Top Tech Events for 2013
2013 abounds with tech events, each one more compelling than the other. Before you read on, you might be asking why you should bother to invest time and resources in attending. There are a thousands of reasons, but let's just name a few.
For one thing, tech events are not just for technology geeks - they are full of entrepreneurs, innovators, marketing specialists and managers. A conference like that is a great place to network with people from your field, both if you own a business or if you are set on a job hunt. In fact, most experts will now tell you that networking is the single most successful strategy for landing a job.
Secondly, the idea behind most of these events is to gather speakers who are leaders in their fields. Attending tech conferences is a great way to get ahead of the competition in terms of new technologies, working models and future patterns of development. You can watch each presentation closely, take notes and keep everything that you like on a custom USB for a future reference.
Need more reasons? If you are interested in particular products, a lot of companies will be offering promo codes, exclusive offers and quite tempting discounts. Considering you now want to attend, here's our list of the top tech conferences to be held this year.
Red Hat Summit (June 11-14) in Boston, MA
This conference, held for the eighth year in a row, is one of the most sought after events in the area of open source technologies. It showcases the latest innovations in cloud computing, platform, virtualization, middleware, storage, and systems management technologies. It is a great place for individuals looking to expand their own knowledge of open source technologies or businesses, seeking to integrate them in their work. Registration for the full conference (before June 7) will cost you $1,675. There are very reasonable discounts for people who already attended the event in at least one of the previous years, academic, government and non-profit organizations, as well as groups of five people or more.
Techweek Expo (June 27 - 29) in Chicago, IL
Techweek is entering its third year as an annual event, showcasing technological advances in companies from the Chicago area and the mid-west. It features a trade expo, a conference and a hiring fair and thus it is equally suitable for tech junkies, people looking for a job or entrepreneurs looking to network and share ideas. With more than 30 featured speakers, including representatives of Wordpress, Motorola and Bing, and more than 150 companies showcasing their tech products, this event is sure to keep you entertained. Buying the ticket now will cost you $475 (as opposed to $650 at the door). If you are only interested in the expo it will cost you as little as $30.
Fortune Brainstorm Tech (July 22 - 24) in Aspen, Colorado
This year's Brainstorm Tech, organized by Fortune magazine, is a bit more pricey than other events ($4,500 for the full conference) and you need an invitation to go, but it is surely worth it. It is a gathering spot of the world's top thinkers in the areas of technology and media. The program features a presentation of the next billion-dollar-revenue companies and showcases their innovative ideas. It then goes on to discuss the role of tech companies in the global economy and the impact of mobile devices on people and technologies.
It will give an overview of the strategies of these companies who still have a big say in the market, including Oracle, IBM and Microsoft. If you want to stay at the absolute peak of the latest tech advances, do ask around for an invitation. This is the right place for you!
TechCrunch Disrupt (7 - 11 September) in San Francisco, CA
Disrupt is a popular event by tech news website techcrunch.com that takes place several times a year in different parts of the world. We suggest you try the next one which will be held in San Francisco this fall. The program is not out yet, but it will still include the building blocks the Disrupt events have become popular with. Hackathon is an event that unites software developers and hackers from around the world with the task of hacking a product in just 24 hours. Startup Battlefield features 30 companies, chosen from a big pool of applicants, which will display their products in front of a panel of judges. The winning company receives a $50,000 check. If you own a tech startup and want to participate, there is still time to apply. Finally, Startup Alley is a platform for brand new startups, some of which will be introducing themselves for the first time. You can still get early bird tickets (until July 15) for the whole conference for $1,795.
If you are a vendor at tech conferences and expos, consider promotional USB drives for your booth givaway! Tech people always have large data files they need to move, and a flash drive is a great way to make that happen.
