Conference News: What I learned this week – September 22, 2017

THINK about IT: In 2018, IBM will merge several of its events into one flagship conference called IBM Think. Debuting on 19 -22 March Las Vegas, Think will combine the content and coverage of IBM World of Watson, InterConnect, Edge, Amplify and Connect. For more information on this new conference, check out their new website.

MarketingSherpa’s not Reaching the Summit in 2018: The MarketingSherpa Summit will no longer be held in Las Vegas in May 2018. According to the organizers, they are taking “the next year to carefully plan a new kind of event, an event unlike any out there today in the marketing world.” While little information is yet provided on what this means, they did state that they have noticed “more of the MarketingSherpa audience asking for help with training, education, new technologies and how that impacts marketing going forward” and that they “foresee an event that is focused on accredited education, professional certification, and hands-on workshops where people are getting trained and solving problems on the spot.”

Speaking Opportunity: The Educause Security Professionals Conference has opened its call for presenters.  The conference managers are serious about this year’s conference theme: Security and Privacy Professionals: All Hands on Deck! Not only do they begin the CFP guidelines with “Ahoy Mateys!,” but they even suggest using the theme within the topic abstract or title. If you are a higher education security or privacy professional submit you tips for navigating the uncertain waters of cybersecurity before the 24 October deadline.

Lunchtime Learning: PromaxBDA, an association representing major media organizations, marketing agencies, research companies, strategic and creative vendors and technology providers around the globe, held its PromaxGames Conference last spring. Hear insight and compelling conversation from thought leaders and executives from every facet of the video game industry in these session videos.

Coming up next week: Industry professionals flock to Advertising Week NYC for over 270 seminars and workshops, 25 – 29 September. Attendees can hear from leaders like Sheryl Sandberg, Ira Glass, or Lin-Manuel Miranda or opt to attends to dozens of other networking and social happy hours. In Boston, nearly 19,000 in marketing and sales will attend the Inbound Conference which begins 25 September. Produced by software creator HubSpot, the event features inspirational keynotes along with intensive marketing education sessions. Structure Security will kick off 26 September in San Francisco. Geared for security professionals, tech & business execs, and investors, this event is an offshoot of the broader cloud infrastructure conference Structure that runs in November. And last but not least, The Atlantic teams up with the Aspen Institute once more to produce the Washington Ideas Forum, convening 1,400 leaders in business, tech, politics, media, and the arts to tackle some of the most critical issues facing the U.S.