Recent appearance ·
A Marine’s Disposable War
Kettering Rotary Club
Photographs from Iraq and a conversation about service, veterans, and purpose.
See the host’s event listingMarine Corps combat veteran · Creative Strategist & Builder
From Barriers to Bridges
A keynote about rebuilding when the role, plan, or institution that carried us can no longer do so—and choosing a practical next step.
Keynotes · Workshops · Public conversations
From the room into practice
Audience takeaways
Distinguish honest responsibility from generic “bounce back” resilience.
Identify when a personal struggle also reveals an environmental or system barrier.
Use the Barrier–Inventory–Bridge sequence to frame a difficult transition.
Separate fact, memory, assumption, and unknown when a story or decision carries risk.
Choose a next action that preserves dignity, participation, and human judgment.
Selected experience
Keynotes, media, and public conversations.
Selected past appearances
Annual Wiregrass Memorial Day Ceremony
A keynote with Kenny and Atlas in Alabama.
Read the event accountW.K. Kellogg Foundation Veterans Day keynote
Kenny and Atlas joined the Veterans Day program in Michigan.
W.K. Kellogg Foundation
Featured through TODAY, Fox & Friends, The T.D. Jakes Show, PBS, CBS Los Angeles/KCAL9, Hallmark, HISTORY, and Variety.
More selected engagements
- Southeastern Michigan veterinary-association presidential installation keynote
- Service Dog Education and Awareness Conference programming
- Cincinnati Film Festival screening and post-film Q&A
- Centerville High School Veterans Day programming
- Documentary screenings and public conversations connected to Searching for Home: Coming Back From War
Kenny has also spoken on behalf of The Battle Buddy Foundation at fundraising, veteran, school and community events.
In Kenny’s own words
A short interview excerpt; not a live keynote sample. 59 seconds.
Content note: brief, non-graphic discussion of suicidal crisis.
Open the video file directly if your browser cannot play it here.
Read transcript
You know, I spent almost a decade, you know, on the edge of suicide. You know, I almost became one of those 22 a day that take their own lives.
As I started to see the different options that were out there, you know, it was anything from $10,000 to $60,000, to a two- or three-year wait. And for me at the time, I didn't know if I'd make it a couple months, let alone a couple of years. You know, it became painfully obvious that it was an extremely difficult process.
And when I was able to find a little piece of hope — that happened to be my service dog — to come in and be there 24/7, to be that level of support that I needed to make it through, I knew that other veterans needed that as well.
Having my battle buddy, my service dog Atlas, at my side gave me the strength to move forward. I feel like if we're able to give other veterans that hope to keep moving forward, it's just going to be natural that they're going to carry it on. You know, I mean, that sort of thing grows exponentially. I mean, if you want to have a real impact in the world, it starts with you.
Flagship keynote
From Barriers to Bridges
What choice remains after the role, plan, body, organization, or relationship that carried us can no longer do so? In From Barriers to Bridges, Marine Corps combat veteran and creative strategist Kenny Bass traces two periods of rebuilding: coming home from Iraq, reaching a severe personal crisis, finding stability with his service dog Atlas, and helping widen service-dog access for other veterans; then facing institutional loss and grief, returning to writing and war photography, and developing websites and accessible experiences so the work could reach more people. This is not a generic resilience talk and does not treat trauma as a gift. Kenny gives audiences a practical framework—name the barrier, take honest inventory, and build the smallest responsible bridge—while keeping dignity and human judgment at the center.
Format
45–60-minute flagship keynote, with 30-minute, 18–20-minute, and 8–10-minute versions available for event context.
Best fit
Corporate leadership, associations, mission-driven organizations, veteran and military-connected audiences, universities, foundations, healthcare, and service organizations navigating change or responsibility after disruption.
Learning through practice
Two practical programs connect that experience to the tools and environments we use. Choose the focus that fits your audience.
Applied-AI education · talk · workshop · course
Your Work. Your Tools. Your AI.
Turn familiar tools and scattered ideas into a connected workflow you can direct, verify and own. No coding background is required to begin.
Outcomes and audience fit
Connect appropriate tools, organize reliable information, direct a useful task, verify the results and retain control. Sample-data exercises provide an alternative to connecting personal accounts.
Best fit: First-time AI users, entrepreneurs, nonprofit staff, workforce and university learners. Conference talks, 2–3-hour workshops and multi-session courses are scoped with the host.
Keynote · workshop · half-day working session
Designing for Participation
Shift the question from “How do we help this person adapt?” to “What did the barrier reveal about the environment we designed?”
Outcomes and audience fit
Participants examine visual, cognitive, operational, and procedural barriers; bring lived-experience testing in earlier; write better requirements; and recognize when specialist authority is needed.
Best fit: Product and digital teams, museums and cultural institutions, nonprofits, education, public service, visitor experience, communications, and leadership teams responsible for access.
Responsible use and technical extensions
AI That Helps Without Taking Over provides the responsible-use framework: permissions, privacy, verification and human decisions. Qualified specialists remain essential when the stakes require their expertise. Build What You Needis a more technical software-prototyping extension, scoped separately.
The introductory program can include an instructor-led demonstration of an idea becoming a private website prototype. Preparation is disclosed and results are checked. Timing depends on the session and rehearsal; a prototype is not a finished production system.
Arts, veteran, founder, and mission-transition programs are available by request. For photography, exhibition, and arts-related work, explore the photography.
Find the right program for your audience.
Kenny works with organizers to define the audience, desired outcome, and format. His work includes invisible disability, service dogs, and how informed support can reduce barriers to participation.
Corporate and associations
Leadership, organizational change, responsibility, participation, responsible AI, human agency, and mission-driven culture.
Veteran, military, healthcare, and service organizations
Combat experience, transition, family impact, service dogs, invisible disability, purpose, participation, and the long return home.
Universities and education
Leadership, disability and access, responsible AI, service-dog education, human agency, ethical uncertainty, and building before certainty.
Arts, culture, nonprofit, civic, and public-service audiences
Accessibility, provenance, oral history, mission transition, public responsibility, veteran experience, and inclusive experience design.
Choose a format and a next step.
A person’s worth precedes usefulness. A next step may be building, resting, asking for help, grieving, or bringing in someone with the required expertise.
See possible formats
- 45–60-minute keynote
- 30-minute keynote
- 18–20-minute conference keynote
- 8–10-minute short keynote
- 60–90-minute featured talk and facilitated problem clinic
- 2–3-hour applied workshop, scoped in advance
- Executive roundtable or working session
- Featured conversation or moderated interview
- Panel participation
- Virtual presentation
Each engagement is reviewed case by case for content fit, logistics, accessibility, travel, recording and reuse, preparation, and procurement requirements.
Frequently asked questions
Open Frequently Asked Questions
Does Kenny customize his talks?
Yes. The central argument and verified story remain intact while examples, emphasis, length, and practical application may be adjusted to the audience and event purpose.
What audiences are the best fit?
Corporate and association audiences, veteran and military organizations, healthcare and service organizations, schools and universities, public-service groups, nonprofits, civic organizations, museums and cultural institutions may all be appropriate depending on the event’s goals.
Does Kenny speak at schools and universities?
Yes, when the program, age group, subject matter, schedule, accessibility needs, and event expectations are a good fit.
Does Kenny speak virtually?
Virtual presentations may be considered case by case based on format, audience, technical requirements, and content fit.
Can Atlas or Arlo attend?
Atlas is part of Kenny’s history and legacy. Arlo is not a service dog. Any animal-related event participation must be discussed and confirmed case by case.
Can the event record or livestream the presentation?
Recording, livestreaming, editing, redistribution, and commercial reuse require advance written agreement.
Are travel expenses included?
Travel, lodging, local transportation, accessibility, and related logistics are reviewed and confirmed as part of the proposal.
Can Kenny participate in a panel, interview, or documentary discussion?
Yes, when the subject, format, preparation requirements, schedule, and intended use are appropriate.
Does a submitted inquiry hold the date?
No. A date is not held or confirmed until availability, terms, and a written agreement are completed.
Are nonprofit or veteran-organization rates available?
Event scope, audience, travel, format, and budget are reviewed case by case.
Discuss a speaking engagement.
Share your name, email and whatever event details you know. The inquiry does not hold a date or create a booking.