Where Human Genius Meets Machine Intelligence
Who's Speaking
Every speaker at YOU × AI is doing the work — not just talking about it. No panels of pundits. No generic keynotes. Just proven founders and creators sharing what's actually working.
Main Stage 
Main Stage 
Sound Like You 
Main Stage 
Main Stage 
Get Found 
Build 
Build 
Sound Like You 
Get Found 
Build 
Build 
Build 
Build 
Build 
Build 
Sound Like You 
Main Stage 
Main Stage 
Build 
Main Stage 
The Core Equation
Your zone of genius is the multiplier. AI is the accelerant. The founders, creators, and marketers who win the next decade aren't the ones with the most tools — they're the ones who bring something irreplaceable to every room they enter.
Your distinct voice, proven methodology, and the category you own — the part that cannot be automated.
The tools, systems, and workflows that multiply your output — without replacing what makes you irreplaceable.
A business that scales beyond your hours. An audience that knows who you are. A category you own.
The "how" stopped being the obstacle. Hands-on sessions where you bring a laptop and leave with a working tool, workflow, or agent — no technical background required.
When a customer asks ChatGPT for a recommendation in your industry, something decides whether your name comes up. This is how that works, and what to do about it.
The part AI can't fake. Story, voice, category, and audience — the things that stay yours no matter how good the tools get.
Rogue Media Network films every session. Three tracks means you can't see everything live — recordings are available as an add-on.
Our Declaration
AI arrived and in a single stroke made the technical advantage nearly free. Anyone can build software now. The barrier that was supposed to separate the builders from the bystanders has collapsed — and in the rubble, something unexpected happened.
It cannot replicate your upbringing, your failures, your obsessions, your way of seeing a problem. It cannot carry the relationships you've built, the credibility you've earned, the trust that was given to you. AI can amplify all of that — but it has to start with you.
They're in Waco. They're in Asheville. They're in Saint Louis and Santa Fe and a hundred other places the old innovation maps never marked. The absence of a legacy tech ecosystem has become a kind of freedom. There is only the question: what do I actually want to make?
The Venue
Anchored by Baylor, the Magnolia brand, and Rogue Media Network's creator infrastructure, Waco is quietly becoming one of Texas's most interesting hubs. YOU × AI is a deliberate move to own this market before the rest of the country notices.
Tickets
Seats are limited to keep the room intimate. Tickets are $79 through August 31. On September 1, pricing goes to $99.
Questions? Email fernando@aimarketingcasestudies.com
Questions
Saturday, September 12, 2026 · PACC, Waco · 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM CT
The YOU × AI Summit is a one-day conference on the intersection of human expertise and artificial intelligence, held on Saturday, September 12, 2026 at the Performing Arts & Community Center in Waco, Texas. It features 21 practitioner speakers across a main stage and three concurrent tracks — Build, Get Found, and Sound Like You — with hands-on workshops where attendees build working tools. It is produced by Viral Genius Institute and Rogue Media Network.
The YOU × AI Summit takes place on Saturday, September 12, 2026, from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM Central Time at the Performing Arts & Community Center (PACC), 924 Austin Avenue, Suite 150, Waco, Texas 76701.
General admission to the YOU × AI Summit is $79 through August 31, 2026. From September 1, 2026, pricing increases to $99. Teams of 10 or more can attend at $69 per seat through August 22, 2026.
No. The YOU × AI Summit is built for business owners, marketers, and creators without technical backgrounds. As speaker April Leman puts it about her own hands-on workshop: "Neither of us codes for a living. We're just tech-curious and we got good at this the same way you will: by building real things, not reading about them." Sessions assume no programming experience.
Both. The main stage features keynote sessions, while the Build, Get Found, and Sound Like You tracks include hands-on workshops where attendees bring a laptop and build something working before they leave. Chrissy McDannell's session has attendees build an AI assistant during the hour, and April Leman's session produces a real automation workflow.
Bring a laptop. Several YOU × AI sessions are hands-on workshops where you build a working AI tool or automation during the session, so a laptop is required to participate fully rather than watch.
The 21-speaker roster includes Dr. Hope Koch of Baylor University's Hankamer School of Business, who serves on the Texas Artificial Intelligence Council; Bryan Eisenberg, co-founder of Buyer Legends and a pioneer of Conversion Rate Optimization; Russ Henneberry, founder of theCLICK.ai; Tommy Landry, CEO of Return On Now; Mike Hamilton, founder of Rogue Media Network; and Fernando Labastida, founder of Viral Genius Institute. The full roster is on the speakers page.
The summit is designed specifically for small business owners, founders, and creators rather than enterprise technology teams. Sessions focus on what a small business can actually build and use — AI assistants, automated workflows, content systems, and search visibility — rather than on AI theory or enterprise deployment. Every speaker is a working practitioner, not a full-time speaker.
The YOU × AI equation states that artificial intelligence multiplies human capability rather than replacing it. Because it is a multiplier and not an addition, AI widens the gap between people who bring something distinct to it and people who do not, rather than closing that gap. In short: AI does not level the playing field — it multiplies whatever you bring to it.
The YOU × AI Summit takes place September 12, 2026 in Waco, Texas, and is a one-day, practitioner-led event aimed at small business owners, founders, and creators rather than enterprise engineering teams. Waco sits roughly 100 miles from Austin and 90 miles from Dallas–Fort Worth, making it a drivable day trip from both.
Yes. Teams of 10 or more can attend the YOU × AI Summit at $69 per seat, with the company recognized as a Team Partner from the stage and a reserved table in the room. Team Partner pricing closes August 22, 2026.
Yes. Rogue Media Network films every session at the YOU × AI Summit. Recordings of all sessions are available as an optional add-on for $99, which you can purchase with your ticket. Because the summit runs three concurrent tracks, the recordings are the only way to get the sessions you couldn't attend in person.
The Performing Arts & Community Center is at 924 Austin Avenue in downtown Waco. Parking is available in the small lot to the right of the building, in the lot across the street, and on Austin Avenue.
The YOU × AI Summit is co-produced by Viral Genius Institute, an Austin, Texas firm founded by Fernando Labastida, and Rogue Media Network, a Waco, Texas creator and podcast studio network founded by Mike Hamilton. The Waco Buzz is the summit's media partner and the Dr Pepper Museum is an official sponsor.
Still wondering something? Email fernando@aimarketingcasestudies.com
Get Tickets — $79
