GatherUp Presents
AmpUp 2026
What to Expect
AmpUp is GatherUp's annual virtual conference for reputation-driven marketers, agencies, and business owners. Two days. Three certified tracks. Everything you need to turn reviews into your strongest business asset.
Why Attend AmpUp 2026?
Because reputation doesn't manage itself. AmpUp brings together the strategy, tools, and peer insight you need to turn reviews into your strongest business asset, across two days, three certified tracks, and sessions designed to be applied immediately. No fluff. No theory. Just actionable frameworks for agencies, SMBs, and multi-location businesses ready to grow.
Who Should Come?
Agency marketers managing reputation for clients
You're running review programs across multiple accounts, and the old ways of doing it don't scale. AmpUp is built for the operational challenges you face daily, from automating review workflows to positioning defense as a premium offering your clients didn't know they needed.
In-house brand marketers
Whether you're building a reputation program from scratch or optimizing one that's already live, you'll walk away with a proactive strategy, sharper tooling, and the language to connect your work directly to the metrics your leadership cares about most.
Marketing directors & CMOs
AmpUp gives you the frameworks to understand the full business impact of your reputation, from search rankings to revenue, and the session-level evidence to justify continued investment in it.
Customer success & account managers at agencies
You're the one managing client relationships day to day. AmpUp helps you turn reputation data into insight-driven conversations, expand the value you bring to every account, and walk into QBRs with a story that sticks.
Business owners & founders
Your reviews are your most visible sales asset, and many businesses leave them to chance. AmpUp shows you how to earn them consistently, respond at scale, and defend them when things go sideways.
Spots are limited.
Save yours now, then tell your team.
Join AmpUp 2026
Introducing AmpUp Speakers
Conference Schedule
May 13th
11:00 AM -11:30 AM ET
AmpUp Opening Session - Welcome to the Reputation Era
Michael Yules
Consumer expectations are shifting fast, and brands that fail to adapt will get left behind. Learn how AI, local SEO, and authentic reputation management are reshaping the landscape and what you need to do today to stay indispensable.
11:40 AM -12:10 PM ET
Prompting Reputation: Getting AI to Write Review Responses That Don't Sound Like AI
Alexia Platenburg
Responding to every review at scale sounds impossible until you know how to prompt AI the right way. In this session, you'll learn practical workflows to generate authentic, brand-appropriate replies that actually sound like you and leave with a playbook to put it into practice immediately.
12:20 PM-12:50 PM ET
1st Party vs. 3rd Party Reviews: What Actually Drives Business Impact
Annie Jackson
First-party reviews aren't just a nice-to-have, they're a growth lever that feeds search rankings, AI-powered discovery, and conversion. In this session, you'll learn exactly how first- and third-party signals compare, and leave with a tactical playbook you can put to work immediately.
1:00 PM -1:30 PM ET
The TrueReview Advantage: Turning Defense Into a Differentiator
Chelsea Burns and Michael Yules
Review skepticism is at an all-time high. This session examines the consumer trust crisis surrounding online reviews, how verified authenticity changes the equation, and how GatherUp's TrueReview Certification, the only program of its kind, becomes a credibility signal that sets brands apart.
1:40–2:10 PM ET
The ROI of Reputation: Connecting Reviews to Revenue, Rankings, and Retention
Brad Wetherall
Get the framework to tie your reputation efforts directly to the metrics your CMO and clients care about most, so every conversation you have is backed by real business impact, not just review counts.
2:20–2:50 PM ET
The Listings Accuracy Imperative
Ehab Aboud
Businesses with accurate, consistent data see up to 140% more branded impressions, the kind that drive net-new discovery through local search and AI-powered results. In this session, you'll learn why clean business data is the non-negotiable foundation for both reputation and visibility and leave with a tactical playbook to get yours right.
3:00–3:30 PM ET
The Enforcement Era: What the FTC's Consumer Review Rule Means for Your Brand
Michael Atleson
Fake reviews have always been illegal, but for years the FTC's enforcement options were limited. With its Consumer Review Rule now in effect, the agency has a new and strong weapon, one that comes with the possibility of civil monetary penalties. In this session, former FTC Senior Attorney Michael Atleson explains the regulation's coverage, ongoing enforcement, and brand obligations. This is a rare opportunity to hear directly from the person who helped write the rule on what it means in practice and what it will take to stay on the right side of it.
May 14th
11:00 AM -11:30 AM ET
AI as Your Co-Pilot: Practical Ways Claude Fits Into Your Review Workflow
Jenna Potter
See how layering AI tools like Claude into your existing workflow can supercharge what you're already doing, helping you work faster, personalize at scale, and get more out of every step in your review process.
11:40 AM -12:10 PM ET
Selling Review Defense: A Playbook for Agencies
Michael Yules, AJ Rivera, Mike Schmidt
Turn your expertise into a service your clients will pay for. This session covers how to position Review Defense as a value-add, build the business case for skeptical clients, handle common objections, and make defense a core part of your agency offering.
12:20 PM-12:50 PM ET
Ask Smarter, Not Harder: Building a Review Request Strategy That Runs Itself
Josh Sholder
From timing and channel selection to mapping the moments in your customer journey that actually drive responses, this session shows you how to build a review workflow that gets results, without crossing any compliance lines.
1:00 PM -1:30 PM ET
From Data to Decisions: Using Sentiment and NPS to Tell a Better Story
Brad Smith
How to translate feedback data into insights that drive action, whether you're presenting to a client or your own leadership team.
1:40–2:10 PM ET
When Reviews Go Wrong: Spotting Fraud and Defending Your Reputation with Confidence
Jason Wortham
Get up to speed on how review fraud is evolving and why every business needs a proactive defense plan, then walk away with real-world strategies for navigating reputation attacks before they spiral out of control.
2:20–2:50 PM ET
The New Customer Journey Starts with Reviews
Chris Snellgrove
Today's buyers don't start with your website; they start with your reviews, and that shift has quietly moved reputation signals to the top of the buying funnel across every industry. In this session, you'll learn how to meet customers where the journey actually begins and leave with a tactical playbook to align your reputation strategy with how people really make decisions.
3:00–3:30 PM ET
Build. Manage. Defend. Your Reputation Story Starts Now.
Michael Yules
Two days of strategy, frameworks, and playbooks have given you everything you need to take your reputation program to the next level. Leave AmpUp 2026 energized, equipped, and ready to make an immediate impact.