Webflow x ZUID dinner event: an evening of food for thought

24 March 2026, 18:30, Amsterdam. The romantic attic floor of the Pulitzer, known as The Copper Attic, is filled with marketing leaders from prominent companies across various sectors. Online publishers, energy suppliers, developers of legal software… If you want to speak with marketing leaders at the heart of the industry’s current shift, this is the place to be.

As guests introduced themselves, they were welcomed by the Webflow team—James Dowell and Henry Denton—together with the ZUID team, represented by Sander Buijs, Mathieu Hermans, and Ivo Roovers. The cherry on top was the presence of Guy Yalif from San Francisco. As Chief Evangelist at Webflow, he is the expert guiding audiences through the future of digital growth.

Today’s world demands… growth machines

The Copper Attic is a historic space, originally commissioned by a 17th-century merchant who made his fortune in the copper trade. Sander, Digital Director of ZUID, kicks things off. He welcomes the guests and explains how we at ZUID combine our 22 years of web experience with the latest tech to build growth machines instead of just websites. This is made possible by streamlining, scaling, and automating marketing with software such as HubSpot.

However, Webflow is just as vital for the ZUID team, Sander explained. “With Webflow, we no longer spend eighty percent of the budget on the technical backend of a website. Instead, we utilise it for visual impact and conversion. With modules like Webflow Optimize, we continuously test and personalise that foundation for measurable results”, Sander shared enthusiastically.

Curious about the atmosphere of the evening? Watch the aftermovie below:

A warm welcome for Guy

Sander hands over to Guy Yalif. Guy previously held key positions in the marketing and product departments of companies such as Twitter, Yahoo, Tradeweave, and BrightRoll, and he co-founded Intellimize. After Webflow acquired Intellimize, he now spreads his knowledge as Webflow’s Chief Evangelist on how to make your website work for you in the year 2026.

Guy explains: “We find ourselves in an era where the dynamics of the web are fundamentally changing due to AI. Previously, we focused on static pages, but the future revolves around marketing machines that interact with the visitor. From an AEO perspective, we can see that searches via LLMs are becoming more specific and much longer, which offers new opportunities.” This is a great chance to make a difference with your company through hyper-relevant content, technical precision, and by claiming authority.

There are four essential pillars for SEO and AEO, according to Guy: creating relevant content that answers visitors’ questions, technical optimisation so machines can read your content, building authority, and AI fluency. According to Guy, this means experimenting with AI tools and integrating them into your strategy.

Guy emphasises that it is better not to use AI only for generation, but also for prediction: “Predictive AI shows visitors exactly what drives them to take action”, Guy explains. “By embracing AI as a thought partner, you transform a website from a business card into a marketing machine. One that adapts to the user.”

Seating arrangements and sales funnels

As if that isn’t enough food for thought, the attendees then make their way to the dinner tables. The personalised menus indicate not only which dishes are being served, but also the table setting during the second and third courses. Besides enjoying great food, the goal of the dinner is also to discuss the future of digital growth, the impact of AI trends like AEO, and the bottlenecks and opportunities every guest faces within their organisation. Changing seats will allow guests to speak with many others.

The questions directed at Guy already show that the shared opinion is that websites are still crucial, even though they are sometimes visited less due to, for example, zero-click search or the use of AI. According to Guy, that relevance lies on the one hand in the website as an information source for LLMs. On the other hand, the website is crucial in the middle and lower parts of the sales funnel: the stages where the decision is made whether or not to convert. Very important, indeed. Guy sees the challenge in keeping the brand tone of voice and visual identity consistent when scaling your website and content is created with AI. You don’t want 10,000 versions of your brand to emerge digitally.

Mutual inspiration

The dinner goes hand-in-hand with lively discussions filled with recognisable situations. The need for such an exchange was voiced by one of the guests, a Senior Marketing Manager at an automation platform for auditors: “It’s great to speak with like-minded people from the industry. We are all looking for answers to the same questions. That’s why it’s helpful to brainstorm and exchange ideas about what works and what doesn't.”

James Dowell, Sales Lead UKI/Northern Europe at Webflow, had a similar experience: “It is incredibly interesting to see how quickly the market is changing and to note the differences between the market here and, for example, Copenhagen. I truly see the sharing of best practices as the theme of the evening.”

Everyone returned home with heads full of new ideas, a well-filled stomach, and several interesting new connections.

Ready for the future?

Do you think: I wish I had been there? Get in touch with Sander (click here!). He can help apply the insights from the event to your specific situation. Turn your website into a growth machine.

‍