The Business of IT Blog

Complete Guide to 2020 Gartner Events

7 minute read
Laura Shiff

Gartner is the world’s leading IT research and advisory company that partners with more than 9,000 enterprises globally. Through resources such as Gartner Research, Gartner Executive Programs, Gartner Consulting, and Gartner Events, the company provides valuable insights, advice, and tools to help organizations make the best decisions for mission-critical priorities and visions for the future.

As technology rapidly evolves, staying on top of trends and innovations is crucial. Targeted to specific roles and priorities, Gartner events aim to advance critical skill sets while providing the opportunity to network with top experts. Gartner events are offered around the globe for a wide audience, from CIOs and CFOs to enterprise architects, IT professionals, and security specialists.

We’ve put together a list of the 2020 Gartner conferences in North America. Each listing includes the location, cost, topics, and a general description. For a complete list of international Gartner events, look at their website. For conferences outside the Gartner brand, check out our other conference round-ups, including Top DevOps Conferences, Programming & Software Dev Conferences, and CyberSecurity Conferences.

2019 Gartner Events

Gartner CIO Leadership Forum

Date: February 23-25, 2020
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Cost: $3,800 standard price

The Gartner CIO Leadership Forum is an exclusive, application-only event that provides CIOs inspiration, strategic solutions and ideas, and unique networking opportunities to bring organizations to the next level. Providing insights into technology trends and strategies for how the role of CIO will change in the future, the conference covers topics this year like Cost Optimization and Investment Strategies for Growth; Digital Business; Digital Business Transformation; Emerging & Disruptive Technologies; Future of Work; Innovation Management; Leadership, People and Culture; Security, Risk & Compliance; and Strategic Planning and Execution.

Keynote speakers include experienced practitioners and Gartner experts who are considered thought leaders in their particular area of focus. Some of the 2020 keynotes include:

  • Graham Waller, Research Vice President in the Digital Business Leadership research team
  • Tina Nunno, Vice President and Gartner Fellow in Gartner’s CIO Research group based in Stamford, Connecticut
  • Bruce Robertson, Research Vice President and Distinguished Advisor in Gartner’s CIO Research group
  • Deonn Griffin, Research Director with Gartner’s CIO Research group that creates actionable and applicable research focused on leadership and learning development

Gartner Digital Workplace Summit

Date: March 16-17, 2020
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Cost: $3,275

As technology evolves, the workplace must, too—that’s why it’s vital that organizations acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to make this a reality. The Gartner Digital Workplace Summit offers techniques for accelerating workplace productivity, increasing employee engagement, and improving overall business optimization. Discover where you are in your digital workplace journey and how to keep the momentum going for your organization.

The 2020 summit features a keynote speech by Former Chief Talent Officer at Netflix, Patty McCord as well as four tracks:

  • Plan, Deploy and Manage Your Digital Workplace Program
  • Drive Innovation With Effective Technologies and Applications
  • Build Employee Experiences That Are Engaging and Inclusive
  • Shape the Future of Work

Gartner Data & Analytics Summit

Date: March 23-26, 2020
Location: Grapevine, TX
Cost: $3,825

Driven by the dramatic changes in digital technologies, the Gartner Data & Analytics Summit provides new strategies, best practices, and extensive research to guide and empower businesses for optimal revenue. Tracks covered at the conference this year include:

  • Leadership and Culture: Build the Resilient Organization
  • Business Outcomes and Strategy: Realize the Value
  • Trust and Governance: The Evolving Challenge
  • Analytics Everywhere: Drive Pervasive Outcomes
  • Technical Insights: The Art of the Pragmatic
  • Data Architecture: Effective Data Design
  • AI, Data Science and Machine Learning: The Future Starts Now
  • Emerging Technologies: Disruption is a Given

The 2020 conference includes keynotes from industry leaders including: Safi Bahcall: Technologist, Business Executive & Author; Sue Finley: employee of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL); Dr Hannah Fry: Associate Professor in the Mathematics of Cities at the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis at UCL; Dr. Steve Robbins: Inclusion Expert; Axelle Vanquaillie: Artist; and Diane Wilkinson: Senior Partner at The Wow Factor.

Gartner Supply Chain Executive Conference 2020

Date: May 11-14, 2020
Location: Orlando, FL
Cost: $4,725

Offering innovative solutions for how to blend lessons of the past with future priorities, the Gartner Supply Chain Executive Conference provides insights into new and emerging digital strategies and covers how traditional markets are evolving as well as how to approach these changes. The 2020 conference topic highlights include:

  • Supply chain strategy
  • Supply chain planning
  • Sales and operations planning
  • Supply chain advanced technology
  • Supply chain digitization
  • Sourcing and procurement
  • Logistics
  • Customer fulfillment and collaboration

A few speakers that will be presenting at the event this year include: Mike Griswold, Research VP in Gartner’s Consumer Value Chain team, focusing on the retail supply chain; Mike Burkett, VP and Distinguished Analyst for the Gartner Supply Chain team, drawing on more than 18 years of manufacturing industry experience; Ken Chadwick, Research Vice President covering global supply chain organization design, governance, talent development, change management, and organization behavior; and Marko Pukkila, Research Director in the Gartner Supply Chain Research group.

Gartner Enterprise Architecture & Technology Innovation Summit

Date: May 18-19, 2020
Location: Orlando, FL
Cost: $3,275

The Gartner Enterprise Architecture & Technology Innovation Summit brings together leading Gartner experts to present the latest research on technology trends and business transformation predictions. Covering topics like where AI, IoT, cloud computing—and even digital twins—will take your organization next, skills and competencies to develop a high-impact EA team, and how to craft an innovation strategy built to transform disruption into opportunity, the 2020 event is sure to provide cutting-edge insights from industry experts.

2020 topic highlights include:

  • Digital Transformation
  • Technology Innovation
  • Agile Architecture
  • Cloud Computing
  • Containers and Microservices
  • World-class Enterprise Architecture

Gartner IT Symposium

Date: May 11-14, 2020
Location: Toronto, Canada
Cost: $5,150 CAD + tax

The Gartner CIO & IT Executive Summit is designed to teach CIOs and IT leaders how to harness digital business concepts and apply them to real-world scenarios while covering how to create an agile work environment and best manage top digital talent. The conference also showcases the newest technological innovations, applications, strategies, and approaches.

The 2020 event will cover topics like:

  • Business Intelligence and Advanced Analytics
  • Customer and User Experience
  • Digital Business Transformation
  • Emerging and Disruptive Technologies
  • Leadership, People, and Culture
  • Security, Risk, and Compliance

At the center of technology, business, strategy and inspiration, you will be able to engage business leaders and influence enterprise success and lead digital business success by using digital design practices.

Gartner Tech Growth & Innovation Conference

Date: May 11-13, 2020
Location: San Diego, CA
Cost: $3,275

The Gartner Tech Growth & Innovation conference provides vendor-exclusive Gartner research, networking opportunities, and problem-solving strategies for today’s markets. Gain insights into the most pressing challenges facing technology providers today, and the technology trends that are impacting your business.

The 2020 conference offers four tracks (Capturing Market Share Rapidly; Redefining Products and Portfolios; Growing Your Customer Base; and Emerging Technologies and Market Trends) and will cover topics such as:

  • Accelerating time-to-market
  • Market shifts and customer needs
  • Account-based marketing programs
  • High-growth opportunities
  • Product differentiation
  • Ecosystem development and management
  • Getting the right talent in place
  • Demand generation
  • Adapting the product portfolio

Gartner Marketing Symposium/Xpo

Date: June 1-2, 2020
Location: San Diego, California
Cost: $4,075

The Gartner Marketing Symposium/Xpo offers CMOs and other senior marketing leaders the latest research and shared learning across both B2B and B2C environments. Utilizing both quantitative and qualitative research and surveys across all key marketing capabilities, the conference focuses on providing practical guidance from successful marketing experts around the country, helping you hone your leadership skills, refine your marketing strategies and find innovative solutions to help power your marketing team.

Featured speakers of the 2020 Gartner Marketing Symposium/Xpo include:

  • Christi Eubanks, Managing Vice President
  • Andrew Frank, Distinguished VP Analyst
  • Maureen Murphy, L2-Co-Founder, CSO
  • Christopher Ross, VP Analyst
  • Jennifer Polk, VP Analyst
  • Jay Wilson, VP Analyst

Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit

Date: June 1-4, 2020
Location: National Harbor, MD
Cost: $3,825

The Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit is one of the largest gatherings for security, risk management, and business continuity management leaders in the world. The event provides proven practices and strategies for cost-effective security while reducing risks and compromises through a mixture of keynotes from global experts, panels, roundtables, workshops, and even one-on-one meetings.

The 2020 presentations will cover topics such as: Emerging trends, Risk management, Leadership, Skills and talent, Privacy, and Cloud security. Some speakers this year include:

  • Jeffrey Wheatman, Research VP in Gartner Research
  • Tom Scholtz, Research Vice President and Gartner Fellow as well as the Chief of Research for Security and Risk Management
  • Roberta Witty, Vice President in Gartner Research, where she is part of the Risk and Security Management Programs group
  • Sam Olyaei, Principal Research Analyst in Gartner Research, where he is a part of the Risk and Security Management group

Gartner CFO & Finance Executive Conference

Date: June 2-3, 2020
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Cost: $3,400

Recognized as one of the biggest gatherings of CFOs and senior finance executives in the country, the Gartner CFO & Finance Executive Conference offers strategic guidance on the newest trends affecting the financial landscape. With practical insights based on Gartner research methodologies, this conference outlines what the future of finance will be and will help CFOs and finance executives chart a course through all the changes to the organizational structure, talent, technology and process needed to reach the 2025 future finance vision.

The topics for the 2020 conference include:

  • Outsourcing
  • Finance Organization Structure
  • Blockchain
  • Finance Analytics
  • Personal Effectiveness
  • Finance Talent
  • Cost Structure
  • Financial Data Management
  • Target Setting

Gartner Program & Portfolio Management Summit

Date: June 23-25, 2020
Location: Orlando, FL
Cost: $3,275

A premier gathering of PMO leaders, Project and Program Managers, and Portfolio Management leaders, the Gartner Program & Portfolio Management Summit features top industry experts and provides the insights needed to successfully navigate the current world of roles and technologies that are needed to be a successful PPM leader.

This year’s topic highlights:

  • Demand management
  • EPMO
  • Resource management
  • Portfolio management
  • Program management
  • Project prioritization
  • PPM tools
  • Reporting, metrics, dashboards
  • Strategy realization
  • Change management
  • IT governance
  • Enterprise agile

Gartner Catalyst Conference

Date: August 24-27, 2020
Location: San Diego, CA
Cost: $3,825 standard price

The Gartner Catalyst Conference is the only multi-role event for technical professionals that provides hands-on advice and practical solutions for organizations’ key technology initiatives. Constructed around a foundation of Gartner research, the conference covers a broad range of topics like:

  • Cloud
  • Big Data
  • IoT
  • DevOps
  • Analytics
  • Enterprise Applications
  • AI

The 2019 event offered a keynote by Mindy Cancila, Research Vice President in Gartner for Technical Professionals, and presented current areas of research, including cloud adoption strategies, comparing and selecting public cloud service providers for IaaS, and cloud management.

2020 Gartner Conferences

No matter which Gartner conference you attend, you are guaranteed to gain access the latest technologies and methods in the industry, all while understanding insights from the top experts in the world.

Access the 2020 Gartner Magic Quadrant for ITSM

The Gartner Magic Quadrant for ITSM is the gold-standard resource helping you understand the strengths of major ITSM software vendors, insights into platform capabilities, integration opportunities, and many other factors to determine which solution best fits your needs.


These postings are my own and do not necessarily represent BMC's position, strategies, or opinion.

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About the author

Laura Shiff

Laura Shiff is a researcher and technical writer based in the Twin Cities. She specializes in software, technology, and medicine. You can reach Laura at LauraShiffCopywriting@gmail.com or her website https://www.laurashiffcopywriting.com/