Conference News: RISE Conf Cancelled; Shoptalk Says Women Only; LTW expands
Avoiding the Up-RISE-ing: The team behind conference behemoths, Web Summit and Collision, announced that they would be postponing their Asia conference, RISE. The event, which was slated to take place from 30 March – 2 April 2020, will now move to March 2021 due to the months-long pro-democracy demonstrations. Over the past five years, RISE has grown to become one of Asia’s largest tech conferences, attracting more than 15,000 attendees.
No Boys Allowed: This week the retail conference Shoptalk just declared that its 2020 programme lineup will be entirely filled by women, including main stage keynotes, track speakers, interviewers and moderators. The conference, which happens in Vegas from 22 – 25 March, and highlights retail and ecommerce innovation, will have more than 225 speakers. In a blog post last week, Zia Daniell Wigder, Shoptalk’s chief global content officer said, “We believe this groundbreaking move — a first in events to our knowledge — is necessary to propel our industry forward and showcase many incredibly talented women who are working to transform retail in every way.” Starting in 2021, Shoptalk will feature 50/50 male and female speakers every year.
Partners +Programming at London Tech Week: London Tech Week (LTW), which will return to The Square Mile on 8 – 12 June, is a festival of 300+ live events showcasing and celebrating the best of tech. Informa Tech, owners of LTW, recently announced a new partnership Founders Forum which will grow the festival in 2020. Founders Forum continues to convene the world’s most inspiring entrepreneurs, investors, politicians, global leaders and academics at its events. So what does the partnership mean for attendees? They can expect new events in HealthTech and CleanTech “as well as the world-class women in tech platform accelerateHER and the dynamic Founders of the Future Forum bringing together the entrepreneurs of tomorrow at the start of their journey,” according to the organizers. Click here for more on the festival.
Speaking Opportunity: Designed for marketing & PR professionals who produce relevant online content to drive broader marketing goals, Content Marketing World returns to Cleveland next 13-16 October. They are currently accepting real-world success stories from brand marketers to help populate over 125 agenda sessions and workshops. Take note: If you plan to submit before the 20 December deadline, you MUST upload an audio or video file that shows a speaking example. Another pro-tip: They cap submission ideas at two per speaker!
Lunchtime Learning: Chicago Ideas Week is a seven-day festival featuring over 200 global thought leaders and innovators speaking on a variety of topics ranging from leadership and life’s lessons, to science and technology, to the most pressing issues of the day and the most creative insights in entertainment, the economy and community. How do you take in all the inspiration from more than 100 speakers and events in one short week? Well if you missed any (or all) of it, you can look back at some of the most memorable Ideas Week moments here. Speakers include Hillary and Chelsea Clinton who, with Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot, spoke about their book “The Book of Gutsy Women: Favorite Stories of Courage and Resilience;” Several experienced journalists, including Major Garrett, Chief Washington Correspondent of CBS News, on how covering the White House has changed over the past few years; And Mark Pincus, CEO of Zynga, on the leading the company through a meteoric rise and stunning near-collapse, and the lessons he learned by bringing it back to profitability.
Coming Up Next Week: The U.S. celebrates Thanksgiving, but events return full force in December. AWS re:Invent kicks off 2 December in Las Vegas for more than 30,000 of the leading cloud technology provider’s customers and partners. Attendees can already reserve their seats for the keynotes! At MIT Technology Review’s Future Compute (2-3 December; Cambridge), technical leaders come together to understand how AI, neuromorphic chips, edge computing, 5G, and quantum computing are impacting a host of industries. Black Hat Europe gets underway 2 December in London and splits the content about 50/50 between deeply technical, hands-on training and briefings featuring the latest research. Become “Bold & Brilliant” at this year’s TEDWomen, 4-6 December in Palm Springs, CA. And with a theme of “Solutions for Brain, Body and Business,” the ForbesLive Healthcare Summit (4-5 December; NYC) will explore innovations in gene editing, cancer immunotherapy, AI, and the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT).