​89% of executives say AI increases speed, but only 6% of executives are sure they have clear examples of organization-wide AI ROI, according to Atlassian's research. This evening is about what's in that gap.

​Join a small room of AI and IT decision-makers after work for drinks, candid conversation and a program you won't find at a typical tech conference.

​A different kind of AI event

​VentureBeat's Editor and Chief, Matt Marshall, presses leaders from Atlassian, Snowflake and WGU on what's really happening as AI reshapes their teams: where the promise matches their experience and where it doesn't. Then the floor opens to you. Come ready to share, push back and ask the hard questions. Afterward, keep the conversation going over food and drinks.

​You'll leave knowing what's actually working, from the people making it work.

​Thursday, Nov 12 · Doors 5:00 PM · Program 5:30 PM · Networking, food and drinks until 8:00 PM

​The Agenda

​Session 1: Lessons from Snowflake’s move to AI-native engineering.

​Speaker: Will Allen, Head of Snowflake CoCo and CoWork, Snowflake

​As agents make it faster to write code, the hard part of building a product changes. Teams still have to decide what’s worth building, check that it solves a real customer pain point, and know when it’s ready to ship. Will Allen is dealing with that shift from both sides: he builds AI products at Snowflake while also changing how his own team works with AI.

​He’ll share what Snowflake has learned in its move to AI-native engineering, from spotting the early adopters who bring their teams along to rethinking engineering processes built before AI. He’ll also explain why Snowflake is leaning into early-career hiring and how AI fluency factors into hiring decisions.

​Session 2: AI in Action: Building the Skills and Workflows Teams Need Now

​Speaker: Dr. Molly Sands, Head of Teamwork Lab, Atlassian

​Eighty-nine percent of executives say knowledge workers are moving faster with AI, but only 6% can point to a specific, measurable example of the payoff, according to Atlassian’s research. The gap isn’t effort or tools. It’s that speeding up individual tasks without rebuilding how teams actually work just creates faster collisions. This talk will trace how that disconnect shows up first in organizations, what separates the teams closing it, and how enterprises are training talent to work at the pace their AI systems now demand.

​Attendees will learn:

• ​Why faster individuals don’t mean faster organizations

• ​What the top 14% of AI-native teams do differently

• ​How to shift AI from a personal productivity hack to a team-level coordination layer

​Session 3: The AI Skills Imperative: Individual Productivity to Enterprise Transformation.

​Speaker: Paul Bingham, SVP & Executive Dean, School of Technology, WGU

​AI is reshaping work at a speed the workforce has never experienced before. For 140 years, technology has transformed jobs, created new roles and made old skills obsolete. AI is following that same pattern—but on a dramatically compressed timeline. The result: a growing skills gap, widespread uncertainty, and one question on almost every employee’s mind: Will AI eliminate my job?

​In this conversation, Paul Bingham explores what history can teach us about navigating technological disruption—and why the answer isn’t simply replacing workers with AI. We’ll examine how education can turn fear and hype into action by helping employees build the skills needed for jobs that are rapidly changing.

​Paul will share how WGU is implementing new models, including its Applied Experience Program, designed to demonstrate what future employees can do, not just what they know. We’ll also explore how WGU’s School of Technology is building AI-forward curricula in infrastructure operations and cybersecurity based on evolving industry needs—and how employers can help trusted employees upskill before their roles are transformed.

​Reserve your spot

​Space is intentionally limited to keep the room small and the conversation real. This is an in-person only event.

​Note: Reservations can take up to 24 hours to process. Please check your spam folder for emails from VentureBeat about the event.