GAIN 2026

Don't fear AI — embrace it to make yourself more valuable than ever. As AI climbs the pyramid of knowledge work — consuming research, analysis, modeling, even strategic synthesis — one thing stays durably yours: judgment. The ability to decompose a problem, ask the right question, and tell a good answer from a plausible-sounding wrong one. And judgment isn't just what survives AI. It's the fuel that makes AI work — and for the first time, you can replicate it. Not your hours. Your thinking, baked into systems that run when you're not in the room. Drawing on real systems I've built — from a multi-agent setup that red-teams my own proposals to brand judgment encoded as a tool a whole org uses — this session offers a method for building judgment worth propagating, and the operating system to put it to work.

Marketing has an overclaiming problem. Revolutionary, AI-powered, trusted partner, contract wins dressed up as proof. Buyers discount all of it. So how do you make a claim the market believes? Not with louder marketing, but with a true thing held long enough and backed hard enough to be undeniable. Rise8 was founded on one: outcomes over outputs, prod or it didn't happen, years before acquisition reform made outcomes the market's standard. This talk is the timeline of that bet, told as a case study you can borrow. First the education era, when marketing built the position across events (Prodacity), free content (Mission O/S), and earned media. Then the market moved our way, and we leaned in with a We Ship Outcomes platform and outcome-framed case studies. The engine underneath: marketing can only amplify what the company delivers. That partnership, not volume, is what makes the marketing believable.

B2G marketing teams that have cracked AI adoption are not using it to write more content. Instead, they are use it on research and preparation work that had always been too expensive to do thoroughly. Account research. Campaign briefing. Daily prioritization. These are the workflows where an hour of analyst time becomes twenty minutes, and where a good team becomes a great one without adding headcount.
 
Most teams are not there yet, because their experiments focused on AI-generated white papers, pitch emails, executive summaries, which is a limited. The opportunity has always been in a different category of work.
 
This workshop applies the Think Liquid framework from Now Is Gone to help B2G marketing professionals find that category in their own practice, then builds two of the highest-impact workflows live, so attendees leave with a working tool and a clear path to what comes next.

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In today’s high-pressure B2G market, marketers are constantly told that "AI changes everything." But does it? Aligning perfectly with the GAIN 2026 theme, "The B2G Balancing Act", this 20-minute fireside chat explores the critical intersection of artificial intelligence and authentic human connection within the "AI and Human Insight" track. Drawing on our shared experience bridging sales and marketing previously at Recorded Future, and now Anthropic and Nutanix, we will dissect what truly changes with AI and what absolutely must not. While AI accelerates workflows, the ultimate competitive advantages in the public sector remain trust, compelling storytelling, deep customer understanding, and tight sales alignment. We will guide attendees through practical strategies for avoiding AI-generated mediocrity, applying human judgment where it matters most, and building lasting credibility to successfully generate pipeline while protecting trust.

Let's roll out the red carpet! B2G and B2B marketing can be creative and fun!
Drawing from a nontraditional marketing background that includes working with Kim Kardashian, Ryan Seacrest, and some of the nation's most recognized celebrity influencers, this session demonstrates how influencer marketing principles can be successfully applied to the GovCon space. While government contracting may not have traditional social media celebrities, it does have influential voices such as agency leaders, industry experts, association executives, conference speakers, internal team members and LinkedIn thought leaders who shape conversations and opportunities.

As AI continues to transform marketing and automate content creation, one thing remains irreplaceable: trust. This session aligns directly with the 2026 theme, The B2G Balancing Act, by exploring how B2G marketers can balance digital innovation with authentic relationship-building to drive growth.

Attendees will learn how to identify these key influencers, build meaningful relationships, and leverage conferences and trade shows to create a larger digital impact while securing valuable in-person meetings. Participants will leave with practical strategies to amplify their brand, increase visibility, and turn influence into business results.

More details to come! 

Government buyers no longer start their research with a Google search, they start with a prompt. Contracting officers and agency decision-makers are increasingly using ChatGPT, Copilot, and Gemini to shortlist vendors, understand solutions, and validate capabilities before a single RFI or discovery call happens. If your content isn't structured to be read, understood, and cited by these AI systems, your brand is invisible at the exact moment consideration begins.
 
This session translates the same generative engine optimization (GEO) principles government agencies are now using to stay visible to citizens — answer-first content, structured data, provenance, freshness — into a playbook for marketers selling into government. We'll look at what changes when your buyer is an AI-mediated search, how "zero-click" research reshapes the top of the B2G funnel, and why the agencies you're pursuing are themselves becoming more discerning about the sources they trust and cite.

Government agencies evaluate conference attendance differently than commercial organizations. As agencies continue to invest in workforce development and technical upskilling, technology providers have an opportunity to design events that align with government training priorities. Educational content, continuing education credits, certifications, and accreditation programs often provide a stronger justification for attendance than traditional networking-focused events.
 
Learn how F5 evolved its flagship public sector conference by integrating certification and accreditation programs, hands-on labs, and interactive technical challenges. These experiences increased participation, strengthened customer engagement, deepened customer relationships, and built a community of technical champions.
 
Through real-world examples and measurable results, you'll learn how to align event strategy with government training priorities and create customer experiences that strengthen relationships while driving long-term customer loyalty and business growth.

Public sector partner marketers are expected to drive pipeline, strengthen partner relationships, embrace AI and prove ROI, all while working across increasingly complex ecosystems of vendors, distributors, systems integrators and technology partners. When priorities aren't aligned, opportunities are missed and programs become harder to execute.
 
This interactive panel brings together leaders from a technology vendor, distributor and channel partner to share how successful organizations align strategy, communications, enablement and measurement across the ecosystem. Through real-world examples and lessons learned, attendees will gain practical frameworks for building partner marketing programs that are easier to execute, create greater value for partners and deliver stronger business outcomes.
 
Whether you're building a partner marketing function or looking to improve an existing program, you'll leave with actionable ideas you can apply immediately.

Federal priorities shift with every administration, budget cycle, and policy change, but agency missions often remain the same. Yet many B2G marketers struggle to determine whether changing government language requires a complete messaging overhaul or simply a new way of framing an existing value proposition.
 
Drawing on lessons from the evolution of Customer Experience (CX) marketing in the federal market, this session explores how government priorities are rebranded, absorbed into broader initiatives, and reflected in procurement and agency communications. Attendees will learn a practical framework for identifying meaningful policy and market shifts, translating existing messaging into current priorities, and adapting go-to-market strategies without starting from scratch.
 
Through real-world federal marketing examples, attendees will leave with actionable techniques for maintaining relevance, aligning with changing agency priorities, and building messaging that remains effective long after today's buzzwords fade.

We’ve heard it and are experiencing the reality of it. The Pentagon’s shift to what it now calls the Warfighting Acquisition System reflects a broader trend across the public sector: agencies are signaling need earlier, scanning for capability in real time, and rewarding vendors who show up clear and credible before a formal solicitation ever appears. For B2G brands, that changes the stakes. A brand built for a compliance-era buying cycle doesn’t automatically hold up in a speed-and-trust-era one.
 
Our panel brings together three companies confronting that shift from three different starting points. One is an employee-owned, decades-old defense engineering firm working through how to modernize its digital presence and positioning without losing the legacy trust that built its business — while still proving it’s innovation-forward enough to win capture and recruit top talent. Another recently underwent a full name and identity change tied to a platform and category shift, driven by rapid growth that outpaced its existing brand system. A third repositioned and renamed itself following a category shift and major acquisition that expanded its mission footprint, carrying a new identity through customers, partners, and employees mid-transition.
 
Moderated by Grafik, a branding and marketing agency with nearly 50 years of experience serving aerospace, defense, and B2B technology clients, this session moves past theory into what actually happens inside these decisions: the internal debates about timing and risk, how to define a category before the market defines it for you, and how to know a rebrand actually worked once it’s live. Attendees will leave with a practical lens for evaluating whether their own brand still matches their mission and growth trajectory — and a framework for making that case internally before the market forces the issue.