In a month’s time I will be rolling my suitcase through the lobby of the Walt Disney World Dolphin, dodging children in Mickey Mouse ears and getting myself psyched before the opening keynote. 

On paper, Sitecore Symposium 2025 looks like another big conference in a long line of big conferences: three days, hundreds of sessions, the usual dance between product announcements, customer stories, and late-night partner gossip. 

But this year feels different. 

Last year in Nashville was about the power to build. This year in Orlando is about whether Sitecore can prove it’s ready to run an AI-first, agentic digital future – not in theory, but in public. 

Here is how I am thinking about it, one month out. 

Looking Back: What Nashville 2024 Got Right (and Where It Fell Short) 

Nashville was a turning point, but only halfway. 

The 2024 theme – “Embracing the power to build” – matched the energy in the Gaylord Opryland: “we’ve rebuilt the toolkit; now go build something meaningful with it.” Dave O’Flanagan’s opening keynote tied Nashville’s music heritage to digital craft and doubled down on Sitecore’s pride in what customers had already built on the platform.  

A few things really landed: 

• Sitecore Stream arrived as the “intelligent DXP” layer. 
  Stream was billed as an AI-powered orchestration service – brand-aware AI, copilots, and workflows spanning XM Cloud, XP, and the composable stack. It was positioned not as a small feature, but as the engine for an “intelligent DXP”, weaving AI into every stage of the content lifecycle.  

• XM Cloud cemented its role as the modern, cloud-native core. 
  The roadmap sessions underscored XM Cloud as the on-ramp to the future: headless, composable, and increasingly AI-infused. We saw improvements in publishing, personalisation, and dev experience – plus a strong emphasis on composable integrations.  

• XP and Managed Cloud were not abandoned. 
  Sitecore reassured long-time customers with a clear pledge: XP and the “platform DXP” world would be supported well into the 2030s, with upgrades and managed cloud improvements. For many enterprises, that commitment mattered as much as any new feature.  

• Real customer stories backed up the composable narrative. 
  Cases like NHP’s journey to an XM Cloud + CDP + Personalize stack gave the composable DXP story some welcome concreteness.  

But if I am honest, Nashville still felt like a prelude: 

• Stream looked promising but early. The concept of an intelligent orchestration layer was clear; the day-to-day reality for marketers was not. 

• The story was still split between “platform DXP” and “composable DXP”. Necessary, but messy. 

• AI was everywhere in the slides, but mostly in the form of assistive tools and pilots, not yet as the operating fabric of the platform.  

• Most of all.. the sentiment from the room was that the conference felt a little too Salesy. Many felt Stream was targeted towards the large Enterprise customers (like Nestle) and smaller brands would not fit in.  

However, looking back at it, Nashville gave us a direction of travel. Orlando though, needs to show the destination. 

What’s Changed Since then: From Stream to Sitecore.ai and the AI Lab 

A lot has happened in the twelve months between Nashville and Orlando – and it’s why this Symposium feels like more than “version 2.0” of the same story. 

Stream grew up 

In February, Sitecore formally expanded Stream with AI copilots and agent-style workflows that embed brand-aware AI, orchestrated assistants, and automated optimisation across the product set. Stream moved from “exciting new thing” to “this is how AI shows up in Sitecore products”.  

Sitecore launched an AI Innovation Lab 

In April, Sitecore and Microsoft announced the Sitecore AI Innovation Lab – a guided programme for marketing leaders to experiment with AI use cases in a structured, low-risk environment. It combines remote and in-person sessions, including access to Microsoft Innovation Hubs, and is explicitly designed to help teams define their AI journey rather than just buy another tool.  

That’s important context heading into Orlando: it signals Sitecore isn’t just selling AI features; it’s trying to shape how marketing organisations actually adopt AI. 

Sitecore.ai arrived as a living demo 

In June, Sitecore launched Sitecore.ai, a public digital experience that showcases its AI-first vision. It’s part editorial, part interactive lab – designed to demonstrate how content, data, and intelligence come together for “agentic” customer journeys: real-time personalisation, conversational discovery, and intelligent automation.  

Crucially, the press release presented XM Cloud as the on-ramp to that future – reinforcing that whatever happens in Orlando, XM Cloud is the foundation. 

The theme and messaging have shifted decisively 

The theme for Symposium 2025 – “Next is Now” – says the quiet part out loud: we’re no longer talking about AI as a future add-on; we’re talking about it as the context for marketing. The official “Top 5 reasons to attend” piece is explicit: AI has changed not just campaigns, but how people find answers in the first place. Summaries are displacing traditional search; customers are taking paths that don’t start at your home page.  

Layered on top of that is a steady drumbeat of thought leadership from Sitecore’s leadership – especially CMO Michelle Boockoff-Bajdek, who has been repeating a simple line: 

“AI can deliver answers. But only you can decide which ones are worth acting on.”  

Put those pieces together – Stream maturing, the AI Lab, Sitecore.ai, and the “Next is Now” messaging – and Orlando starts to look less like “another roadmap update”, and more like a declaration of an AI-first era. 

The 2025 Mood: New Leadership, Same Pressure, Different Stakes 

There is also the human and market backdrop that didn’t exist in Nashville: 

• New leadership on stage. 
  CMSWire has already framed Orlando as the first big test for Eric Stine as CEO, coming in with a mandate to prove that Sitecore’s AI vision is more than marketing spin.  

• XM Cloud momentum and competitive pressure. 
  Sitecore has publicly talked about passing the $500m ARR mark, strong XM Cloud growth, and a 371% ROI figure from a TEI study focused on its modern platform. All of that is impressive – but Adobe, Optimizely and others are just as loudly touting their own AI and orchestration stories.  

• DXPs are being judged as intelligence engines, not just stacks. 
  Industry coverage has steadily moved from “which CMS features do you have?” to “how well does your stack turn data and AI into real-time decisions?” That’s the bar Sitecore has to clear in Orlando.  

Against that backdrop, Symposium 2025 feels less like a nice-to-have community reunion and more like a case for relevance in the AI era. 

What I Expect to See in Orlando 

Here’s what I’m expecting – and frankly, hoping – to see from Sitecore when we all land in Florida. 

1. A more unified platform story 

In Nashville, the narrative still zig-zagged between XP, XM Cloud, Managed Cloud and Stream. This year, with the groundwork of Stream and AI Lab in place, I’m expecting a more coherent platform storyline: 

• XM Cloud as the core. 

• Stream and related AI services as the intelligence layer. 

• A clearer sense that “one experience OS” sits over content, data, and orchestration – even if the underlying products remain composable. It has to be Stream. But where does Gradial fit into all this? 

2. Agentic workflows moving from theory to practice 

A lot of pre-event commentary has centred on agentic AI – AI that doesn’t just generate content, but follows goals and workflows. Sitecore’s own materials talk about “agentic experiences” and “the agentic era” more frequently now than “headless” or “multichannel”.  

In Orlando, I’m expecting: 

• Live demos of end-to-end flows: from campaign strategy → content → QA → experimentation → optimisation, with AI copilots doing more than just drafting text. 

• Clearer positioning of Stream (and whatever sits above it) as the place you orchestrate agents and workflows, not just another tab in the UI. 

• Concrete customer stories where agentic workflows have removed manual steps – not just saved a few minutes of copywriting. 

3. A bolder migration and modernisation story 

In Nashville the message to XP customers was: “You’re safe, we’re investing, and there’s a path to modern.” That was needed, but incomplete. The Konabos and One North recaps made it clear that many customers left understanding the direction, but not yet the how.  

In Orlando, I’m expecting: 

• A much crisper explanation of how to move from XP or other DXPs into the XM Cloud + AI world – with automation, not just advice. 

• Tooling that goes beyond “lift and shift” and genuinely helps with model design, content mapping, and de-risking the transition. 

• Guidance that recognises some organisations will be hybrid for a long time – and offers patterns for that reality. 

If Sitecore doesn’t deliver that, the AI story will ring hollow for a large chunk of its installed base. 

4. AI plus human, not AI instead of human 

Between the AI Innovation Lab and Sitecore.ai, there’s been a clear narrative this year: responsible, human-centred AI. The Lab in particular is pitched as a guided space for marketers to test ideas without blowing up their brand or their budget.  

In Orlando I’m expecting to see: 

• Sessions on AI governance, not just AI features – how to put guardrails around generative and agentic systems, and how to align legal, risk, and marketing. 

• Healthcare, finance and public-sector stories where AI has been used to improve outcomes without crossing ethical red lines. 

• More explicit language about augmenting marketers, not replacing them – echoing that line from Michelle BB that AI may give you answers, but humans still choose the ones worth acting on.  

5. Clearer guidance on AEO/GEO and “life after SEO” 

Sitecore’s own “Top 5 reasons to attend” article spells out the reality many of us are already living: people aren’t always starting with a traditional search any more; they’re getting summarised answers, personalised snippets, and conversational results instead.  

So I’ll be watching for: 

• Practical advice on Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) and Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) – not as buzzwords, but as concrete patterns in content modelling, metadata, and experimentation. 

• Examples of how XM Cloud + Stream (and whatever sits on top) can help brands become “first in answer”, not just first in search results. 

• Honest discussion of what this shift means for web teams, content ops, and search budgets. 

Why This Year Feels Different to Me 

So why does Orlando feel materially different to Nashville?

1. The AI narrative is fully formed. 

In 2024, Stream was the big reveal and AI was framed as a powerful new layer. In 2025, everything – from the theme to the AI Lab – is aligned around an AI-first, agentic future. Orlando won’t be about “we’re adding AI”; it will be about “this is what marketing looks like when AI sits in the middle, not the edge”.  

2. The leadership stakes are higher. 

Dave O’Flanagan used Nashville to introduce himself and promise continuity plus innovation. Eric Stine walks into Orlando with the burden of proof: can Sitecore compete credibly as an AI-era DXP against well-funded rivals with similar stories? The CMSWire “what to expect” piece captured that tension bluntly: new leadership, bold AI ambitions, and sharper competition.  

3. The market is less patient. 

In 2024, “we have a roadmap” was enough. By late 2025, enterprise buyers have heard AI promises from every vendor. They want proof, clarity, and economics: show me working solutions, show me how to get there, and show me that the pricing makes sense. Sitecore’s own messaging around ROI and XM Cloud’s impact raises expectations on that front.  

4. The community is primed for agentic thinking. 

Over the past year, we’ve seen more community content about “intelligent DXPs”, agentic workflows, and XM Cloud as an AI-ready foundation than ever before. By the time we assemble in Orlando, many of us will have already experimented with Stream, composable architectures, and early AI pilots. The questions will be more sophisticated, and the tolerance for vague answers much lower.  

The Questions I’m Taking with Me to Orlando 

As I pack my laptop and reluctantly dig out my conference shoes again, these are the questions I’ll be carrying into that opening keynote: 

1. What is Sitecore in 2026?  

Over the past few years we’ve had parallel narratives: XP as the long-term “platform DXP”, XM Cloud as the modern SaaS core, Managed Cloud for those that want the vendor to host the platform on PaaS, plus Stream and the broader composable stack layered over the top.. Composable alienated a lot of the customer base a few years back. But it opened up a new segment!   

2. How far along is the AI vision, really?  

Last year in Nashville, AI showed up through Stream, early copilots and some exciting demos, but it still felt like a collection of promising pieces. This year I want to see whether Sitecore can show AI supporting end-to-end marketing workflows in a way that a marketing leader can actually adopt on Monday morning – not just “here’s a clever assistant in a sidebar”.  
 

3. What’s the honest path forward for XP customers?  

In 2024, Sitecore reassured XP customers they were safe and supported for the long haul, while nudging them towards XM Cloud and composable patterns. That was necessary. This year, I am hoping for something more concrete: timelines, tooling, recommended patterns, and a realistic view of what “modernising” actually looks like if you are sitting on a big XP estate. 

4. Will we hear something tangible about migration and modernisation tooling? 

It’s no secret that the biggest barrier to adopting anything new is the cost and risk of getting off what you already have. I will be listening closely for anything beyond generic “accelerators”: smarter content mapping, automated analysis of existing sites, and practical ways to derisk large migrations – whether that’s XP to XM Cloud or from other DXPs into the Sitecore universe. 

5. How opinionated will Sitecore be about AI governance and risk? 

With the AI Innovation Lab and all the thought leadership around responsible AI, Sitecore has started to take a stance. In Orlando I would like to see that turn into something more concrete: recommended guardrails, governance models, and examples from regulated industries that show how you put safety, compliance, and empathy ahead of pure speed. 
 

6. Will they talk plainly about “life after SEO” – AEO and GEO? 

Sitecore’s own content has already acknowledged that people aren’t just typing queries into a search box any more; they’re getting summarised answers and conversational results. I’m hoping for practical guidance here: how to structure content, data, and experiences so brands remain discoverable and trusted in an answer-engine world, not just a few slides of trend commentary. 
 

7. What role do partners and the community play in the next phase? 

Sitecore’s ecosystem has always been one of its biggest strengths. As AI, orchestration and cloud-native patterns move to the centre, I want to hear a clear view on where partners, MVPs and the wider community fit: Will we be the ones designing industry-specific blueprints? Building reusable components and patterns? Or will most of the innovation sit inside the product team in Copenhagen and Cambridge? 

If Nashville was about “the power to build”, Orlando needs to be about the courage to decide: what stays, what goes, and how far Sitecore is willing to lean into an AI-centred identity. 

In a month’s time we will have answers – or at least better questions. For now, from 25 October, all we can do is read the signals, watch the pre-event messaging, and get ready to see whether “Next is Now” is a tagline… or a genuine line in the sand.