The future of events is shifting towards more personalized and curated connections rather than large gatherings for the sake of it.

In today’s email:

• Silicon Slopes CEO Clint Betts: How events have changed in the past decade

• AI Community Roundtable: Join us in a community roundtable discussion on Utah and the future of AI

• Friday Conversation: Hear from Joey Albertson, Founder & CEO of Bookflow

🎙️ Recent interviews: Listen or watch our latest interviews with the following:

• Savory Fund CEO Andrew Smith

• Bad Bet Productions CEO Kyle Deever

• Paramify CEO Kenny Scott

☎️ Upcoming interviews: We will soon interview the following CEOs and leaders. Click on their names below to submit a question.

• Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute Director Natalie Gochnour

• First Colony Mortgage CEO Carine Clark

• Kiln CEO Arian Lewis

CEO LETTER

How events have changed in the past decade

by Clint Betts

In 2014, there were few startup and tech events in Utah. While you could find one, they weren't nearly as ubiquitous as they are today. Our community needed more events — both large and small — tailored to tech entrepreneurs and companies.

Mission accomplished.

We could have hung that banner in 2020. In fact, I’m not sure we fully appreciate how fortunate we are to have so many organizations, companies, and leaders willing to unite our community.

Events are hard — super, super hard.

And let’s not stop hosting and creating more! Silicon Slopes isn’t slowing down (quick plug for our 9th annual Summit coming up in January).

After organizing hundreds, if not thousands, of events over the past decade, the one piece of feedback I’ve received most often is the need for deeper and more curated connections. Given our community’s rapid growth, this is an interesting challenge.

I’ve been inspired by community-first events like Tacos Together and Burger Club. At Silicon Slopes, we’ve created similar opportunities for deeper connections through things like Corner Table and Dirty Soda Club.

The positive feedback we've received for Corner Table has been unlike anything we've experienced before. In partnership with Edison House, we carefully curate monthly world-class lunch experiences tailored specifically for 12 leaders. Each month, you have the opportunity to have lunch with 11 different people. I've been amazed by the connections and deals that have already come out of this.

We need events of all shapes and sizes, but the trend seems to be shifting towards a more curated approach, leading to stronger relationships. This feels like a positive development.

FEATURED EVENT

Upcoming Events

Chapter Events

Salt Lake City Chapter | Scale The Outdoors - Tech Leaders Summit | August 8th @ 5 PM

Women in Leadership Chapter | Coffee Connection | August 9th @ 8:30 AM

Agile Chapter | Practitioners Lab | August 13th @ 11:30 AM

Box Elder County Chapter | From Founder to Future - Business Succession, Selling, and the Exit | August 13th @ 5:30 PM

Finance Chapter | Advanced Tax Strategies for Founders | August 28th @ 11 AM

Community Events

Salt Lake City HubSpot User Group | August Meetup | August 7th @ 11 AM

AI Revenue Summit | August 14th @ 9 AM

Utah VC | Utah Angel Forum with TrackFly | August 21st @ 3 PM