The Consortium hosted its Annual Summit in Atlanta in March! 120 attendees from 58 companies met at the Thompson Buckhead to explore convergence of knowledge, people, and AI.
Consortium Members have access to full Summit presentations (and notes and photos) in the Member wiki, but for a quick recap, check out the recording and the summary below.
After a Monday night rooftop welcome reception, Executive Director Matt Seaman kicked off the Summit on Tuesday exploring the idea that reality is in the interaction between:
- Intentional Use of AI Capabilities
- Discipline Around Knowledge Management
- Purposeful Engagement with People
Kendall Brenneise from F5, and Albert Myles from Red Hat provided examples of AI use cases that are in production in their organizations, and Kelly Murray talked about the skills we have in our toolbox to enhance our relationships with people.
Tuesday afternoon was filled with breakout sessions. David Kay and Jennifer Crippen from DB Kay & Associates discussed why KCS is more important than ever, and provided some tips for approaching that conversation with executives. Heather Ausmus described their thoughtful approach to a KCS implementation at Twilio, where they lean on mentorship, empowering champions, and celebrating success. Mark Churchill from Rockwell Automation talked about how the results of their Knowledge Domain Analysis program has sparked fresh company-wide interest in their KCS implementation and how other parts of the business might leverage a knowledge discipline.
Meanwhile, Chris Best from Ping Identity and Royce Abel from Autodesk provided an update on their Intelligent Swarming implementations including current exploration on communicating success, and iterations on a reputation model. Koree Mires from Cisco described how they approach and monitor all of the automation and AI capabilities currently in beta and in place. Carly Thomas and Shari Wennes from SAP discussed what happened when they started with an AI use case that no one was asking for, and the things they learned along the way.
Wednesday was Open Space Day, when Summit attendees nominates 32 topics that they spent the day exploring. Most of these focused on the future of work, including themes around how AI is everywhere, how to keep humans in the loop, and how content and knowledge are evolving. The full list of topics and notes are available to Consortium Members in the wiki, but highlights included:
- Thoughts on support/service skills necessary for success five years from now
- How to measure uncertainties in KCS metrics to better implement and maintain change?
- Using AI outside of vendor’s original use case: bring AI out of the box
- What are some best practices to keep mentors/coaches engaged during organizational change?
- A KDA/Evolve Loop Bonanza
On Thursday, Matt Seaman introduced a new Member resource: the AI Blueprint. This is a guide for successful automation and AI implementations based on Member experience. (We are looking forward to hearing your feedback on this!)
Then we heard from Joe Muehlhauser (Tekion), Joe Lombardo (ConnectWise), and Laurel Poertner (F5), who discussed AI strategy, long term goals, and expectation management from an executive perspective.
Ryan Mathews from NetApp presented on how they are calculating the benefit of AI implementations by thinking about it in the context of how it helps fulfill total demand for support.
In closing, Sara Feldman talked about the way the Consortium’s work gets done and the future that Consortium Members are building together.
It was an event made wonderful by the people who were there! Check out reflections from attendees on LinkedIn.
We hope to see you at a Consortium event soon, and save the date for Summit 2026, happening April 27-30 at Hotel Valley Ho in Scottsdale, AZ!
