Compute Midwest named top national tech conference

Consistently attracting futurists and tech leaders from around the U.S., Compute Midwest recently was named a national tech conference that shouldn’t be overlooked.

Inc. Magazine included the annual, Kansas City-based conference on its “Top Tech Conferences You Can’t Miss This Fall” list, noting the event’s traditionally strong lineup of speakers.

Presented by the Disruption institute, the event previously has featured such speakers as Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, iRobot founder Rodney Brooks, former NASA CTO Chris Kemp, former Makerbot CEO Jenny Lawton and more. Scheduled for Nov. 2, Compute Midwest 2016 already is primed for a solid lineup, hosting Hyperloop Transport Technologies COO Bibop Gresta and Biobots CEO Danny Cabrera.

Here’s what Inc. had to say about Compute Midwest:

“Kansas City? That’s right. Hailing from the first city chosen for Google Fiber, Compute Midwest is one of the world’s leading future-focused tech conferences. More than 1,000 attendees exploring the technologies transforming tomorrow and learning how the world-class speakers overcame enormous challenges to create breakthrough innovations. Topics include: self-driving cars, robots, space travel, artificial intelligence and more.”

Other tech conferences that landed on the list were Lisbon-based Web Summit, TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco, Wall Street Journal Digital Live in Laguna Beach, Dreamforce in San Francisco and others.

Disruption institute founder Michael Gelphman said he’s expecting around 1,000 attendees this year for Compute Midwest. He added that he’s excited to share the event’s inspirational ethos with more people in the region and that he hopes the magazine’s nod will help spread the word.

“It’s a tremendous honor to be on a short list of the most prestigious conferences around the world,” Gelphman said. “I hope this feature shows that truly remarkable things can be built from the heart, right here in Kansas City.”