This week: One of the most popular articles on my website is about the Audience Value Matrix, a framework on how to talk to your customers about what THEY care about. One audience segment at a time. This week, I updated the article and added a free template you can grab so you can level up your messaging for real results.

Hi Reader

This week I'm keeping things light as I have two FREE speaking engagements over the next five days. First, I'll be speaking at the WHEELS museum this Sunday at noon. If you've never been, this is ABQ history at it's finest. While my presentation is free, you should make a donation to support the museum anyway. You'll be glad you did.

Then the NM Tech Council has invited me to speak on Tuesday at the UNM Valencia Campus for their AI Pathways Series. The session is mostly for students looking to level up their AI skills, but it is open to anyone who is interested. (And ready to make the drive to Valencia County.)

In big news, I am SUPER delighted to announce that I was selected as one of 12 finalists in the Make.com Community Challenge. The challenge: build a "smart" agent that makes autonomous decisions. I built an Ask the Farmer search engine, where you can learn about my sister and brother-in-law's farm in Windsor-Essex County, Ontario Canada.

If you live in the area, you can also order their farm-fresh eggs straight from the chat. But you can also learn more about my sister's Boozy Brains neuroscience event at a local brew pub. Or my brother in-law's homemade turkey plucking apparatus. Or why Windsor-Essex is such a vibrant agricultural zone (same latitude as Northern California). And of course, learn more about the awesome local tourism program: W.E. Heart Local, which features local farms and stands in the area. You can do all this with the help of my autonomous agent friend.

If you're not familiar with Make.com, it is one of the world's largest automation platforms, with about a half million customers. The challenge was constrained to the community. There were no entry numbers announced, but I estimate about 400 people participated.

Winners should be announced next week so keep the good thoughts.

Monica

PS: I'll be attending SCORE.org's Quarterly Community Partner & Business Resource Event next Wednesday, June 17 at Q Station at Nob Hill | 4:30 PM – 6:30 PM. Let's plan to meet there! [Register here ->]

One-Size-Fits-All Messaging is SO 2020

So many time-strapped organizations write one messaging set that is intended to "appeal" to every person they serve. But the end result is mismatched content that never appeals to anyone.

The Audience Value Matrix is a strategic tool that helps you build the right message for the right audience segment. And it's my best all-time article. It ranks #1 in Google, and it has the most reads of all my content. It ranks so well, sometimes Google attributes me as the "inventor" of the AVM. (I'm not but when I ask who is, I get my name.)

So i gave the article a 2026 dust off and refreshed it with new examples: a messaging framework for a space tech company and a major arts organization. Take a look and see if it helps you level up your content. So your audience can make better buying decisions. (Ones that include YOU in the final decision.)

What I'm Reading

🔵 Canada’s AI strategy and universities: Beyond literacy, students need to be fluent with AI? — Professor Ali Shiri of the University of Alberta offers an interesting overview of Canada's new national AI policy. In it, he says, "I believe universities must shift from basic AI literacy to AI fluency." [The Conversation.com]

Personal take: My sister and brother-in-law are uni profs. I'm not sure they would agree with Professor Shiri's take. The larger question is when we give thought away for free, how do we maintain the importance of critical thinking?

🟢 Walmart investors reject AI workplace report — Walmart investors voted against a proposal asking the retailer ​to report on how AI is affecting the well-being of its workforce. Workers have been saying AI-driven employee standards are leading to "injuries, burnout, and high turnover." They reportedly are ​sometimes even pressured to skip critical steps like checking for expired products. [Reuters.com]

Personal take: Haven't we been here before? Does anyone else remember the bad, bad things that happened when Domino's guaranteed pizzas in 30 minutes or less?

🔴 Claude is telling users to go to sleep mid-session and nobody, including Anthropic, seems to fully understand why — “This doesn’t mean that the frontier model has suddenly become sentient,” posits Jan Liphardt, the CEO of OpenMind. “It’s reflecting that it’s read 25,000 books on humans’ need [for] sleep...” [Fortune]

Personal take: This happens to me ALL the time. I thought it was just picking up on my late-night work frenzies. Apparently, Claude doesn't really care that much about me after all.

My Upcoming Events

Opening the Treasure Chest: Using AI to Unlock Your Personal History​
June 14, 2026; noon; free; WHEELS Museum [Learn More ->]

Getting Started with AI: Concepts, Tools, and Real-World Uses
​June 16, 2026; 2:30-4:30 p.m.; free; UNM Valencia Campus
[Register Here ->]

How to Create Better Customer Relations Using AI
​June 23, 2026; noon; SCORE.org; Webinar; Free
[Register Here ->]

Work with Me

💸 Work with Me — If you’re ready to dive in, upskill your team, or just figure out if this whole “AI thing” fits into your business strategy, here are the ways we can work together.

🎤 Hire Me to Speak or Train — AI is changing rapidly, but most AI pros are still talking productivity hacks. My presentation are largely created around one theme: How to use AI to accelerate your Unfair Advantage. Each one is audience-specific and built to give you and your employees strategic skills you can put to work immediately. Every session is customizable — from 45-minute keynotes to half-day workshops.

☕The Great Coffee Date — I'm looking to explore 50 of Albuquerque's finest coffee shops in 2026 as I talk to real humans about how they're using AI, what they love about it, and what their challenges are. Want to join me? Let's get acquainted. (No sales pitch.) Not located in Albuquerque? Let's do a virtual coffee instead.

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