Speaking
I speak to conference audiences, leadership teams, and classrooms about how AI is changing the way brands are built and creative work gets made. Practical, honest, and usually funnier than people expect. Every talk is tailored to the room.
Formats
Keynotes, workshops, panels, guest lecturesAudiences
Conferences, leadership teams, universitiesTopics
AI, marketing, creative, design, entrepreneurshipBased in
Connecticut. In person or virtual.Signature talks
Why taste, judgment, and craft matter more, not less, when everyone has the same AI tools.
AI has made production cheap. It hasn’t made it cheap to know what’s good, what’s on-brand, or what’s worth making at all. Drawing on three decades in design and marketing, I show how experienced teams turn judgment into their biggest advantage, and how newer team members can build it faster.
Attendees leave with
Best for Creative and marketing teams, design conferences
What changes in the team, the workflow, and the client relationship when AI is in every step.
A practical look inside a marketing studio where AI is part of strategy, creative, content, and growth. What we automated, what we deliberately didn’t, and how roles, pricing, and client expectations shifted along the way.
Attendees leave with
Best for Agency leaders, CMOs, marketing operations
Teaching AI to sound like your brand, and the guardrails that keep it from sounding like everyone else.
Generic AI output is the new stock photo. This talk covers how to capture a brand’s voice, visual rules, and judgment calls in a form AI tools can actually use, and how to keep the results consistent as more people and tools produce content.
Attendees leave with
Best for Brand teams, content leaders, DTC founders
How the creative director’s role is shifting from making every asset to directing human and AI collaborators.
The creative job is moving from making to directing. I look at what that means for skills, hiring, education, and careers, including what I’m changing in my own university classroom.
Attendees leave with
Best for Universities, design organizations, creative leadership
Formats
30–60 minutes
A focused, story-driven talk for conference and company audiences, with time for Q&A.
Half or full day
Hands-on sessions where teams apply AI to their own brand, workflow, and real projects.
Flexible
Moderated conversations on AI, marketing, creative leadership, and building businesses.
One class or a series
For design, marketing, and business programs. Attendees can receive signed copies of Above the Fold where available.
Past stages
Earlier talks
“Thank you! You were funny, relevant, and made me feel much better about some of the pickles I’ve gotten myself into with clients over the years.”
Teaching
I bring real-world practice into the classroom, from brand launches to AI workflows, and help students connect creativity with strategy. My teaching is structured, supportive, and held to professional standards.
2024–Now
Adjunct Professor, College of Arts & Sciences
UX/UI design and the changing role of AI in design practice. Two of my students won Silver at the 2025 Connecticut Art Directors Club show.
Adjunct Professor, Jack Welch College of Business & Technology
A graduate course on Amazon marketing: brand presence, performance, and strategy in one of the world’s most competitive marketplaces.
2025–Now
Mentor, Fairfield Startup
I guide student entrepreneurs as they develop, refine, and launch their business ideas, with practical direction on business models, branding, and presentation, and I speak at the program’s events. The goal: students who pitch their ideas with confidence.
2006–2014
Adjunct Professor & Program Co-founder
Taught typography, layout, and graphic design, and created Professional Practices for Graphic Designers. With Richard Yelle, co-authored the curriculum and accreditation for the MPS in Design Management at the Shintaro Akatsu School of Design.
“There are not enough words to describe how helpful Professor Miller has been in teaching me about design and building my confidence.”
“Brian’s classroom was lighthearted yet commanding. If you were not serious about art you would find that out in his class.”
“Though his feedback may be challenging a lot of the time, it is this feedback that has shaped me into a better, more resilient artist.”
For organizers
Short bio
Brian Miller leads the Marketing Studio at Taazaa, where he helps businesses turn complex technology into clear value for their customers. A designer and marketer for nearly 30 years, he co-founded the digital agency MillerSmith, acquired by Lapine Inc. in 2017, wrote the #1 Amazon web design bestseller Above the Fold, and teaches design and AI at Sacred Heart University.
Long bio
Brian Miller helps businesses turn complex technology into clear value for their customers. Over nearly 30 years he has led brand, product design, and marketing work for startups through Fortune 500 companies, including Johnson & Johnson, PepsiCo, Crown Royal, and Point72.
Today he leads the Marketing Studio at Taazaa, bringing together brand strategy, creative, digital experience, and growth marketing, and building an AI-first creative organization. He is a two-time founder; his award-winning agency MillerSmith, Crown Royal’s digital agency of record, was acquired by Lapine Inc. in 2017.
Brian is the author of Above the Fold and Principles of Web Design, both widely used as university textbooks. He has taught design and marketing for two decades and is an adjunct professor at Sacred Heart University. He served on the executive board of the Type Directors Club and the Adobe Customer Advisory Board.
Booking
Send the event name, date, location, audience, and the format you have in mind. I’ll reply with availability and rates.
