Matt & Matt Show Episode 7: 2026 Halftime Report! Vercel Ship to Full Sail, the AEO Goal, and More
In this mid-year review, the Matts talk about recent events – from Vercel Ship to Umbraco Codegarden to a tour and meetup at Full Sail University – as well as the continued explosion around AEO, big moves by industry leaders, and how content channels and martech strategies are evolving.
Watch the full episode of the Matt & Matt Show >
The summer is heating up, and the Matts are back with some hot takes from the road in this unofficial 2026 Halftime Report! Sure, the World Cup might be scoring big on most screens, but AEO is proving (again) to be the real goal in our industry game.
In this episode of the show, Matt McQueeny kicks things off with insights from Vercel Ship in New York, driving a conversation about the company’s growth track. From partner momentum to OpenAI and Meta use cases, the two Matts dig into why Vercel continues to be a preferred development platform for building, deploying, and scaling applications. They unpack what this means for agencies, developers, and the growing world of prompt-driven, component-based prototyping.
Matt McQueeny at Vercel Ship in New York
The conversation then heads to Orlando and Full Sail University, the site of the latest Boye & Company CMS Experts and Digital Leaders meeting. The Matts were joined by a diverse group of participants and treated to a campus tour that featured world-class facilities for training the next generation of builders.
In the pod, they talk about the school’s unique curriculum, the intersection of physical and digital experiences, the growing focus on AI literacy, and the urgent need for better-prepared practitioners in disciplines like cybersecurity (oh, and drone operation!)
Matt Garrepy and Matt McQueeny in Orlando at the Boye & Company Digital Leaders meeting at Full Sail University
During the meeting, Matt Garrepy facilitated a deeper conversation around AI’s impact, with some fantastic use cases across industries like healthcare – where attendees like Amba’s Stephanie Coyne shared how AI and automation are making an impact in elder care. The group also discussed everything from AI governance and compliance to adtech, making for a truly dynamic session.
Throughout the episode, AEO – Answer Engine Optimization – is a major throughline, and the Matts discuss how bots now own the largest share of traffic, how websites are adapting, and what AEO success looks like in practice. Matt and Matt also dig into the AEO race in the wake of some high-profile industry moves. From Sitecore’s acquisition of Scrunch, Optimizely’s partnership with Conductor, and Contentful’s launch of Palmata, the landscape is growing at both the top and bottom as more downstream startups like Otterly.ai and SurfaceGX attempt to challenge this nascent space.
Umbraco Codegarden 2026 in Copenhagen
Matt Garrepy also reviews his recent stops covering the TYPO3 North American Summit in Atlanta, Umbraco’s Codegarden 26 in Copenhagen, and Sitecore’s 25th Silver Anniversary event at the Tivoli Gardens in Denmark. It’s a tour of how open source and commercial CMS and DXP platforms are making a stronger play in a competitive marketplace, and where AI is transforming the roadmap for every vendor.
Sitecore's 25th Silver Anniversary event at Tivoli Gardens
Finally, Matt and Matt explore the reinvigoration of PR, video, podcasting, and other multimedia channels as new engines for AEO and (maybe) even a new CPM measurement: “cost-per-mention.” From transcripts and clips to earned media and “earnfluencing,” they dig into why these content streams are further fueling the answer engines that shape discovery.
It’s a packed hour with a ton of insights, a few offside calls, and only a couple of penalties for opinions. Listen here and subscribe, and let us know what you want us to talk about on the next episode!
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Matt & Matt meetups
The Matts are on the road! Check out where they’re at – and drop us a line if you’re able to join some of our Boye & Company meetings for CMS Experts and Digital Leaders.
- August 4-5 – Montréal
CMS Connect 26 Conference
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Upcoming Events
CMS Connect 26
August 5-6, 2026 – Montreal, Canada
The best conferences create space for honest, experience-based conversations. Not sales pitches. Not hype. Just thoughtful exchanges between people who spend their days designing, building, running, and evolving digital experiences. CMS Connect brings together people who share real stories from their work and platforms and who are interested in learning from each other on how to make things better. Over two days in Montreal, you can expect practitioner-led talks grounded in experience, conversations about trade-offs, constraints, and decisions, and time to compare notes with peers facing similar challenges. Space is limited for this exclusive event, so book your seats today.
Open Source CMS 26
October 20–21, 2026 – Utrecht, Netherlands
Join us for the first annual edition of our prestigious international conference dedicated to making open source CMS better. This event is already being called the “missing gathering place” for the open source CMS community – an international conference with confirmed participants from Europe and North America. Be part of a friendly mix of digital leaders from notable open source CMS projects, agencies, even a few industry analysts who get together to learn, network, and talk about what really matters when it comes to creating better open source CMS projects right now and for the foreseeable future. Book your tickets today.
Contentstack ContentCon 2026
September 30 - October 1, Amsterdam / October 27-28, 2026 – Chicago
Contentstack’s annual customer conference is the premier event for executives, marketing leaders, and developers to redefine their digital experience strategy. This is your opportunity to step out of the "status quo" and into "elite" status, learning exactly how the world’s most successful brands are using the technology you already own to do the impossible. Enjoy a full day of interactive workshops, certifications, and inspirational on-stage sessions designed to help you become an expert on cutting-edge digital strategies and how to turn Contentstack's CMS and adaptive personalization tools into your greatest competitive advantage. Book your seats today.
Storyblok JoyConf 2026
October 28 - 29, Rheingoldhalle, Mainz (Frankfurt)
JoyConf 2026 is where developers, marketers, and digital innovators come together from all around the world, united by one powerful idea: great content isn’t built by tools alone – it’s built by people who rely on systems to deliver their best work to the world. In an era where technology is increasingly shaped by AI, Content Confidence becomes your competitive advantage. When you can create, manage, and scale content that performs seamlessly across channels, platforms, and AI, you don’t just keep up – you win. Book your seats today.