainty, complexity, and discomfort.

This keynote explores how Extended Reality (XR) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are transforming the way we develop people. Not by training them for static roles, but by reshaping how they respond to dynamic, uncomfortable situations. The future of learning is shifting from checklists of technical skills to cultivating behaviors like emotional regulation, adaptability, curiosity, and courageous communication. Through immersive experiences and intelligent feedback, we can now simulate the discomfort of real-world challenges—difficult conversations, high-risk decision-making, public failure, or constant disruption—so people don’t just cope, they grow. This is how we move from routine-readiness to resilience-readiness.

Audience:

• HR & L&D professionals designing future-ready leadership and emotional intelligence programs.
• People and culture leaders focused on building adaptable, resilient teams.
• Organisational psychologists and behavioural scientists exploring the intersection of tech and human behaviour.
• Innovation and transformation executives seeking to balance technological advancement with human growth.
• Executive coaches and facilitators looking to enhance their impact through emerging tech.
• Educators and training providers interested in immersive learning and resilience & empathy-building at scale.

How to Prepare for Our Future in the Meta-Physical World
We are just now starting to put together the pieces of the coming iteration of the internet. From spatial computing and virtual reality to artificial intelligence to digital twins, this nascent technology will power the way we live our lives in the near future. But very few people understand the intersections and implications of this, and how to build for a future where we have digital twins, AI powered assistants and friends, and spend most of our time consuming content millimetres from our eyes.

Designed for both visionaries and practitioners, this session doesn’t just map the future, it equips you to build for it. We’ll explore how hyper-personalized content, AI-powered decision-making, and immersive social environments are becoming everyday norms. You’ll learn how to design for this spatial age, from hardware and software to behaviour and values, and how to create meaningful, many-to-many experiences in a world that blends reality and representation.

Audience:

• Business leaders and strategists seeking to future-proof their products, services, and teams.
• Innovation and R&D executives tasked with integrating emerging tech into roadmaps.
• Product designers and UX professionals developing for spatial, immersive, and AI-enhanced environments.
• Developers and technologists building the infrastructure of the next-generation internet.
• Marketers and media creators exploring hyper-personalized content delivery in digital-physical spaces.
• Educators, futurists, and analysts tracking the convergence of digital identity, behaviour, and society.
• Investors and startup founders looking to identify high-impact opportunities in XR and AI convergence.

Creating XR & AI Experiences That Actually Work
Creating meaningful XR and AI experiences despite popular belief, is about storytelling, systems thinking, and intentional design. As spatial computing and artificial intelligence mature, the real challenge isn’t whether we can build something, it’s whether we should, and how to make it useful, engaging, and human.

This keynote walks hands-on professionals through the creative and production processes behind successful immersive and intelligent experiences. From defining purpose and audience to mapping user journeys and orchestrating teams, we’ll cover the messy, iterative reality of bringing XR and AI ideas to life. You’ll gain insights into how to blend narrative, interaction design, and AI capability into experiences that feel seamless and not gimmicky.

Audience:

• Creative producers and experience designers leading XR/AI concept development.
• Learning and development teams interested in immersive training or simulation experiences.
• Innovation managers and program leads overseeing digital transformation projects.
• Brand and marketing professionals building interactive campaigns with emerging tech.
• Agency leads and creative directors looking to expand into spatial and intelligent media.
• Product owners and strategists shaping AI- and XR-enhanced tools or environments.
• Event producers and cultural curators designing hybrid and immersive audience engagements.

We’re not just building apps or platforms anymore, we’re building environments, economies, and experiences that blur the lines between the physical and digital. The meta-physical world isn’t a sci-fi fantasy; it’s the next layer of our daily lives, where spatial computing, AI, and immersive storytelling converge to reshape how we work, connect, and create.

This keynote is a practical guide for professionals responsible for imagining and orchestrating this future. It explores how to design spaces where digital twins, intelligent agents, and immersive content are foundational. You’ll learn how to map human needs onto emerging tech, create systems that scale emotionally as well as technologically, and build experiences that people want to inhabit, not just visit.

Audience:

• Experience and spatial designers developing environments that blend physical and digital.
• Creative producers and showrunners orchestrating cross-functional XR/AI projects.
• Futurists and strategists shaping next-gen ecosystems for brands, governments, or cultural institutions.
• Innovation and transformation leads tasked with envisioning future-facing products and services.
• Curators, architects, and placemakers reimagining presence, place, and interaction in hybrid realities.
• Content and narrative designers working at the intersection of storytelling and interactivity.
• Program and project leads managing multi-platform, multi-stakeholder immersive initiatives.