Inside the Connection Lab: your CJU 2026 training lineup

If our main stage sessions set the direction for what’s coming next, the Connection Lab is where you get hands-on training on how to tackle it. These focused, practitioner-led trainings run throughout CJU, covering the tools, tactics, and data behind the three journeys shaping how customers discover and buy today: brand-led, AI-led, and creator-led.

Whether you're an advertiser, agency, or publisher, there's a session built around what's actually changing in your part of the business. Take a look at what's in store below, and check out the full agenda to start planning your sessions.

Note: The Connection Lab has limited seating. Trainings are first come, first served, so plan ahead and build your agenda now.

AI-led discovery

Winning AI visibility: how advertisers can measure and shape where their brand appears in AI results

As AI platforms take over more of what search used to do, brands need a deliberate way to shape where they appear in AI results. Affiliate publishers drive 75% of AI citations, which puts our industry at the center of any GEO effort. This session introduces CJ's AI Visibility and Optimization suite, from the measurement philosophy behind it to a live demo of the reporting tools that track performance and steer partner strategy.

Presented by Jack Coombs, Data Scientist, CJ

LLMs and partner revenue: how to leverage AI visibility to grow your publisher business

Search engines aren't the only place people look for answers anymore, and the publishers showing up inside AI responses are starting to pull real value from it. This session covers what it takes to earn a spot in those answers, from structuring content so language models can cite it to building the authority that gets a site quoted instead of skipped, plus how to package that visibility for advertisers.

Presented by Sean Stahlman, SVP of SEO, Razorfish, and Meghan Hogan, Associate Director Publisher Success, CJ

Creator-led commerce

CJ Creator Storefronts: powerful new commerce destinations for creators

Creators are one of the fastest-growing forces in commerce, and centralizing their recommendations in one place makes them even more powerful. Instead of scattered links across bios and captions, creator storefronts give each influencer a curated, shoppable destination: their taste, your products, one URL. This session demos the technology live and shows how attribution flows back to the brand.

Presented by Kate Aaknes, Senior Influencer Manager, CJ, and Dominique Bell, Senior Campaign Manager, CJ

Diversify your creator mix: deliver scale with micro and nano creators

Big follower counts don't always guarantee big results. The brands winning in creator marketing are often going small, activating hundreds of nano and micro creators whose audiences trust them deeply. This session walks through how to structure a seeding program, match products to creator tiers, and measure what matters beyond vanity metrics.

Presented by Cat Gitonga, Account Director, CJ, and Jessica Armstrong, Account Director, CJ

Brand safety at creator scale: how to ensure quality and compliance in creator marketing

Creator marketing puts your brand in front of huge audiences, but you don't write the script. This session shows how CJ keeps creator marketing safe at scale, using AI that checks content against your brand guidelines in near real time, backed by the industry's largest quality and compliance team.

Presented by Paula Lopez, Campaign Manager, CJ

Social search: winning the TikTok Shop opportunity

Social platforms are where discovery happens now, and TikTok Shop has turned that discovery directly into commerce. This practitioner's session breaks down how CJ's TikTok Shop offering connects brands, creators, and buyers, covering what to sell, how to activate creators, and how tracking and attribution work in market today.

Presented by Ricky Perez, Account Director, CJ

Measurement & program value

Proving incrementality: how to use customer journeys to measure true program impact

Incrementality is the measurement every marketer wants and few can prove. CJ and Capital One Ad Solutions set out to prove it, pairing a series of holdout tests with customer journey analysis to trace what customers actually do when they stop seeing a publisher, not just whether sales changed.

Presented by Amanda Harris, Sr. Data Scientist, CJ, and Asena Cengiz, Head of Measurement & Testing, Capital One Ad Solutions

From Tracking Gaps to Complete Performance Visibility: Using Complete Integrations and Reconciliation to Capture the Full Value of Affiliate

Traditional reporting shows what got tracked cleanly, but consent rules, browser changes, and integration gaps all punch holes in attribution. New CJ tools show advertisers their tracked performance alongside a scientifically quantified read on what tracking missed, so the numbers finally reflect the full value partners drive.

Presented by Jen Heinrich-Pena, SVP Business Transformation, CJ

From Tracking Gaps to Complete Publisher Value & Accurate Compensation: How Complete Integrations and Reconciliation Improve Results

When tracking is incomplete, a lot of publisher-driven value never shows up in the report. This session lays out what new CJ tools mean for publishers, how Partner Payments adds transparency, and how tightening link quality helps advertisers see why tracking integrity matters.

Presented by Kristen Levins, VP Publisher Success & Activation US, CJ, and Jen Heinrich-Pena, SVP Business Transformation, CJ

Partnerships & program growth

CJ Wallet: a new door into your customer's world

CJ Wallet opens a new door into the customer journey, turning first-touch interest into a lasting connection. This session shows how mobile wallet experiences let consumers save offers, stay engaged over time, and convert when the moment is right for them, both online and in-store.

Presented by Stacey Georgoulis, VP, Platform Partnerships and GTM Strategy, CJ, and Steve Eros, Co-founder and Advisor, Passcloud

Every moment that counts: how CJ's expanded partner ecosystem reaches customers at each stage

Consumers don't take a straight path to purchase. Follow one customer from the first spark of an idea through research, booking, and everything after, and see how leading brands use CJ's diverse partner ecosystem, including new partners in AI, podcast advertising, video, and post-purchase, to reach people at every stage.

Presented by Eirik Thue Buoe, Senior Director, Platform Partnerships

Compliance that pays: five actions to protect your brand and build stronger programs

Strong partnerships protect brand integrity, cut wasted spend, and build lasting trust across the network. This session walks through five practical actions to raise program quality, improve partner compliance, and tie payments to real value.

Presented by Alex Quevedo, Director, Advertiser Services and Network Quality, CJ, and Jeff Ransdell, Director, Program Compliance, CJ

CJ's publisher playbook: more ways to earn, less friction to get there

Affiliate has gotten crowded, and that's a good thing. This session lays out what CJ has changed and is changing to help publishers earn more, more easily, built around four things publishers have said matter most: focus, earning power, revenue protection, and usability.

Presented by Devon Miller, Associate Director Publisher Success, CJ

Beyond the rate card: packaging publisher media advertisers will want to buy now

Media dollars are flowing into affiliate and commerce faster than they used to, and that opens a door for publishers. This session gets practical on packaging media as a fundable growth play, from entry-level pricing to test-and-learn programs and verticalized packages.

Presented by Owen Kauppila, Associate Director Emerging Markets, CJ

Going international: how to adapt partner strategy for new markets

Expanding into a new market with the same program that worked at home is where many brands get stuck. This session covers what to assess before you commit budget, from partner readiness and local consumer behavior to the payments, currency, and regulatory details that trip brands up.

Presented by Kate Knight, Group Director, Publisher Development EMEA, CJ and Jerome Bonal, Publisher Director, France, CJ

If you haven't registered for CJU yet, there's still time to join us in Santa Barbara. Register today and take part in all our incredible mainstage sessions, trainings, social events and networking opportunities this September.

Register for CJU