What is the This Time It Rhymes keynote about?

It draws the line between the dotcom era and the current AI cycle, showing which parts of this moment rhyme with the last great technology shift, which parts are genuinely new, and what leaders should do with that read.

How long is the keynote and can it be tailored?

Forty five to sixty minutes, in person or virtual, and it is customised to your sector and audience every time. It can be paired with a half day leadership workshop.

This Time It Rhymes | An AI Keynote by Emily Grinton

Q: Is the talk optimistic or sceptical about AI?

Neither, and that is the point. The talk treats the believers and the sceptics as each holding part of the answer, and gives the room a way to tell which part is which.

The premise

History does not repeat. It rhymes.

Most rooms are stuck between the people insisting this changes everything and the people certain it is another bubble. Both are partly right. Knowing which part is where the value is, and that is a judgement you can only really make if you have seen a cycle turn before.

1999

What the dotcom era taught us

The technology was real and the timelines were wrong. The believers and the sceptics each had half of it.
Infrastructure got over built, then quietly became the thing everything else stood on.
The businesses that lasted were rarely the loudest ones in the room.
The crash did not end the internet. It cleared the field for the companies that understood it.

2026

What that tells us about now

The capability is real. The question worth your board's attention is timing, not whether.
The spend looks familiar. So do the claims, and so does the anxiety underneath both.
The winners will look ordinary from here, and obvious in hindsight.
The move is to build the muscle now, so you are ready when the field clears.

What the room leaves with

Four things, and a steadier conversation.

1

A clear read on which parts of this AI moment rhyme with the dotcom era, and which parts are genuinely new.

2

The signals that told us last time what would last and what would fold, and where to look for them now.

3

A way to make AI investment decisions that survives both the hype and the backlash that follows it.

4

Language to steady a room that is quietly anxious about whether any of this will hold.

A thread through the talk

Across two cycles I have watched who gets to build. The rooms that read the last shift best were rarely the ones that all looked the same.

Woven through the keynote, not printed on the poster.

Who is telling you this

I have operated through both of these.

I started out in the last great technology cycle, spent a decade at ANZ on the plumbing of global finance, and watched the dotcom era from the inside. Today I am a partner and Chief Product Officer at Emanda, building at the frontier of applied AI. The keynote comes from that vantage point, not from a bio updated last year.

Full background and other talks

Formats

The talk, or the talk plus the work.

The keynote

45 to 60 minutes · in person or virtual

Customised to your sector, audience and the decision your room is facing.
Works on a main stage, in a boardroom, or on a virtual broadcast.

Keynote and workshop

Keynote plus a half day · small group

The team turns the ideas into decisions they own, rather than notes they file.
Where most of the value lands, and simplest to arrange at booking.

About the talk

What people ask before they book it.

Is the talk optimistic or sceptical about AI? +

Neither, and that is the point. It treats the believers and the sceptics as each holding part of the answer, and gives the room a way to work out which part is which. Audiences tend to find that more useful than being told what to feel.

Will it land with a non technical audience? +

Yes, that is who it is built for. There is no jargon and no model architecture. It is a talk about judgement under uncertainty, told through a cycle most of the room lived through.

Can it be tailored to our sector? +

Every time. The spine of the talk holds, and the cases, the parallels and the closing questions are rebuilt around your industry and the decision in front of you.

Is there a workshop version? +

Yes. The keynote pairs with a half day leadership workshop where your team turns the ideas into a plan they own. Most clients find the bundle delivers the strongest return.