Early Bird Open · Save $100

Moving
Beyond
the AI Hype.

A working conference for leaders, technologists, and practitioners who are ready to stop speculating and focus on what actually works.

Date
November 5, 2026
Location
The Department at Hudson's · Detroit
Capacity
250 Attendees
Register →View Sessions
Why Beyond Conf

Built for people doing the real work with AI.

Every session comes from someone who has shipped, scaled, or stopped an AI initiative. No vendor pitches. No hand-waving demos. Just the lessons that came from actually doing the thing.

01
◆

Signal over hype

Speakers are vetted for real-world experience — they've launched, scaled, failed, or fixed. You leave with patterns you can apply on Monday, not vendor talking points.

02
◈

Deeper than a keynote

Three focused tracks let you go wide or deep. Ethics & Compliance for the risk folks. Foundations for teams just starting. From Experience for teams already in production.

03
◇

Detroit, on purpose

Hudson's in downtown Detroit is the venue — a brand-new space built for working events, not hotel-ballroom energy. Capped at 250 so the hallway conversations actually happen.

Four Tracks

Pick the one that sounds like your week.

Every ticket gets access to all four. Jump between them all day. Each session is 45 minutes — easy to drop into mid-track.

TRACK 01

Ethics & Sustainability

If you care about doing this right.

  • Bias & fairness in deployment
  • The real environmental cost of inference
  • Labor impact & responsibility
  • Internal AI policies people follow
TRACK 02

How It Works

If you want the mechanics, not the metaphors.

  • Tokenizers & context windows
  • How attention actually works
  • Embeddings in plain English
  • What an eval really measures
TRACK 03

From Experience

If it's already in production.

  • Agentic systems in the wild
  • RAG pipelines at scale
  • Retrospectives: projects we killed
  • Post-launch iteration patterns
TRACK 04

Looking Forward

If you want to know what's next.

  • Agents that actually execute
  • Models that reason out loud
  • Multimodal workflows in practice
  • Where we think this lands in 2027
Speakers

Practitioners, not pitch decks.

Our confirmed 2026 lineup — Check back for updates!

Abhilash Rao Mesala
From Experience
Abhilash Rao Mesala
Senior Data Engineer
733 Pipelines, 2 Months, 1 AI Agent: Agentic Systems in the Wild
Almog Mor
How it Works
Almog Mor
Machine Learning Engineer at WSC sports.
When Bigger Isn't Better: Decomposing Tasks to Push LLMs Past Their Limits
Andy Chen
From Experience
Andy Chen
Product Strategist, SEP
Where AI Sharpens Discovery, and Where It Lies
Bodhisattva Das
From Experience
Bodhisattva Das
Security Engineer - RUDRA Cybersecurity
Teaching AI Agents Like Guide Dogs: A Progressive Trust Framework
Chris Moyer
Ethics & Sustainability
Chris Moyer
Principal, Moyer Group AI
Labor Impact of AI: What Does the Data Show?
Chris O'Connor
Ethics & Sustainability
Chris O'Connor
Community Builder
Skip the Scaffolding: Building Human Agency with Agentic Engineering
Dave Todaro
From Experience
Dave Todaro
CEO at Ascendle
Everyone Is Using AI. Now What? Leading AI Adoption Without Slowing Innovation
Erik Wesslen
Looking Forward
Erik Wesslen
Lead Technical Product Owner at Meijer
After the Chatbot: Building the Agentic Software Factory
Fred Estabrook
Ethics & Sustainability
Fred Estabrook
Did someone say bacon?
Skip the Scaffolding: Building Human Agency with Agentic Engineering
Heather Lenz
From Experience
Heather Lenz
I rebuilt my own company around AI. Now I help others do the same.
We Thought AI Would Change Our Technology. It Changed Our Operating Model.
Heidi Porter
Ethics & Sustainability
Heidi Porter
Principal, Moyer Group AI
Labor Impact of AI: What Does the Data Show?
Jeff Morgan
From Experience
Jeff Morgan
The World needs Cheezy
When Delivery Gets Cheap, the Org Chart Gets Expensive: Restructuring the Product Org for AI
Jim Grey
From Experience
Jim Grey
From firefighting to flow state - from chaos to capacity - from reactive to proactive - for your software engineering teams
AI-Assisted Coding for the Cautious: A Phased Pilot Case Study
Jon Fazzaro
From Experience
Jon Fazzaro
I help people make software cheaper and safer to change.
"TDD" is Dead! Here's what to do instead for quality code in the age of AI.
Katelyn Jones
Ethics & Sustainability
Katelyn Jones
Helping leaders build the decision infrastructure behind their most critical AI and strategic investments | Adjunct MBA Faculty | Board Chair
AI and Social Impact: Expanding What We Measure and Why
Madhavi Pasumarthi
From Experience
Madhavi Pasumarthi
From Tools to Agents - Agents Need Tools. MCP Gives Them a Contract.
From Tools to Agents - Agents Need Tools. MCP Gives Them a Contract.
Matt Van Vleet
From Experience
Matt Van Vleet
Managing Director @ LiminalArc
Keeping AI Honest: A/B Testing for Agent Reliability and Maturity
Michael Rissover
Looking Forward
Michael Rissover
Principle Architect at Toshiba, Regional Director for Society of Software Engineers
Token Economics: Behavioral Changes to Control Costs
Mike Cottmeyer
From Experience
Mike Cottmeyer
CEO @ LiminlaArc
Making AI Real: From Experiments to Measurable Outcomes
Sajitha Sritharan
Ethics & Sustainability
Sajitha Sritharan
Senior Cloud Data Architect | Microsoft Certified | Women in Data Advocate
The Real Carbon Cost of Running Agents (It's Higher Than You Think)
Tali Despins
Ethics & Sustainability
Tali Despins
Builder | Claude Ambassador | Psych-informed AI Enablement
Cognitive Debt and Our Duty to the Generations to Come
Tom Meloche
From Experience
Tom Meloche
A2Agile - Advancing Your AI Journey
How We Built a Functioning Software Product Without Raising a Dime. And You Can Too.
Travis Frisinger
How it Works
Travis Frisinger
Head of Agentic AI @ 8th Light
When Software Builds Itself: How the Engineering Gets Encoded
The Day at a Glance

One focused day. Zero filler.

Doors open at 8:30 AM. The working day runs 9 AM to 6 PM, followed by an evening reception with the full speaker roster.

08:30 AM
Breakfast & Check-in
Continental breakfast. Badge pickup, early networking.
Farmer Reception
09:00 AM
Welcome & Kickoff
A quick welcome and a look at what to expect from the day ahead.
Farmer
09:30 AM
Morning Track Sessions
Five parallel 45-min sessions across four tracks.
3rd Floor
12:15 PM
Lunch
Catered lunch with open seating.
Farmer
01:30 PM
Afternoon Track Sessions
Five parallel 45-min sessions across four tracks.
3rd Floor
03:15 PM
Second Afternoon Track Sessions
Five parallel 45-min sessions across four tracks.
3rd Floor
06:00 PM
Evening Reception
Full bar, heavy apps, and open access to the entire speaker roster.
Farmer Reception
Register

Secure your seat.

250 seats total. One day. No recordings — the full experience is only available in person.

Limited — 25 spots
Super Early Bird
$199
Ends May 29, 2026 · 25 spots

Our lowest price, ever. Full conference access all four tracks, breakfast, lunch, and the evening reception.

Sales Closed
Most Popular
Early Bird
$249
Ends Jun 30, 2026 · 225 spots

Full conference access including all four tracks, breakfast, lunch, daily happy hours, and the evening reception.

Sales Closed
5+ Attendees
Group
$249
Ends Sep 10, 2026 · 225 spots · Min 5–25 tickets

Bring your team. Same full access as the Conference pass — priced for groups of 5 or more from the same organization.

Register Now →
Standard
Conference
$299
Ends Sep 10, 2026 · 200 spots

Full conference access including all four tracks, breakfast, lunch, daily happy hours, and the evening reception.

Register Now →

Questions? Email hello@beyondconf.com

Sponsors

Be part of something real.

Sponsorship packages available now. Get in front of 250 AI practitioners, engineers, and decision-makers.

Visonary
$10,000
  • Main Stage Branding
  • Attendee List (Post-Event)
  • 45 Minute Speaking Session
  • Premium Location
  • Booth SizeCustom
  • Logo PlacementAll marketing channels
  • Swag Bag Opportunity
  • Complimentary Passes8
  • 2 Minute Sponsor Welcome
Pioneer
$6,500
  • Main Stage Branding—
  • Attendee List (Post-Event)
  • 45 Minute Speaking Session—
  • Premium Location
  • Booth SizeLarge
  • Logo PlacementWebsite/Keynote Slide Deck
  • Swag Bag Opportunity
  • Complimentary Passes4
  • 2 Minute Sponsor Welcome—
Advocate
$2,750
  • Main Stage Branding—
  • Attendee List (Post-Event)—
  • 45 Minute Speaking Session—
  • Premium Location—
  • Booth SizeStandard
  • Logo PlacementWebsite
  • Swag Bag Opportunity
  • Complimentary Passes2
  • 2 Minute Sponsor Welcome—
Community
$1,000
  • Main Stage Branding—
  • Attendee List (Post-Event)—
  • 45 Minute Speaking Session—
  • Premium Location—
  • Booth Size—
  • Logo PlacementWebsite
  • Swag Bag Opportunity
  • Complimentary Passes1
  • 2 Minute Sponsor Welcome—

Put your brand in front of 250 decision-makers.

Sponsor packages from $1,000 — community tier through visionary partner. Download the prospectus →

Become a Sponsor →
The Venue

The Department at Hudson's Detroit.

A brand-new, purpose-built event space in the heart of downtown Detroit. 75,000 sq ft across three floors, with skyline views and walking distance to every major downtown hotel.

Event Address

The Department at Hudson's

1000 Nick Gilbert Way
Detroit, Michigan 48226

75k
SQ FT
3
FLOORS
2026
OPENED
Get Directions →
The Department at Hudson's
1000 Nick Gilbert Way · Detroit, MI
Get Directions →
FAQ

Frequently asked.

Didn't find what you needed? Drop us a note at hello@beyondconf.com.

Both. The Foundations and From Experience tracks lean technical; Ethics & Compliance skews toward leadership, legal, and risk. Most attendees jump between tracks. Every session is designed to be accessible even if it's not your home turf.

One day.
Zero hype.
All signal.

Early-bird pricing ends August 1. Seats are limited to 250 by design — book now or wait for 2027.

Register →Download Prospectus