In November 2022, the Systematic community held its 4th annual community conference in San Francisco, CA. Over 150 business technology professionals gathered at this first in-person event since 2019 for a full day of tactical content, exciting keynotes, and networking.
The day started with a keynote from four CIOs who addressed the current state of business technology and shared key insights into their organizational priorities, challenges, and discoveries. Efficiency was top of mind for all of the CIOs and acted as a north star for budgets and workflow automation investments. The panel also responded to being pressured to reduce SaaS spend and provided leadership and automation strategies that helped them excel in their careers.
After the opening keynote, the conference was split into two tracks, dividing our 13 member-led sessions into Leadership & Strategy and Technology paths. This community-led approach ensured that the content presented was focused on the professional development of the business technology professionals in attendance, while providing insight into business transformation tactics, leveraging data, building teams, developing leadership skills, and much more. “We need more explorers,” said Chris Blaisure, Director of Innovation at Elastic, during his presentation on identifying the time for custom builds. While speakers echoed the need for efficiency, especially on lean team, Blaisure also reminded the audience about the power of innovation and the need to rise above the status quo in order to be leaders in the IT industry. In addition to the great topics covered, the community-first approach of our sessions allowed community members to establish themselves as experts in their field, and grow their relationships with their peers.
The conference closed with an inspiring keynote from the legendary Bill Nye, a renowned scientist, inventor, and TV personality. Nye’s encouraging conversation with Harry McCracken, Global Technology Editor at Fast Company, highlighted the power of data, science, and automation, and gave the audience a feeling of hope for the future.
The Systematic team extends a thank you to everyone who attended the conference and to all the community members who participated as speakers——just like our community, the conference would not be a success without our amazing and engaged members.!
If you were unable to attend the conference or would like to experience the sessions again, you can access the recordings through the Systematic+ community.
