Author’s note: Think of this as a thematic follow-up to Janus Boye’s article from April 2025, Not All Heroes Wear Capes. Here's Why CMS Is Your 'Unsung Hero' in 2025.

“I’m as human as anyone.”

It's arguably the most powerful line in the new James Gunn flavor of Superman. Our hero says it during a heated scene with his arch-nemesis, Lex Luthor, and does so with real vulnerability and emotion.

During the exchange, Superman reinforces what makes him human, countering the suggestion that he is an alien and a threat to our world. He talks about his capacity for love, his struggle with fear, and how he wakes up every morning not knowing what to do.

“I put one foot in front of the other and I try to make the best choices I can,” he says, galvanizing himself against the perception that he doesn’t belong on Earth. “I screw up all the time, but that’s being human. And that's my greatest strength.”

Superman crystallizes our prototype of a champion. Man, woman, person – this character is a template for our collective idealism, a shining example of our greatest potential.

But in this film, he’s portrayed as a flawed, imperfect being who struggles with his own limitations. It’s within those deep creases of humanity that he derives his purpose: To care for and serve others. To use his superpowers to help guide us forward.

And as we learn (spoiler alert), he needs a team to help fight for the future.

At our second annual Boye & Company CMS Connect 25 Conference – held earlier this month in the ever-charming urban foothills of Montréal, Canada – I was surrounded by a collective of “Content Champions” who continue to map what’s ahead for CMS. Real humans, sharing their challenges with one another. And by showing up, they’re teaming up, and acting in service to each other and our industry.

Once again, Janus Boye assembled a program of talented, thought-provoking speakers who challenged attendees with relevant topics. In the room were CMS vendors, digital agencies, content practitioners, and customers from across the business and academic landscape, from individual consultants to mid-market shops to enterprise platforms.

Over the course of two days, we were treated to “lightning” presentations and collaborative workshops that provided knowledge, reflection, and inspiration. Attendees also had ample time to network, connect, and often reconnect with friends and colleagues during social activities, balancing off the learning with an ample dose of fun (I was especially thankful for the morning group runs to burn off the poutine).

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A montage of moments at CMS Connect. Source: Janus Boye/Seb Barre archive

I had the opportunity to facilitate much of the program, and during my opening presentation, I shared highlights of what I’m seeing in the content management industry. While CMS is always in a state of change, things feel hyperbolic as we wrestle with tariff wars, shrinking budgets, an evolving regulatory climate, and a pervasive shift from globalism to tribalism. But the role and nature of the CMS is also being debated as AI transforms the way we create, manage, and derive value from our content.

I also provided some data about the developer ecosystem, and where both contraction and growth are occurring. I touched on the evolving tapestry of the open source CMS ecosystem, and probed around the dubious question of what’s in store for the next generation of builders and thinkers.

We’re dealing with a lot right now, and it might feel heavy at times. If only we had the gifts of super strength or X-ray vision to give us an edge against these towering realities. But we might have something better: each other. And that’s precisely why a community like this is proving to be an indispensable asset as we face an uncertain future.

As Janus said in his commentary on CMS in 2025, “Not all heroes wear capes.” But when champions come together, maybe we have a better shot at saving the world.

AI: Moving faster than a speeding bullet

It’s no surprise that AI was the most pervasive and expansive topic at CMS Connect. It was part of almost every presentation, from start to finish.

In my many interviews with CMS leaders and practitioners over the past year, I’ve done my best to parse the hype from the hope as we enter a new phase of value-driven applications, many of which show real promise. I did the same at CMS Connect, speaking to people in breakout groups, in quiet hallways, and over locally brewed craft beers (Oh Canada, thank you for your sublime contributions in this category).

Based on everything I’m hearing, AI is being adopted almost universally, and enterprises are innovating rapidly to unlock its potential. As Agility CMS CTO Joel Varty observed in his own review of the event, experimentation is happening in big ways, but we haven’t quite “cracked the code.”

That said, I see glimmers.

And during the conference’s much-touted “CMS Idol” competition (more on that in a bit), vendors demonstrated how they’re harnessing AI’s capabilities and putting them to practical use, specifically with the advent of agents. As headless CMS vendor Kontent.ai demonstrated during its own CMS Idol pitch, it can reduce tasks that would have taken days to mere minutes.

Despite these many wonders, AI is still plagued by fear and apprehension. Over the last few months, I’ve talked with practitioners across our industry as they adjust to this strange new world. In several Boye & Company peer group meetings that I moderated, we’ve spoken frankly about the ups and downs, from productivity gains to real environmental consequences.

The same was true at CMS Connect. Having this time to engage in person was cathartic, allowing us to create a container of trust and empathy for discussing the weight of these challenges. It felt like we imparted more positive insight than negative, and people saw through the problems to the possibilities.

Still, the struggle with security, sustainability, and ethical dilemmas is far from over as these technologies continue to disrupt our roadmaps and our lives.

While AI dominated the conversation, it wasn’t the only topic on the agenda, and that kept things refreshing. Industry analysts and agency pros brought real color and context to the stage. Overall, these humans injected both spirit and optimism into the experience, restoring our faith in what we do – and why we do it.

Should you dare to keep reading, here’s an overview of what really stood out for me, and why it all made this conference soar.

Leaping tall buildings with a content legend

In my opening salvo with industry icon Cathy McKnight – Chief Problem Solver at Seventh Bear, an analyst firm that focuses on marketing guidance – we traversed a number of topics, starting with the continued relevance of CMS in 2025.

CMS Connect keynote with Cathy McKnight. Source: Janus Boye/Seb Barre archive

A self-described content orchestration crusader and “OG” member of the Boye & Company community, she and partner Robert Rose have extensive experience in the CMS realm, working with organizations like Salesforce and Hilton on content strategy, roadmaps, technology alignment, messaging, and more. I love how they don’t profess to be “the heroes of your story,” focusing instead on marketing to activate a company’s vision.

As Cathy adamantly evangelized, technology decisions around a CMS – or any tool in the stack – always come down to what problem you’re trying to solve. And if you can’t solve today’s problem, how can you evolve to meet tomorrow’s challenges like AI?

Based on her experience, Cathy believes that most vendors are the right fit for a customer somewhere, just not a fit for all customers. For vendors, this can be a challenge from a sales perspective. For her, it could mean talking a customer out of a certain solution – even if that doesn’t align with an analyst report.

Unlike other practices and models, Cathy leans heavily into teams and processes and then works that into the technology, instead of the other way around. We talked about the importance of being “people forward,” and she even shared how her own focus on volunteerism is providing an opportunity to weave technology with social good.

Cathy’s wisdom and insight set the tone for the day and provided a foundation for the wider breadth of topics. I can’t say that I agree with her hockey team of choice, but that’s another story.

Lightning talks that brought the thunder

Following the keynote was a powerhouse of presentations, each delivered in 15-minute segments. This allowed for high-level concepts and active pacing that enriched the scope of content. Every person who took the stage offered great insight, and I appreciate this format because the content is often more concise and memorable.

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Joyce Peralta. Source: Janus Boye/Seb Barre archive

One of my favorite talks was by Joyce Peralta of McGill University, who spoke at last year’s conference. As a local resident of Montreal, she provided a land acknowledgement celebrating the indigenous peoples of the region. It’s a practice that’s catching on, and I hope it continues to do so.

In her timely session on digital governance in the age of AI, she echoed the fear around using these technologies for an academic institution (or any organization for that matter), particularly when you have thousands of pages and custom sites under your purview. She discussed the importance of having clear, consistent policy documentation and digital standards, and how communities of practice are key to sharing methodologies.

AI is increasingly used both within and outside organizations. As she said, we need good governance that acknowledges the use and introduces standards in a logical manner. In the pursuit of solutions, she also cautioned about the pervasiveness of “AI washing,” where tools and platforms sell features without truly delivering value.

Lindsay Aouled Ezzine. Source: Janus Boye/Seb Barre archive

In Lindsay Aouled Ezzine’s presentation on content strategy and UX, she took us through her experience of designing websites and digital experiences at Telus Health – a Canadian healthcare solutions provider. As the senior digital content strategy manager, she discussed the challenges of working within a big company with a small team, and how all good strategy starts with planning. As she said, it’s important to align with the central mission: What are we trying to do as an organization?

Providing a solid primer, Lindsay reinforced some of the foundational “rules of the road” for developing personalized experiences around the user journey and defining the right engagement levels to support conversions and align with your business goals. She also talked about how important it is to maintain a “thread of your story” – and from an operations standpoint, to always be conscious of not breaking the train as it’s running.

Maddy Vida. Source: Janus Boye/Seb Barre archive

I really loved Maddy Vida’s talk on “Clicks to Connections,” where she took us through the challenges of creating content that resonates and sparks empathy with customers. As the omnichannel engagement manager at Novartis – a Swiss-based global pharma brand – she shared actionable tidbits on the importance of segmenting beyond surface-level demographics, why “emotional contagion” is a thing, and how knowing your audience is key to improving engagement and enhancing your digital content strategies.

Deane Barker. Source: Janus Boye/Seb Barre archive

At our 2023 CMS Kickoff in St. Pete, I interviewed Deane Barker during our opening keynote, where we unpacked “The Race to the Middle” (aka the “Headless vs. Monolith” conundrum). I’ve known Deane for many years, and he never disappoints an audience – and at CMS Connect, he brought his A-game.

During a compelling session on “Narrative Content: Storytelling Over Time,” he took us on a fascinating ride through the oft-overlooked phenomenon of multi-part narrative installments (think of a blog series around a common topic or theme). As Deane observed, we’ve never been very good at spinning these narratives, and he suggested actionable strategies and even CMS and DXP functionality that might assist in this evolution. It’s a fascinating topic, and Deane penned a recent article on it that’s worth a gander.

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Bryant Shea. Source: Janus Boye/Seb Barre archive

Search is having a strange moment as AI disrupts traffic and users move to answer engines like ChatGPT. Bryant Shea gave us a solid primer on how this shift from search fields to prompts is evolving our relationship with content discovery – and how we can adapt to this new paradigm. As channel director at SearchStax, an AI-powered site search tool, he provided some great foundational guidance on where it makes sense to integrate AI into traditional search, and why trust is still an issue. Bryant also hails from Acquia, which is partnering with SearchStax.

Greg Dunlap. Source: Janus Boye/Seb Barre archive

If you haven’t heard my podcast interview with Greg Dunlap, he took me deep into his new book, Designing Content Authoring Experiences – and it’s dynamite. As I said in my review, you’ll read it and weep, because the observations are spot on. During his session at CMS Connect, he conjured many of themes he’s documented in the book, suggesting ways that we can unite to build better experiences. As Greg suggested, vendors can’t work in a vacuum, and involving authors is key to success. He also reinforced the need to embrace ATAG – the W3C’s Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines – to ensure that the tools we use are accessible, not just the frontend experiences we build.

Mark Demeny. Source: Janus Boye/Seb Barre archive

The first time I saw Mark Demeny’s deck for “Vendors are from Mars, Buyers are from Venus,” I was sold. He’s right: Why can’t they be aligned? Why the black box around pricing or the lack of a standard content model? Why is this so difficult?!? During his lively “therapy session,” Mark offered his 20 years of insight from all sides of the industry, sharing why enterprise CMS vendors don’t really sell software, and what we should really focus on when assembling a final product. He also explained how PoCs might lead to better outcomes than RFPs in the evaluation process.

If you’re interested in more of his “therapy,” Mark has also lent his wisdom in an analysis of this year’s Gartner MQ for DXPs, and it’s worth a read.

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Martin Michalik. Source: Janus Boye/Seb Barre archive

I was already intrigued when I read Martin Michalik’s abstract for “The Rise of Agentic CMS: How AI Agents Are Redefining Content Management.” As VP of Product at Kontent.ai, a headless CMS based in Czechia, Martin gave a fantastic overview of how the agentic frontier is unfolding, and where automation is powering content generation and maintaining guardrails for things like governance.

Kontent.ai was early to introduce onboard GenAI solutions in 2023 (we covered the rollout), and it’s continuing to redefine the role of AI in developing agent-driven workflows. As he shared, many of the structural fundamentals are still critical, and having the right content strategy will be key to implementing AI successfully.

Joel Varty. Source: Janus Boye/Seb Barre archive

Put me in the sci-fi nerd category, but I’m a sucker for anything Star Trek-related, particularly The Next Generation. Leave it to Joel Varty to end the day on a high note with references to Jean-Luc Picard, the Borg, and Wayne Gretzky (I know, but trust me – it all came together). This thought-provoking presentation asked the key question, Where is AI going? and Joel mused about it via a future timeline that pondered deep issues surrounding trust. As he observed, design and content are converging, and headless CMSes could be more tightly integrated into new workflows where agents become another channel.

Skating to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been, requires a significant shift in mindset. Until we have transporters to get there, Joel suggested that we start with the near future and the agent frontier. He believes AI will augment, not eliminate CMS – and eventually, when it becomes safe, reliable, and accurate enough for our trust, we’ll embrace the “cognitive off-load.” And then we’ll be moving at warp speed.

Making a ‘super’ CMS choice in 2025

Just as we’ve done at previous conferences, we invited experts to the stage for a panel discussion on selecting the right CMS in 2025 (yes, it’s still a daunting task). I was joined by repeat guest and analyst Mark Demeny, Joyce Peralta, Cathy McKnight, and Valtech’s SVP of North America, Allison Abraham – each providing deep insights on a myriad of considerations.

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Panel on “How to Select the Right CMS in 2025.” Source: Janus Boye/Seb Barre archive

During the conversation, we touched on how to evaluate the criteria when choosing proprietary over open source, and how accessibility and usability fit into the equation. We also discussed the expanding role of governance and the critical challenges of security. Mark also brought composable insight from his role within the MACH Alliance.

As you might expect, a big part of the focus was on the question of AI and how a vendor’s roadmap might impact decisioning. Cathy again reiterated the need to establish what problem a buyer is trying to solve, and focusing on the role of people and organizational processes. Most CMSes can satisfy a large share of requirements on an RFP, but the intangibles around service, pricing, and other variables can make a significant impact during an evaluation.

Having a collection of seasoned experts from multiple sides of the industry really provides a well-rounded forum for Q&A. As the CMS space continues to evolve, having their guidance and perspective will become more valuable as organizations strive to make the best decisions amidst a landscape of choices.

Acing accessibility

In my recent review of Siteimprove’s new unified agentic content intelligence platform (dubbed Siteimprove.ai), I referenced Lucy Greco’s presentation from CMS Connect. It was one of the most enlightening sessions of the day, reminding us that digital accessibility continues to be an elusive challenge.

Lucy Greco. Source: Janus Boye/Seb Barre archive

As I said in the article, Lucy is a firebrand – a no-holds-barred evangelist who works tirelessly to illuminate the benefits of accessible digital experiences. We were fortunate to have her voice as a presenter and participant, and she shared a real-world use case addressing accessibility issues on a UC Berkeley website that she previously managed.

Most of us take the expanding and collapsing of menus for granted. We don’t think about the functionality. And if it breaks, we can often find ways to work around it. But for people using a screen reader, an accessibility bug can bring everything to a halt. As Lucy reflected, it’s easy to customize ourselves out of accessibility. It’s important to test every dimension with real users, and we should all incorporate accessibility best practices at a foundational design level.

It's disheartening that we still need to be reminded of this. But Lucy’s outfit, Access Aces, is committed to realizing this shift in perception through training, awareness, and social action.

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Allison Abraham. Source: Janus Boye/Seb Barre archive

During Allison Abraham’s fantastic presentation of an adaptive digital experience built by Valtech (which was stunning), she emphasized the “mighty forces” at play with AI, data, cloud, and the shifting world of digital services. Despite these jaw-dropping advancements, Lucy asked a fantastic question about accessibility within the context of dynamically-generated AI content and experiences. How do we test it? Will the tools work? Where are the gaps?

Unfortunately, there isn’t a good answer for this yet – and while AI has the potential to solve many accessibility challenges, there’s still work to be done within these nascent channels.

Another ‘CMS Idol’ Champion

Six vendors step into the pressure cooker. Six minutes of demo finesse. Three judges haunting your dreams. One champion…

No Boye & Company CMS Conference would be complete without an exciting installment of our world-famous “CMS Idol” competition. The rules are simple: Give us your best demo pitch under the clock, endure the judges’ feedback, and let the audience decide the winner.

I’ve been hosting this shindig for a few years, and every battle royale has showcased skill and innovation. But the crop at CMS Connect 25 was the best and tightest I've seen, with almost every vendor wrapping their demo before the buzzer.

In fact, we’ve never had our judges (Dan Backhaus, Joyce Peralta, and Mark Demeny) quite so… content?

Maybe it was all the AI wizardry?

CMS Idol competition. Source: Janus Boye/Seb Barre archive

Sure, but it wasn't just their assembly of cutting-edge features. It was the human delivery and smart, real-world solutions that sold it. This was also the first time a duo had tag-teamed their pitch (Pantheon), and each vendor – Contentstack, Kentico, Kontent.ai, and Umbraco – really stepped up their skills, making their offers clear and, in many cases, fun to watch.

In the end, there can be only one champion. Joel Varty of Agility landed on top with his powerful display of a risky, on-the-fly demonstration of AI in action. In minutes, he used a combo of Github Copilot and Claude to create React components and associated models, which were then saved into Agility CMS. Here’s a video of the play-by-play:

I love this competition, and our participants always receive the input positively. Yes, it pits people and products against one another, just like in the real world – but it also elevates everyone’s game.

Interested in entering Thunderdome? Janus Boye wrote a deeper review of this year’s competition and how to get involved. Go check it out and get your demo muscle ready for CMS Kickoff 26 in January.

Collaborating with a league of leaders

The second day saw additional briefings from several attendees, including Meredith McEneaney of Contentstack, a market-leading composable DXP delivering adaptive digital experiences, and Briana Sim from SimpliCity – a Vancouver-based CMS focused on the public sector.

Sana Remekie, a previous speaker at our Kickoff event, also shared insights about the new AI thrust at her composable DXO (digital experience orchestration) platform, Conscia, while Mark Demeny provided a sneak peek of what’s ahead with the MACH Alliance’s Open Data Model.

Clockwise from upper left: Meredith McEneaney, Briana Sim, Mark Demeny, Sana Remekie. Source: Janus Boye/Seb Barre archive

On the open source side, Karim Marucchi of Crowd Favorite also gave us an update on the rollout of the FAIR package, a structural intervention to this year’s WordPress debacle. I covered the story at the time of its release, showcasing how the plugin with its critical governance are helping to secure the software supply chain without changing WordPress. It’s already receiving solid feedback and represents the dedicated work of over 200 contributors in coordination with The Linux Foundation.

Karim Marucchi. Source: Janus Boye/Seb Barre archive

As with our previous conference formats, we spent a chunk of the day outside of slideware and in breakout groups, navigating an array of topics. Each of the seven established themes was led by an attendee who helped guide the discussion, with the intention of sharing insights later with the entire group.

What did we talk about? Only “easy” stuff: Karla Santi of Blend Interactive brought her agency leadership chops to the subject of building a business around CMS, while Andrew Kumar of Uniform crossed the intersection of AI and CX and how they’re driving CMS innovation. Our resident content modeling expert, Marc Salvatierra of ICANN, explored the frontier of standardization for structured content.

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Left to right: Mark Salvatierra leading a session and Duncan Schouten. Source: Janus Boye/Seb Barre archive

I meandered into several of the groups, hoping to get a sense of the overall workshop dynamic. I spent quite a bit of time with Richard Lock of 9thCO, who was facilitating a discussion on migrations, a subject rife with challenges and new opportunities in the age of AI. One question that came up: When do you know – and advise – that a customer needs a complete migration, versus a hybrid solution?

Once again, it was refreshing to see the collaborative spirit at work and the willingness to learn and share. During the group synthesis and subsequent conference wrap, Duncan Schouten of Pantheon got handy with the sticky notes as we gauged feedback from attendees in real time.

There were some misses. For example, one area that has received more attention in past conferences is the critical topic of sustainability. This is taking on an even greater urgency as AI's thirst for water reaches unthinkable levels. We can always do better, and having this on-the-spot input was an honest and transparent exercise for improving future agendas.

Up, up, and away…

Has AI bestowed upon us extraordinary powers like Superman?

I ask because when I’m approached with a request to review an AI-related product demo, I think, Have I seen this already? Is it more of the same? And then I’m struck with wonder by some new capability that’s been unlocked.

AI is indeed divisive. Yes, it has a great propensity to help us. But in my travels and at events, I’ve heard concerns from many people about its negative impacts and the consequences for our industry and our environment.

What they feel is real, and I acknowledge that.

But this is also an opportunity for reinvention. I think we can put a dent in the sustainability conundrums. I also believe that content and content strategy – and the role of the CMS – are evolving with new imperatives, and we need smart people to meet the challenges ahead. We’re also breaking a lot of stuff as we react to change, and we’ll need a team to right the ship and build stronger foundations.

As I shared in my opening presentation, I don’t believe AI is devaluing our humanity. Instead, it’s giving us an opportunity to revalue our work, to develop new ways to share our passion and expertise by tapping greater automation and potential. We need to reorient – and ask what's possible with AI and not what will it take away.

In that sense, it's not an end, but a beginning. This dissonance is an adjustment to living in a strange new world. That can be hard. Feel hard. Like Superman said, it starts by putting one foot in front of the other and trying not to screw things up.

That's part of being human.

We will, of course, screw things up. But even those mistakes will have value.

That’s why we need gatherings like this. Because we can’t get there alone. As Jasmine Guthmann of Deloitte said at our CMS Summit event in Germany, we’re better together. Better at understanding the profound implications of what we’re creating. Better at learning and connecting. Better at sharing what thrills, scares, holds us back, and propels us forward.

Our real superpowers are vulnerability and empathy. What we do with those strengths is up to us. As we face the challenges and uncertainty of the AI era, they can help us be champions on so many levels. To elevate our work and serve each other.

And, if we're lucky, learn to fly even higher.

Speaking of Superman: A huge thanks to Janus Boye for continuing to be the hero of our story. And BTW: If you missed CMS Connect 25, you can blame it on the kryptonite and catch one of our upcoming events across Europe and North America.

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A Gathering of Content Champions: Here’s Why CMS Connect 25 was ‘Super’ in Every Way