Everyone else leaves at go-live. That’s when adoption fails.

The Standing Seat is a monthly retainer where DHMEC.AI remains your independent AI advisor through vendor selection, implementation, and adoption. Every month: a leadership working session, vendor and partner liaison, roadmap maintenance, and a written progress note. Every quarter: roadmap re-sequencing, a frontline adoption checkpoint with the staff actually using the tools, a board- or funder-ready update, and a leadership workshop module. Three tiers start at $1,800 per month with a six-month minimum, then month-to-month. We don’t build software. We act as your Chief AI Officer, continuing to strategize with AI by finding new opportunities to improve, innovate, or scale.

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The problem the Standing Seat solves

A roadmap is not an outcome. Between the decision and the result sits a year of work that nobody in the room is set up to carry.

Your implementation partner demobilizes at go-live because that’s their business model, and it’s reasonable. But go-live is just the beginning of adoption. Your own team is already at capacity. Adding “own the AI rollout” to an operations director’s plate is how the rollout becomes the thing that slips. And the vendor has a commercial interest in the answer to “Is this working?”

The Standing Seat is the constant. We’re there across vendors, across rollouts, and across years.

What’s included every month

• One leadership working session — what’s live, what’s stuck, what’s next
• Vendor and partner liaison — we handle the coordination, the chasing, and the translation between what the vendor says and what it means
• Roadmap maintenance — the plan stays current as reality moves
• A written progress note — short, factual, forwardable to a board chair or program officer

What’s included every quarter

• Roadmap re-sequencing — priorities reassessed against what actually happened
• Frontline adoption checkpoint — we talk to the people using the tools, not the people who bought them
• A board- or funder-ready update — written for the audience that controls your money
• One leadership workshop module — practical AI capability for your leadership team, delivered in sequence over the year

Vendor work we handle

Requirements definition · vendor shortlist and scoring · demo facilitation · reference checks · contract and pricing review · onboarding oversight

We sit on your side of the table for all of it. We take no fees from vendors or implementation partners in either direction, and we say so publicly, because that’s what makes the seat worth having.

Pricing

Tier	Client size	Monthly	Commitment
Advisor	Under $1M budget or revenue	$1,800	6 months, then month to month
Partner	$1M – $5M	$3,200	6 months, then month to month
Executive	Over $5M or multi-site	$5,000	6 months, then month to month

Every tier receives the same monthly and quarterly cadence. What changes with tier is the breadth of the organization we’re covering, the number of concurrent vendor processes we manage, and the depth of the quarterly adoption work.

Fractional AI leadership in the broader market runs from roughly $1,750 to $30,000 a month. We sit at the accessible end of that range, with sector fluency the generalists don’t have.

Who this is for

We work with arts and cultural institutions, nonprofits, and mission-driven organizations in the Charlotte region and across the Carolinas, typically $250,000 to $5 million in annual budget. We also serve hospitality, wellness, lifestyle, food service, tourism, and property management organizations where the experience is the product.

The Standing Seat fits when:

• You’ve completed an Opportunity Blueprint and decided to act on it
• You’re about to select or have just selected a vendor, and nobody internal can hold them accountable
• Something is live but adoption is uneven, and you can’t tell whether it’s the tool or the rollout
• Your board or funders expect a periodic, credible update on AI that isn’t written by the vendor
• You need capability built into your leadership team over time, not a one-day training

Who should start elsewhere

If you don’t yet know where AI belongs in your organization, start with the $2,500 AI Readiness Briefing or the Opportunity Blueprint — a retainer without a roadmap just spends months building one at a monthly rate. If you need software built or configured, that’s an implementation partner; we’ll help you select and manage one. And if you want a single leadership session rather than ongoing advisory, a standalone workshop module is available at $4,500, or a group cohort at $1,200 per organization.

How it starts

Most clients arrive through the Blueprint. The roadmap becomes the retainer’s agenda, so month one starts with work rather than discovery.

You can also start cold. If you already have a strategy and need an advisor to execute against it, we’ll scope a short onboarding to get current on your organization before the cadence begins.

Six months, then month-to-month. The minimum exists because adoption doesn’t resolve in eight weeks, and neither party learns anything useful from a shorter run.

Questions we get

How much does the Standing Seat cost? $1,800 per month for Advisor (under $1M), $3,200 for Partner ($1M–$5M), and $5,000 for Executive (over $5M or multi-site). All three carry a six-month minimum and continue month to month afterward.

What’s the minimum commitment? Six months. After that it’s month to month with no further obligation.

Do we have to do a Blueprint first? No, though most clients do. If you already have a roadmap you’re confident in, we’ll scope a short onboarding and begin the cadence from there.

Do you implement the software? No. We don’t build, configure, or deploy. We define the requirements, run the selection, review the contract and pricing, oversee onboarding, and hold the implementation partner accountable to what they agreed to.

What if the vendor isn’t performing? That’s what the seat is for. We document it, escalate it, and — where the contract allows — help you exit. We have no relationship with them to protect.

Who do you talk to in the quarterly adoption checkpoint? The people actually using the tools. Front-of-house staff, program coordinators, box office, volunteers. Leadership’s account of adoption and the frontline’s account are usually different, and the difference is the finding.

What are the workshop modules? Practical AI capability sessions for your leadership team, written for organizations under 25 staff — one per quarter, sequenced across the year. They’re also available standalone at $4,500, or as a group cohort at $1,200 per organization.

Can we move between tiers? Yes. Tier is set by organization size and scope at the outset and reviewed as the engagement changes.

Do you work outside Charlotte? Yes. Working sessions are virtual by default. We work across the Carolinas and travel for in-person sessions by arrangement.