CTO Craft Con

CTO Craft Con: Culture and the CTO, Unleashing the Power of People

7-8 November 2023 | Tobacco Dock, London

‘CTO Craft Con was the best conference I’ve been to. The range of speakers, the varied format, the great organisation and facilitation, and the location all made it a great event. I’ve attended 2 or 3 virtual CTO Craft conferences, but by virtue of being in person, this one felt that bit more engaging.’

Rien Sach, CTO at Aptem

Over 250 tech leaders attended our first in-person CTO Craft Con in May this year, and the feedback has been exceptional.

But, ever the perfectionists, we asked for input from attendees on how we could improve future events. So, here’s a quick overview of what we’re putting in place for our November conference:

Timings:

We’ve adjusted the schedule for a later start on both conference days to give you ample time to arrive and settle in comfortably. It will also allow extra time for icebreaker and networking sessions before the conference starts.

Networking:

We’ll introduce more structured networking sessions and offer intimate workshops for small group discussions. This will provide you with more opportunities to connect with like-minded professionals.

More talks, fewer panels:

In November, we’ve allocated more time for punchy presentations focusing on delivering key takeaways and valuable insights for the November agenda. We have also made more space for the Community Showcase sessions (more on that to come). 

And this is just the start. As the event grows, we will look to implement more of your feedback to make sure we provide you with the best experience possible. 

WE ONLY HAVE A FEW SUPER EARLY BIRD TICKETS REMAINING. GET YOUR’S NOW BEFORE THEY SELL OUT AND THE PRICE GOES UP.

What to expect in November? 

CTO Craft Con returns in November 2023 to unite 250 Chief Technology Officers and senior technology and engineering leaders from the most exciting startup, scaleup, unicorn and big tech companies to explore the organisational culture issues that determine their success. 

Our list of expert speakers is growing, and soon we’ll be able to communicate the full agenda of the confirmed industry leaders who will share their insights and experience with you over two days. Here’s a flavour of some of the amazing leaders speaking in keynotes, panels or fireside chats:

  • Jasper Schulte, Director of Engineering, Booking.com
  • Giorgos Ampavis, VP of Engineering, Tide
  • Sophie Davies-Patrick, CTO, MPB
  • Sally Lait, Director of Engineering – Safety & Integrity, Bumble
  • Nadia Alramli, VP of Engineering, Hubspot
  • James Stanier, Director of Engineering, Shopify
  • Dan Blundell, Director of Engineering, Gymshark
  • Ankur Sharma, CPTO, Perkbox
  • Serge Kruppa, CTO, Sylvera

Join us for a deep-dive exploration of cultural best practices in a dedicated and exclusive environment with your peers. Informed by our membership of over 10,000 global tech leaders, you will learn from the collective wisdom of the tech community.

Tackle your most pertinent cultural challenges with fellow tech leaders and return to the office with fresh ideas, perspectives and connections that will enable you to create a high-performing culture in your organisation.

Plus, our Call for Papers submissions are now closed! Thank you so much to everyone who has taken the time to submit their talk. We’ve had almost 100 entries, and we’ll spend the next few weeks developing a shortlist which will be reviewed by our Creative Committee. Everyone will be contacted the week commencing 28th August. 

Key themes for Culture and the CTO

  • Psychological safety
  • Accountability and ownership
  • Diversity, equity and inclusion
  • Conflict resolution
  • Ethics
  • Building a growth mindset
  • Developing resilience 
  • Increasing team trust
  • Good and bad conflict
  • Rewards and incentives
  • Building collaboration and teamwork
  • Dealing with different working styles
  • Remote and hybrid team cultures
  • Inter and intra-team communication

So, join our Community for the next CTO Craft Con to gain the all-round conference experience of insights from industry leaders and networking and knowledge sharing with engineering peers and CTOs. Don’t miss your super early bird ticket; register here now.

Here’s a snapshot of what some of our past attendees said about the May CTO Craft Con:

‘One of the best tech conferences for CTOs – especially considering the tight focus and specific content for growth of CTOs.’

Sanford Dickert, C-Suite, technical/product leader

‘CTO Craft Con was a fantastic event. Super-well organised, cool venue and wide range of interesting topics and speakers! I learned a lot!’

Tobi Tonner, Founder at Workband, technology leader, mentor and coach 

‘Really good range of speakers and topics! There’s something for everyone, whether you’re from a small start-up or a large-scale business. Great to be in a space with so many like-minded individuals solving the same problems.’

Jen Beattie, Head of Engineering, Give Panel

‘CTO Craft Con is a great experience to surround yourself with innovative leaders. It is an unrivalled sense of camaraderie. It’s not just a conference; it’s an immersion in a supportive and nurturing community that uplifts and encourages you every step of the way. Whether you’re a seasoned leader or new to the space, you’ll feel a sense of belonging and inclusion that will fuel your learning and propel you forward.’

Nic Goodall, Head Of Engineering at Learnerbly 

‘As a tech leader, you can often feel limited in the people you can speak to within your organisations, especially in smaller start-ups/scale-ups. CTO Craft is a great community that gives you access to tech leaders of all experiences and events like #ctocraftcon gives you exposure to topics and relevant insights that you can take back to your day-to-day roles and teams. A great event I would definitely recommend.’

Neil Williams, Head of Technology at ActiveQuote 

‘Thank you very much for this event and for bringing us together! It was a blast. CTO Craft community is awesome!’

Max Orlovsky, Head of Engineering at Chiliz & Socios.com

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Remember, our first in-person CTO Craft Con was a sell-out, and we have just a few Super Early Bird tickets remaining. Once those have sold, the price will jump up, so don’t leave it too late.

If you’re not a member of the free CTO Craft Community, what are you waiting for? With over 10,000 global technology leader members, you’ll get exclusive access to Slack channels, conference insights and updates and other valuable content. 

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