Making the most of Philly Tech Week

Philly Tech Week (PTW) kicks off today for the seventh year in a row to celebrate technology and innovation throughout the Greater Philadelphia region. With highlights like the Mayoral Tech Town Hall with Mayor Jim Kenney on Monday, a day-long Future of Digital Marketing conference on Tuesday and a Q&A with Governor Tom Wolf on Wednesday, taking part is a no-brainer, especially if you’re in the tech industry.

Attendees can choose from 100 different events throughout the week, which are organized into seven different tracks: media, business, creative, civic, dev, sciences and access. The best part: several events are free to attend, as long as you register.

“Through the years we’ve grown the number and types of organizations that take part and retain the groups,” says PTW co-founder, journalist Christopher Wink. “You’ll see everything from a Chamber of Commerce event to a bootstrapping startup event to a burlesque group that’s doing a show using digital technology with Lesbians Who Tech.”

One thing that’s different for 2017: the number of events has been scaled down.

“Last year we had 178 events during a 10-day period and it was just too much,” he remembers. “At the end of December, we announced we were going to cap the number of events at 100 and focus more on quality. So that’s the biggest change.”

While many events are held during regular work hours, Wink says there are events for even the busiest of people.

“If you bump into me on a Wednesday, you’ll see it in my eyes that you can do an event from 7 a.m. until 2 a.m. pretty much every day.” 

And any tips for Philly Tech Week newbies?

“Ask yourself, what do you want to accomplish?” Wink advises. “If you want to network, go to networking events. If you want to get better at coding, go to coding events.”

Philly Tech Week runs from April 28 through May 6.

For more information, visit: phillytechweek.com.