Conference News: What I learned this week – July 12, 2019
A Bite in the Big Apple: The New York Times Conference team is cooking up something new this year. This fall, they will debut their Food Festival, which will “celebrate what it means to eat, drink and cook in the heart of New York City.” The event will run on 5 – 6 October and will include a Festival at Bryant Park, two days of curated interviews at The Times Center, and an experiential dinner series. Find out more on their event website.
TRANSFORMING the Supply Chain: Over the past 14-years, The Ethical Corporation has hosted the Responsible Supply Chain Summit, providing companies with a holistic view of supply chain challenges and solutions. In 2019, the conference has been rebranded under a new moniker: TRANSFORM. According to the organizers, this was chosen “to reflect the increasing need for companies to address the social and environmental challenges across their whole value chain.” The event will run from 16 – 17 October in Amsterdam and is again expected to gather 250+ CEOs, chief sustainability, supply chain and procurement professionals along with leading investors, NGOs and public entities to discuss topics such as climate impact, traceability and transparency, reducing emissions, and potential cross-industry partnerships.
Speaking Opportunity: The organizers of the SXSW Festival (13 – 22 March in Austin) have opened their PanelPicker process for 2020. The PanelPicker is SXSW’s user-generated session proposal platform. Next year’s conference tracks will include Advertising & Brand Experience; Cannabusiness; Climate & Social Action; Connection & Culture; Creating & Monetizing; Music; Design; Experiential Storytelling; Film & TV Industry; Future of Music; Gaming Industry; Government & Politics; Health & MedTech; Making Film & Episodics; Media & Journalism; Sports; Startups; Tech Industry & Enterprise; Fantastic Future; Workplace; and XR. If you have a speaker/topic idea, read over the guidelines carefully and complete your submission by 19 July. All ideas received during the PanelPicker entry period will be posted online for community voting between 5 – 23 August.
Lunchtime Learning: Unless you work in the space, IT presentations and conferences aren’t exactly known for enthralling listeners. But even laymen will enjoy watching the keynotes from this spring’s Interop conference, which distinguishes itself from other IT conferences by providing an objective, independent space where pros can meet and learn. Tune in to the keynotes and you might be surprised. It’s not all enterprise and infrastructure talk – you’ll also hear how UMBC defeating Virginia in March Madness was actually previewed in an NCAA machine learning demo, and how IT staff once took to the street of Detroit with GoPros strapped to their heads!
Coming Up Next Week: Downtown Aspen fills with Fortune 500 leaders, emerging entrepreneurs, and top investors when Fortune Brainstorm Tech takes over several venues across town, 15-17 July. Like Fortune’s other summits, this one is invite-only. At Frost & Sullivan’s Annual Digital Marketing MindXchange (15-17 July; La Jolla), which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, delegates will learn about the latest ways technology is shifting marketing and hear best practices from fellow marketers. RSA Conference/APJ runs 16-18 July in Singapore for the seventh time, covering the myriad ways companies can make today’s digital world safer. The CNBC @ Work series continues with Human Capital + Finance (16 July; Chicago), exploring how technology can increase productivity, efficiency, and innovation, specifically within HR, IT, and finance. And when unbound London gets underway 17 July, attendees will hear from experts across the disciplines share their take and use cases of disruptive technologies.