Last week, I had the pleasure of attending and speaking at INDEX'26 in New York, a conference dedicated to helping brands get discovered in an AI-powered world. One of the highlights was a fireside chat with my friend Lauren Boyman, CMO of KPMG US. The selfie you'll see here was taken moments after our conversation, and if I'm smiling a little extra, it's because it's still a thrill and an honor to stand in front of a room full of smart marketing leaders and wrestle with big ideas together.

Lauren and I talked about AI, naturally.

We discussed KPMG's approach to being "Client Zero," why CMOs are increasingly becoming architects of transformation, and why the real investment isn't just in technology, but in people, training, and change management. The audience was engaged, the questions were thoughtful, and the conversation reinforced something I've been hearing from CMOs all year.

What Made INDEX’26 Memorable

The job is changing fast. But here's what struck me most about the day.

As I walked around INDEX'26, I kept running into Huddlers.

Lauren Wagner Boyman, Julie Kaplan, Lynn Tornabene, Putney Cloos, Guy Yalif, Dan Lowden, Lorie Coulombe, Nicole Silver, and Andy Weiss.

Suddenly, the conference felt a lot smaller. And a lot more personal. There's a certain irony in this.

The primary purpose of the event was to help marketers understand how brands get discovered by LLMs. Yet my favorite part of the day had nothing to do with algorithms, prompts, agents, or search visibility.

It was seeing people.

Shaking hands. Sharing laughs. Comparing notes. Doing the penguin pose. Having the kinds of conversations that simply happen differently when you're standing next to someone instead of staring at them through a screen.

Technology changes. Relationships endure.

The Future Is Already in the Room

The other thing that struck me is that many of the people helping shape the future of marketing are already part of this community. They're experimenting with AI, leading transformation initiatives, managing massive teams, and figuring out what comes next for the profession. Then they turn around and share what they've learned with their peers.

That's flocking awesome.

A final thank you to Anirudh Singla of Pepper and Anjai "AJ" Gandhi and the GTM Society team for creating a terrific event and bringing together such a thoughtful group of leaders. The content was excellent, but for me, the real highlight was the people.

And the penguin poses.

Written by Drew Neisser