Stop by the Registration Desk on the 2nd Floor Foyer and pick up your badge, swag bag, official conference notebook, and official conference t-shirt!

Explore the Expo Hall, the Fun Station, and join one of the workshops that we have set up on Sunday!

Curious about Claude but not quite sure what to do beyond opening a chat and asking it questions? This hands-on beginner workshop is for you.

Designed specifically for cybersecurity marketers at CyberMarketingCon, this session will help you get comfortable using Claude for real marketing work — without requiring any technical or AI expertise.

We’ll cover the basics of how to work with Claude effectively, how to give it the context and direction it needs, and how to start using it across everyday workflows like research, campaign planning, content development, messaging, analysis, and more.

You’ll work through practical examples alongside other cybersecurity marketers and leave with ideas you can put to work immediately.

Bring your laptop and your corporate or personal Claude account. No AI expertise required!

Ready to move beyond one-off chats and start building repeatable AI workflows?

This hands-on workshop is designed for cybersecurity marketers at CyberMarketingCon who already use Claude and want to take the next step: turning the work you do repeatedly into reusable systems.

We’ll focus heavily on Claude Skills—what they are, when to use them, and how to build them around real cybersecurity marketing workflows. We’ll also explore more advanced ways to structure Claude around your work, connect context and resources, and create repeatable processes that can help you and your team work faster and more consistently.

Rather than spending the session perfecting individual prompts, we’ll think bigger: How do you teach Claude how you work once, then reuse that knowledge again and again?

Bring your laptop, your personal or corporate Claude account, and come ready to build!

Cybersecurity marketing is defined by constraint: dense jargon, complex concepts, and audiences who demand precision. The challenge isn’t a lack of creativity; it’s finding space to play, experiment, and make ideas feel truly memorable inside those constraints. This workshop is designed as a creative reset for marketers whose brains have been on “perform under pressure” for a little too long… or those who know they are over-relying on AI for tasks that used to feel fun.

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Using the bold, irreverent naming culture of roller derby as our playground—think Penelope Bruise, Hermione Danger, Momentum Mori—we’ll explore what happens when you step away from AI and lean back pure sporting instinct. We’ll treat derby naming as a proxy for branding; names must instantly signal identity, tell a mini-story, and provoke a reaction, just like the best campaigns.

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The workshop starts with a short individual warm-up to get people out of polished marketing mode and into free thinking. Attendees will quickly jot down the words, frustrations, and ideas that feel most “stuck” or overused in their day-to-day work—terms they’re tired of, value props that feel flat, or product areas that feel impossible to make exciting. This becomes our raw material.

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From there, we’ll move into guided prompts such as:* “If this product or problem were a derby skater, what kind of troublemaker would they be?”* “If you could lean into FUD as a joke, what would you really call this thing?”Participants will then work in small teams, remixing their raw material into surprising combinations: pairing technical jargon with unexpected metaphors, fusing emotional states with security concepts, and bending industry clichés until they become something stranger and more interesting. The focus is less on “getting it right” and more on seeing how far they can stretch a concept without compromising accuracy. Teams will, for example: - Take a word from someone else’s list and combine it with their own to create a new character or brand.- Build a “family” of three related derby names that could all be features of the same product.
Additional playful constraints will push their creativity further: limiting word counts, forcing a quick pivot from serious to absurd, or asking teams to defend a ridiculous name as if it were going into a boardroom deck. Each round builds on the last, moving from silly and safe to sharper and more deliberate.

As the workshop progresses, teams will converge on a brand concept and tagline born from this chaos—something that still nods to the original cybersecurity idea but now feels alive, specific, and ideally, fun to scream out loud.

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Throughout, we’ll surface the meta-lessons: how constraints can unlock creativity instead of shutting it down, and how embracing a bit of discomfort or a “bad idea” often leads to better ones.

Attendees won’t leave with a rigid framework or a perfect campaign. They’ll leave with at least one absurd-but-delightful concept, a renewed sense of creative confidence, and a reminder that even in a jargon-heavy, high-stakes industry, there’s room to play for points.

There will be NO NAPPING during this workshop, where everyone will stand up, talk, move around, and learn how to be a professional business “flirt.” We challenge both extroverts and introverts to come to this session and learn how to make in-person cold connections, find *the* person in the room you need to talk to, and qualify someone for a potential business relationship. Check out this video from our workshop at Cyber Marketing Con 2023. If you attended the 2023 workshop, come back again! This brand new workshop is loaded with new exercises.

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CyberMarketingCon 2026 Welcome Reception: Choose Your Own Character

Every adventure starts with a character. Who will you be?

We’re kicking off CyberMarketingCon 2026 and our theme, Create Your Own Adventure, by inviting you to dress as your favorite character—from literally anything. Anything!

Here's some ideas: Indiana Jones, a medieval knight, an enterprising elf, Taylor Swift, the CISO at the last company that you sold into, Steve Jobs, Skyrim guards, a boxer, or someone entirely of your own creation.

Go all out or come as yourself (if you’re your own favorite character, that's totally fine)!

Join us to meet fellow adventurers, reconnect with friends, and get the CyberMarketingCon conference started!

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FedRAMP 20x is triggering a wave of “it’s easier now!” messaging — and it’s going to backfire.

20x doesn’t magically reduce effort; it moves the burden upstream from documentation theatre into engineering reality: continuous signals, continuous change visibility, continuous vulnerability response. That shift changes what buyers need to hear, what proof they’ll ask for, and how your marketing and sales motions should work.

In this session, I’ll break down how we’re positioning FedRAMP 20x at 38North Security to create demand without overpromising: the narrative, the content architecture, the ABM approach, and the practical GTM assets that convert “confused & stalled” teams into discovery calls.

You’ll leave with messaging frameworks, a content blueprint, and a simple way to build credibility in a market that’s drowning in hot takes.

A strategic and highly practical session that challenges how Field Marketing is evaluated in an AI-driven world; not another “AI will help marketers be more efficient” talk. Field marketing has long been misunderstood as booths, swag, and badge scans. But it’s so much more than that. This session is not about AI tools. It’s focused on what actually drives results at events and how to use AI more effectively to prove the impact field marketers can have in business outcomes. Attendees will leave knowing exactly where AI helps field marketing scale, and where human judgment is still non-negotiable. Ready to challenge lazy marketing and elevate your thinking in the field?

In cyber, we could say AI is like any other buzzword that has been used too broadly before (ahem, cloud security and Application Security Posture Management (ASPM)). But that would be ignoring the fact that AI IS in fact pervasive, and we are all in new territory. Sometimes it feels like we all jumped in at the same time to join the startup that is ‘AI.’ So we can’t avoid incorporating it into our positioning.

What we can do is incorporate it effectively while staying true to our own core message.

To do this, we first need to reframe our positioning process to think like a startup and form a hypothesis. Then we need to figure out your angle in the AI landscape, using real stories of other companies that have succeeded and failed at doing this. The third step is a hands-on workshop where you will build a hypothesis with those learnings in mind, ending with a clear view of where AI belongs.

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They say the way to someone's heart is through their stomach. Well, the way to someone's wallet is through their diaphragm...

This talk is about the mechanics of humor in B2B. Why irony builds trust with skeptical buyers. Why parody signals you actually understand your market. Why self-deprecation (we named ourselves after the least effective martial art, after all...) makes people lean in instead of scroll past. And why none of it works if the product underneath is mid.

--- On OnlyScans, Toilet Paper, and Other Things That Outperformed Our Whitepaper....How Humor Took Aikido from Zero to Unicorn.

Messaging moves fast, and it moves even faster in cybersecurity. We have historically accepted that our messaging houses are always a little behind. And then we scramble every time a startup launches a new security product, a new CVE reframes the conversation, an analyst report contradicts what your team has been saying in the field, or frontier model providers ship a feature that will “kill the cybersecurity market”. Even with the best version control and distribution, the document you have living in Google Drive somewhere is not enough.

Our team decided to stop trying to maintain a group of documents and build an AI-powered, living messaging system instead.

We created a Claude skill that contains our canonical positioning and messaging. It lives in GitHub as markdown files, not in Google Drive as a well-designed document. Every marketer on the team has access to it through Claude, and whether they type “/review-messaging” or just ask Claude to draft something, the skill runs to make sure what they’re working on is on message.

When messaging needs to change, which in cybersecurity is all the time, anyone can submit a messaging update request through a Slack workflow. An AI agent reviews those requests, cross-references them against the current skill files, and opens a GitHub pull request with proposed updates. A human reviews and merges it, and then the skill updates for everyone.

We'll walk through what we built, how we built it, what broke, and what we're still figuring out. One of the questions we’ll answer is “When you make it easier to change messaging, does your messaging change more often?”. And we’ll share what it actually looks like when your canonical positioning is a GitHub repo with version history instead of a slide deck that nobody updates or looks at.

You don't need to be an AI expert to look like one. Three practical tactics that make your entire marketing team — and your whole company — think you've unlocked something nobody else has. Each takes under 3 hours to launch, works across your whole team, and drives real pipeline.

No coding, no AI background required.

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AI can get you to a first draft faster. Then comes the part that can eat up all the time you thought you saved: reviewing, revising, and trying to make it sound like something a credible human wrote. Even partially AI assisted works have many recognizable tells, including the "not X, but Y" construction, the notorious em dash saturation, vague or inflated claims, and dramatic fragments desperately trying to sound important.

Asking AI to "sound more human" doesn’t really fix the problem. The next draft may flow better but retain many of those telltale default patterns. And telling the model to “sound more human” often just produces a smoother version that still has AI fingerprints all over it.

In this fast-paced 15-minute session, you’ll see a live teardown of cybersecurity marketing copy and a practical, human-guided method for making that review process more focused and repeatable. Instead of rereading a draft and thinking, Something about this feels AI-ish, you’ll learn how to use AI to assist with the editing and concrete criteria for finding problem patterns, explaining why they weaken the copy, and proposing specific revisions for you to evaluate. All of which can strengthen even human written copy especially technical copy

The goal isn’t to eliminate every so-called AI trope. It’s to recognize when those patterns start piling up enough to undermine voice, credibility, and subject-matter expertise—and to spend your editing effort where it actually matters.

You’ve sponsored the booths, planned the dinners, and walked the expo halls. But what happens when you’re the one building the entire conference? Join Gianna Whitver for a behind-the-scenes look at building CyberMarketingCon—and what cybersecurity marketers can learn from creating an event that people choose to spend their time, budget, and travel days attending.

This session goes beyond booking a venue and finding speakers. We’ll explore the decisions that shape a conference before the first ticket sells: who it’s for, why it deserves to exist, how it supports your business goals, and what will make it worth coming back to. From programming and sponsorships to ticket sales and attendee experience, Gianna will share lessons from building a conference around a specialized community.

We’ll also get into the less glamorous—but essential—work: making the budget work, setting expectations with stakeholders, deciding where to invest, and figuring out what your team can realistically deliver. And we’ll talk about the difference between putting people in the same room and helping them genuinely connect.

Whether you’re considering a customer conference, partner summit, or industry gathering, come ready to think beyond the event checklist. The goal isn’t just to put on a conference. It’s to build something your audience would miss if it didn’t exist.

Independent doesn’t have to mean alone. This mixer brings together FAM professionals, freelancers, fractional marketers, consultants, and other independent experts working across the cybersecurity industry. Meet potential collaborators, exchange lessons from the field, and build a stronger network of people who understand the opportunities and realities of independent work.

I am a Keynote Singer – I perform original songs about Cybersecurity and GTM at tech conferences. I can perform one of the songs in my portfolio, or I can create a custom song specifically for the event based on a theme or message.

Here's one I custom created for Palo Alto Networks:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3kPzyweARA

Here's the AI-Based Sales Song:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yinoSpkrgoc

Here's the GenAI Security Risk Song:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOTT0BaKD98

Here's the Customer Success Song I wrote for AA-ISP:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6D9JWsEG0A

I have more on my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@KeynoteSinger/featured

Cybersecurity startups don’t fail because of weak demand generation or field marketing. They fail because their positioning is wrong.

We’ve all seen it: a company invests heavily in messaging –whether through a top-tier agency or internal product marketing – and lands on a polished, board-approved narrative. It sounds impressive. It looks great on a pitch deck.

But look closer, and it’s often some version of “the everything platform.”

Then they launch.

Leads come in – but revenue doesn’t. Sales misses targets. Marketing is blamed – but the real issue is that the market doesn’t understand what the company actually does, or who it’s specifically for. Teams scramble to fix campaigns, channels, and conversion rates, when the real problem isn’t execution – it’s positioning.

In this session, Kate Turchin, Senior Director of Growth at Atico ATX, breaks down the most common positioning mistakes she sees across the industry – and why they quietly kill growth.

Drawing from hands-on experience helping startups translate narrative into revenue, Kate introduces the concept of the “narrative wedge”: a sharp, focused position that a company can uniquely own – and win with.

Startups don’t win by casting a wider net. They win by throwing a sharper spear.

Getting selected for the RSA Innovation Sandbox is the holy grail for early-stage cybersecurity startups - the exposure to customers, industry leaders, and VCs is unmatched. VCs literally treat a finalist selection as a massive validation signal.

But what do you do when you want to apply, but your company hasn't even officially launched yet? I decided to submit my company anyway - and we actually got accepted. It turns out, the "launched" requirement can be interpreted flexibly, and early startups shouldn't self-exclude over narrow technicalities. In this rapid-fire session, I am pulling back the curtain on the exact application strategy I used to sell our vision before we had a fully commercialized product.

I'll share how I structured a winning narrative that prioritized real impact over buzzwords, and how you can turn your next award submission into high-converting marketing collateral.

Threat research is one of the most powerful marketing assets in the industry, but it won’t go anywhere without a production engine behind it.

This session gives a behind-the-scenes look at the content engine behind Varonis Threat Labs. Discover how to translate complex threat research into narratives that enterprise audiences actually trust, that journalists actually want to cover, and that make an impact on deals. It started with world-class research and zero marketing muscle. What came next was equal parts strategy, creativity, and scale.

From editorial standards and thought leadership to CTF activations at Black Hat and DEF CON, this is a behind-the-scenes look at what it really takes to build a threat research brand. Attendees will leave this session with inspiration and a repeatable framework for doing it yourself.

The Fortune 1000 CISO is the hardest buyer in B2B to reach. They don't fill out forms, they research in stealth, and they ignore vendors by default. For a year, everything we did online at WithSecure reached exactly five of them. Then we rebuilt our account-based marketing from scratch, and in three months it reached over a hundred of them.I'll show you the machine, honestly and in detail. We watch who lands on the site, identify the account in real time, score it against our target list, and run everything through one central system in Salesforce that moves our ad budget toward the right accounts on its own, fast enough that we can start advertising to a visitor within seconds of their first visit.You'll see the architecture, the numbers, what broke, and the privacy guardrails that keep account-level tracking compliant. It's built on Salesforce, but the thinking ports to any stack.

Strong marketing leadership shows up in how you run the function every day: the priorities you set, the numbers you review, the meetings you lead, and the decisions you make.Missi Carmen, CMO turned CRO at Safetica, will share the operating approach she used to run Marketing as a business before her role expanded across the commercial organization. She’ll cover five practical ways marketing leaders can build a stronger operating rhythm and connect execution to business results:

- Build a weekly, monthly, and quarterly cadence that keeps priorities, spending, and execution aligned.

- Run meetings and reviews that lead to decisions, not status updates.

- Focus on the numbers that matter to the business.

- Communicate progress, risks, and tradeoffs in a way that builds confidence with the CEO, CFO, and executive team.

- Create accountability while keeping strategy and execution connected.

This is a practical session for marketing leaders who want to operate as true business partners, not just functional leaders.

Make the most of your CyberMarketingCon experience with these complimentary experiences. Reserve your spot in advance—or stop by to see if a walk-in time is available.

Podcast Studio

Record a podcast, interview, or video in a private, professional studio. Four microphones and an AV technician are included, so all you need to bring is your idea. Walk-ins are welcome when the studio is available.

One-on-One Expert Consultations

Get complimentary, personalized advice from experienced professionals—including cybersecurity industry analysts. Book a session to discuss marketing, channel strategy, graphic design, career strategy, your LinkedIn presence, or the cybersecurity market.

Professional Headshot

Refresh your LinkedIn photo, speaker profile, or professional bio with a polished new headshot. Visit the headshot studio in the Expo Hall, located behind the Fornix Marketing booth. Walk-ins are welcome when space is available.

Fun Station & Postcards

Add some personality to your conference badge with stickers, supplies, and badge ribbons—or write and mail a postcard to someone back home. Stop by the Fun Station in the Expo Hall aka Marketing Land whenever you’re ready for a creative break.

Stop by the Registration Desk on the 2nd Floor Foyer and pick up your badge, swag bag, official conference notebook, and official conference t-shirt!

Good morning, CyberMarketingCon! Join us at 8:00 AM for complimentary coffee and breakfast, catch up with fellow attendees, and explore the booths in the Expo Hall, aka Marketing Land!

We’ll have a set number of breakfasts ready to welcome you, available first come, first served while supplies last.

There’s plenty to explore: send a postcard from our fun station, drop in for a fresh headshot, catch content on the Expo Hall stage, or settle into a seat for networking and meetings. Come grab a bite and start the day with us!

How do you get someone to open a door, bend a rule, or trust a stranger? Magicians, con artists, and social engineers have spent generations figuring it out.

In this funny, interactive keynote, Brian Brushwood (host of Discovery's Scam School and National Geographic's Hacking the System) takes you on a fun, funny tour inside the attacker's mindset. Through stories and demonstrations, he explores how trust, urgency, authority, and familiarity can be used to steer decisions, and why smart people are still vulnerable to a convincing story.

For cybersecurity marketers, it's a look at the human behavior behind the headlines: how believable deception gets constructed, why it works, and how understanding those mechanisms can help us recognize manipulation. Expect a talk that's fun, funny, and just a little bit dangerous.

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Most growth marketing sessions focus on channels, tools, or that magic campaign that'll solve everything. This isn't one of them.

In this session, Nicole Gates, VP of Global Growth Marketing at Varonis, shares the three things she found actually determine whether your growth team scales or stalls: the metrics you choose to optimize for, the people you hire (and why), and the culture that makes growth at the center of everything you build.

Because real growth happens when your strategy becomes shared thinking and your team can carry the vision without you in the room.

This session is for marketing leaders at every stage of building - whether you're making your first growth hire, restructuring a team that's outgrown its design, or trying to figure out why a talented team isn't producing the results the strategy promised.

In Q1 2026, CIS launched its first-ever flagship campaign, Secure by Design, and the results rewrote our marketing playbook. In one quarter: 96% engagement rate to our campaign landing page, 85% audio completion rate, 3,000+ guide downloads, 1,400+ leads, and 900k+ paid media impressions. None of it happened by accident. This session is a candid, step-by-step breakdown of how we built an integrated paid, owned, and earned campaign around a single idea and made it work for two completely different audiences simultaneously. You’ll leave with a replicable framework, the lessons we learned, and the one number that surprised us most.