The main stage at the 2026 SAMA Annual Conference, Arizona Biltmore, Phoenix — 18–20 May 2026.
Around 600 KAM and SAM practitioners at the Arizona Biltmore. Three days of keynotes, breakouts, and hallway conversations on AI, relationship depth, and what separates programmes that compound from those that stall.
SAMA's Annual Conference is the global gathering for KAM and SAM practitioners — programme directors, senior account managers, CSOs, and the people running enterprise account programmes at scale. The 2026 edition brought around 600 to Phoenix's Arizona Biltmore over three days, with nearly half attending for the first time.
ARPEDIO is one of SAMA's co-creation partners, working alongside SAMA on methodology, diagnostics, and the technology stack that supports the 7-step process inside Salesforce. Ulrik Monberg and Josipa Odak were on the floor for all three days — in sessions, at the booth, and in the conversations that happen between the two.
The conference theme that emerged wasn't in the agenda. It was in every keynote, every breakout, and every conversation over coffee: AI is reshaping KAM work — but the edge still belongs to the teams with the deepest relationship intelligence. Those two things aren't in tension. They're the same bet.
The main stage at the 2026 SAMA Annual Conference, Arizona Biltmore, Phoenix — 18–20 May 2026.
What shifted the conversation — from the keynotes, the breakouts, and the floor.
Every keynote touched AI, but the consensus that emerged was clear-eyed rather than evangelical. Research cited across sessions put the stakes plainly: 89% of executives name outbound relationships as the primary driver of annual sales success. AI earns its place when it makes relationship work sharper — compressing the time from account data to "who to call next and why." The teams that win aren't the ones who automate the relationship. They're the ones who document it well enough to act on it faster.
Around 250–300 of the ~600 attendees were new to SAMA Annual. What Josipa and Ulrik kept hearing in conversations over meals and between sessions: first-timers were using the agenda to benchmark their own programmes against what they were hearing on stage. The maturity gap was less personal than they assumed and more structural — which is the right insight to leave Phoenix with. It points to process and architecture, not individual skill.
The McKinsey keynote called out AI-driven time savings in relationship analysis specifically — not pipeline management, not outbound sequencing, but the work of understanding who matters in an account, how they're connected, and what that means for your next move. That framing validated what ARPEDIO's AI Agents do inside Salesforce: turn interaction data into structured relationship intelligence without requiring the account team to do it manually every quarter.
Josipa and Ulrik held more conversations than two people can comfortably manage across three full days. Sessions ran while the booth had traffic; the booth had traffic while sessions were running. The Lego competition helped — a space shuttle kit that ran all three days, won by Corey Norton from Microchip — but it also generated its own queue. For the Munich Summit in June and events in London later this year, ARPEDIO will have a bigger team on the floor.
Corey Norton from Microchip with the Lego Shuttle Carrier Aircraft — winner of the ARPEDIO competition at SAMA Annual 2026, Phoenix.
"AI is a major focus — but the consensus was clear: it should support human interactions, not replace them."
Floor observation · SAMA Annual 2026 · Phoenix
The Intelligent Enterprise Leadership Forum is on 19 June in Munich — the next gathering for enterprise account teams in DACH. Or get in touch directly if you want to continue a conversation from Phoenix.