You've updated your resume, uploaded a flattering new profile picture and refreshed your bio. But to really turbo boost your job prospects in the new year, you should be planning to attend a leading industry conference (or two or three).
Whether you're a developer or marketer, in the C-suite or just starting out, these industry events have the potential to offer up incredible job and connection opportunities in a very short period of time.
Most conferences have "tracks"; the themes that each event is structured around. Whether it's AI ethics or the most cutting-edge FinTech tools, event organizers compete to secure the best thought leaders within their respective tracks. The right conference can help you deepen your expertise and identify areas where you might want to up-skill, not to mention offering excellent networking opportunities.
Keen to amp up your AI knowledge, want to meet like-minded product managers or sniff out the fastest-growing startups? We've rounded up some of the most exciting global gatherings in tech below.
If you're looking to accelerate your career in 2024, then the TechSpot Job Board is the place to start your search
Best for AI
AI was one of the most talked about tech topics of the year. Though you'd be hard-pressed to find a tech conference in 2024 not covering it, World Summit AI Americas, the U.S. spin-off of Amsterdam's World Summit AI, taking place April 24-25, is dedicated solely to exploring the emerging and rapidly-evolving technology.
Bringing together thought-leaders, academics, entrepreneurs, enthusiasts and ethicists, it's a well-rounded event that will host deep-dive talks exploring not just the business opportunities but the societal impact of AI technology.
Best for startups
Dubbed "the world's most millennial meet-up", Collision is one of the fastest-growing tech conferences, with 2023's event drawing in over 36,000 attendees from more than 118 countries.
The North American sibling to Europe's Web Summit, the next gathering will host 15 tracks across nine stages covering a wide range of topics including AI, content creation, marketing, healthcare, SAAS growth and design. Taking place in Toronto, June 17-20, Collision boasts a diverse range of speakers and exhibitors and is particularly good for startups and networking.
Best for game developers
One of the longest-running and most influential conferences in the game development industry, GDC 2024 is taking place March 18-22 in San Francisco. Providing key insights into the future of gaming, the event dives deep into the latest ideas and tools, drawing attendees from every corner of the industry.
Whether you go for the big-name speakers or niche programming sessions, GDC is as valuable to small indie devs as it is to giant, multi-platform publishers and each year dozens, if not hundreds, of smaller industry meet-ups circle its orbit.
Best for CX
Marketers and customer experience professionals should make a bee-line for Adobe Summit, which takes place in Las Vegas, March 26-28.
Thousands of users of Adobe's ubiquitous tools and products flock to this annual digital experiences conference, which draws some big C-suite keynote speakers as well as practical and hands-on sessions across a wide range of topics, including analytics, B2B marketing and workflow management.
Featuring over 200 in-person sessions, 2023's event saw a big focus on generative AI, and how it's set to affect everything from creative to operations.
Best for product development and UX
With an impressive roster of speakers across UX, design and development, UXDX is a small but mighty conference laser-focused on sharing how some of the world's most innovative companies design and develop their products.
Taking place in New York, May 15-17, previous year's speakers include execs from a wide range of industries – think talks from UX and design leaders at Amazon, Stripe and GitHub to Nike, Conde Nast and even Lego. Great for a behind-the-scenes look at what competitors are doing, 2024's event will feature over 25 speakers and 10 workshops.
Best for FinTech
With the tongue-in-cheek title of "money's number one event", Money20/20, which in 2024 will run October 27-30, is a well-curated and widely respected conference and trade show bringing together C-level speakers, established players and early-stage startups.
From banks and VCs to retailers, payment companies and blockchain and crypto organizations, it's a one-stop-shop for all things FinTech, and a brilliant place to network.
Best overseas
Outside of the U.S., many in the tech industry are exploring Leap. The supersized tech event has been running annually in Saudi Arabia since 2022, with 2023's event becoming one of the most attended tech conferences ever, with a staggering 172,000 attendees, including hundreds of speakers and thousands of exhibitors.
Taking place in Riyadh March 4-7, the event highlights Saudi Arabia's growing prominence in tech and covers a wide range of tech topics, including AI, smart cities and FinTech.
https://www.techspot.com/news/101287-7-tech-conferences-put-diary-2024.html
