Conference News: AI Meeting in MENA; STEM lays Roots in DC; DealBook Dealings
Opportunities in STEM For All: The U.S. Department of Education, along with EXPLR (an educational media company cofounded by a team that includes former MythBusters host Kari Byron and Bizarre Foods’ Andrew Zimmern), recently announced the first-ever National STEM Festival, created to celebrate student achievements in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, and showcase innovative student solutions to urgent global challenges. The inaugural National STEM Festival will be held 11-13 April 2024 in Washington, DC. Current U.S. Secretary of Education Dr. Miguel Cardona has called the event “an exciting opportunity to celebrate our future scientists, creators, and innovators, and to help more students recognize they that too belong in STEM.”
Bringing AI to the Persian Gulf: To help advance its mission to democratize AI and make the transformative power of artificial intelligence accessible to all regions and communities, World Summit AI recently announced it will host a new event in Qatar in 2024. The organizers promise that World Summit AI MENA (10-11 December 2024; Doha) will be a “landmark event that will bring together leading AI experts, industry pioneers, and innovators from around the world to this all-important region.” They expect several thousand attendees representing AI enterprises, big tech, startups, investors, and scientists to participate.
Submission Opportunity: The Society for Human Resource Management – better known as SHRM – will again hold its Inclusion Conference in 2024, scheduled for 4-7 November in Denver and online. SHRM Inclusion was created to bring together HR experts with the same goal – “to protect, prioritize and (em)power the workforce to create better workplaces where all employees act with civility, are made to feel as if they belong and have opportunities to thrive.” Now through 30 April, SHRM is accepting speaker proposals for leveled learning sessions that address a variety of DEI topics and offer attendees professional development credits towards certifications.
Lunchtime Learning: If there’s one thing that can be said each year of NYT DealBook Summit, it’s that the aftershocks of Aaron Ross Sorkin’s interviews are felt in consequential ways for weeks after the event wraps. Notably last year, it was Sorkin’s virtual interview of FTX’s fallen-from-grace founder Sam Bankman-Fried. This year, it was Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk’s defiance and F-bombs. But DealBook’s lineup is far more impressive than just its lightning rods for controversy du jour – the 2023 program featured other leaders who are moving mountains in business and global politics, including Disney CEO Bob Iger, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, TV powerhouse Shonda Rhimes, and JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon.
Coming Up Next Week: The winter event slowdown begins in earnest. This will be Speaker Strategies last newsletter of 2024, but we will be back at it early next year. Until then, happiest holidays to all our readers!