When I landed in Orlando for Sitecore Symposium 2025 (Nov 3-5 at the Walt Disney World Dolphin Resort) — I knew I was in for the big stage. But what I didn’t expect was how the event would crystallize my belief: AI isn’t here to replace us — it’s here to empower us.
As a digital marketer and Sitecore MVP, my day-job is helping brands build meaningful human experiences through technology. At this gathering of more than a thousand practitioners, agency partners, developers and brands, I left with three big take-aways — and a renewed sense of how to act on them.
Key Announcements: Power-ups Unlocked
Here are 3 standout moments from the product and strategy side that resonated with me.
1. The unveiling of SitecoreAI
The major headline of the week: Sitecore announced SitecoreAI, positioning the brand as “AI-first” for digital experience.
Key points:
- Built on the foundation of XM Cloud, it unifies content, data, personalization, search and agentic workflows into a single SaaS experience.
- At the opening keynote, CEO Eric Stine said the mission was clear: not simply to deliver yet another tool, but to shorten the distance between brand story and business outcome.
- For marketers like me, the message is loud: this is designed to empower our work — faster, smarter, more human-connected.
2. The launch of Agentic Studio and simplified licensing/model
Another important announcement: the Agentic Studio, a workspace where marketers and organizations can build AI agents and workflows.
Highlights:
- It comes pre-built with 20+ agents that automate things like content migration, campaign orchestration, personalization flows.
- The licensing/pricing model is being simplified: one contract, one workflow, one data model — which means less friction getting started.
For you and me as marketers, this means the platform wants to be our co-pilot, not our bottleneck.
3. The “people first” culture and community energy
Beyond the products, one of the standout elements of the week was how the community was front and centre. The theme “AI meets human connection” recurred.
- The keynote opener used the musical metaphor (“Seasons of Love” from RENT) to reflect how experience isn’t just clicks, but connection.
- During the event I felt a genuine sense of the ecosystem — MVPs, partners, clients — all talking about how to use tech to amplify human stories, not replace them.
This cultural moment is a reminder: technology without humanity = missed opportunity.
My Takeaways: What I Learned That You Should Know
From those announcements — and from my own experience onsite — I came away with three lessons I’ll carry into my work (and advise my organisation/community around).
Takeaway 1: Let AI amplify human creativity, not substitute it
Too often I hear “AI will replace humans.” At Symposium, the message was clear: AI is the power-up, but you are still the hero.
As I walked the expo floor, talked to product folks and fellow MVPs, I kept returning to this insight: An organisation that treats AI as “just another tool to replace staff” risks losing what makes them different. But one that treats AI as “a partner that frees humans to do more meaningful, higher-value work” will win.
In your work — whether you’re configuring campaigns, designing experience flows or building community platforms — ask: Are we giving the machine the boring stuff so humans can do the inspiring stuff?
Takeaway 2: Strategy + governance matter as much as “cool features”
With Agentic Studio, Sitecore is handing us powerful automation. But the breakout discussions made one thing obvious: if you don’t nail your governance, your context, your human oversight, the tool becomes a risk.
Takeaway 3: Small human acts create big connection — the “Savannah Bananas” lesson
One of the most energising parts of the week was the keynote by Savannah Bananas founder Jesse Cole (yes, banana-ball, viral audiences, fan-first culture).
His philosophy: win hearts before you win minds. Small acts of delight, elevating the fan experience, shifting from “transaction” to “tribe.”
I saw this bearing on marketing, community and digital experience:
- What if your brand experience did one small extra thing the customer wasn’t expecting, just because you knew them?
- What if you treated your users as your “fans” (not just “users”) and designed the experience around delight, surprise and loyalty?
At the event, the vibe among MVPs, partners and Sitecore staff was exactly this: human energy, authenticity, connection.
For me, the story is: you can use big tech (AI, DXP) — but if you don’t embed the small human moments, you’ll still struggle to inspire loyalty.