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AI, procurement pressure, and in-housing have fundamentally changed the balance of power. Clients aren’t just buying agency services anymore, they’re building capabilities, systems, and teams of their own. In this session expert, Michael Chamberlin, explores how agencies can expand their relevance by moving upstream: from campaign execution to strategic partnership, from outputs to transformation. The opportunity isn’t to fight in-housing, it’s to help design it, guide it, and elevate it. Agencies that thrive next will scale their footprint inside client organizations by helping leaders navigate what their brand, business, and operating model need to become, not just what needs to ship next quarter. The future value of agencies won’t be measured by just deliverables, but by influence, foresight, and the ability to help clients shape what’s coming.

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Closing the Account Leadership Gap

Moving Beyond Service to High-Value Partnership & Competitive Advantage

Clients’ expectations of their agency partners have never been higher. Great service and flawless execution are no longer enough—clients are looking for partners who understand their business, contribute strategic thinking, and help drive meaningful results. This shift requires the Account discipline to evolve from managers of the work to leaders of the relationship and the business. 

In this session, Lori Bartle uses data to uncover the performance and perception gaps that contribute to the Leadership gap in modern agencies. She explores the three strategic value drivers that - when activated and empowered - elevate account leadership beyond execution: growth, creativity, and high-performing relationships. We’ll discuss where agencies and account teams often stand today with each driver, where the discipline must evolve, and how building a system of shared accountability for these outcomes can transform the role into a competitive advantage for the client and the agency.

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Leadership Succession Without the Panic

How to Prepare Your Next Generation of Leaders

Most agencies struggle with succession not because of timing, but because leadership transitions are treated as one-time events instead of ongoing systems.

In this session, Karl Sakas(opens in new tab) explores how agencies can intentionally prepare for leadership transitions before someone burns out, resigns, or steps back. The focus is on building durable leadership capacity that strengthens the agency today and supports what comes next—growth, transition, or M&A.

Drawing on two decades advising agency leadership teams, Karl shares practical frameworks leaders can apply immediately to reduce dependency on single individuals, clarify decision ownership, and develop internal successors with confidence. These practices support continuity whether leadership stays internal, evolves over time, or eventually transitions through a sale or merger.

What Attendees Will Learn

• The difference between role succession and leadership succession—and why confusing the two creates risk
• Early warning signs that a leadership role has become a single point of failure
• How to develop internal successors without making premature promises or triggering internal politics
• The role senior leaders play in succession planning—even when they’re not planning to leave
• How thoughtful succession planning strengthens retention, morale, and client confidence

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The Agency Brand Advantage: Turn Awareness into Pipeline

Most new business outbound programs aren’t underperforming because teams aren’t working hard enough, they’re underperforming because they’re built on the wrong assumptions. More emails, more calls, more automation leads to less impact. In a market flooded with outreach, attention has become the scarcest resource. The teams winning today aren’t the ones doing more, they’re the ones who understand how to build visibility, shape perception, and earn engagement before they ever hit send.

In this session, Zach Rosenberg, challenges conventional business development thinking and introduces a more effective approach; outbound programs and tactics designed around insight, relevance, and sustained awareness. Attendees will leave with a clear framework for turning attention into a pipeline without relying on volume, guesswork, or outdated tactics.

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Talent Strategy by Design, Not Default

Too often, agency talent strategy only starts when there’s an immediate open role to fill. But as AI fundamentally changes how work gets done, the traditional "gaps" we used to hire for are shifting beneath our feet.

This session makes the case for a radical shift: why agency leaders must move from default, reactive hiring to deliberate team design. We will explore how building for maximum flexibility and adaptability—rather than fixed, rigid roles—is becoming the ultimate lever for agency stability. Learn how structuring internal teams that can flex their capabilities alongside changing client needs will redefine staffing, optimize resourcing, and future-proof your agency in a rapidly shifting landscape.

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Benchmarking Numbers Every Agency Should Know

Understanding the fundamental financial metrics behind your agency is the key to unlocking growth, profitability, and premium valuations. By mastering these numbers, agency leaders can eliminate guesswork and learn how to make significantly better, data-driven business decisions.

In this session, Jon Morris(opens in new tab), will break down the three Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that matter most by introducing the proprietary "CPR Score" (Cash, Profit Margin, and Revenue). We will also go over additional benchmarks that will help you identify exactly how to improve those core metrics. By exploring the "KPI Pyramid," you will discover a clear hierarchy of things to focus on, including how much you should spend in each area and the specific results you should expect. Ultimately, you will walk away knowing the exact financial benchmarks acquirers demand, positioning your agency for long-term health or a lucrative exit.

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Busy Isn't Valuable: Turning Motion into Margin

Most agencies are not struggling because teams are not working hard enough. They are struggling because the assumptions underneath the model have changed. AI has pushed baseline output toward free, procurement is asking for 15 to 20 percent off because "you're using AI now," and the staffing pyramid that once produced margin is losing its base. Teams have never been busier or less certain what that activity is worth. Busy is not valuable.

In this session, Dustin Engel(opens in new tab) draws on the E5 framework, developed from analysis of more than 100 M&A due diligence checklists, to separate AI activity from real operating leverage. He will cover how to command a premium when good enough is free, and how to rebuild the model around talent and human-plus-AI collaboration without hollowing out tomorrow's leadership bench. Attendees will leave with five moves they can make in the next 30 days.

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Repricing creativity in the age of AI

As AI changes how creative work is produced, agencies are under increasing pressure to defend the value of their ideas—not just their outputs.

In this session, Howard Moggs(opens in new tab) shares how agencies can reposition creativity as a business driver, communicate value more effectively and avoid undervaluing work in an AI-driven market.

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