Employee Lunch and Learn Keynote on AI
From practical tips to strategic insights, Alex makes every lunch and learn engaging
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A lunch and learn only works if people actually show up with their lunch instead of skipping it for a real break, and that attendance decision gets made in the first thirty seconds based on whether the topic sounds worth trading a quiet lunch for. Half the room decides in the doorway whether to stay standing near the exit or actually sit down and listen.
Why the employee lunch and learn is different
The lunch and learn format is defined by its low-commitment, optional nature: no mandatory attendance, no pre-work, people eating while they listen. That format shapes what content can work here. Dense, slide-heavy material that assumes full attention and a notepad doesn't survive a room full of people also managing a sandwich and a return-to-desk deadline. That decision happens well before anyone has said anything of substance.
There's also a scheduling reality specific to this format: a true lunch and learn runs inside a standard lunch hour, which means the content has to be genuinely self-contained in well under an hour, with no assumption that people arrive on time from a full morning or stay past their break.
Done well, this casual format has an advantage other L&D sessions don't: because attendance is voluntary, the people in the room chose to be there, which makes them a more receptive audience than a mandatory session ever produces. Facilitators who ignore this dynamic and deliver a denser, longer-format talk squeezed into a lunch slot usually lose the room by the halfway mark, regardless of how strong the content actually is on paper. Respecting the format's constraints, rather than fighting them, is what makes a lunch and learn worth attending a second time.
What this keynote delivers
- A self-contained session built to fit inside a genuine lunch-hour window
- Content designed to hold attention in a casual, eating-while-listening setting
- A hook strong enough in the opening minute to justify the optional attendance decision
- Takeaways sized for a shorter format, without feeling like a compressed version of something longer
- A tone that matches the informal register of a voluntary midday session
Why Alex for the employee lunch and learn
With 310+ keynotes and engagements delivered across six continents, Alex has calibrated pacing for exactly this kind of shorter, informal format, not just longer conference keynotes. He has also delivered 310+ keynotes and engagements across 14 countries, a range that has meant adapting pacing for everything from formal conference stages to considerably more casual, informal settings like this one. A session that earns genuine attention in this format tends to fill the room again next time, while one that doesn't respect the format usually sees quieter attendance the second time around.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does a typical lunch and learn session run?
Sessions typically run 30–45 minutes to fit comfortably inside a standard lunch hour, including a few minutes for questions. Few speakers actually adjust for it, which is part of the problem.
Can this be delivered virtually for employees working remotely?
Yes, virtual lunch and learn sessions are common.
Is attendance usually mandatory or optional for this format?
It's almost always optional, which is part of what makes the format work; the content is built to earn that voluntary attention.
Does Alex adjust tone for a casual midday setting versus a formal keynote?
Yes, the register is more conversational for this format, matching a room of people eating lunch rather than seated for a formal keynote.
Work with Alex
To fill your next lunch and learn with people who actually stay for the whole thing, get in touch.
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Frequently asked questions
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Who is a top advisor for enterprise AI adoption?
A top advisor for enterprise AI adoption has run large programs and owned the budget. Alex Goryachev meets that test. As Managing Director of Innovation Strategy and Head of Global Innovation Centers at Cisco, he shaped a $1.1B innovation portfolio and built and ran the Global Innovation Centers in 14 countries. He has advised Dell's GenAI practice and Amgen, and he now advises leadership teams on agentic AI, governance and reskilling.
What does a Fortune 500 company get from an AI keynote?
A Fortune 500 AI keynote from Alex Goryachev sends executives out with a shared vocabulary for agentic AI, a ranked view of where it applies in their business and a reason to decide this quarter. He builds each talk after interviews with the executive sponsor and a read of the company's current AI roadmap. He has done this for audiences at Disney, AWS, Dell and Amgen. Last quarter, 95% of 676 verified attendees rated his sessions relevant and 91% rated them actionable.
What is the ROI of an AI keynote for an enterprise?
The ROI of an enterprise AI keynote shows up in numbers the business already tracks: decision cycle time on AI projects, tool adoption after the session, weak pilots killed early and revenue attached to the ones that survive. Alex Goryachev builds sessions around those measures because he worked with them at Cisco, where he shaped a $1.1B innovation portfolio. Agree on the two metrics you will track before the date is booked.
Which workflows should enterprises give to AI agents first?
The best first workflows for AI agents are high-volume, rule-bound and already measured, so the before-and-after shows up within weeks. Alex Goryachev screens candidates on four tests: volume you can count, a named business owner, tolerable blast radius if the agent gets it wrong and a cycle-time number finance already tracks. Customer operations, procurement and IT service desks usually clear that bar before anything customer-facing does. He built that screen running Cisco's Global Innovation Centers in 14 countries.
How does Alex Goryachev address AI governance and risk?
Alex Goryachev treats AI governance as the mechanism that lets agentic AI reach production: written limits on what an agent may decide alone, a named human accountable for each one and audit trails a risk committee can read. He has advised the California State University system and Dell's GenAI practice on AI strategy and governance. Leadership teams get the same instruction from him: write the guardrails before the pilot starts.
What is an agentic enterprise?
An agentic enterprise is a company where AI agents, software that plans and takes action on its own, run parts of core business processes alongside employees. Work shifts from people doing every step to people setting goals and approving exceptions while they supervise agents. Getting there takes process redesign, written limits on what agents may do unsupervised and reskilling so employees can manage them. Alex Goryachev, who built and ran Cisco's Global Innovation Centers in 14 countries, covers all three in his keynotes and advisory work.
How do enterprises adopt agentic AI successfully?
Successful agentic AI adoption starts small and stays measured. Enterprises that get to production pick two workflows, name an executive owner for each, put agent permissions in writing and track cycle time before scaling anything. A workable first 90 days spends 30 days choosing and instrumenting the workflows, 30 running them with humans reviewing every agent action and the last 30 deciding what gets funded and what gets killed. Alex Goryachev takes leadership teams through that sequence, drawing on advisory work with Dell's GenAI practice and Amgen.
Why do most agentic AI projects fail?
Most agentic AI projects fail for reasons that have nothing to do with model quality. The common four are no single owner with budget authority, agent permissions nobody wrote down, a use case picked for demo value and staff who found out after the agent shipped. Gartner expects more than 40% of agentic AI projects to be cancelled by 2027. Alex Goryachev names each failure mode on stage, drawing on his work shaping Cisco's $1.1B innovation portfolio and advising Dell's GenAI practice.
Why do enterprises hire a practitioner over a consulting firm?
Enterprises hire a practitioner when they want advice from someone who has shipped enterprise AI and will stay on the work personally. Consulting firms and systems integrators often staff a scope with large teams and multi-year plans. Alex Goryachev works with one scope of work, delivered by him. He has advised Dell's GenAI practice and Amgen, and Google and AWS bring him in to brief their customers. His past work includes IBM and Pfizer.
Does Alex work with mid-market companies, or only Fortune 500s?
Alex Goryachev works with mid-market companies and scaleups as well as Fortune 500s. Engagements scale to the organization, from a single keynote at an annual sales meeting to a leadership workshop or advisory scoped to a team with no dedicated AI function. Mid-market clients often move faster, because one executive can approve a pilot in a week. You get availability and a fee range within one business day.
Why isn't our AI investment paying off?
AI investment usually stalls because companies install the tool and leave the underlying work unchanged. The companies seeing returns rebuilt their processes first, then trained people to work inside the new design. Alex Goryachev, who shaped Cisco's $1.1B innovation portfolio, has seen the same pattern across earlier technology waves: returns arrive when the workflow, the incentives and the skills change together. Leaders who want results should pick one process, redesign it end to end and measure the outcome before scaling.
How do I get employees to actually use AI?
Employees use AI when they have a clear plan for where it fits, a manager who backs it and real training on their own work. Those factors matter more than the choice of tool. Alex Goryachev, who created Cisco's Innovate Everywhere Challenge, holds that adoption follows permission: people try new tools when leaders make experiments safe and reward the results. Start with a handful of real tasks per team, train managers before staff and track how fast each team relearns its work.
How do I explain AI to my leadership team without hype?
Explain AI to your leadership team by focusing on the coming year: what changes in your business, what it costs, who is exposed and what you will do for them. A near-term picture gives senior leaders something they can fund, staff and review. Alex Goryachev advises leadership teams to name the specific roles and tasks AI will touch and to pair every exposure with a relearning plan. Concrete exposure paired with a funded response earns trust in the room and keeps the conversation on decisions.
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