John Boyd skillfully articulated the components of the Observe-Orient-Decide-Act decision loop. Among the many aspects of this algorithm for competitive advantage he explained was the importance of orientation to the situation. Orientation determines how information is interpreted and what actions have the highest probability of success. It is not just the processing of observations, it is putting the situation in context with everything else you know and everything you are.

Want to proactively prepare for future decisions? Take steps now to orient yourself to what may be coming next. We designed our OODAcon series to do exactly that, to help leaders prepare to continuously orient to the forces that will shape the next year so we can act with agility when black swans land and make faster, more accurate decisions in competitive environments.

It was an incredible day, because of incredible speakers and attendees. The room brought together hackers, thinkers, strategists, disruptors, technologists, and creators with one foot planted in the future. We explored how to accelerate the right technologies and turn insight into time‑to‑field advantage.

Every year we face an incredible challenge after the event. How can we capture the gist of the day in a way that benefits those that could not attend. The highest level summary can sound like we are stating the obvious. Obviously the day underscored that agility is critical. So is the importance of resilience in the face of dynamic adversaries. So is an understanding of the future of technology. And in every session the importance of people and leadership came through loud and clear. The need to understand changes in exponential technologies like Agentic AI was also hit again and again. So was the importance of networking and team building with other proactive thought leaders like those in the room.

But to OODA Loop readers you would assume all of that I just wrote. The challenge we face is getting you the real actionable meat of the conference, which is hard to do for those that were not there.

But we have a solution. We will provide you written summaries of each session and videos of as many as we can.

So, in the coming weeks we will be providing summaries to all network members and will post videos as well.

Here is some foreshadowing of what is to come by producing fuller summaries on each of these Core thematics:

China’s technology disruption strategy (Bill Hagestad): implications for standards, supply chains, and competitiveness.

• Orientation to OODAcon (Matt Devost): A synthesis of big forces driving us all forward
• Offense, AI, and U.S. cyber power (Alexei Bulazel): aligning AI with mission to deter and disrupt.
• Quantum advantage now (Mark Carney): computing, sensing, networking, plus NIST PQC implications.
• Hardware supply‑chain transparency (Allan Friedman): the case for HBOM to mirror the value of SBOM.
• From pilots to scale (Jennifer Ewbank): integrating across silos to outpace the adversary.
• Privacy, access, and expression (Serene in conversation with Matt Devost): securing privacy and our liberty in the age of ubiquitous data.
• Annual global threat brief (Jen Hoar, Johnny Sawyer): articulation of risk across regions including conflict, crime, energy, and tech supply chains.
• Data at the edge (Maxie Reynolds): subsea and sustainable next‑gen datacenters.
• AI, space, and automation (Bill Vass, Lisa Costa, Renee Wynn, Bob Gourley): modernizing how we protect our way of life.
• From automation to autonomy (Josh Devon, Thomas Quinn, David Ginn, Josh Ray, Andy Black): navigating the coming wave of agentic AI.
• Strategic foresight to action (Dawn Meyerriecks): planning for continuous disruption.
• China’s technology disruption strategy (Bill Hagestad): implications for standards, supply chains, and competitiveness.

Stand by for more!