Conference News: Another WEF Update, Linux’s Destination is Dublin; CES Insights
WEF Revision #4: The 2021 World Economic Forum annual meeting was initially called a “twin” (both in person and virtual) summit by the organizers who had hoped to keep the gathering in January in Davos, Switzerland. When they realized that it wasn’t possible considering the current COVID climate, they moved the Forum to Singapore in May. The meeting has just been rescheduled for 17 – 20 August but will still be in Singapore. The organizers are trying to ensure that attendees are able to travel more easily and “current global travel restrictions have made planning for an in-person meeting in the first half of the year difficult.”
Doubling Down on Dublin: The Linux Foundation has announced that Open Source Summit North America, Embedded Linux Conference North America, Linux Security Summit North America and KVM Forum, which had been scheduled to take place the first week of August in Vancouver B.C. will no longer happen in 2021. Due to the current state of the pandemic, they don’t feel that they will be able to safely gather the community in August. They will instead focus their efforts on the Open Source Summit, Embedded Linux Conference and Linux Security Summit in Europe, all scheduled the week of 26 September in Dublin, Ireland. Those conferences will all cover global topics and include a virtual component for those who cannot attend live.
Submission opportunity: Twice each year, the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) holds its CIO Forum, a premier gathering of hospital and health system executives. For its fall edition – scheduled to run 27-30 October, with a physical event in San Diego as well as a virtual component for those not able to travel or convene in-person – CHIME is accepting speaker suggestions until 16 April. Interested candidates must be current members of CHIME or senior-level executives of a CHIME Foundation member, and in 2021 they have the choice to submit for a track session or a plenary “Leadership from the Edge,” TED-style presentation.
Lunchtime Learning: Need a winter getaway, even if it’s only a vacation for the mind? Although CES was fully virtual last month, now anyone can pretend to be in Las Vegas for the show – just turn up your thermostat, block out all the snow, visualize the strip, and watch these 2021 keynote addresses by leaders at Verizon, AMD, GM, Best Buy, Microsoft, and more. While the keynote videos are free and open to all, other on-demand sessions are available to registered attendees until 15 February.
Coming Up Next Week: IDG presents its CIO Future of Work Summit from 16-18 February. At the Summit, CIOs and senior leaders will share their experience, wisdom, and solutions for a demanding new era of work. At Bloomberg Live’s The Road to Net Zero (16 February), business leaders will tackle the challenges and opportunities that arise when transitioning to a low carbon economy, examining the major industries taking action and how to finance the transition. DeveloperWeek kicks off its 2021 virtual event calendar next week, running its flagship program 17-19 February. More than a dozen conference tracks will cover topics like DevOps, Kubernetes, Blockchain, AI/ML, and IoT. The National Association of Software and Service Companies runs its annual NASSCOM Technology & Leadership Forum (17-19 February) under the theme “Shaping the Future for a Better Normal.” NASSCOM TLF will serve as a celebration of the technology that boosted businesses during the pandemic and draw attention to the importance of trust and responsible tech in this hyper virtual world. Lastly the Variety Streaming Room will host a panel: Up Close and Personal – The State of Direct-to-Consumer Entertainment Marketing (18 February), featuring senior execs from Amazon Studios, Discovery, PBS, and Showtime.