If you are planning on visiting the top tech conferences around the world, here is the authoritative list of the best tech conferences that you cannot miss.
As we approach the close of the 2024 tech conference season, this year has brought a host of major announcements and unlikely collaborations. Old rivals, like Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and AWS CEO Matt Garman announced new partnerships. Likewise, AMD CEO Lisa Su and Intel CEO Patrick P. Gelsinger appear to be forging the x86 alliance.
Below, we turn our attention to the final days of 2024 and look ahead to 2025 with our continuously growing, regularly updated list of the biggest tech events in the world.
Key Takeaways
- Major companies like AWS, Oracle, and Microsoft tend to use tech conferences to announce strategic updates and AI innovations.
- New conferences focused on cybersecurity trends emerge to defend enterprise AI.
- Many conferences will focus on the need for greater sustainability and green tech while embracing resource-hungry AI.
- Ethical AI and AI regulations will also continue to dominate conversations.
25+ Best Tech Conferences to Attend in 2024 & 2025
Our list mixes the most popular tech conferences, along with some that you may not have heard of. What they all have in common is bringing together teams of industry experts, leaders, and tech companies, along with the chance to network and meet the biggest names.
Conference Name | Conference Dates | Location | Focus |
---|---|---|---|
VMWare Explore | November 4-7, 2024 | Barcelona, Spain | Strategy and Product Announcements |
Women Impact Tech | November 7, 2024 | New York, U.S. | Empowering Women in Tech |
Web Summit | November 11-14, 2024 | Lisbon, Portugal | Future of Tech and Innovation |
KubeCon | November 12-15, 2024 | Salt Lake City, Utah | Cloud-native and Kubernetes |
Microsoft Ignite | November 19-22, 2024 | Chicago | Microsoft’s AI Strategy |
AWS re:Invent | December 2-6, 2024 | Las Vegas | Amazon AI and Cloud |
Black Hat Europe | December 12, 2024 | London, UK | Cybersecurity Threats and Defenses |
Gartner IT Infrastructure | December 10-12, 2024 | Las Vegas | Strategic Tech Trends |
The AI Summit | December 11-12, 2024 | New York | Enterprise AI Applications |
Global AI Show | December 11-12, 2024 | Dubai | AI and Future Building |
CES | January 7-11, 2025 | Las Vegas | Consumer Electronics and Tech |
MWC | March 3-6, 2025 | Barcelona | Mobile Communications and AI |
SXSW Interactive | March 7-15, 2025 | Austin | Interactive, Film, and Music |
Adobe Summit | March 18-20, 2025 | Las Vegas | AI-powered Digital Experiences |
RSAC (RSA Conference) | April 28 – May 1, 2025 | San Francisco | Cybersecurity and Career Growth |
Google I/O | May 2025 | Mountain View | Google Product Updates |
GITEX Europe | May 21-23, 2025 | Berlin | European Tech Collaboration |
Dublin Tech Summit | May 28-29, 2025 | Dublin | Emerging Tech and Analytics |
SXSW London | June 2-7, 2025 | London | Music, Film, Art Tech |
Infosecurity Europe | June 3-5, 2025 | London | Information Security |
London Tech Week | June 9-13, 2025 | London | Innovation and Tech Solutions |
Apple WWDC | June 2025 | Cupertino, California | Apple Software Updates |
Black Hat USA | August 2-7, 2025 | Las Vegas | Global Cybersecurity Trends |
DEF CON | August 7-10, 2025 | Las Vegas | Hacking and Cybersecurity |
VMWare Explore
Location: Barcelona, Spain
Date: November 4-7, 2024
Frequency: Annual
Focus: Strategy updates and product announcements for VMware customers
Price: €1,675 (€1,875 on door)
After Broadcom’s $69 Billion Acquisition of VMware, many organizations wondered what this would mean for their licensing costs. What is Broadcom’s strategy to transform the virtualization pioneer? All eyes will be on the big announcements from VMware Explore in November.
While I won't be attending @VMwareExplore Barcelona this year … I did get a sneak peak at the VCF Division Keynote (#VCFB1795BCN) content, there will be some really cool announcements for our users & community.
Definitely won't want to miss & stay till end! 😁
— William Lam (@lamw) October 25, 2024
Women Impact Tech
Location: New York, U.S.
Date: November 7, 2024
Frequency: Annual
Focus: Empowering and uplifting women in tech.
Ticket cost: $399
Women Impact Tech has a talent community of over 80,000 women technologists and a database of over 120,000 tech professionals. The tech summit brings together more like-minded women to provide a sense of community that drives change and pioneers new ideas in the tech industry.
Web Summit
Location: Lisbon, Portugal
Date: November 11-14, 2024
Frequency: Annual
Focus: Bringing together the tech industry’s top minds from every industry to discuss the future of technology and innovation
Ticket cost: Starting from €995
Web Summit is one of the world’s biggest tech conferences in 2024 and the most popular, bringing together over 70,000 people. Attendees ranged from disruptive technology companies to investors and politicians discussing how technology can reshape our world.
Is AI capable of true creativity, or is it just mimicking human behaviour?
What are the implications for creative industries? https://t.co/FTs0TjQme9
— Web Summit (@WebSummit) October 24, 2024
KubeCon
Location: Salt Lake City, Utah
Date: November 12-15, 2024
Frequency: Annual
Focus: Everything related to the cloud-native ecosystem.
Ticket cost: From $1,079
KubeCon is one of the largest tech conferences focused on cloud-native computing, Kubernetes, and related technologies. Hosted by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), this tech summit brings together developers, architects, and operations teams passionate about the cloud-native ecosystem.
Whether you’re looking to learn about the latest #cloudnative trends or just connect with a community that gets it, #KubeCon + #CloudNativeCon is the must-attend event. Don’t miss your chance to contribute to the #cloudnative community! Secure your spot: https://t.co/yqRNAn9Cbb pic.twitter.com/1RxjvSigpS
— The Linux Foundation (@linuxfoundation) October 25, 2024
Microsoft Ignite
Location: Chicago
Date: November 19-22, 2024
Frequency: Annual
Focus: Microsoft’s future strategy with AI
Ticket cost: Sold out
“Don’t wait for the future; invent it”. Once again, curious and inspired minds will flock to Microsoft Ignite to explore the art of the possible with all things AI. We expect Satya Nadella to say the words “safely”, “securely”, and “responsibly”, so get ready to tick them off your artificial intelligence tech conference bingo card.
Raise your hand if you didn’t understand any of @RicksterCDN's Gen Z lingo…but you’ll still be at #MSIgnite anyway 🙋💯 pic.twitter.com/f8shidlpYi
— Microsoft Events (@events_msft) October 24, 2024
AWS re: Invent 2024
Location: Las Vegas
Date: December 2-6, 2024
Frequency: Annual
Focus: Amazon’s approach to AI and maybe a few surprises.
Ticket cost: Full conference pass: $2,099
In September, Oracle co-founder and CTO Larry Ellison appeared on stage together at Oracle CloudWorld with AWS CEO Matt Garman. But now attendees will be wondering what will be in store for attendees at AWS re: Invent 2024?
AWS re: Invent is billed as the biggest cloud event of the year, and while there will be a predictable focus on AI, there might be a few big announcements and surprises during the event.
Are you ready to dive into the future of technology at #AWSreInvent? This is the premier cloud conference, bringing together tech leaders to explore the latest in cloud, infrastructure, security, Gen AI, and Web3 advancements.
Get ready to explore the world of #Web3 with 10+… pic.twitter.com/zYUiFEkqR0
— Brad Feinstein (@bradfein) October 23, 2024
Black Hat Europe
Location: London, UK
Date: December 12, 2024
Frequency: Annual
Focus: The biggest threats faced this year and how to prepare for the next wave of attacks in 2025.
Ticket cost: From £1,599
Black Hat Europe remains the cybersecurity industry’s most established security event, making it a must-attend tech summit for security professionals. At the recent US Black Hat conference, the opening keynote began with the role of cybersecurity in protecting democracy during one of the biggest election years we have seen in many years.
We also expect insights on the CrowdStrike IT outage and vulnerabilities around eSIMs. As bad actors continue leveraging generative AI to improve attacks, the tech conference will feature new defenses to help attendees mitigate and neutralize new cyber threats.
#BHEU Briefings "Vulnerabilities in the eSIM download protocol" will explain the RSP protocol architecture and the assumptions made in its design as well as present several realistic scenarios where the assumptions might not hold and vulnerabilities that arise. Register today>>… pic.twitter.com/9LCO21xvkV
— Black Hat (@BlackHatEvents) October 26, 2024
Gartner IT Infrastructure, Democracy’s & Cloud Strategies Conference
Location: Las Vegas
Date: December 10-12, 2024
Frequency: Annual
Focus: Helping businesses adapt to strategic tech trends
Ticket cost: From $3,825
Forward-thinking business leaders desperately trying to keep up with the pace of technological change will descend in Vegas for the Gartner IT Infrastructure, Democracy’s & Cloud Strategies Conference.
Once again, AI will play a big part in one of the best tech conventions as enterprises continue exploring how to unlock the elusive ROI from their expensive tech projects. Gartner’s research will reveal strategic tech trends that could help enterprises balance value against resilience, which is increasingly critical to their success.
Gartner Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends 2025https://t.co/Oq890MQA4x pic.twitter.com/klQNxfiSgc
— Karin Zwiggelaar (@KarinZegt) October 24, 2024
The AI Summit
Location: New York
Date: December 11-12, 2024
Frequency: Annual
Focus: Practical applications of AI for enterprises
Ticket cost: $1,799
Although AI has officially entered the mainstream, The AI Summit Series has brought top executives and investors together since 2016. Each year, the AI Tech Summit welcomes 5,000+ start-ups, 1,000+ speakers, and more than 30,000 delegates to its events.
The AI summit is essential for anyone in the New York area who wants to look beyond the hype and buzzwords. If you or your business are looking for practical applications of AI technologies, this will be one of the best tech conferences to attend in 2024.
Global AI Show
Location: Dubai
Date: December 11-12, 2024
Frequency: Annual
Focus: Using AI to build a better future
Ticket cost: Starting from From $299
On the other side of the world, the Global AI show will take place in Dubai. Marketed as a hub for all things AI & ML, the tech event is inviting thought leaders and AI enthusiasts from around the world to discuss how we can accelerate intelligent futures together.
Excited to announce our media partners for the @GlobalAIShow, where you’ll meet the top 1% of AI leaders!
Get ready for a deep dive into the latest AI innovations and insights straight from industry leaders. Don’t miss out on exclusive content and behind-the-scenes looks at the… pic.twitter.com/BnOcdce6s6
— Global AI Show (@GlobalAIShow) October 23, 2024
The Consumer Electronics Show (CES)
Location: Las Vegas
Date: January 7-11, 2025
Frequency: Annual
Focus: The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is where brands and innovators show off their latest and greatest tech products.
Ticket cost: $250-$1,400
Billed as the world’s most powerful tech event, CES offers a peak into the future of the tech coming to your home in the next few years. However, the trade event is not open to the public.
CES 2025 takes over the entire Vegas strip, covering 2.5-plus million net square feet of exhibits. 135,000 attendees and 4,300 exhibitors will be looking to find the next big thing amidst some weird, quirky, and sometimes creepy new tech solutions.
Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2025
Location: Barcelona
Date: March 3-6, 2025
Frequency: Annual
Focus: This annual trade show is a trade-only event for the mobile communications industry.
Ticket cost: Starting from €899
With AI smartphones now dominating the mobile industry, attendees of MWC can expect to see many more AI-enabled smartphones.
But away from the handsets, there will also be a focus on how AI impacts network optimization and personalized experiences.
SXSW Interactive 2025
Location: Austin
Date: March 7-15, 2025
Frequency: Annual
Focus: Convergence of the interactive, film & television, and music industries
Ticket cost: $1,695
Human belonging and connection will be a strong theme across SXSW 2025, and we expect lots of discussions about how AI can bring us closer or push us apart.
Looking beyond the tech bros and celebrity speakers, you will find diverse perspectives from 350,000 attendees about technology’s positive and negative effects.
Adobe Summit 2025
Location: Las Vegas
Date: March 18 – 20, 2025.
Frequency: Annual
Focus: AI-powered digital experiences
Ticket cost: From $1,895
The Adobe Summit returns to Vegas, where creatives and marketers explore Adobe’s vision for a future of AI-powered digital experiences. You can expect A list of celebrity speakers and hugely popular sneak peeks at the latest developments from Adobe Labs.
RSAC (RSA Conference)
Location: San Francisco
Date: April 28 – May 1, 2025
Frequency: Annual
Focus: Helping cybersecurity professionals strengthen their organizations and transform their careers,
Ticket cost: From $1,250
RSAC is the place to be seen for the brightest minds in cybersecurity looking to collaborate and exchange insights. As AI paves the way for more sophisticated cyber attack methods, RSAC continues to help cybersecurity professionals stay ahead of cybercriminals.
Google I/O 2025
Location: Mountain View
Date: May 2025
Frequency: Annual
Focus: Updates across Google’s core products — Android, Google Search, and Google Assistant.
Ticket cost: N/A
There are currently no details about Google I/O 2025. But it’s typically used to promote new hardware from Pixel phones to tablets, so we expect lots of hardware improvements and a focus on advancements around the Gemini AI platform
GITEX Europe
Location: Berlin
Date: May 21-23, 2025
Frequency: Annual but part of a series of global events.
Focus: Increasing collaboration and innovation across the European tech scene to bring together startups, large enterprises, and governments.
Ticket cost: Pricing information not available yet
GITEX Europe is a new tech festival with many events throughout the year across Dubai, Africa, Europe, and Asia. With 60,000 trade professionals and over 2,500 exhibitors, including 1,000 startups, showcasing innovations across various sectors, this could be the tech conference to watch in 2025.
This tech summit from Gittex aims to strengthen collaborations between governments and the private sector to accelerate digital transformation across Europe.
Dublin Tech Summit
Location: Dublin
Date: May 28 – 29, 2025
Frequency: Annual
Focus: Emerging technologies, tech for good, and Analytics
Ticket cost: From €145
The Dublin Tech Summit was born from the need to fill the gap left by the Web Summit’s move to Lisbon. Since 2017, it has positioned itself as one of Europe’s fastest-growing tech conferences.
Dublin has become the EMEA base for some of the biggest global tech companies, making it perfect for enterprises wanting to learn more about adopting technology that aligns with their business goals.
SXSW London 2025
Location: London
Date: June 2-7, 2025
Frequency: Annual
Focus: The technological convergence and unexpected discovery within music, film, fashion, and visual art.
Ticket cost: Not yet released
June looks set to be a busy month for tech conferences in London. In Shoreditch, creatives will have the option of the first European edition of SXSW.
SXSW London aims to build on Austin’s iconic event by focusing on European creative talent and giving them space to collaborate and innovate.
Infosecurity Europe
Location: London
Date: June 3 – 5, 2025.
Frequency: Annual
Focus: Rethink the power of insecurity.
Ticket cost: Registration for Infosecurity Europe is free with the option of purchasing a Fast-Track pass for £49+VAT.
On the other side of town, Infosecurity Europe invites everyone working in information security, from experts and engineers to innovators and industry leaders, to share cybersecurity knowledge and infosec tools to protect our future better.
London Tech Week
Location: London
Date: June 9-13, 2025
Frequency: Annual
Focus: Applying new tech to solve the world’s biggest problems
Ticket cost: Free with options of purchasing a premium pass
One week after Infosecurity Europe and SXSW, the city’s passion for innovation continues with London Tech Week, where 45,000 attendees, 5,000 startups, and over 1,000 investors will collaborate.
With over 90 countries represented, the tech event aims to bring together innovators who are creating the technologies of the future, the investors who fund them, and the enterprise tech leaders who adopt them.
Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC)
Location: Cupertino, California
Date: June 2025
Frequency: Annual
Focus: Software announcements for iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and others.
Ticket cost: Free to attend online
The WWDC conference is a fairly predictable affair. Although many will debate updates such as iOS 19, iPad 19, macOS 16, tvOS 19, visionOS 3, or watchOS 11, the most likely headlines out of WWDC 2025 will be around the next phase of Apple Intelligence.
Black Hat USA
Location: Las Vegas.
Date: August 2 – 7, 2025
Frequency: Annual
Focus: Global crypto industry, regulations, outlook, projects
Ticket cost: From $749
Black Hat USA once again returns to the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas with a 6-day program in 2025. The event will open with four days of specialized cybersecurity Training with courses available for every skill level.
The two-day main conference (August 7-8) will feature more than 100 selected Briefings and many open-source tool demos to get your geek on.
DEF CON 33
Location: Las Vegas
Date: August 7-10, 2025
Frequency: Annual
Focus: An annual pilgrimage for anyone who considers themselves a “hacker.”
Ticket cost: $500
Many Black Hat USA attendees will leave the event and head straight to DEF CON at the other end of the strip in Vegas.
The event is widely regarded as the best-known underground hacker conference and a rite of passage for many in the industry.
The Bottom Line
There is a common theme across all of the best technology conferences in 2024, with “AI Everywhere” dominating conversations on the show floor and the keynote stages.
When trying to keep up with the pace of change, the tech show floor of tech conferences relevant to your business or personal interests will transport you into the center of insightful conversations.
Save the dates, and I will see you there as we continue to shape the future of tech together.
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References
- VMware Explore (VMware)
- William Lam on X (X)
- Women Impact Tech Accelerate Conference Series (Women Impact Tech)
- Web Summit – Where the tech world meets | November 11-14, 2024 (Web Summit)
- Web Summit on X (X)
- KubeCon + CloudNativeCon North America | LF Events (Events Linux Foundation)
- The Linux Foundation on X (X)
- Your home for Microsoft Ignite (Ignite Microsoft)
- Microsoft Events on X (X)
- Oracle CloudWorld keynote: Ellison ushers in open, multicloud phase of cloud era (Oracle)
- AWS re:Invent 2024 | December 2–6, 2024 (Reinvent AWS Events)
- Brad Feinstein on X (X)
- Black Hat Europe 2024 (Black Hat)
- Black Hat USA 2024 | Briefings Schedule (Black Hat)
- Black Hat on X (X)
- Gartner IT Infrastructure, Operations & Cloud Strategies Conference (Gartner)
- Karin Zwiggelaar on X (X)
- The AI Summit New York (New York the AI Summit)
- AI: 2057 Accelerating Intelligent Futures (Global AI Show)
- Global AI Show on X (X)
- CES – The Most Powerful Tech Event in the World (CES)
- MWC – The Largest And Most Influential Connectivity (MWC Barcelona)
- SXSW Conference & Festivals | March 7-15, 2025 (SXSW)
- Adobe Summit – The Digital Experience Conference | March 17–20, 2025 (Summit Adobe)
- Where the World Talks Security | RSA Conference (RSA Conference)
- Catch up on Google I/O (IO)
- Europe’s Largest Tech Event | GITEX EUROPE 21-23 May 2025 (Gitex Europe)
- Dublin Tech Summit | May 28 & 29, 2025 | RDS Dublin (Dublin Tech Summit)
- Europe’s Leading Cyber Security Event | Infosecurity Europe (Infosecurity Europe)
- London Tech Week 9-13th June 2025 (London Tech Week)
- Black Hat | Upcoming Events (Black Hat)