November 10, 2026
From 2030 to Monday Morning: Inside the CEE Digital Alliance Meeting in Prague
On October 1st and 2nd, member agencies of CEE Digital Alliance met in Prague for an exclusive, members-only meeting, hosted by one of our members in the Czech Republic, Effectix. This edition brought two groups to the same city: the leaders who set the direction of their agencies, and the specialists who turn that direction into everyday work for clients.
Most industry events are built for one audience at a time. Leaders meet leaders, and specialists meet specialists. In Prague, both were present. The leaders worked on strategy and long-term decisions, while the specialists dug into the tools and channels that are changing their work right now. The evenings in Karlín brought everyone together around the same table.
For an alliance built on trust and shared knowledge, this matters. The value of CEE Digital Alliance does not sit only at board or C-level. It also comes from people across member agencies who know each other, ask each other for help and learn from each other.
The C-level programme opened with Pavlína Louženská, founder of the trend forecasting consultancy TrendBrews, and her keynote “2030: A World Redesigned”, followed by an open Q&A.
For agency leaders, 2030 is not a distant horizon. It is roughly the length of a client relationship, a team’s growth cycle or a strategic plan. The way people search, buy, trust brands and spend their attention is shifting, and agencies have to anticipate that shift, not just react to it. Taking a step back to look at the wider picture, beyond the next campaign or quarter, was the right way to start two days of work.
On the second day, Robert Craven, who has worked with more than 200 digital agencies through Grow Your Digital Agency, led a half-day workshop for the leaders: “The Decisions You Are Avoiding… (or not?)”.
The session picked up where our spring meeting in Dubrovnik left off, and focused on the questions that are easy to circle around for months: what clients are actually buying, today and in the future, whether agencies will be consulted or simply briefed, and what the role of a hired CEO should be. The format kept the discussion practical, with every leader in the room focusing on decisions for their own agency.
Each member agency also presented its latest updates in a short, structured format. Across these presentations and the conversations around them, one question kept coming back: what will the agency of the future look like?
There is no single answer, and that is exactly why the discussion is worth having among peers. AI is changing how work is delivered, what clients are willing to pay for and which skills teams need. Agencies have to decide where they add value that technology cannot replace, and how to stay independent while competing with much larger groups. Hearing how agencies from different markets approach the same questions is one of the things CEE Digital Alliance members value most.
On Friday, the specialists had their own programme. After an icebreaker facilitated by Ionuț Radu Munteanu (WebDigital), Ján Laurenčík (Basta digital) led a special offline edition of the CEEDA Shares Program on AI in PPC workflows, a topic the specialists chose themselves. In the afternoon, Eugen Predescu (DWF) took the group through “ChatGPT Ads: Limited today. Essential tomorrow.”
The day also included a conversation on how CEE Digital Alliance can bring more value to specialists. Asking the people who do the work what they need is a step forward in strengthening the alliance, and gives specialists a voice in shaping its programmes.
The Prague meeting also marked two important moments for the alliance.
Member agencies elected the board that will lead CEE Digital Alliance for the next five years, starting in February 2027. You can read more about the new board in an upcoming article.
On Friday evening, leaders and specialists came together for the first edition of the CEEDA Awards, an internal award session. The point was never who beat whom, but what the rest of us can take home and put to work in our own agencies.
A big thank you to Effectix for hosting us and helping organise the meeting. Prague was the perfect setting for two days of honest conversations, practical learning and time spent together, and we are already looking forward to the next one.
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