Nathan E Adam
Speaking

A calm, credentialed voice on technology that's making your audience nervous.

I've spent twenty-five years teaching working professionals through one technology shift. I talk about the next one — without the hype, and without pretending the fear is irrational.

Check availability Watch the TEDx talk

TEDx

Virtual Reality and The Democratization of Experience · TEDxNashvilleSalon, November 2017. What happens when an experience that used to require money, travel, and access becomes something anyone can have. Watch on TED.com

Nathan Adam onstage at TEDxNashville wearing a VR headset, controllers raised, audience in foreground
Demonstrating rather than describing — the headset went on mid-talk.
The red TEDx letters on the TEDxNashville stage
TEDxNashville. I've since served on the board.
Nathan Adam speaking with a microphone in front of a GRAMMY Foundation backdrop
Opening a GRAMMY Camp session. Photo: Tiffany L.

What I speak about

You're not too late

Mid-career reinvention with AI, for audiences over forty. The talk I'm best positioned to give: I'm doing this myself, in public, and I'm not pretending it's easy.

AI in music: revolution or replacement?

What generative tools actually change for musicians, engineers, and producers — and what the Autotune fight of 2003 already told us about how this argument ends.

Teaching in the age of AI

For faculty and academic leadership. What holds up, what breaks, and what a doctorate in education says about how adults actually learn a disruptive tool.

Ethics, deepfakes, and the ELVIS Act

Tennessee wrote some of the first law protecting a performer's voice from synthetic reproduction. What that protects, what it doesn't, and why the ethics conversation can't come last.

Immersive media and access

The TEDx argument, updated. Who gets an experience, who's priced out of it, and what changes when the barrier drops.

Workshops

Half-day and full-day hands-on sessions for teams: practical AI in creative and marketing workflows. Built from twenty-five years of teaching software to people who didn't ask for it.

Selected talks

  • The Assessment Pivot: Using Generative AI to Restore Academic Integrity
    MEIEA International Summit · Denver · March 2026
    Published in the 2026 MEIEA Summit Proceedings. Using generative AI to move assessment back into the classroom without adding to the instructor's workload, tested against several years of grade data.
  • AI in Music: Revolution or Replacement?
    Keynote · General Session 1 · Utility Analytics Summit · Nashville · 9 April 2024
    Seventy-five minutes on what AI actually changes in music production — whether this is the new Auto-Tune moment, where the creative edge is for people who adopt early, and who owns the copyright when a machine writes the song.
  • The Computers Took Over at Midnight: AI, AR, VR and How Technology Is Impacting Higher Ed
    Roundtable · MEIEA International Summit · Las Vegas · March 2023
  • Exploring the Teaching Experience of Audio Engineering Faculty During the COVID-19 Pandemic
    MEIEA International Summit · Las Vegas · March 2023
  • GRAMMY In The Schools: A Conversation with GRAMMY Camp Faculty
    GRAMMY In The Schools Fest · GRAMMY Museum · March 2022
  • GRAMMY In The Schools: The Art of Tech, Performance & Business
    GRAMMY In The Schools Fest · GRAMMY Museum · March 2021
  • Virtual Reality and The Democratization of Experience
    TEDxNashvilleSalon · November 2017
  • Online Audio Education: Revolutionizing Mixing Courses with Web 2.0 Tech
    Art of Record Production Conference · February 2011
  • Web 2.0: Online Technologies for Pro Audio Education
    MEIEA International Summit · March 2010

Press

Humans are still going to want to connect with you because they love your songs. NewsChannel 5 Nashville — April 2023
AI tools provide new ways to create art we've never imagined before. They level the playing field, allowing anyone to make transformative work. Lipstick Economy podcast, Brand Wise — January 2025
Anybody sending out the first draft is going to be quickly embarrassed. But boy, as a first draft generator, it can get you past the blank page so fast — it's like you had the world's best intern create a first draft. Lipstick Economy podcast, Brand Wise — January 2025

Full interview: Demystifying AI and New Technology on Jamie Dunham's Lipstick Economy.

Expert guest

Booking

Conferences, faculty development, and corporate teams. Tell me who's in the room and what they're worried about, and I'll tell you honestly whether I'm the right person for it.

nathan@nathaneadam.com

Based in Nashville, Tennessee. Available to travel.