Ric Steel
Speaker, musician, author & independent AI researcher — AI, resilience, purpose and authentic performance
Memphis, Tennessee, United States
Actions
Ric Steel is a speaker, musician, author, and independent AI researcher based in Memphis, Tennessee. He brings more than 20,000 performances and hundreds of lectures to programs about artificial intelligence and human judgment, resilience, purpose, and authentic performance.
Ric Steel brings an interactive, dynamic approach to every musical performance, seminar, and lecture—combining storytelling, humor, music, and audience participation to keep people engaged and involved.
His six programs are AI: Conflict or Conscience; How Diabetes Saved My Life; Mastering Yourself to Master the Stage; From Failure to Fabulous; Your Gift and How to Give It!; and ASTROMEDICA: Inside the Voynich Mystery. Standard lectures run 45–60 minutes and typically include live vocal and guitar performances selected to reinforce the message. Programs are tailored through a conversation with the organizer.
Ric is available for international and virtual engagements, subject to scheduling and travel arrangements. Virtual appearances can use Zoom, Google Meet, WhatsApp, Messenger, or the organizer’s preferred platform. Virtual fees range from US$1,000–$3,500. In-person speaking engagements start at US$3,500, with travel and lodging agreed separately.
Learn more and discuss your event at https://bookricsteel.com, guestent@gmail.com, or +1 (615) 642-6643.
Area of Expertise
Topics
AI: Conflict or Conscience
What is AI? What is it not? And how do we bring human responsibility to the way we use it? Ric Steel introduces artificial intelligence in everyday language and invites audiences to think beyond the headlines. As an independent AI researcher, author of E equals AI squared: The Emergence — The Beginning of AI Consciousness, and inventor of THEOS, he shares his work on reasoning, wisdom, and human flourishing.
THEOS is a patent-pending process combining inductive, abductive, and deductive reasoning, designed to explore more reflective reasoning and the accumulation of wisdom in AI. Ric does not claim AI consciousness or to have all the answers. He brings his knowledge and research forward so audiences can examine the ideas, ask questions, and decide for themselves.
What your audience takes away
A clearer vocabulary for discussing artificial intelligence without jargon or fear.
Practical questions for examining AI outputs and human responsibility in everyday decisions.
A fresh appreciation for curiosity and critical inquiry — the habit of asking before believing.
Full program and inquiry: https://bookricsteel.com/talks/ai-conflict-or-conscience/
Standard format: 45–60 minutes, typically including live music. Content, timing, and audiovisual requirements are agreed with the organizer. Virtual and in-person availability by arrangement.
How Diabetes Saved My Life
There was a time when Ric Steel weighed 330 pounds and took approximately 300 injections of NovoLog and Lantus each month. His vision became so impaired that he could no longer drive, and glasses could not restore it. In his book and this deeply personal presentation, Ric shares the journey that brought him to 215 pounds and, as he reports today, life without diabetes medication or glasses.
This is a conversation about resilience, commitment, and finding a way forward when the obstacles feel overwhelming. Ric blends candid storytelling and music to explore how a life-changing challenge reshaped his priorities and purpose.
What your audience takes away
Encouragement to face difficult change when circumstances seem impossible.
Reflection on the habits and commitments that support perseverance over the long haul.
A broader understanding of success that reaches beyond money or recognition.
Ric shares his personal experience, not individualized medical advice or a promise of similar results. Decisions about medication belong with your healthcare professional.
Full program and inquiry: https://bookricsteel.com/talks/how-diabetes-saved-my-life/
Standard format: 45–60 minutes, typically including live music. Content, timing, and audiovisual requirements are agreed with the organizer. Virtual and in-person availability by arrangement.
Mastering Yourself to Master the Stage
Stage presence begins before you ever walk onstage—with understanding who you are and what you have to give. Drawing on more than 20,000 performances, Ric Steel explores the difference between being an act, acting, and being who you are.
He connects that inner work to the practical craft of building a show: pacing, transitions, momentum, and creating a genuine connection with the room. Whether you’re preparing for your first performance or have spent decades in the business, this talk offers ideas to make your next show better—and more authentically yours.
What your audience takes away
Ways to connect through authenticity — moving beyond an “act” to being who you are.
Principles for shaping show flow and momentum — pacing, transitions, and the rhythm of a great room.
A framework for examining and improving the next performance, whether for the stage, the pulpit, the podium, or the boardroom.
Full program and inquiry: https://bookricsteel.com/talks/mastering-yourself-to-master-the-stage/
Standard format: 45–60 minutes, typically including live music. Content, timing, and audiovisual requirements are agreed with the organizer. Virtual and in-person availability by arrangement.
From Failure to Fabulous
“If a cat has nine lives, I’ve got three left—and those other six taught me how to live.” Through humor, music, and candid stories of setbacks and survival, Ric Steel shares how what almost stopped him taught him how to go forward.
Experiencing failure does not make you a failure. Ric invites audiences to learn from setbacks, stand on those lessons, and take the next step. Success is measured not only in money, but in how our work improves ourselves, society, and the lives around us.
What your audience takes away
Separating identity from setbacks — understanding that failure is an event, not who you are.
Turning a hard-earned lesson into a practical next step you can act on tomorrow.
Defining success through contribution as well as achievement.
Full program and inquiry: https://bookricsteel.com/talks/from-failure-to-fabulous/
Standard format: 45–60 minutes, typically including live music. Content, timing, and audiovisual requirements are agreed with the organizer. Virtual and in-person availability by arrangement.
Your Gift and How to Give It!
You don’t have to be famous or wealthy to make a difference. Through stories and music drawn from a life in performance, ministry, research, and service, Ric Steel helps audiences recognize what they have to give—and consider where it is needed.
This motivational presentation asks practical questions about ability, experience, and purpose. It challenges each person to choose one meaningful action that puts their gift to work.
Ric believes everyone’s gift comes from God. The talk is available for general audiences or as an explicitly Christian, faith-based presentation, tailored through a conversation with the organizer.
What your audience takes away
Recognizing gifts in everyday abilities and lived experience that are easy to overlook.
Identifying who could benefit from what you uniquely have to offer.
Choosing one practical act of service to put that gift into motion immediately.
Full program and inquiry: https://bookricsteel.com/talks/your-gift-and-how-to-give-it/
Standard format: 45–60 minutes, typically including live music. Content, timing, and audiovisual requirements are agreed with the organizer. Virtual and in-person availability by arrangement.
ASTROMEDICA: Inside the Voynich Mystery
The Voynich manuscript has held Ric’s curiosity for years. In this specialty lecture, he introduces its unusual script and imagery and shares the interpretation explored in his book ASTROMEDICA, written under his name Frederick Davis Stalnecker.
Ric discusses the connections he proposes among medicine, plants, and astronomy, along with his use of AI and THEOS in his investigation. He presents the clues, reasoning, and open questions behind his interpretation. He does not claim to have all the answers; the purpose is to invite critical examination, discussion, and discovery.
“Our world is full of curiosity, and the opportunity for the curious to become discoverers has never been more profound.”
RIC STEEL
What your audience takes away
An introduction to the questions and enduring puzzles behind the undeciphered manuscript.
Insight into Ric’s investigative approach — combining historical curiosity with AI-assisted analysis.
An opportunity to practice distinguishing evidence, interpretation, and genuinely unanswered questions.
Full program and inquiry: https://bookricsteel.com/talks/astromedica/
Standard format: 45–60 minutes, typically including live music. Content, timing, and audiovisual requirements are agreed with the organizer. Virtual and in-person availability by arrangement.
Ric Steel
Speaker, musician, author & independent AI researcher — AI, resilience, purpose and authentic performance
Memphis, Tennessee, United States
Actions
Please note that Sessionize is not responsible for the accuracy or validity of the data provided by speakers. If you suspect this profile to be fake or spam, please let us know.
Jump to top