Guide
As of 2026-10-15
Darren SuCo-founder of AGI Villa and MatchPoint; Head of City Ecosystem at Datawhale; n8n Ambassador.
If a friend asked which AI conference is still worth a flight in 2026, I would not hand them the whole year. As of 2026-10-15 I would look at three: Lisbon, Nov 9 to 12, if you need founders and press; Las Vegas, Nov 30 to Dec 4, if AWS is already your estate; Dubai, Dec 7 to 11, if the buyer is in the Gulf. I would skip the other two the moment that is not your room.
As of 2026-10-15 these three have not run. The dates are organizer dates. If a date were missing I would leave it blank, because I will not guess. I would choose from this table before I reopen a week that already happened. Those sit further down, for next cycle.
| Event | Dates | City | Best for | AI focus | Cost band | Go·Skip·Watch |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Web Summit | Nov 9 to 12, 2026 | Lisbon | Founders and press | AI as one track inside a general tech expo | $$ to $$$ | Go for Lisbon founder-and-press density, Nov 9 to 12, with AI as one hall inside a general expo. Skip if this trip has to come home with one vendor's roadmap. |
| AWS re:Invent | Nov 30 to Dec 4, 2026 | Las Vegas | Teams who run on AWS | What AWS will sell next year | $$$ | Go for five Las Vegas days on what AWS will sell next year. Skip the moment your estate is Azure or Google Cloud. |
| GITEX GLOBAL | Dec 7 to 11, 2026 | Dubai | Gulf government and enterprise buyers | Meetings on a December expo floor | $$$ | Go for the December Dubai floor when the meetings are Gulf government and enterprise buyers. Skip if those buyers are Bay Area engineers. A stream misses the point, which is the floor. |
I would leave with one flagship and, if the people are in another city, one regional trip. A third event only when the meetings already have names. I am not handing you a scoring rubric. I just keep watching calendars fill up with weeks nobody can explain on Monday.
Call the OpenAI API, and the room was one day at Fort Mason. It already ran, so I would watch the recap unless you are planning the next one. Ship Copilot or Azure, and the match was the two-day San Francisco briefing, also already over. If the product is GPUs or physical AI, Lisbon in November will not save you. I would wait for San Jose.
The five-day Las Vegas week is the one I would still book, and only when AWS is the estate. The December Dubai floor is the one I would book when the buyer is in the Gulf. Salesforce and Google Cloud already happened this year. I would repeat one of them next cycle only if that estate is actually yours. I would not attend all three cloud weeks to feel current.
Lisbon in early November is the founder-and-press week that has not happened yet. Paris and the January Las Vegas consumer floor already ran. I would pick the city where the next customers will be standing. A fuller program in the wrong city is still a skip.
I watch a recap when the value is the keynote. I get on a plane when the value is a floor, or a meeting I can name before I book. That is Dubai, Lisbon, and any partner meeting already sitting on the calendar. Fort Mason is the one I am happy to watch if I am not shipping on that API. When a date moves, I check the organizer before I touch a flight. If a date is missing on this page, I left it blank. The event calendar is where I recheck before I book.
These 2026 editions have already run. I would not use them as a plan for this quarter. Read a row only to decide whether the next edition earns a flight.
| Event | Dates | City | Best for | AI focus | Cost band | Go·Skip·Watch |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CES | Jan 6 to 9, 2026 | Las Vegas | Product teams and press who need launch theater | Consumer and hardware launches | $$$ | Next cycle only if you need the January Las Vegas consumer-electronics launch floor. Watch the recap if you only wanted headlines. Stay home if you ship a cloud API. |
| NVIDIA GTC | Mar 16 to 19, 2026 | San Jose | Teams whose product is the accelerator | GPUs, AI factories, and physical AI | $$$ | Next cycle if the product is the accelerator: GPUs, an AI factory, or physical AI, in San Jose in March. Skip when you wanted an application API day. |
| Google Cloud Next | Apr 22 to 24, 2026 | Las Vegas | Buyers of Gemini on Google Cloud | Gemini and Google Cloud purchasing | $$$ | Next cycle only for a Gemini purchase on Google Cloud. Skip it if the estate is AWS or Azure instead of adding a third cloud week. |
| Microsoft Build | Jun 2 to 3, 2026 | San Francisco | Builders who ship Copilot or Azure | A two-day Copilot and Azure briefing | $$ to $$$ | Next cycle for the two-day San Francisco Copilot and Azure briefing. Skip if you came for GPUs or a startup expo. |
| SuperAI | Jun 10 to 11, 2026 | Singapore | People who need the Asia industry room | Meetings at Marina Bay Sands | $$ to $$$ | Next cycle when the people you need are at Marina Bay, not on a US campus. I would not book it as a substitute for the San Jose chip week. |
| Databricks Data + AI Summit | Jun 15 to 18, 2026 | San Francisco | Teams whose job is the lakehouse | Data platform AI at Moscone | $$$ | Next cycle if the job is the lakehouse at Moscone. Skip for a model-lab audience or a consumer launch floor. |
| VivaTech | Jun 17 to 20, 2026 | Paris | European founders and press | Founder density plus a public festival day | $$ to $$$ | Next cycle for Paris founder density, with a public festival day after the professional days. Skip when you need a closed vendor API briefing. |
| Dreamforce | Sep 15 to 17, 2026 | San Francisco | Buyers inside the Salesforce estate | Agentforce and that CRM | $$$ | Next cycle only if Agentforce inside Salesforce is the purchase. GPU builders and API builders are in the wrong room. |
| OpenAI DevDay | Sep 29, 2026 | San Francisco | Teams who ship on the OpenAI API | One day at Fort Mason | $$ to $$$ | Next cycle only if you ship on the OpenAI API and can use one Fort Mason day. Otherwise watch the recap. |
The table cell is the short version. This is where I say why I would or would not get on the plane.
March 16 to 19, 2026, San Jose. The week is chips, clusters, and the machines that use them. I would go next cycle if a GPU supply plan, an AI factory, or a robotics stack is the reason for the flight. I would skip it if what you wanted was an application API keynote. The mistake I keep seeing is treating this as the default AI week. The two-day Copilot briefing will not tell you the accelerator plan, and this week will not replace Fort Mason.
September 29, 2026, one day at Fort Mason. I would go next cycle only if your product calls the OpenAI API and you want that room. If you are comparing models you do not ship, watch the recap. I am still not sure a single day pays for a vague tour of San Francisco. It is the wrong week when your platform is Azure, AWS, or a data lake.
November 30 to December 4, 2026, five days in Las Vegas. Still ahead as of this page. The week exists to hear what AWS will sell next year and to meet the partners who implement it. I would go if AWS is where the workload runs. I would skip if it does not. A team that adds this week because it is the last famous one of the year, on an Azure estate, is the pitfall I would talk you out of. Lisbon will not brief you on that roadmap, and this week will not give you Lisbon founder density.
June 2 to 3, 2026, San Francisco. A short developer briefing for Copilot, agent tooling, and Azure. I would fly next cycle if that is the stack you ship. I would skip if you came for GPUs or for a startup expo. Two days is enough for the API story. It is a poor use of a long-haul ticket for anyone outside that stack.
June 10 to 11, 2026, Marina Bay Sands. I accompanied the SuperAI team through Hangzhou and Shanghai before that edition, including Zhejiang University, ModelScope, Qwen, and MiniMax, and I represented Datawhale at the Singapore conference. I wrote up five observations from the China visit. One that still decides this row for me: if the relationship only exists for those two days, I would not fly. I would go next cycle when the customers, hires, or investors you need are in that Asia industry room. I would not use it as a stand-in for the San Jose chip week or the five-day AWS week. Those are different questions, on different continents.
January 6 to 9, 2026, Las Vegas. Already ran. Next cycle it is still the consumer and hardware launch stage. That is why press and product teams go, and why I would tell an infra team to stay home. If you only need the headlines, watch the recap.
April 22 to 24, 2026, Las Vegas. Already ran. Next cycle I would go for a Gemini purchase on Google Cloud. If the estate is AWS or Azure, I would skip it. Adding a third cloud week is how a year disappears.
June 15 to 18, 2026, Moscone. Already ran. Next cycle I would go if the job is the lakehouse and the models sitting on it. I would skip it for a model-lab audience, and I would skip it for a consumer launch floor. Those rooms do not answer a platform question.
Paris already ran. Professional days were June 17 to 19, and the public festival day was June 20. Next cycle I would go for European founder and press density. I would skip it when you need a closed vendor API briefing. The public day is a different crowd from the professional days, and I would not book the flight for the festival day alone.
September 15 to 17, 2026, San Francisco. Already ran. Next cycle I would go only when Agentforce and the Salesforce estate are the purchase. If you build GPUs, or you live in an API that is not theirs, you are in the wrong room.
November 9 to 12, 2026, Lisbon. Still ahead. I would go for founder and press density, and I would treat AI as one hall inside a general tech expo. I would skip it when the trip has to produce one vendor's roadmap. If your buyer is a Gulf ministry, I would wait for Dubai in December. If your buyer is an AWS architect, I would wait for the Las Vegas week.
December 7 to 11, 2026, Dubai. Still ahead. I would go when the meetings are Gulf government and enterprise buyers. I would skip when the buyers are Bay Area engineering teams. A livestream is a weak substitute, because the point is the floor. I also would not fly Dubai the week after the AWS week unless those Gulf meetings already have names. Two long trips in December is how people come home with badges and nothing decided.
NeurIPS, ICML, and CVPR are not in either table. They run on papers and review deadlines. I would use them when the work product is a paper. I would use this page when the work product is a product decision, a partnership, or a purchase. I do not have a clever way to rank those against Lisbon. Different job.
MWC, COMPUTEX, and the other hardware weeks have AI sessions, and I still left them out of these two tables. Smaller builder meetings such as AI Engineer stay off this page too. If your decision is one of the twelve brands above, stay here. If it is a hardware week, use the events directory. I would rather send you to the right list than pretend this page covers every badge.
I start from the stack you ship and the city your buyers actually visit. I would book at most one upcoming event unless you already have named meetings at a second. The held table is for marking next year's repeat. It is not a plan for this quarter. I lean toward one flagship and, if you need it, one regional trip. A third badge is how the calendar gets crowded and the meetings get vague.
I watch when the value is a keynote or an API announcement. I fly when the value is a floor or a meeting I can name. A recap covers the one-day Fort Mason API briefing for me if I am not shipping on that API. It does not cover a Dubai expo or a Lisbon founder week.
I would choose NeurIPS, ICML, or CVPR when you are submitting or hearing papers. I would choose a row on this page when you are deciding a product, a stack, or a partnership. They solve different jobs, and I would not pretend one list ranks both.
As of 2026-10-15, I would still book Web Summit, AWS re:Invent, and GITEX GLOBAL. The other nine editions on this page already happened. I would not let a writeup of a week that is over talk you into a flight this quarter.
Then I would skip the five-day Las Vegas AWS week, the April Google Cloud week, and the two-day Copilot briefing. I would look at the March San Jose week for hardware and infra, Fort Mason if you call the OpenAI API, Marina Bay or Lisbon for a regional room, and Dubai if the buyer is in the Gulf.
I use organizer dates and I leave unknowns blank rather than filling them in. The as-of date is 2026-10-15. Check the organizer site before you book. The Paris week is Jun 17 to 20, with professional days Jun 17 to 19 and a public day on Jun 20. If I do not have a date, you will not see me guess one.