Impact in Chicago: The Women Impact Tech organization is building a community for women in technology to inspire, empower, and advance gender equity. inclusion, innovation and tech advancement for women across all industries and workplaces. Their Accelerate Conference series focuses on women in software development, engineering and IT early or mid-career who are seeking to learn more about how to make it to the next level. After a few years off due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the organization is bringing back its live conference series in cities around the U.S. And they recently announced a new market! Chicago will play host its first Accelerate Conference from 3 – 4 October at Convene in the Willis Tower.  Learn more about this and the other gatherings here.   

Back so Soon? IOT Solutions World Congress returned as a live event last week with more than 12,000 visitors from across 120 countries. Like many other events that rescheduled a few times to avoid COVID-19 variants, IOTSWC plans to get back on its regular conference cadence again in 2023. From 31 January – 2 February they will return to the Gran Via in Barcelona Hall 4.

Speaking Opportunity: ISC West is one of the largest converged security industry trade shows in the U.S. Held in Las Vegas from 28-31 March 2023, the event is expected to attract 30,000 physical and IT security professionals including dealers, installers, integrators, end-users (from various vertical markets), consultants, specifiers, architects, engineers, consultants and more.  The conference organizers are seeking speakers who can address one of the topics across their very varied agenda. Those include Access & ID Management; Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Security; Data Privacy, Biometrics; Business & Security Management including Sales & Marketing, Strategic Management, Organizational Collaboration, etc.; Cyber/Physical Security Integration; Drones & Robotics; IoT Security; Public Safety; and Video Surveillance. If you have a speaker/topic idea to suggest, submit via their online CFP form by 8 June.

Lunchtime Learning: Zinnov is a global management consulting and strategy advisory firm with location across India and the U.S. Over the last two decades, Zinnov has become known for its Confluence event series, which explores the R&D and product development trends across the world, as well as one-time events focusing on such myriad business topics as the future of AI, enterprise adoption of the metaverse, next-gen engineering, and building a remote global workforce. For almost every program it hosts, Zinnov makes sessions available on YouTube a few weeks later to view for free. A few topic highlights from the most recent event on Inclusion & Diversity Conference include “Redefining ‘Disability’ to ‘Accessibility’ & Beyond” and “Normalizing Workplace Mental Health and Well-being.”

Coming Up Next Week: Content for this year’s World Economist Forum Annual Meeting (22-26 May; Davos), will be split along eight main themes, including climate & nature, fairer economies, health, and global cooperation. One of the most consequential gatherings on this planet, WEF brings together 2,000 country and business leaders from around the world, all committed to a “Davos Spirit” of improving the state of the world. Kicking off 23 May in Half Moon Bay, the 2022 Forbes CIO Summit will offer a hybrid program centered on the theme: “Leading Strategic Change in A Software-Powered World.” ConnectX runs 23-26 May at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver, drawing players from across the ecosystem that is fulfilling the promise of universal 5G connectivity. Reuters Strategic Marketing Forum USA looks to “Redefine the Consumer-Brand Relationship” when it gets underway on 1 June in San Diego, convening around 300 senior marketers and creative leaders. Finally, at the Augmented World Expo/AWE USA (1-2 June; Santa Clara), more than 5,000 attendees will gather to discuss spatial computing best practices, network, and upskill the XR community.