Symposium Times

By Gene Hall, Gartner CEO

I’d like to welcome you to Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2009, the industry’s largest and most important annual gathering of CIOs and senior IT leaders.

Our agenda this year focuses on the difficult task you face of balancing cost, risk and growth. As economic indicators stabilize after the global recession of the last 12 months, you must now ensure that decision makers in your organization have the insight and systems necessary to return your organization to growth. Your role is to help your organization emerge from the economic downturn with a stronger competitive advantage than you had going into it. We’re here to help.

Our analyst presentations, mastermind keynotes and special interviews all reflect the complex, interrelated challenges now confronting you. Over the next five days, take the opportunity to attend any of the 200 presentations delivered by more than 130 Gartner analysts. Schedule your One-on-One appointments with our analysts as soon as possible so you can address your specific challenges and seek actionable advice to implement in the coming months. And visit the ITxpo Solution Showcase to meet a broad range of exhibitors and learn more about their latest offerings that may present new opportunities for your organization.

Looking within the packed agenda, I’d like to highlight a few key “don’t miss” sessions I think you should schedule in your agenda planner. First, a special CIO interview with Vivek Kundra, Federal CIO of the U.S. Government, headlines our Super Sunday program of analyst presentations and roundtables. On Monday, we’ll kick off the day with the Gartner Analyst Opening Keynote, exploring breakthrough approaches in the era of the ‘new normal’ and examining the strategic implications of fast-evolving technologies and trends.

On Tuesday, Mark Hurd, Chairman and CEO of Hewlett-Packard, will be interviewed by Gartner analysts Donna Scott and David Cearley on his plans for growth and driving customer value in the year ahead. On Wednesday, Eric Schmidt, Chairman and CEO of Google, will be interviewed by Gartner analysts Whit Andrews and Hung LeHong on the strategic direction of the company. And on Thursday, Steve Elop, President of Microsoft Business Division, will be interviewed by Gartner analysts Brian Gammage and Neil McDonald about various topics affecting enterprises in the year ahead, including the launch of Windows 7.

In the coming days, I also recommend that you take full advantage of the incredible knowledge and experience that exists among your peers on site by networking with fellow attendees. Make valuable new connections at the wide variety of roundtables, workshops and end-user case study presentations taking place, in addition to special sessions on the ITxpo show floor and our special event at Epcot on Wednesday evening. Keep those connections going post-event with your access to our 2,000+ member Symposium community on LinkedIn.

On behalf of everyone at Gartner, thank you for joining us at Symposium/ITxpo 2009. We look forward to a great event with you here in Orlando.

Filed under: What You Need To Know