Event Highlights | The Gathering 2026 

# Let’s Get the Brand Back Together



 

 

 

 

AI handed everyone an instrument. That doesn’t mean we’re making better music.

When speed and volume take the place of creative direction, we get AI slop: more content, less character, and brands that start to lose their distinctive sound. The answer isn’t to unplug the technology. It’s to rethink its role.

**Stop using AI as the band. Make it the stage manager.**

This 30-minute session features Shawn Perritt and Maggie Schroeder exploring how to keep humans in charge of the creative direction while putting AI to work behind the scenes: translating brand standards into practical guidance, coordinating production, and catching the wrong notes—even when the brand team isn’t in the room. It’s an approach to governance that gives people more freedom to create without losing what makes the brand worth noticing.

Then we’ll choose the instruments. Because deciding you need a guitar is only the beginning. The make, model, and character of its sound matter, too. The same thinking applies to AI. We’ll explore how to select specialist tools for animation, typography, and voiceover—and how to evaluate different models within each category for the particular performance your brand needs.

You’ll leave with a practical framework for building your band, preparing your AI stage manager, and auditioning the right instruments. Along the way, we’ll distinguish what technology can help check from the creative judgment humans still need to own.  
  
Because the goal isn’t to make more noise. It’s to make sure your brand still sounds like itself.



 

 Speakers 

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 ![Headshot of Shawn Perritt](/sites/default/files/styles/speaker/public/media/image/2026-09/Teal%20%282%29.png?h=3cd06fc8&itok=087dk88r)

 

 

 

Shawn Perritt

 

 Vice President, Brand & Global Experience 

 

 



Image

 ![Maggie Schroeder Headshot](/sites/default/files/styles/speaker/public/media/image/2026-09/Navy%20%286%29.png?h=3cd06fc8&itok=2bn3U1bm)

 

 

 

Maggie Schroeder

 

 Vice President, Platform and Solutions Marketing 

 Acquia  

 



 

 

 

 Resources 

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 ![black monitor icon](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/media/image/2023-11/ATV%20Website%20Icon.png?itok=tNST2s1h)

 

 

 

 [ Acquia Events ](https://www.acquia.com/events) 

Web Page

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

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