Conference News: That’s the (SXSW) Ticket!; Chat with AI Infra Summit; Aspen to Arkansas
Exclusive Access: The SXSW team is gearing up for the 2027 Festival in Austin (13-21 March) and has already made some big announcements. Not only are they launching a dedicated Podcast Festival, but they’ve also announced a brand new badge offering. The CxO Badge is a “highly curated premium experience designed for CEOs, CMOs, CTOs, and founders” with a dedicated networking space and interactive programming designed specifically for this group. SXSW confirmed that they are limiting the number of CxO badges they will issue for 2027. So if you are interested, apply sooner than later.
Rising in Arkansas: Aspen Ideas Rising Generations (13-16 November) marks the “first convening in Aspen Ideas Festival’s 21-year history, built by and for young people.” The goal of the event – which will be held at the Crystal Bridges in Bentonville – is to unite 350 young adults aged 18–24 from across the U.S. around four content tracks: tech/AI, economic opportunity, culture/creativity, and faith/meaning. According to its organizers, “Young people are already leading in their neighborhoods, on their campuses, and in their broader communities. This festival exists for them [and] gives them the space, the peers, and the programming to take big ideas to the next level.”
Submission Opportunity: Self-described as the world’s largest and most influential connectivity event, MWC brings together exhibitors, thought leaders, startups, and policymakers all under one roof. And despite the original name, 58% of MWC attendees represent industries adjacent to the core mobile ecosystem. The conference is currently seeking speakers for 2027. The agenda will be crafted around crafted around the conversations that will define the future of business, technology and society. Themes include: Networks Reinvented, AI in Action, Autonomous Enterprise, AI of Tomorrow, Trust at Scale and The Next Era. If you have a topic/speaker idea, submit it here before the 15 November deadline.
Conference Organizer Q&A: The AI Infra Summit – which has grown to attract 12k attendees from the full-stack AI & ML infrastructure ecosystem – is celebrating a milestone when it’s held 31 August – 2 September in 2027. We recently spoke with the event’s co-founder Edmund Nelson about the occasion and programming plans.
Speaker Strategies: What about your next event excites you the most? Next year we’re celebrating 10 years since we launched as the AI Hardware Summit at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View. Back then, we were a chip sector conference of around 300 hardware engineers. We’ve grown in lockstep with the market into a full-scale AI infrastructure conference and expo of over 12,000 attendees. We’re moving to the iconic San Jose Convention Center, the largest convention center in Silicon Valley. So, for me, next year’s show is an opportunity to celebrate this industry, how far we’ve come, and to look forward to the next 10 years of building AI infrastructure in a way that is responsible, sustainable, and profitable.
Speaker Strategies: What are you doing differently next year? We’re rounding out our full end-to-end AI event by adding a four-track AI software/applications conference on top of our core AI infrastructure show. This is going to make the event relevant to anyone who is deploying AI at scale in their businesses or organizations. We’re also planning to go global and market the show more comprehensively outside the U.S. Finally, we’re integrating our AI CEO Summit into the event, to boost the VIP experience for execs.
Speaker Strategies: What is the most important piece of a successful presentation topic?
In terms of scope, going narrow and deep usually beats wide and shallow. Particularly for sponsored talks, it’s much better to demonstrate an understanding of a customer problem and show how you solve it, instead of talking about a suite of products or features. Don’t go too abstract to try and “break the mold.” There is plenty that can be done to make your talk more interesting within the familiar framework, or format, of conference keynotes. Just be thoughtful and intentional about what problem you want to address and keep it informational and concise.
Speaker Strategies: How do you differentiate your event from other AI conferences? We are infrastructure and deployment first. There are many great shows out there that focus on what AI will do in XYZ industry and are fantastic if your organization is still figuring out what to do with AI. We’re not one of those shows. We are for people who are already building at scale and have come up against some sort of bottleneck or immutable physical constraint and need to engineer through it or around it.
Coming Up Next Week: Money2020 USA will be held from 18-21 October in Las Vegas and is designed for the fintech ecosystem players shaping the future of money. On 20 October, the National Association of Broadcasters kicks off its annual NAB Show New York at the Javits Center, featuring the conference, show floor, and exhibits that comprise this media innovation marketplace where media, technology and creators converge. For Masters of Scale (20-22 October; San Francisco), attendance is by invite only, offering a program designed to “democratize entrepreneurship through world-class media, insights, and events.” The International Economic Forum of the Americas/IEFA will host its Toronto Global Forum from 21-23 October at the Fairmont Royal York under the theme “New Rules, New Opportunities.” UNLEASH World gets underway 21 October in Paris, promising content, conversations, and experiences shaping HR and the future of work. Finally, Reuters Total Health tackles the operational, financial, and clinical decisions defining the future of U.S. healthcare from 22-23 October in Nashville.