BrainTrust Partners Sponsors Waco's First AI Conference to Highlight Data-Driven AI Strategies

Waco, Texas – The YOU × AI Summit, the city's first artificial intelligence conference, will take place on Saturday, September 12, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Performing Arts & Community Center. BrainTrust Partners, an Austin-based firm specializing in data and AI readiness, has signed on as the founding title sponsor.

Tim Hayden, CEO of BrainTrust Partners, will deliver a keynote at 9:50 a.m. titled “Your Data, Your AI, and Your Future.” He plans to guide Waco business owners through identifying AI use cases within their current operations before making further investments. Hayden emphasizes that many companies possess untapped brand intelligence within their data. “You have intelligence sitting somewhere within the pipes of your business,” he said. “That's your brand. It is your brand DNA that can shape AI in your brand voice.”

Founded in 2016, BrainTrust Partners helps companies structure and leverage data for personalization and analytics. Hayden notes that a decade later, most firms still haven't fully unified and structured their data, a critical step for effective AI. “Data resolved, unified, structured and labeled has AI work stronger for your brand. Skip it, and Tim says it's going to cost you much more in budget and accuracy to use any AI.”

Hayden also cautions against over-reliance on general-purpose AI models like ChatGPT or Claude. “There's no reason why you have to look at ChatGPT or Claude to run everything,” he said. Instead, he advocates for open-weight models that can be trained on proprietary company data, run privately, and cost significantly less than enterprise subscriptions for models trained on others' business.

The summit will open with Bryan Eisenberg, a pioneer in conversion rate optimization and bestselling author, at 8:20 a.m. His keynote, “Before the Algorithm, There Was Your Story. That Hasn't Changed,” underscores the enduring power of narrative. “People don't buy rates. They buy stories they can see themselves in,” according to his session description.

Closing the event at 4:05 p.m. will be Dr. Hope Koch, who holds the Godfrey Sullivan Endowed Chair at Baylor University’s Hankamer School of Business and serves on the Texas Artificial Intelligence Council. Her session, “HOPE: Human Opportunity and a Period of Exponential Change,” aims to equip non-technical attendees with practical ways to apply their business knowledge to AI tools.

Between the keynotes, the summit will feature 23 speakers across four concurrent tracks: Build, Get Found, Sound Like You, and AI Safety. Sessions include Joseph Scaramucci on “AI, Crime & Community,” Dariia Isyk on AI mentorship, Dr. Mito Diaz-Espinoza on making AI work for diverse businesses, and Russ Henneberry on building an AI marketing operating system, among others. Several workshops are hands-on, so attendees are encouraged to bring laptops.

Fernando Labastida, co-organizer of the summit, explained the event’s name: “Most people think AI is the great equalizer. It's a multiplier, and multipliers widen gaps. A business with nothing to say brings a 1, and AI takes it to 2. The competitor with a real point of view brings a 10, and the same AI takes them to 20. Same tools. Bigger gap.”

Tickets are priced at $99, with discounts for teams of 10 or more at $69 per person until September 10. Session recordings are available as a $99 add-on. Registration is open at youxai.live. The summit is produced by the Viral Genius Institute and Rogue Media Network, with presentation by BrainTrust Partners.