DAM New York 2025

Agenda

We are busy developing an exciting agenda for DAM New York 2025 so keep your eyes peeled for details. In the meantime, check out the first 8 sessions confirmed:
 

Join the DAM Community as a Speaker or Panel Member

Do you have a story you’d like to share with the DAM community? Do you have an example of best practice in digital asset management or related topics which you’d like to showcase at one of the Henry Stewart Events’ in-person events in Los Angeles, London, New York and Sydney?

We invite senior leaders and dynamic speakers to share their experiences in the digital asset management field to get in touch as we’d be delighted to hear from you. Help us to drive the future of knowledge and innovation. Help shape the conversation.

Please contact Christine Le Couilliard at christine@clecevents.co.uk.

Global DAM: Lessons from the Trenches

A high-level conversation with DAM leaders from three global enterprises, each representing a different phase of their DAM evolution

From early-stage implementation to mid-journey scaling and advanced maturity, the leaders share firsthand experiences, challenges, and solutions that are shaping their organizations' DAM strategies.

Including:

• Enterprise A: Insights into the initial steps of DAM adoption, including building business cases, securing stakeholder buy-in, and managing expectations.
• Enterprise B: Lessons from scaling and optimizing DAM systems to meet the growing demands of global teams and cross-functional collaboration.
• Enterprise C: Advanced strategies for maximizing DAM value, including automation, AI-driven metadata, and system integration into broader digital ecosystems.

The session features practical tips, candid discussions about challenges faced along the way, and actionable takeaways for organizations at every stage of their DAM journey.

Whether you’re just starting out or looking to maximize the value of a mature system, the panel has advice on navigating the complexities of enterprise DAM.

Moderator/Interviewer: Jarrod Gingras, Managing Director & Analyst, Real Story Group

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Metadata, Rights, and Meaningful Change: Building a Scalable Framework for Governance and Reuse

Fact:

When metadata, legal permissions, and asset usage rights don’t align, teams face delays, compliance risks, and barriers to content reuse.

Solution:

• Connect the dots between intake, governance, and delivery - all while focusing on user experience and long-term scalability.
• Adopt a framework that integrates a work management platform, a digital asset management system, and a custom-built portal.
• Embed rights metadata at the point of submission to reduce friction and enable compliant reuse of third-party content.

The challenge:

• Managing assets that originate outside the enterprise. (In-house content typically has clear rights ownership, inclusion of third-party content introduces far more complexity and potential risk.)
• Addressing the distinction between internal and external is key to building a governance model that is both effective and scalable.

Implementation in practice:

• A people-first approach to solving metadata and rights challenges - how to identify the human barriers to legal compliance and metadata consistency, and how to guide cross-functional teams toward change by showing them the why behind it.
• Tactics to improve governance using tools you already have - how to embed usage rights at the point of submission, simplify form selection with conditional logic, and enable safe, scalable reuse of third-party content - all without needing to invest in new technology.
• What it really takes to build a scalable framework system - beyond the theory - a candid walkthrough of how, for us, this framework came together, and the roadblocks faced along the way.

Rus Martin, Senior Digital Asset Specialist, Creative Lab, Esri

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The HIVE at 10: World Wildlife Fund's (WWF’s) Challenges in Managing and Mobilizing Visual Assets for Planetary Protection

Originally developed to centralize and safeguard high-quality photo and video assets, WWF’s digital asset management platform - the HIVE - has had 10 years of enormous growth, adaption, and strategic alignment with the ever-changing needs of an expanding nonprofit global organization. 

Today, the HIVE is evolving into a mission-critical system supporting storytelling, documentation, and cross-functional collaboration across teams in over 70 offices worldwide. How can WWF continue to meet the needs of its complex network of offices in a time of so much change?

This session will look at the key challenges and questions shaping WWF’s vision for the platform’s future, from user adoption and training to siloed systems and emerging technologies.

Wendy Dorsett, Senior Photo Specialist, WWF

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DAM Integration at CHG Healthcare: Plug-and-Play or Puzzle Piece?

Questions:

As content demand and tech stacks grow increasingly complex, DAM systems promise to be a single source of truth. But how well do they integrate with:

• Creative tools.
• Project management platforms.
• Content delivery channels.

Can they truly automate workflows and reduce manual work?

Issues and answers:

• The realities of out-of-the-box DAM integrations.
• When customization is worth the investment.
• Practical use cases within today’s marketing technology ecosystem.

Jennifer Anna, Marketing Operations & Technology Manager, CHG Healthcare
Luke Stenis, Director of Marketing Operations & Technology, CHG Healthcare

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Winning Fans in the Digital Arena: Leveraging DAM for the Modern Sports Audience

The Requirements:

In today's rapidly evolving digital landscape, sports teams, leagues, and broadcasters must meet fans where they are – on mobile-first, visually driven platforms like Instagram, TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and Snapchat.

The Response:

Multiple views from panel members on how DAM powers the full potential of social media to:

• Attract new fans.
• Deepen engagement.
• Monetise content.
• Build lasting relationships

All in an attention-scarce economy.

Moderator: John Horodyski, Managing Director, Strategic Client Growth, AVP

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New website … Now What?

Leveraging DAM to Engage and Connect with Visitors

Background:

Following the relaunch of the National Gallery of Art website, we asked: How can our teams work even closer together to continue creating engaging digital experiences for in-person and online visitors?

Located in the heart of Washington, D.C., the National Gallery of Art houses an internationally recognized collection and welcomes nearly five million visitors annually, engaging even more people online.

Covering:

• The connection between DAM and CMS.
• Improvement of metadata and rethinking technical configurations to support the new website.
• Implementing user-oriented workflows to support content authors.
• Placing the DAM at the center of the digital ecosystem fully supporting the website and centering the DAMS as the single source of truth for images on the website.
• The role of executive leadership in driving and supporting change.
• The more than 61,000 images available for free for download through nga.gov
• How AI is being used to animate discovery of the online collection.

Justyna Badach, Head of Digital Imaging, National Gallery of Art
Eileen Willis, Head of Digital Content, National Gallery of Art

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We’ve all Heard it – People, Process, and Technology – but What Does it Really Mean When it Comes to Building a Strong, Sustainable DAM Strategy?

The panel members discuss the relative merits of common responses and share practical ways to bring teams together, streamline workflows, and choose the right tools that support identified goals - not complicate them.

Panel advice:

• Moves past the buzzwords and dives into how to thoughtfully connect these elements to drive real impact.
• Cuts through the jargon to explore how to meaningfully apply this triad to build a scalable, future-ready DAM foundation.

Whether you're just starting out or looking to enhance your current DAM setup, there will be practical insights that turn this well-worn phrase into a mantra that supports strategic advantage.

Moderator: Kristin Burns, Content Consultant, Morgan Stanley. Founder, Spark Focus

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Brand-New Session Confirmed! AI-Tech Play Off 2025: The Battle for the Tech Trophy

This exciting competition will feature four leading-edge AI vendors who will compete in demonstrating how their technology is revolutionizing content and asset management. The session will provide live demos highlighting how AI can transform workflows, automate metadata, enhance search capabilities, streamline rights management and optimize asset distribution.

Attendees will have the opportunity to vote for the AI solution they believe will have the most significant impact on their DAM strategy.