CMS Kickoff 25 Program

Held at the James in St. Pete on Jan 14 - 15

The conference is tailored for everyone working with content management systems, from beginners to experts, and features 2 packed days with a carefully curated mixture of talks, workshops, activities and world class facilitators, thought-provokers, speakers and session leads.

Unlike many other conferences, this one is not about speakers talking endlessly about their own work. On Day #1 we set the stage with lightning talks and reflections and rather than being talked at, this is your conference for active participation and talking to your peers. On Day #2, we’ll focus on fewer talks and cross industry working groups to really tackle the thorny issues and make progress together. Throughout we enjoy the museum, good meals and quality conversations in a relaxed atmosphere optimized for learning and networking.

On this page you’ll find the current program. Changes will happen as we do our best to curate the learning experience.

Program

Tuesday, January 14

9:00 - 9:30: Breakfast and registration

9:30 - 9:35: Welcome & Opening

by Chris Justice and our moderator Janus Boye, Boye & Co

In this opening session, Matt Garrepy from CMS Critic will lead a conversation with Nicole France on what we need to know for 2025.

Nicole works as Evangelist, Director of Content at Contentful.

With a background as an analyst with both Gartner and Constellation Research, she’s also been almost 6 years with Fujitsu and worked in both the US and Europe.

A graduate of UC Berkeley, Nicole enjoys the outdoors, flying small planes, and embarking on yet another house project in her spare time.

After the expert opening, we’ll go straight to hearing lightning talks from three practitioners, starting with one of our local practitioners

If you're a content professional, you've likely spent much of your career focused on how to govern the accuracy and quality of content. As GenAI has entered our collective corporate consciousness, our content is now under a microscope.

Business leaders are now recognizing how important good content is to enabling an effective GenAI experience for employees. Getting content governance right, especially in large organizations, takes lots of people, rigorous processes, clear roles and responsibilities and accountability.

More details coming soon

Makram is among the most experienced practitioners when it comes to experimentation. Hear more about his cutting edge work on:

• Going from macro-audience experiences to individualized experiences. How AI is helping advance hyper-personalization

• How to QA/UAT all the hyper-personalized experiences before launch?

• Moving from website search and sales/support chatbots into a Concierge AI Assistant

• À-la-carte Personalized Pricing and Bundles

10.45 - 11:15 Coffee & networking

More details coming soon

More details coming soon

More details coming soon

More details coming soon

12:30 - 1.30 Lunch

1.30 - 2.30 Touring the James Museum with its spectacular modern and historic works of art that evoke the spirit of a wide-open frontier and the beauty of life in the American West.

More details coming soon

Contrary to the name, Content Management Systems are rarely used to manage content.

Most organisations use CMS as a content-entry tool, while the “management” part is often orchestrated using email, Excel and Word. That’s not scalable, nor efficient.

In this session, we will take a look at missing pieces of content governance and how CMS can/should support these. We will also explore areas where AI can help automate content governance in large-scale content operations.

As the content management landscape continues to grow, so do the security challenges organizations face. Cybercriminals are increasingly using AI-driven techniques and publicly available information to target vulnerabilities.

In this session, we'll explore the real-world threats organizations are encountering today—from insider risks and social engineering to malware—and share the practical lessons we've learned in mitigating these risks.

You’ll leave with valuable insights on how to strengthen their content management systems and adapt to the evolving security landscape.

More details coming soon

4.30 - 5.00 Coffee & networking

5.00 - 6.00 CMS Idol 2025

Help crown the next (and first) “2025 CMS Idol”! In this fast-paced, entertaining competition, contestants will have 6 minutes to showcase their system and try to win your vote.

If you like short demos, pithy commentary, and expert analyses, then look no further. This is the session for you. You'll hear thoughts from an expert panel of judges, but it's up to you to decide the winner.

Contestants:

• Directus

• Kontent.ai

• 4 more TBD

6.30 - 10:00 Social event

Everyone is invited to join us for an informal dinner.

We’ll also announce the CMS Idol winner and even do a CMS Experts Quiz!

Venue: TBA

Wednesday, January 15

7:00 Morning Run

We meet in front of the James for a relaxed 25 minute run

9:00 - 9:30 Breakfast and networking

9:30 - 10.00: Welcome to Day #2 by Janus Boye.

Key insights from Day #1, we divide into working groups to tackle the big issues for 2025, including

• Content and AI

• Content governance

• MORE TO COME - share your suggestions
  

10:00 - 11.00: Working groups - join a key topic, contribute and help shape the future of the industry

11.00 - 11.30 Coffee & networking

11:00 - 12.15: Working groups continued - join a key topic, contribute and help shape the future of the industry

12:15 - 12.30: Brief presentations of progress, blockers, call for participation to move forward

12.30 - 1.30 Lunch

1:30 - 2.15: Last round of progress in the working groups

More details coming soon

2.45 - 3:00 Goodbyes and see you next year!

A brief interactive wrap-up of the two days. Key lessons learned, big questions for 2025 and what happens next