In November 2025 I spoke at DigiMarCon Las Vegas at the Luxor. The talk was called Building Authority with AI & Google’s Knowledge Graph, and it was one of the most polished stage moments I’ve had so far.
How it came together
The invitation came through Dennis Yu, my mentor and business partner. Dennis has been on the DigiMarCon circuit for years, and this was our chance to bring the framework we teach at Local Service Spotlight — a system built around what Dennis calls the Topic Wheel — to a room full of marketing professionals.
I shared the stage with another young adult also mentored by Dennis Yu through the AI Builder program at Local Service Spotlight. The idea was to model what the next generation of AI-native marketers actually looks like: young people who can build real authority for real businesses using AI, not just talk about it.
What we talked about
The core of the talk was building digital authority for local service businesses. Authority isn’t about titles — it’s about proof, structured content, and being findable in the places AI models pull from. We walked through the Topic Wheel, showed how we use Google’s Knowledge Graph to establish entity identity, and demoed how AI agents can maintain and grow that authority once it’s set up.
Lessons from the stage
Speaking at a marketing conference at 18 taught me a few things. First, the audience isn’t there to see credentials — they’re there for something they can use on Monday. Second, showing real work beats explaining frameworks abstractly every time. And third, being young in the room is only a problem if you show up like it’s a problem.
DigiMarCon Las Vegas was one of five stages I’ve shared with Dennis Yu across DigiMarCon, the JVA Align Volleyball Summit, and the DSDT AI Summit in Detroit. Full speaking history at dylan-haugen.com/speaking.
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