Educate and inspire with engaging, insight-rich presentations about consumers, marketing and AI

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Woman with a microphone speaking at a conference with a yellow "Shoptalk" backdrop.
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Debra is an engaging, honest speaker who can illuminate important marketing concepts with data, humor and empathy. Her speaking credits include the Association of National Advertisers, Shoptalk, VidCon, Reddit and many more.

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See Debra in action

Watch Debra at the 2025 Cannes Lions

During a panel discussion at Salon Culture Conversations / Cannes Lions 2025, Debra Aho Williamson, founder and chief analyst of Sonata Insights, illuminates why consumers will blame the brands they know, rather than tech firms, when they experience bias in AI.

Debra Aho Williamson, founder and chief analyst at Sonata Insights, shares how businesses can lean on their social media experience to embrace AI search. Filmed at the Salon Culture Conversations event at the 2025 Cannes Lions festival.

What People Are Saying About Debra Aho Williamson

"Debra is a trusted voice on AI and technology and the perfect expert to elevate events and go-to-market strategies."

— Paul Peterman, Senior Managing Director, Large Customer Sales, Reddit

"Debra’s ability to contextualize consumer behavior and communicate its meaning as both numbers and common sense means people leave smarter after one of her presentations."

— John Gauntt, Creative Director, Seattle AI Film Festival

"Debra has a knack for getting to the heart of a lot of the most pressing issues marketers need to care about today. She's a charismatic, engaging speaker who brings a lot of energy and excitement to her talks."

— David Berkowitz, Founder, AI Marketers Guild

"Debbie brings a uniquely grounded (and human) perspective to keynotes and presentations. Her sessions cut through AI hype with data-driven insights about how people really use these tools, making her presentations both engaging and actionable."

— Tameka Kee, SVP, Programming and Operations, Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement

RECENT PRESENTATIONS

Consumers and AI: Why the Media Connection Is More Important Than Ever

In this presentation, Debra unpacks why AI is creating a powerful — and irreversible —transformation in the consumer journey. Using case studies, fresh data and her unique capability for foresight, Debra weaves a picture showing how consumer shopping journeys are changing, why AI platforms are poised to become the next important ad medium, and why the next big wave —agentic advertising — will create even more impactful changes in ads, media and the concept of “audience.”

Watch an excerpt from “Consumers and AI: Why the Media Connection is More Important Than Ever.”

Consumers and AI: The New Dynamics Shaping Content and Commerce

In this lively and engaging speaking presentation, Debra uses case studies and survey data to show how consumer media decisions and shopping journeys are changing as more consumers use AI platforms, why answer engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Amazon’s Rufus are poised to become the next important ad medium, and why it’s critical for creators and brands to keep close tabs on consumer trust in AI.

Winning Customers in the AI Era: How AI Companies Can Build Trust and Demand

There were 1,073 newly funded AI companies in the US last year, but 14% of startups fail each year due to poor marketing, according to CB Insights. That means it’s imperative for AI companies to quickly build trust and demand. In this presentation, Debra reveals new consumer AI usage data from Insights Exchange and illustrates — through case studies and examples — how AI businesses can create strong brand equity.

Debra’s speaking credits include:

Advertising Week New York

AI Marketers Guild

Amazon

American Marketing Assocation (Puget Sound Chapter)

American Marketing Association (Iowa Chapter)

Ascendant Network

Association of National Advertisers

The Athena Project

Bank of America

Beet.tv

Cannes Lions 2025/Salon Culture Conversations

Clorox iConnect

Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement

The Drum

Reddit

Seattle AI Film Festival

Shoptalk Fall - Chicago

VidCon

Contact Debra Aho Williamson

Keynote Speaker, Webinar Presenter, Private Event Guest Speaker, Panel Moderator