Conference News: Dreamforce/re:Invent Head to Head; The New Next; Black Hat CFP
NEXT for 2021: Reuters will kick off 2021 with a new executive thought leadership conference. REUTERS NEXT will be a four-day event from 11 – 14 January, which will bring together more than 25,000 attendees to address the most critical global issues of the day. Led by Reuters editors, the programme will cover the following themes: Politics, Policy and Progress; Economics- Financing the Recovery; A Sustainable Future; Radical Redesign-Live, Work and More; Media and Free Speech. Some of the already confirmed speakers include Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank; Darren Walker, President of the Ford Foundation; Michael Wirth Chief Executive Officer of Chevron; and Sandeep Mathrani Chief Executive Officer of WeWork.
End-of-Year Heavy Hitters: Two pillars of the tech industry announced they will run their 2020 flagship events virtually during the first half of December. With sessions on designing, deploying, and using the cloud for mission-based workloads, AWS (Amazon Web Services) re:Invent spans three weeks (30 November-18 December) and will offer free registration, appropriate for anyone looking to build solutions on AWS. Dreamforce will take a slightly different format, offering a keynote by Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and guests from AT&T and Bentley Motors on 2 December, and then offer the rest of the content, demos, and luminary sessions 14-17 December.
Speaking Opportunity: Black Hat is known for its educational, vendor-neutral briefings that are geared toward computer security professionals worldwide seeking to learn how to combat current and future threats. Cybersecurity experts can submit now to present a 30- or 40-minute briefing at Black Hat Asia, which will run 4-7 May 2021, likely on a virtual platform. Since Black Hat adheres to a strict non-commercial policy, prospective speakers should carefully review the list of tracks for the Asia program and submission requirements before submitting to avoid disqualification. Submissions that meet the necessary criteria will be accepted until 21 December.
Lunchtime Learning: The Wall Street Journal’s global technology conference, WSJ Tech Live, was held virtually last week. You can watch all the sessions online(paywall), including interviews with “some of the biggest newsmakers in tech, business, government and entertainment.” Hear from Anne Wojcicki, CEO of 23andMe on COVID-19 and genetics; Michael Kratsios, chief technology officer at the White House on the quest for the edge in Quantum; and Snap CEO Evan Spiegel on how to address misinformation ahead of the election.
Coming Up Next Week: Wired Live, which runs 24 November, is an eclectic program covering the people and ideas that are actually making a significant difference or change in the world on their industry. After the Thanksgiving break, ISTE Annual Conference & Expo (29 November-5 December) gives educators and edtech attendees guidance on how to adapt and thrive in a changing learning landscape. Web Summit gets underway 2 December, and as the one of the largest tech conferences on the planet, has already announced over 500 speakers. Those looking to lead a cyber-resilient organization should attend MIT Technology Review CyberSecure (2-3 December) for practical guidance on breach prevention and incident response. As the global pandemic changes societal expectations and accelerates shifts in the way healthcare is delivered, Forbes Healthcare Summit (2-3 December) will tackle the models, treatments, and technologies that can lead us into a post-COVID-19 world. And on 3-4 December, the Conference Board Women’s Leadership Conference covers the many ways future economic success, in 2021 and beyond, will turn on women’s success in the workplace.