There are a daunting number of conferences held each year and determining which ones are worthwhile to attend can be overwhelming. Conference topics can range from broad, all-inclusive tech to consumer facing to niche conferences focusing on a specific product like smartphones. Some conferences are well known and long established, like SXSW or TechCrunch Disrupt, but recently, a fairly new conference has risen to be one of the biggest tech conferences in the U.S. in just three years, the Collision Conference.
May 2-4, 2017 marks the weekend of the 4th annual Collision Conference. Collision was created by the same team that brings us Web Summit, Europe’s largest technology market place and conference. Over 53,000 people attended Web Summit this past year and much of its popularity stems from the idea that the conference is ‘a little different’ than similar events. In fact, much of Web Summit’s original fame came from one of the conferences networking events back in 2011, a pub crawl through Dublin led by U2’s Bono. This same idea of creating an event that deviates from the normal conference rotation is behind the traction the Collision Conference has gained over the last three years. The 2017 conference is expected to have over 20,000 attendees, almost 10,000 more than last year, and will continue to grow.
Collision has been called “America’s fastest growing tech conference” and there are a few factors that differentiate Collision from other conferences. The conference saw a spike in attendance after moving to New Orleans for the 2016 conference, which many conference attendees found to be a refreshing change from the tech focused cities like San Francisco, New York and Collision’s previous location Las Vegas, where a majority of tech conferences are held. It also coincides with New Orleans Jazz Fest, running from April 28 to May 7, which attracts additional attendees to the conference. The Collision website even has a slogan saying, “Come for Collision. Stay for Jazz Fest.” This, combined with networking events like pub crawls and exclusive VIP and speaker events, creates a laidback and refreshing atmosphere that attracts new startups and business giants alike.
Collision 2016 attracted impressive speakers, media and attendees, a trend that will no doubt carry over to this year’s conference. Past speakers include Max Levchin, founder of PayPal, Gary Briggs, CMO of Facebook, Stewart Butterfield, CEO of Slack and Linda Boff, CMO of General Electric. Media attendance is equally impressive, with over 1,200 media attendees signed up for 2017. This includes top-tier publications like WIRED, Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Forbes and Business Insider. Media of this caliber is especially enticing to many of the startups that attend the conference hoping to spread awareness of their brand and demo new products.
Companies like Google, Microsoft, Apple and IBM will be participating in events throughout the conference, offering valuable networking opportunities for individual attendees and smaller businesses. The conference is known to put a large emphasis on startups, there were upwards of 650 startups in attendance at the 2016 conference, and the number is expected to grow this coming year. Startups can apply for ALPHA, which allots selected companies an exhibition stand, three tickets, and access to investors and workshops. Though there is a startup exhibition every day, each company only exhibits for one, allowing them to explore the rest of the conference for the remaining days. This is an excellent opportunity for new or growing startups to network, secure funding or simply display their product or concept. To complement the startup focus, successful startups like Uber, Airbnb and DropBox will also be speaking and attending conference events.
Collision also covers a variety of industries, which is why it is actually a collection of 12 separate smaller conferences, each with its own name, stage, events and specific focus. Listed at the end of this post are the 10 industry focused mini-conferences with their names and focus ranging from the auto industry to the music industry, but each with an emphasis on how technology is growing and impacting the industry. The final two conferences are actually networking events, Pub Summit and Night Summit, that are held each evening after the main conferences and speakers end at 5 p.m. A ticket to the Collision conference grants you entry to each of the individual conferences; you simply have to choose which one best applies to your business.
When searching for worthwhile conferences for your company or a client’s company, Collision should be one to consider. As with all conferences, you must weigh the costs and benefits to decide if it will be a good fit. Collision has its pros and cons, and while some previous attendees have said they will not return, a majority do and have spoken highly of the opportunities Collision awarded them.
The 10 Mini-Conferences
AutoTech – Collision’s autonomous vehicles, connected cars and the Internet of Things conference
Binate.io – Collision’s data conference, a good fit for data scientists and data and analytics companies
creatiff – Collision’s design conference, over 3000 designers and creatives attend
FullSTK – Collision’s “what does the future hold?” conference, targeted at developers, investors, futurists, engineers and computing experts
Music Notes – Collision’s music and technology conference that brings brands, artists and labels together
PandaConf – Collision’s marketing and ad technology conference
Planet:tech – Collision’s environmental impact, sustainability and environmental technology conference
SaaS Monster – Collision’s SAAS conference for big data
Startup University – Collision’s conference focusing on creating successful startups
Talk Robot – Collision’s conference for artificial intelligence, robotics and hardware