BeyondConf Detroit

08/24/2026

BeyondConf 2026 Speaker Spotlight: Katelyn Jones on AI & Social Impact 🛠️

When it comes to measuring AI success, relying solely on efficiency gains and cost savings misses a critical dimension—how do we ensure benefits are shared equitably while minimizing harm?

We’re thrilled to feature Katelyn Jones at BeyondConf 2026!

In "AI and Social Impact: Expanding What We Measure and Why," Katelyn will challenge leaders to expand their metrics beyond standard productivity gains to include social impact as a core measure of success. She’ll share practical strategies for centering communities, lived experiences, and long-term outcomes directly within AI strategy and project metrics. No sales pitches—just the real blueprint from the technical trenches.

Don't miss Katelyn’s session on November 5 in downtown Detroit.

👉 View the full schedule & get your tickets: https://www.beyondconf.com/

08/21/2026

Calling all Detroit Tech Leaders & IT Organizations! 🛠️

Detroit's engineering landscape is evolving rapidly—from enterprise AI adoption to modern software architectures. On November 5, 2026, BeyondConf brings together senior engineers, software architects, and technical leaders right here in downtown Detroit for a day of deep technical deep-dives.

We have some sponsorship opportunities for companies looking to connect with top-tier local tech talent and show their commitment to the Michigan developer ecosystem.

Whether you're looking to showcase your engineering culture, recruit experienced developers, or position your brand alongside regional tech leaders, we’d love to partner with you.

📍 Location: Downtown Detroit

🗓️ Date: November 5, 2026

👉 Interested in becoming a sponsor or reviewing our prospectus? Send us DM or check out the details here: https://www.beyondconf.com/

A working conference for practitioners ready to focus on what actually works in AI. November 5, 2026 · Hudson's Detroit.

08/19/2026

Important Update: New Date for BeyondConf 2026 🗓️

Due to some logistical challenges, we are shifting the date for BeyondConf 2026.

📍 New Date: Thursday, November 5, 2026
📍 Location: Hudson's Downtown Detroit

While the date is changing, our mission remains exactly the same: bringing you real-world, technical deep dives from top industry practitioners—with zero sales pitches. Our full speaker lineup and schedule remain intact, and we can’t wait to bring everyone together this November!

🎟️ Got questions or need to grab your ticket? Head over to our site for updated details: https://www.beyondconf.com/

Thank you for your understanding and continued support—see you on November 5th!

A working conference for practitioners ready to focus on what actually works in AI. November 5, 2026 · Hudson's Detroit.

08/12/2026

BeyondConf 2026 Speaker Spotlight: Satish Chandra Guruvelli on Scaling Enterprise AI to $30M ROI 🛠️

When it comes to enterprise AI, many organizations struggle to move past the pilot phase—but scaling AI systems requires clear ROI, model routing, and FinOps discipline.

In his session, "From AI Pilots to $30M ROI: Scaling Enterprise AI in Production," Satish will share real-world lessons from deploying six enterprise AI systems supporting 270 data centers. He’ll walk through how tiered model routing cut inference costs by 74%, how document processing delivered a 35:1 ROI, and how autonomous remediation handled 35k+ vulnerabilities. No sales pitches—just the real blueprint from the technical trenches.

Don't miss Satish’s session on September 10 in downtown Detroit.

👉 View the full schedule & get your tickets: https://www.beyondconf.com/

08/11/2026

Speaker Spotlight: Chris O'Connor on Clean Code Practices for AI Agents 🛠️

When it comes to AI-assisted development, soft prompts often fall short—reliable agents require the same engineering discipline we teach human developers.

In his session, "Don’t Prompt It. Teach It: Clean Code Practices for AI Agents," Chris will share hard-earned lessons from over 300 AI-assisted dev sessions, 19k+ messages, and 30+ repositories. He’ll break down why vague prompts fail and how applying SOLID, TDD, HARD BLOCK rules, and version-controlled skills turns AI into a dependable development partner. No sales pitches—just the real blueprint from the technical trenches.

Don't miss Chris’s session on September 10 in downtown Detroit.

👉 View the full schedule & get your tickets: https://www.beyondconf.com/

08/10/2026

Speaker Spotlight: Jeff "Cheezy" Morgan on Restructuring the Product Org for AI 🛠️

When AI drastically accelerates software delivery, the biggest bottlenecks are no longer technical—they're the processes and layers designed around slow work.

In his session, "When Delivery Gets Cheap, the Org Chart Gets Expensive: Restructuring the Product Org for AI," Cheezy will explore why AI-driven delivery forces a redesign of traditional product organizations. Drawing on his experience helping teams make this shift, he’ll lay out what the new product org structure looks like when coordination meetings take longer than the actual development. No sales pitches—just the real blueprint from the technical trenches.

Don't miss Cheezy’s session on September 10 in downtown Detroit.

👉 View the full schedule & get your tickets: https://www.beyondconf.com/

08/07/2026

Speaker Spotlight: Eric Heikkila on Clean Code Practices for AI Agents 🛠️

When it comes to AI-assisted development, the theory sounds great on paper—but what does it actually look like when scaled across thousands of commits and dozens of repos?

In his session, "Don’t Prompt It. Teach It: Clean Code Practices for AI Agents," Eric will share hard-earned lessons from over 300 AI-assisted dev sessions, 19k+ messages, and 30+ repositories. He’ll break down why vague prompts fail and show how teaching agents human engineering discipline—SOLID principles, TDD, HARD BLOCK rules, and version-controlled skills—turns AI into a reliable teammate. No sales pitches—just the real blueprint from the technical trenches.

Don't miss Eric’s session on September 10 in downtown Detroit.

👉 View the full schedule & get your tickets: https://www.beyondconf.com/

08/06/2026

Speaker Spotlight: Heidi Porter on the Labor Impact of AI 🛠️

When it comes to how AI is shifting workforce dynamics, the headlines are full of speculation—but what does the data actually show?

In her session, "Labor Impact of AI: What Does the Data Show?," Heidi will dig into data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the National Bureau of Economic Research, and more to explore the bull and bear cases across law, medicine, software, and finance. She’ll also examine AI as a strain of Digital Taylorism and its role in the erosion of the seniority pipeline. No sales pitches—just the real blueprint from the technical trenches.

Don't miss Heidi’s session on September 10 in downtown Detroit.

👉 View the full schedule & get your tickets: https://www.beyondconf.com/

08/06/2026

THE SCHEDULE IS LIVE! 🗓️🚀

The wait is officially over. Our team has finished curating the full agenda for BeyondConf 2026 (September 10 in downtown Detroit), and we could not be more excited about what’s in store.

We cut out the sales pitches and boardroom fluff to build a lineup of real-world AI architecture, production war stories, legacy integration strategies, and deep-dive hands-on workshops.

What happens next?
1️⃣ Explore the Schedule: Head over to our site right now to see the full track lineup, session topics, and workshop details.
2️⃣ Grab Your Tickets: Seats are filling up fast as teams lock in their plans for September. Don't wait until the last minute to secure your spot in the room alongside the Midwest's best builders and IT leaders.
3️⃣ Meet the Speakers: Over the next few weeks, we’ll be putting the spotlight on our incredible speakers, highlighting the real engineering problems they’re bringing to the stage.

Get ready for a day of practical, peer-to-peer learning. Let’s focus on what’s actually being built.

👉 View the schedule & get your tickets: https://www.beyondconf.com/

A working conference for practitioners ready to focus on what actually works in AI. September 10, 2026 · Hudson's Detroit.

08/05/2026

Our BeyondConf 2026 speaker lineup is taking shape — and it's exactly what we hoped for: practitioners who've shipped, scaled, and learned the hard way. 🎤 Meet Mike Cottmeyer, Travis Frisinger, Katelyn Jones, Satish Chandra Guruvelli, Dave Todaro — and more still to come. September 10 · Hudson's Detroit · beyondconf.com. Use code SPEAKER26 for $50 off through August 19 - https://mailchi.mp/beyondconf.com/less-hype-more-signal-september-10-detroit-17450898