Now in its 24th year, the annual Pink Elephant 2020 Conference is back with something for everyone. Globally recognized as the premier IT service management conference, Pink20 will cover a vast array of subjects ranging from strategic, tactical, and operational.
Date: February 16-19, 2020
Location: Las Vegas, NV
Cost: $2,295 for full conference access
Managed and put on by Pink Elephant, this ITSM Conference & Exhibition has a well-earned reputation for bringing in top experts to speak and present, cultivating the most content-rich program in the industry. In this article, we’ve put together the complete guide to Pink Elephant 2020, including details on registration and attendees, location and accommodations, keynote speakers, and learning and training.
BMC at Pink20
Don’t miss these valuable sessions from BMC subject matter experts.
Monday, February 17
Early Riser Session 7:15-8:15 AM, RM TBD
How ITSM Needs to Evolve for DevOps Aligned Organizations
Presented by Peter Adams, BMC Sr. Director Product Management
Lunch-and-Learn Session 1:00-2:00 PM, RM TBD
Predictive IT Service Management for Your Modern Enterprise
Presented by David Schmidt, BMC Principal Solution Marketing Manager
Tuesday, February 18
Breakout Session 10:30 – 11:3 AM, RM TBD
Reimagine Your IT Service Management and Operations Experience with BMC Helix
Presented by Peter Peter Adams, BMC Sr. Director Product Management
Overview: What is Pink20?
Pink20 is a comprehensive ITSM conference and exhibition, a one-stop shop for cutting-edge ITSM. This year, Pink offers nine tracks and more than 120 sessions covering a wide variety of topics including:
- IT service management (ITSM)
- ITIL®
- Lean IT
- Agile
- Scrum
- DevOps
- COBIT®
- Organizational change management (OCM)
- Business relationship management
- Much, much more!
The theme for Pink20 is IT & Batman: Ordinary People Doing Extraordinary Things. The reasoning? Unlike other superheroes, Batman doesn’t possess any “super” powers. He is successful because of his ingenuity, his ability to create very clever inventions, his use of cutting-edge tools and technology, and his courage. The conference draws on this theme to help illustrate how ordinary people like us can do extraordinary things in IT and beyond.
Who should attend Pink20?
There’s something for everyone in the power-packed program. Pink20 is open to all attendees and is particularly suited for:
- C-Level executives, including CIOs, CTOs, and CSOs
- IT Directors and VPs
- Project/program directors and managers
- IT service and support managers
- Service desk managers
- IT infrastructure managers
- Process owners
- Support analysts
- Quality managers
- Service level managers
- IT suppliers and vendors
- IT auditors and consultants
- Anyone seeking to understand why and how to implement best practices according to ITSM, ITIL, Lean IT, Agile, Scrum, DevOps, and/or COBIT®
Pink20 registration and pass options
There are a few ticket options for Pink20, depending on your budget and the perks you wish to receive. Tickets must be used by the original registrant and cannot be sold, bartered, or transferred in any way.
Standard Pass: $1,995 per person
The Pink20 Standard Pass includes the following:
- Attendance at all Pink20 keynote and break-out sessions (except those for Platinum Pass holders only)
- Food and refreshments at breakfasts, lunches, and mid-morning and afternoon breaks on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday
- Refreshments and hors d’oeuvres at the Networking Receptions on Sunday and Monday evenings
- Refreshments and food at a special Networking Reception on Tuesday evening
- Onsite registration, badge printing, and customer service support from the Pink Elephant Customer Service Desk
- Access to the smartphone event app to create and manage your own personal Pink20 agenda
Platinum Pass: $2,295 person
The Pink20 Platinum Pass includes all the benefits of the Standard Pass PLUS a number of “exclusive” benefits, including:
- Priority Platinum Pass Registration at the Pink Elephant Customer Service Desk.
- Exclusive Platinum Pass Premium Seating—round-tables at the front of the room for Keynote Sessions
- Exclusive Platinum Pass Lounge—a quiet, comfortable environment for working, making calls, and networking.
- Exclusive Platinum Pass Dining Room—for a quieter, no-lines free lunch experience or to simply grab a beverage, relax and network with other Platinum Pass holders.
- Exclusive Front of the Line Meet & Greet—for a Selfie & Book Signing with Keynote Speakers.
- Exclusive 30-Minute Consulting Session with a Pink Expert for Platinum Pass Teams of 4 or More (New this year)—Gather your whole Platinum Pass Team together and meet with a Pink Elephant Expert for 30 minutes of free consulting advice. Ask about solutions to the challenges you’re experiencing with current projects, or seek out approaches for your planned projects. You decide; it’s your 30 minutes!
- Exclusive Platinum Pass Exhibit Hall Optimizer Session—Sunday evening, hosted by George Spalding. Your expert guide, George, will take you on a walking tour of some of the more interesting and newer features you’ll find in this year’s Exhibit Hall. Find out who has the newest and most innovative products, who has the best promotions, and who has the best swag!
- Exclusive Platinum Pass Conference Optimizer Breakfast Session—Monday, hosted by Gary Case. Start the Conference with this Optimizer Breakfast Session and hear what Gary recommends you should check out in this week’s Pink20 program: the most interesting new topics; speakers with the most relatable and inspiring stories; and any other personal recommendations your host feels are must-attend sessions.
- Exclusive Platinum Pass Ask-the-Expert Lunch Sessions—grab your lunch each day and head straight into an Ask-the-Expert Lunch Session where you can pick the brain of one of Pink’s top consultants. Ask whatever you like and don’t take “it depends” for an answer! Who said “there’s no such thing as a free lunch”? Well we have free consulting over lunch – not a bad combination!
- Monday’s Lunch Session hosted by Jack Probst.
- Tuesday’s Lunch Session hosted by Troy DuMoulin.
Team Pass: $1,721 per person
Register a team of 4 or more for special savings of 25% on each conference pass (regular $2,295 per person).
See the event website for all terms & conditions. Pricing is subject to change. Offer cannot be combined with other discounts.
Location & Hotel
In order to accommodate one of the largest ITSM conferences in the industry, Pink20 will be hosted at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas. Bellagio offers exceptional meeting facilities and comfortable lodgings for guests. The conference has negotiated preferential rates for Pink20 customers; these rates are lower than prevailing rates available to the general public. Rooms are extremely limited and sell out quickly, so book as soon as possible.
If you have any questions about reservations or accommodations, contact the Customer Service Team at 1-888-273-PINK, info@pinkelephant.com, or click on ‘Chat’ on this website.
Pink20: Learning & Training
Pink20 is expected to bring the latest methods, innovations, deeper technical content, and more access to ITSM experts than ever before. The event provides a variety of learning and training opportunities, as well as networking events throughout the day and night.
Here is information on the Pink20 host and keynote speakers:
Pink20 Host: Wayne Cotter
A hilarious former IT geek and a highly-experienced emcee, Wayne Cotter is back with his warm and very friendly nature, and witty comedic views of IT and the world. Wayne is a talk-show favorite (and Pink), having appeared dozens of times with both David Letterman and Jay Leno. According to Variety, Wayne’s comedy “draws on the everyday, but in a manner which is anything but mundane.”
From observations about daily life to personal stories of his varied experiences as an engineer, entertainer and parent, Wayne is known for his clever, original humor and his warm and engaging persona. David Letterman calls him “one of our favorites” and has remarked on-air about his “personable” style.
Keynote speaker: Allan Pease, author & communication expert
Best-selling author of Why Men Don’t Listen and Women Can’t Read Maps, Allan Pease is an expert on winning communication techniques for business, and in our personal lives, too. Known internationally as “Mr. Body Language”, Allan appears regularly in media around the world, and is sought to give advice on personal image by everyone from business executives and Prime Ministers, to TV personalities, royalty, and rock stars.
His keynote presentation includes a provocative look at:
- How to get the best in business by understanding what people are really thinking
- What people really need to do to get on in business
- How to avoid arguments, disagreements and conflicts
- How to get co-operation and gain credibility
- Communication styles: understanding the differences between the sexes
Allan will show you how to become a great communicator and to win more business—and he’ll make you cry with laughter at the same time!
Keynote speaker: Chester Elton, author, leadership & motivational expert
Chester Elton, co-author of The New York Times bestseller The Carrot Principle, will reveal how his simple steps can make you a high-performance leader and take your team to a new level of achievement. Revealing the groundbreaking results of one of the most in-depth management studies ever undertaken, The Carrot Principle shows definitively that the central characteristic of the most successful managers is that they provide their employees with frequent and effective recognition.
The Carrot Principle offers proven strategies to help recognize and motivate your valued employees, and it has helped a host of managers to energize their teams, and companies to dramatically boost their business results.
Keynote speaker: Josh Linkner, musician, author & tech entrepreneur
Josh Linkner, a jazz guitarist since age 14, credits a musical background for giving him a different way of looking at business. In an interactive presentation, a live jazz performance by Josh and his band is woven with stimulating dialogue. You’ll hear, through their music, fresh ways to unleash your organization’s creative mojo.
You will learn powerful lessons inspired by jazz musicians (aka “real-time innovators”) to help you:
- Develop your own ability to improvise, no matter what job title you hold
- Establish team dynamics that foster creative thinking and risk taking
- Uncover fresh approaches to previously unchallenged assumptions
- Break free from traditional thinking and uncover vast new possibilities
- Learn secret techniques that jazz musicians use to foster creativity, which can easily be adapted to your own organization
- Expand your ability to deal with ambiguity and recover from setbacks
Breakout sessions and conference tracks
Keynote speakers are just one aspect of Pink20. Other learning opportunities that draw in the masses are the specialized breakout sessions, covering in-depth themes related to topics most relevant to you and your business. Content this year spans from the highly technical to the revolutionary, with three levels:
- General sessions are of interest to everyone regardless of their level of knowledge, experience, or industry certification.
- Beginner sessions are aimed at those who are new to the subjects presented and do not possess industry certification or have just started project implementation.
- Beyond Beginner sessions are for those with practical implementation experience and have attained knowledge of the subject beyond the foundation level.
The nine conference tracks expand on the Pink20 Batman theme. The 2020 Pink Elephant Conference tracks include:
Track 1: IT Leadership (Batman)
- Communicate With Impact: Elevate Yourself As A Leader
- Keep Choppin’: Hack Your Culture to Create Highly Performing, Deeply Engaged Teams
- Leadership Lessons Learned From Batman
- Leadership In The Workplace From A Woman IT Leader’s Point of View
Track 2: Strategic IT Management (Gotham City)
- Delivering Business Value (five parts)
- A Day In The Life! A Relation Driven Approach to Continual Improvement
- Enabling Digital Strategy by Leveling Up to a Holistic Service Provider
- Holistic Relationship Management: It’s A Team Effort!
Track 3: Lean IT & Agile (The Joker)
- How Lean & Service Management Changed IT Healthcare
- Ka-Pow! Bam! The Superpowers Of A Lean IT Leader
- Lean IT & OCM: How They Can Partner to Facilitate Successful Transformation from Diet to Lifestyle
- An Oxford Approach to Co-Creating Value
Track 4: DevOps (Catwoman)
- A Superhero Approach to DevOps: 15 Essential Practices For DevOps Success (two parts)
- DevOps: The Good, The Good & The Good (There Doesn’t Have To Be A Bad or Ugly!)
- The Marriage of DevOps, Continuous Delivery, & ITIL Transition: Decoding the Gordian Knot
- Re-Imagine Your IT Service Management and Operations Experience
Track 5: ITIL v3 & ITIL 4 (Alfred)
- Four Dimensions Of Service Management
- The ITIL Service Value System & Service Value Chain
- ITIL 4 vs. ITIL v3: What Are The Main Differences You Need To Know About?
- Practices vs. Processes: A Rose by Another Name?
Track 6: Organizational Change Management (Mr. Freeze)
- Leading Change: Best Practices
- Meanwhile, Back In The Library…
- Motivation By Chocolate
- Understanding Lewin’s Model: Unfreeze. Change. Freeze.
Track 7: Integrated Service Management (The Riddler)
- Integrated Service Management: The Model & Key Concepts
- Is IT Service Management a Journey that Never Ends?
- Using ITSM, VSM, Agile, and DevOps to Build Guard Rails for Speed and Certainty
- What a Large IT Shop Can Re-Learn from the Small
Track 8: Tool & Technology (The Penguin)
- You Can’t Ignore Cyber Incidents! Just Be Prepared!
- Internet of Things & Service Management
- How New Technologies Can Transform IT Services
- Why is Now the Time for Your Self-Service Chatbot Initiative?
Track 9: Half-Day Workshops (Robin, The Boy Wonder)
- A Holistic View of ITIL 4’s Service Value System & Its 4 Dimensions
- How to Implement Problem, Change, & Release Management
- Delivering Business Value: The Key Concepts
- ITIL 4 Managing Professional (MP) Designation
Conference certification courses
There are multiple opportunities to take popular ITSM certification courses both before and after the conference, as well as a new, mid-conference option. For more details, see the official Pink20 conference website.
Pre-conference certification courses
- ITIL 4 Foundation
- Lean IT Foundation: Understanding Lean IT Principles & Objectives
Post-conference certification courses
- IT Business Relationship Manager
- ITIL 4 Strategist—Direct, Plan & Improve
- ITIL 4 Specialist—Create, Deliver & Support
- ITIL 4 Foundation
- Integrated Service Management Essentials
- Lean IT Kaizen: Implementing Lean IT Practices
- Organizational Change Management Foundation
New this year: mid-conference course
Pink20 also features an additional IT certification option with mid-event certification packages throughout the week: the ITIL 4 Managing Professional (MP) Transition.
Join Pink Elephant 2020!
Each year, Pink Elephant provides listening and networking opportunities with the top speakers and experts in ITSM. Whether you are looking to further your own skill set, enhance your team’s performance, gain valuable certifications, or network with like-minded peers and leaders, you are sure to leave Pink 2020 satisfied.
