Wednesday, September 16, 2026
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM EDT
People Side of AI: Lessons from Change Management Front Lines
About this event
A panel of change management practitioners at the AWS Skills Center on why AI rollouts stall on people rather than technology, and what separates organisations stuck in pilot from those that got past it.
Most failed AI deployments do not fail technically. They fail because nobody uses the thing. This AI Innovators Network panel takes that seriously and brings in people whose actual job is organisational change.
The discussion covers why AI tool rollouts stall on adoption rather than capability, how resistance shows up inside teams, what has shifted in the last year as the tools improved, and what distinguishes organisations that moved past a stuck pilot from those still running one.
Panellists are Denesha "Dee" Miller, founder and chief executive of Dynamic Leadership Coaching; Debra Mitchell, founder of Debra Mitchell and Company; and Sarah Smith, founder of Iconoclast Innovations. Laura Gramling, president of EnSpark Consulting, moderates.
The session is free and runs at the AWS Skills Center in Crystal City, with networking afterwards at Tacombi in the same building.
Organized by
A Northern Virginia community of roughly 4,700 AI practitioners, founders and newcomers running panels, talks and mixers across DC, Virginia and Maryland, frequently hosted at the AWS Skills Center in Crystal City.