One NZ IT conference to rule them all: ITx

IITP CEO Paul Matthews has achieved what others couldn’t manage: bringing together most of New Zealand’s IT-focused organisations under a single umbrella. Next year 11 other bodies will join IITP at the ITx 2016 conference in Wellington.

According to a press release, the three-day event, will be held at the TSB Arena and Shed 6 complex on 11-13 July 2016. The organisations behind ITx say they hope to attract 1200 attendees. It may pay to book early, Wellington isn’t awash with hotel accommodation.

The ITx organisers say while the event will include 12 tech-related conferences under one roof, there will be common sessions.

The organisations are:

The Institute of IT Professionals NZ (IITP), New Zealand IT Professionals;
NZ Technology Industry Association (NZTech), represents tech companies;
NZRise, represents NZ-owned digital technology companies;
IT Service Management Forum NZ, tIT Service Management professionals;
Citrenz, computing schools in the Institute of Technology and Polytech sector;
Health Informatics NZ, individuals practicing in health IT;
Tuanz, IT and communications users.
Test Professionals Network, forum for promoting excellence in systems and software testing;
Agile Day, where Agile professionals come together;
InternetNZ, the voice of the internet community;
Project Management Institute of NZ, representing PM professionals; and
NZ Open Source Society (NZOSS), the body promoting Open Source Software in NZ

Spreading the tech conference load

Bringing together so many bodies together for a single conference is a smart idea. Events of this nature are costly and time-consuming to organise, spreading the load makes sense.

Also, attendees, sponsoring companies and likely exhibitors are all under time pressure. Crunching everything into three busy days is a better use of everyone’s time.

While ITx 2016 makes commercial sense and is an outstanding political triumph, the need to pull multiple events into one reflects changing industry economics. Tech giants no longer make stellar profits, at least not the companies likely to take an interest in professional technology events. Microsoft's own branded Tech Ed event is the standout exception.

Technology marketing needs a home

The historic technology event scene came about because marketing dollars needed to find a good, productive home. Vendors no longer have as many marketing dollars to splash around, no matter how worthwhile the cause.

Consolidation in the tech conference sector mirrors the consolidation taking place in the wider technology industry.

IITP and Tuanz have a track record of interesting conferences. Here’s a wrap of what I found at the 2113 event.