Ben McAlilly CreativeBook NovaPortfolio · Live event AI
Meet Nova. She emceed a two-day conference from the arena screen.
Digital Innovation 2026, Tupelo, Mississippi: twenty scripted lines — the cold open, every introduction and send-off, the break, two keynote builds, the close — delivered by an AI host in her own voice, with lip-synced video, fired one button at a time by a single operator backstage.
Northeast Mississippi · Sept 29–30
NOVA
Your AI Emcee
Presented by
The Commission on the Future
of Northeast Mississippi
The arena screen. Fire a cue below to see and hear her.
2
days on stage
20
scripted lines — 13 cues, 7 outros
6
hiccup lines, just in case
1
operator, one button per line
Hear her
This is the operator's console. Go ahead — fire one.
Every line Nova says on stage is rendered ahead of time in her voice, checked, and pinned. On show day nothing is improvised and nothing listens to the room: the operator follows the printed run of show and presses FIRE. These are the actual recordings the arena heard.
Now playing
Waiting for a cue. (Sound on.)
Run of showstage: ready
#1
Speaker intro · Dr. Chris Chism
Our first speaker runs one of the most technologically ambitious school districts in America. He's the Superintendent of the Pearl Public School District, Mississippi's State Superintendent of the Year, and he has carried his A-I playbook to seventeen states — and all the way to Congress. Here to show us the practical uses for A-I — so put your hands together, Northeast Mississippi, and give it up for Doctor Chris Chism!
#2
Keynote build · part one (sets up his trailer)
Our speaker today on cybersecurity REFUSED to share any personal details with me — so I did some research on the Internet. In addition to appearances at The Pentagon, on Sixty Minutes, and cooking meatballs with Rachael Ray, I found this blockbuster movie trailer, which is the perfect way to bring him on stage. Watch with me.
#3
Keynote build · part two (fired as the trailer ends)
Please help me welcome the expert we THINK is John Silly-o!
#4
Speaker intro · Christa Alexander
Our next speaker's talk title is her family's story. Christa Alexander is President and C-E-O of Arriva — a fourth-generation, family-run broadband company that started in nineteen twenty-three with a single switchboard, and today builds fiber across rural Mississippi. She's also one of rural America's leading broadband advocates in Washington. Her talk: The Road to A-I Runs Through Rural America. Northeast Mississippi, give it up for Christa Alexander!
HICCUP
Hiccup line · stalling for time
While they sort that out — fun fact: I run on the same Wi-Fi as everyone in this room. So if you're streaming something right now… you know who you are. I'm not mad. I'm just buffering.
HICCUP
Hiccup line · audio / video trouble
If you can hear me but can't see me — congratulations, you're getting the podcast version. If you can see me but can't hear me… well, then that joke didn't land either.
A cue always interrupts whatever's playing — same as the real console.
How it works
A broadcast, not a chatbot.
01 · Script
The producer's run of show becomes cue cards: what she says, verbatim, and the operator's GO line — what to watch for before firing. Names are spelled the way they're said.
02 · Voice
Each cue is rendered in Nova's voice (ElevenLabs v3) with one fixed voice profile. Several takes are generated and measured against a reference cue — pitch, pace, timbre — and the closest one is pinned.
03 · Face
A stylized character on HeyGen's LiveAvatar, lip-synced to that audio in real time and framed in the event's brand on the arena screen. If the feed drops, the screen shows a branded hold card — never an error.
04 · Control
A phone-friendly console talks to the stage over a realtime channel: FIRE, SKIP, KILL, RESUME, a verbatim SPEAK box for announcements, and hiccup lines with a little humor for when a show goes sideways.
Nothing listens by default
Nova's ears are closed unless the operator opens them for a planned live exchange. No accidental interjections mid-keynote, no transcribing the room.
Built for the venue network
Every recording is preloaded into the stage machine the moment it goes live. Firing a cue never waits on Wi-Fi; a bad link degrades to a hold card, not dead air.
One person can run it
The whole show fits on a phone: numbered cards that match the paper run of show, a NEXT marker, and a printed manual with failure drills.
Book Nova
An AI host for your conference, gala, or launch — scripted to your run of show, in your brand, run from one phone.
Nova can be re-voiced, re-skinned and renamed for your event. A live, interactive demo is available on request.
Nova was built and operated by Ben McAlilly Creative, Tupelo, MS, for MEGAPOP's Digital Innovation 2026. Event branding shown as delivered; speaker names appear as introduced on stage.