Conference News: Europe gets HLTHy; GroceryShop Spills the Beans; Davos on Deck
A HLTH-ier Europe: The team behind HLTH, a leading event for healthcare innovation and ViVE, their digital health event has announced a new conference coming to Amsterdam in 2024. In the announcement, Jonathan Weiner, Founder, Chairman & CEO of HLTH Inc. said “HLTH Europe will unite the European healthcare ecosystem to tackle healthcare’s most complex challenges and identify its most promising opportunities.” and “We believe that by bringing all sectors of healthcare together, we can catalyze change for good.” The new conference will take place from 18-20 June 2024 at the Rai Convention Center in Amsterdam.
Building Digital Trust: ISACA (Information Systems Audit and Control Association) is an international professional association focused on IT governance. In 2023 it is rebranding its flagship conferences. Previously known as ISACA Conference North America and ISACA Conference Europe, the events will now be knowns as Digital Trust World and will “deliver enhanced content and programming around digital trust.” The USA event will take place on 9 – 11 May in Boston, a virtual event will be held from 21 – 22 June and the European conference dates and location will be announced shortly. According to the updated site, after each conference, attendees will be “empowered with educational and networking opportunities to become a digital trust champion and create a safer, more trustworthy digital ecosystem for your organization.”
Speaking Opportunity: Heading out of North America for the first time ever, the inaugural SXSW Sydney will run down under 15-22 October, highlighting Sydney’s “brilliant people, world-leading ideas, and a progressive vibrant community.” The team producing this new SXSW-branded event are accepting speaker/session proposals through 14 February (though anyone submitting in western time zones must factor in the time zone differences and be advised to submit by the 13th.) Mirroring the PanelPicker tool utilized by the Austin event, SXSW Sydney’s “Session Select” process is designed to collect topic ideas from across the community that are then evaluated through a combination of public voting, feedback from the SXSW Sydney’s programming teams, and independent industry evaluators and advisors.
Conference Manager Q&A: The organizers that produce Shoptalk, the world’s largest retail and ecommerce conference, also hold Groceryshop, which covers the evolution of grocery retailers as well as the rapid changes in the production and distribution of consumer products. We spoke last week with Krystina Gustafson who is SVP of Content for both events, who shared the nuances of programming each and why she loves her job.
Speaker Strategies: What is the main difference between Shoptalk and Groceryshop?
Shoptalk and Groceryshop share much of the same DNA – they’re both focused on how the latest technologies and business models are transforming the retail and grocery industries, and both feature senior-level speakers who are leading this change. However, whereas Shoptalk addresses innovation across the entire retail ecosystem (think fashion, beauty, consumer electronics, home improvement), Groceryshop dives deeper and more intentionally into the challenges and opportunities that are relevant to the grocery and CPG industries (for example, the digitization of shopper marketing, retail media networks, and the supply chain challenges associated with working with fresh products).
Speaker Strategies: What about your next event excites you the most?
Last year’s Shoptalk – held in March 2022 – was our first flagship event since 2019, due to the pandemic. The excitement was palpable, as it was the first time our community had gotten back together in several years; however, this year promises to be even more successful since we’re coming into the show with a full year’s planning under our belts. It’s our best speaker lineup to date!
Speaker Strategies: What do you love most about your job?
The relationships I’ve built, both internally with my amazing team, and externally with our incredible speakers, attendees, and advisory board. I’m fortunate to have access to such bright minds who share our mission of digital innovation!
Coming Up Next Week: All eyes turn to Davos, where the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting will be held 16-20 January under the theme “Cooperation in a Fragmented World.” And what does cooperation in a fragmented world look like? Recognizing that the world today is at a critical inflection point, WEF’s renowned board of trustees (led by Founder and Executive Chairman Professor Klaus Schwab) will focus on such pillars as climate change, stakeholder capitalism, and resilience in the face of cybersecurity threats for the 2023 meeting. Participation in the meeting is reserved for WEF partner and member companies, which typically are global enterprises with a minimum turnover of US$5 billion, although it varies by industry and region. But those who attend Davos know that plenty of action happens outside WEF’s formal agenda. Many of the major global editorial and media groups host dinners and their own events in Davos, nearly all invite-only and, like the meeting itself, reserved for a company’s most senior executives.