Take some time to meet and greet with your peers and our sponsors and enjoy delicious hors d'eouvres and drinks...on us!

Christopher Adelman, founder of the Customer Data Alliance

A short welcome from our Premier sponsor with insights on how teams are adapting their data and campaign infrastructure to support scalable AI—without adding complexity.

Marketing teams are under pressure to adopt AI—but are often navigating inflated expectations and unclear language. Brandy Smith breaks down real applications in the marketing context, including how to evaluate tools, understand the emerging roles of AI assistants and agents, and distinguish between experimentation and enterprise value - and moving from pilot to practice. It sets the stage for building shared vocabulary and purpose within teams.

What does AI-readiness actually look like inside the marketing function? Shashi Bellamkonda introduces a practical framework to evaluate and implement AI initiatives that drive value while managing risk. Topics include:
• Revenue generation through sales and marketing data activation
• Personalized customer experiences
• Internal productivity through AI-assisted workflows
• Workforce engagement through training and appropriate policy guardrails
The session is ideal for marketing leaders looking to guide their teams toward practical AI adoption while supporting confidence and capability across roles.

AI adoption often stalls due to unclear goals, poor sequencing, or a lack of internal coordination. Misha Sulpovar offers a structured, role-aware framework to help marketing teams assess where they are, identify near-term wins, and prepare for the next stage of AI capability.

The approach includes:
1. Defining foundational categories of AI use
2. Identifying practical, immediate applications
3. Preparing for future opportunities without overextending resources

We’ll also examine how agentic AI is beginning to reshape key areas of marketing—from content generation and campaign management to performance measurement and workflow coordination. Instead of relying on isolated specialists or rigid automation, emerging tools are enabling more adaptive, self-directed capabilities for marketing teams—while also creating new expectations around accountability, orchestration, and cross-functional trust.

This session is particularly useful for leaders exploring how to increase team self-sufficiency, reduce execution bottlenecks, and scale decision-making without compromising governance.

Reconnect with peers and speakers, ask follow-up questions, and explore CDA Academy offerings and sponsor solutions. CDA staff will be available to discuss upcoming workshops, training formats, and how organizations are using our events, courses, workshops and certification to support practical team development.

Dr. Priya Sarathy returns (by popular demand) to moderate a discussion with enterprise practitioners and trusted advisors. Panelists will share candid insights on where teams are gaining traction, where they’re struggling, and how trusted internal champions are making the difference in scaling AI capability across marketing and beyond.

Enjoy some well-deserved fun with prizes, networking and cocktails, and get to know the generous sponsors who make this all happen.

Final takeaways and a preview of what’s next from the CDA community, including upcoming workshops, sandbox, no-code prompt engineering, and creative ways to engage your people and help bridge the gap between learning and doing.