# AI talk 2026: what programmes expect from speakers after DMEXCO

Author: Marin Niehues, Stage Starter · Published: 2026-09-25
Topic: Talks & Stage (https://www.stage-starter.de/en/blog/topic/talks-and-stage/)
Source: https://www.stage-starter.de/en/blog/ai-talk-dmexco-2026/

DMEXCO took place in Cologne on 23 and 24 September 2026 under the motto “Scaling Intelligence”, showing how companies take artificial intelligence beyond the experimental phase, and according to the organiser’s [preview of 14 September](https://dmexco.com/press/dmexco-highlights-2026-how-ai-is-shaping-the-future-of-marketing-media-and-commerce/) the programme featured more than 1,000 speakers on 17 stages in over 500 sessions. Dirk Freytag, President of the German digital industry association BVDW, summed up the direction in the same release in one sentence: “The time for experimenting with AI is over.” For speakers, this means that programmes for an AI talk in 2026 and 2027 are looking for results, figures and case studies from your own practice. If you submit a talk on AI, your title and the first sentence of your abstract should therefore say what came out of a specific project, and the talk itself should follow that case.

**Key points at a glance**
- DMEXCO 2026 ran in Cologne on 23 and 24 September under the motto “Scaling Intelligence”, announced with more than 1,000 speakers, 17 stages, over 500 sessions and over 230 hours of content.
- BVDW President Dirk Freytag said beforehand that the time for experimenting with AI was over and that AI now had to contribute to value creation.
- On paper, each stage hosts just under 30 sessions over two days, and each session has two speakers.
- A visitor who spends six hours a day in the halls over both days sees a little over 5 per cent of the programme and chooses sessions by their title and short description.

## DMEXCO 2026: Scaling Intelligence as the motto for moving into practice

The organiser had already explained the motto on 14 April 2026 in a separate [release on “Scaling Intelligence”](https://dmexco.com/press/scaling-intelligence-dmexcos-2026-motto-marks-the-pivotal-shift-from-ai-experimentation-to-real-value-creation/), in which “scaling” refers to the ability to embed AI in organisations in ways that extend beyond individual use cases. Verena Gründel, Host and Brand & Communications Director at DMEXCO, said at the time: “The AI experimentation phase is over.” When the BVDW President repeats this half a year later, the industry has clearly made up its mind.

**The time for experimenting with AI is over. Now, it must contribute to value creation.**
-- Dirk Freytag, President of BVDW, in the DMEXCO preview of 14 September 2026

For the Thought Leaders' Summit on day one, the preview named Dave Dugan, Head of Global Ads Solutions at OpenAI, Dr Boris Ewenstein, CEO of OTTO, Nidhi Ghai, Corporate Vice President of Ad Sales at Microsoft, and Dan Taylor, Vice President of Global Ads at Google, among others. Kantar was set to open the CMO Summit on day two, with speakers from Bosch, Mattel as well as Dr. Oetker. The main stages therefore featured people who speak for large platforms and brands, and audiences then measure talks on smaller stages against this level too.

## Over 1,000 speakers on 17 stages: a calculation with open assumptions

The following calculation translates the figures in the preview into something you can work with as a speaker. It is an example and not a figure from DMEXCO, and because the preview says “more than” or “over” throughout, all values are rough averages.

**DMEXCO 2026 in figures and calculated**
- 1,000+ | speakers according to the preview
- 500+ | sessions on 17 stages
- 230+ | hours of content over two days
- 28 min. | calculated average length per session, rounded
- 5 % | share of the programme a visitor sees in twelve hours

If you spread over 500 sessions across 17 stages, each stage hosts just under 30 sessions over two days, or around 15 a day. Dividing the over 230 hours of content by the number of sessions leaves an average of around 28 minutes per session. On paper, two speakers also share each session, which points to many panels and conversations for two. Assume a visitor sits in the halls for six hours on each of the two days; they then see twelve of over 230 hours, a little over 5 per cent of the programme and so around 25 sessions. The six hours are an assumption, and anyone who spends more time at the stands sees even less.

At a large trade fair, each visitor therefore picks roughly one in 20 sessions. They make this choice in the programme, where all they see of you is your title and the first lines of your description. Before that, the programme committee has already decided on the basis of the same lines whether you appear in the programme at all.

## After the experimental phase: what programmes expect from an AI talk

As long as many companies were still finding out what the tools could do, the overview of what AI makes possible had its place in the programme. When the association and the organiser declare this phase over, the audience consists of people who have run their own trials and want to know how others have made the move into everyday operations. In our assessment, programme committees are therefore looking for talks for 2027 that show a case from a specific company, with the effort involved, the time it took to get a result and a figure against which success can be measured.

This also applies to industry conferences on sales, HR or production, where AI is now a cross-cutting topic, and to stages with an AI focus, which our article on [speaking at AI conferences](/en/blog/speaking-at-ai-conferences/) covers in more detail. A case from your own practice also keeps you in expert-talk territory without promoting your offer, because [audiences draw the line between an expert talk and a sales pitch](/en/blog/expert-talk-or-sales-pitch/) mainly by whether they can take something away. The table shows the difference using two invented titles.

**AI overview and AI case study in the programme**
Criterion | Overview talk on AI | Talk with a case study
Title | “AI in sales: opportunities and risks” | “AI in sales: how a machine builder halved its quotation time”
First sentence of the abstract | describes the trend | names the company, the period and the result
Structure | tools and possibilities one after another | starting point, decision, implementation, result, transfer
Figures | other people’s market studies | one figure of your own, with how it was measured
What the audience takes away | an impression of the topic | a process they can test in their own company

## Title for an AI talk: search term and result in one line

A good title for a talk on AI starts with the term under which your audience knows the topic, such as “AI in procurement” or “AI in recruitment”, and names the result after a colon. In the programme, the eye falls on the first part, and if it is followed by a figure from a specific company, the reader knows at once that they will hear a case. You will find more on length and structure in our article on why [the talk title decides whether your abstract gets read](/en/blog/conference-talk-title/).

Check your title with one question: could another speaker submit it in exactly the same form? If so, it lacks what only comes from your work, namely the industry, the period or the figure.

## Abstract for an AI talk: the result in the first sentence

In an [abstract for a conference](/en/blog/what-is-a-conference-abstract/), a committee reads the first sentence most closely. For an AI talk, an order of three steps works well: the first sentence names the industry together with the period and the result, the second describes what was difficult along the way, and the third says what listeners can do differently in their own company afterwards. In this third sentence you also translate the term value creation into something tangible, such as hours saved or shorter lead times.

Clarify early which figures you may show, because a case from a client project needs the client’s consent. If you may not name the company, the figure keeps its value when you describe the company by industry and size.

## Structure of an AI talk with a case study in 30 minutes

Because our calculation above came to around 28 minutes per session, we assume a 30-minute slot, which can be structured like this:

1. Five minutes on the starting point, with the figure before the project and the reason the company wanted to change something.
2. Five minutes on the decision, meaning which routes were on the table and why the chosen one fitted.
3. Eight minutes on implementation, including what did not work and how the team responded.
4. Five minutes on the result, with the new figure and one sentence on how it was measured.
5. Seven minutes on transfer and questions, with three steps the audience can test themselves the following week.

How to build the opening and the close is covered in the article [How do I build a good conference talk?](/en/blog/how-to-build-a-good-conference-talk/). The third step is often the most valuable for your audience, because that is where the questions arise that bring people to you after the talk.

**An AI talk stands out in the 2026 and 2027 programmes when its title and the first sentence of its abstract name a measurable result from a specific project.**

## Standing out among over 1,000 speakers: five steps for your next submission

What applies to DMEXCO applies to every industry conference with parallel stages, and before your next submission you work through these steps:

1. Choose a project from the last twelve months in which AI brought about a measurable change, and write down the figure before and after.
2. Get approval for the figure, the industry and, if relevant, the name before you write the abstract.
3. Write the title with your audience’s search term at the front and the result after the colon.
4. Write the abstract in the order result, difficulty, transfer, and read the first sentence once on its own.
5. Offer yourself for panels as well, because with two speakers per session many slots are conversation formats.

**How Stage Starter gets you onto conference stages with your AI topic**
At Stage Starter we research the conferences where your ideal clients sit in the audience, develop a talk with a clear case from your project with you, write the abstracts and submit them in your name. We keep track of the deadlines and follow up until you are on stage. In the coaching programme our Stage Experts support you in live calls, and our founder Marin Niehues brings the experience of more than 100 invitations on six continents. In an [initial consultation](/en/erstgespraech/) we work out which route suits you.

**With more than 1,000 speakers and the sentence “The time for experimenting with AI is over”, DMEXCO 2026 showed where AI programmes are heading. For your AI talk, this means choosing a project with a measurable result and building the talk around that case from title to close.**

## Frequently asked questions

### What do programme committees expect from an AI talk in 2026?

In our assessment, above all cases from practice with a figure against which the result can be measured. Ahead of DMEXCO 2026, BVDW President Dirk Freytag declared the time for experimenting with AI over.

### How do I find a good title for a talk on AI?

Put the term under which your audience knows the topic at the start, such as “AI in procurement”, and name the result from your project after the colon, ideally with a figure and the industry.

### May I show figures from client projects in my talk?

Yes, once the client has agreed. Without approval for the name, you describe the company by industry and size, and many clients release a percentage more readily than an absolute amount.

### How many speakers and stages did DMEXCO 2026 have?

The organiser’s preview of 14 September 2026 named more than 1,000 speakers on 17 stages, over 500 sessions with over 230 hours of content and eleven themed summits for the event in Cologne.