Event Schedule

Our first batch of Sessions for Black Is Tech Conference 2026 is now available. Subject to Changes. We will continue to announce more sessions as they become available. Be on the lookout for future announcements and updates with schedule details.
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  • Day 1

    April 20, 2026

  • Day 2

    April 21, 2026

  • "Agentic AI systems promise autonomous decision-making, task execution, and continuous reasoning—but most implementations struggle to move beyond experimentation. In production, agents must operate within strict boundaries to ensure reliability, security, cost-effectiveness, and accountability. This session explores how to design, deploy, and operate production-grade Agentic AI systems on AWS that deliver measurable business value while remaining observable, controllable, and safe."
    All Things AI
    Engineering
    Workshops
    Where
    Workshop Room 1 @ The Ion Houston

  • As IoT ecosystems and cloud-native platforms scale, traditional security models are proving insufficient against increasingly adaptive threats. This workshop explores how intelligent security architectures, powered by AI and decentralized trust mechanisms, can strengthen resilience across distributed environments. We examine AI-driven malware detection achieving 98% accuracy and reducing mean incident response time by 68%, alongside blockchain-based trust systems that improved latency by 32% and enhanced resistance to insider threats. The session introduces a hybrid framework integrating federated learning, edge AI, adversarial training, and dynamic trust evaluation, highlighting measurable trade-offs in privacy, scalability, and energy efficiency. Attendees will gain practical architectural patterns and implementation guidance for deploying scalable, privacy-aware, and high-performance security systems across modern digital ecosystems.
    Workshops
    Where
    Workshop Room 2 @ The Ion Houston

  • Claude Code is changing how software gets built, and engineers who figure it out early are going to have a real edge over those who don't. This workshop is hands on. You're going to set it up, run it on an actual project, and by the end of the session you'll know how to use it in your day to day workflow to ship products faster. Whether you're early in your career or already deep in it, this is a session instrumental to your career. Come ready to build something."
    Workshops
    Where
    Workshop Room 1 @ The Ion Houston

  • Boardroom-Ready Cloud & AI: A Step-by-Step Executive Communication Framework is a practical workshop for technical leaders who need executive buy-in without drowning stakeholders in details. You’ll learn a repeatable 6-step method to translate cloud/AI work into clear business outcomes, options, tradeoffs, ROI, and risk. Attendees build a “Decision Pack” in real time: a 1-page decision memo, a 1-slide executive summary, and a confident talk track—plus a privacy-first AI drafting workflow to speed preparation.
    Workshops
    Where
    Workshop Room 2 @ The Ion Houston

  • Day 3

    April 22, 2026

  • The future of tech is being shaped in real time — by emerging technologies, bold builders, and the power of community. In this dynamic opening panel, industry leaders will explore what’s next across AI, infrastructure, cybersecurity, and beyond, while unpacking the strategies required to win in a rapidly evolving landscape. From leveraging community as a competitive advantage to building resilient, future-ready organizations, this conversation will set the tone for the conference and challenge attendees to think bigger about their role in shaping what comes next.
    All Things AI
    Career Development
    Community & Tech
    Engineering
    Startups, Founders & Entrepreneurship
    Where
    The Forum Stairs @ The Ion Houston

  • Building a startup is an exercise in managing chaos. In this high-impact session, Sr. ML Engineer and Founder Chanel Power shares the blueprint used to scale the Mentor Me Collective to 40,000+ members. We move beyond the "chatbot" hype to explore the transition from manual "hustle" to self-optimizing business systems. Using MMC as a live case study, you’ll learn how to leverage Google Cloud’s Generative AI framework to automate the 80% of operational heavy lifting, allowing you to focus on the 20% that drives growth. What You’ll Learn: The 80/20 of AI Ops Infrastructure Selection Case Study Gen AI Certification & Exam Voucher
    All Things AI
    Startups, Founders & Entrepreneurship
    Where
    Breakout Room 1 @ The Ion Houston

  • This talk explores how artificial intelligence is reshaping access to careers in tech and how long standing barriers can be deliberately removed. We will challenge myths around traditional tech paths, highlight the skills that actually matter today, and show how learning, tools, and community can level the playing field.
    All Things AI
    Career Development
    Engineering
    Where
    Breakout Room 1 @ The Ion Houston

  • The biggest trap is celebrating a raise over a customer. Pitching opens doors, but strategy keeps them open. Join Kameale Terry to move Beyond the Pitch. Learn to build a real sales pipeline, define your ICP, and leverage government relations to turn a founder’s vision into repeatable revenue.
    Startups, Founders & Entrepreneurship
    Where
    Breakout Room 2 @ The Ion Houston

  • "React Server Components (RSC) promised to solve the hydration gap and eliminate bundle bloat, but they also introduced a steep learning curve and new architectural constraints. As we settle into this new era of React development, it's time to understand some new mechanics. During this session, we'll take a candid look at the state of RSCs today. We'll dissect the technical differences between Server and Client components, examine the performance gains of zero-bundle rendering, and discuss the friction points. Whether you're migrating a legacy codebase or starting fresh, you will leave with a clear understanding of how to leverage RSCs, when to opt out, and how to navigate the new complexities of the React lifecycle. "
    Engineering
    Where
    Breakout Room 3 @ The Ion Houston

  • The entry-level software engineering market is in a state of "Systemic Shock." Graduates are entering a workforce where AI has fundamentally rewritten the rules of the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), yet they are still being trained on a legacy syllabus. While the industry is flooded with AI-generated code, a critical tension has emerged: Nearly 50% of developers do not trust the code AI produces. This trust gap is well-founded. Unchecked AI output is currently generating millions of dollars in Technical Debt, creating architectural collapses that will haunt enterprises for the next decade. In this proprietary session, Aliyah Gibbs—a Fortune 100 leader currently directing a 60,000+ AI-assisted coding initiative—moves past academic theory to reveal the operational reality of engineering in 2026. This is not a "how-to-prompt" workshop; it is a strategic briefing on how to survive the automation of the industry by becoming the "Architect" the market desperately needs.
    All Things AI
    Engineering
    Where
    Breakout Room 1 @ The Ion Houston

  • When AI agents have to execute complex, multi-hop reasoning across interconnected knowledge domains, traditional Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) systems fail. Although vector-based retrieval is very good at finding content that is semantically similar, it is unable to find meaningful connections between related data points, which leads to fragmented insights. In this talk, we will dive into how engineering teams can use GraphRAG and knowledge graphs to ground agents and large language models (LLMs) to uncover connections in enterprise data that are often missed by conventional RAG techniques. Attendees will learn how this improved architecture makes accurate, explainable, and reliable answers to complex business problems, possible.
    All Things AI
    Where
    Breakout Room 2 @ The Ion Houston

  • AI adoption and development is a constantly evolving landscape. With new technologies from your standard chatbot, to agentic and swarm systems, securing AI systems requires a new paradigm. Zero Trust Architecture and AI focused security is poised to protect enterprises as they rapidly adopt non-human intelligence in Enterprise environments. In this session, we'll explore the various AI technologies being adopted, and methods of securing the future.
    All Things AI
    Engineering
    Where
    The Forum Stairs @ The Ion Houston

  • Ensuring ethical and inclusive machine learning during this time is a challenge. In this eye-opening technical talk, we’ll dive into case studies that illustrate the critical need for fairness in machine learning. Through demonstrations, we’ll explore how fairness toolkits can be leveraged to uncover and mitigate societal biases in machine learning models. Attendees will get an insider’s look at the practical techniques used by model practitioners to assess model fairness, diagnose the root causes of unfairness, and implement effective bias mitigation strategies. By the end of the session, the audience will walk away with a toolbox of resources and a new sense of purpose. After this session you should have a starting point for building ethical and accountable models, so don’t miss an opportunity to be a force for positive change."
    All Things AI
    Where
    Breakout Room 1 @ The Ion Houston

  • Many people in tech work closely with complex systems without directly building or owning them. This talk explores how technical fluency develops from that position: through proximity, observation, and collaboration rather than code ownership. Drawing from my experience across roles at Goldman Sachs, Visa, and Ramp, I’ll share what it looks like to understand system behavior, constraints, and tradeoffs while working alongside large-scale and regulated technology. The session focuses on how engineering-adjacent roles can deepen technical skills responsibly: learning what to pay attention to, how to ask better technical questions, and how to reason about systems with limited access. It also addresses growth in the era of AI and why relying on AI tools as shortcuts can stall real understanding, emphasizing how to use AI intentionally as a learning aid rather than a replacement for technical thinking. Rather than positioning technical depth as something reserved for those who write code, this talk reframes it as a skill built over time through exposure, curiosity, and disciplined learning. Attendees will leave with practical guidance for growing technical fluency and developing durable, transferable technical skills without skipping foundational understanding.
    Career Development
    Where
    Breakout Room 2 @ The Ion Houston

  • This panel explores Physical AI as the next logical step beyond chat-based systems. We will look at how world models, sensors, robotics, and embodied systems are coming together to allow AI to perceive, reason about, and act in the real world. Rather than focusing on a single technology, the talk maps the broader landscape of Physical AI, from simulation and digital twins to autonomous systems and real-world decision-making. The goal is to help the audience understand what Physical AI actually is, why it matters now, and how these technologies are beginning to reshape industries well beyond software.
    Where
    The Forum Stairs @ The Ion Houston

  • Legacy monoliths carry technical debt, tight coupling, and infrastructure lock‑in that limit cloud‑native adoption. This session shows how containerization transforms these systems into modular, scalable architectures using OpenShift and Kubernetes. We’ll cover strategies for decomposing workloads, isolating dependencies, orchestrating containers, and deploying across hybrid clouds with Helm. Learn how containers accelerate delivery, improve portability, automate scaling, and optimize resource usage to drive digital competitiveness
    Engineering
    Where
    Breakout Room 2 @ The Ion Houston

  • The role of the Product Manager is being rewritten in real time. In 2026, the most impactful PMs aren't just writing requirements and waiting on engineering sprints — they're building. With AI-powered development tools and advanced prompt engineering, a single product leader can go from business problem to working prototype in hours, not quarters. But there's a growing gap between AI that looks great in a pitch deck and AI that survives contact with real users, real constraints, and real stakeholders. This session bridges that gap. I've built AI from both sides — as co-founder and CEO of Paperade AI, where we took a decision intelligence platform through Techstars '24 and secured a Cooperative R&D Agreement with the NSA, and as a Senior AI Product Manager at Stanley Black & Decker, where shipping means navigating a 48,000-person global enterprise. I'll share unfiltered lessons from both worlds: how to identify the right use cases, design human-in-the-loop workflows, evaluate outputs before they reach users, and build trust with stakeholders who didn't ask for AI. Attendees will leave with a practical framework for scoping and shipping AI features, a lightweight evaluation checklist, and a clear understanding of why the most important AI skill in 2026 isn't technical — it's translation. Whether you're a PM, founder, engineer, or career-switcher, this session gives you tools you can use Monday morning.
    All Things AI
    Product & Project Management
    Where
    Breakout Room 1 @ The Ion Houston

  • The workforce is evolving into a dynamic partnership between people and their AI counterparts. This session explores that evolution, examining the interplay between the growing capabilities of AI and our own shifting expectations of technology. We will delve into what an 'agentic teammate' is and explore the critical shift in job roles from being a software 'user' to an 'AI Orchestrator.' By demystifying the 'Human-in-the-Loop' model, we will define the distinct responsibilities of both humans and agents in this new collaboration. The discussion will highlight why skills like creativity and strategic thinking are more valuable than ever, providing a framework for building true 'Agentic Literacy' and using it to architect a career that evolves with AI. This session is for anyone looking to understand the human-agent workforce. The talk will conclude with a Q&A, so come with questions!
    All Things AI
    Career Development
    Where
    Breakout Room 1 @ The Ion Houston

  • Day 4

    April 23, 2026

  • In this talk, we’ll understand how AI works by exploring the infrastructure that powers it, with a focus on small language models (SLMs) and the GPUs that make them possible. We’ll dive into why GPU demand is skyrocketing, what’s driving their scarcity, and why they are far better suited for AI workloads than traditional CPUs. From massive data-center LLMs to small models running on phones and edge devices, we’ll show how AI scales and adapts across hardware. Audience will leave with a small hands-on exercise to run a Small language model on their personal mobile device. Attendees will leave having run a small language model on their own mobile device through a guided hands-on exercise.
    All Things AI
    Where
    Breakout Room 2 @ The Ion Houston

  • AI is reshaping every industry, but the rules governing it remain fragmented, contested, and often invisible to the people most affected. This panel cuts through the noise to examine who's actually setting the agenda — governments, corporations, or the public — and what's at stake when those interests collide. From federal legislation to corporate ethics frameworks to grassroots advocacy, panelists will explore the gap between AI policy as written and AI policy as lived, and what it takes to build governance that's both technically sound and fundamentally just.
    All Things AI
    Community & Tech
    Where
    The Forum Stairs @ The Ion Houston

  • The way we work in tech is transforming—roles, responsibilities, and opportunities are shifting in real time. This session explores how tech professionals can architect their careers for the future of work, balancing technical skills, adaptability, and strategic thinking to succeed in an AI-driven and dynamic industry.
    Career Development
    Where
    The Forum Stairs @ The Ion Houston

  • PyTorch has evolved from a research-focused deep learning framework at Meta into the backbone of modern AI development. In this talk, Joseph shares insights from his experience building AI infrastructure at Meta and supporting the systems that power today’s most influential tools. We explore PyTorch’s journey to becoming the standard for training and deploying large-scale systems, including code generation tools like GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, and OpenAI Codex. These frameworks also support modern AI environments like Cursor and assistants like ChatGPT and Claude. Attendees will gain a deep understanding of the engineering decisions, infrastructure, and open-source collaboration required to scale these systems. Discover how PyTorch became the essential framework behind the AI-assisted software development landscape, enabling the tools that developers use to write code every day.
    All Things AI
    Engineering
    Where
    Breakout Room 2 @ The Ion Houston

  • In this talk, we’ll explore how keeping people closely involved in AI-supported design work leads to better stories, better decisions, and ultimately better products for real humans. Rather than asking computers to decide what matters, we’ll look at how UX Designers use AI as a helpful assistant to solve complex business goals. We’ll walk through simple, concrete examples of how watching people use products, listening carefully to their words, and noticing the small details can completely change how we read the same charts or summaries an AI tool might produce. Throughout the session, the focus stays on the human skills that make the biggest difference—curiosity, empathy, and thoughtful judgment—and how those skills can guide AI so that the work feels grounded, responsible, and genuinely useful.
    All Things AI
    Where
    Breakout Room 2 @ The Ion Houston

  • Healthcare is entering a new era driven by data, AI, and intelligent systems. This session explores the shift from traditional clinical software to technology platforms that enable smarter diagnostics, personalized care, and more efficient health systems. We’ll discuss how emerging technologies are transforming healthcare delivery—and why technologists, founders, and innovators should pay close attention to the opportunities ahead.
    All Things AI
    Community & Tech
    Where
    The Forum Stairs @ The Ion Houston

  • Most organizations are surrounded by data locked inside systems that were never designed to work together. This session explores how modern AI is making it possible to interact with data conversationally and connect systems that have traditionally been difficult or impossible to integrate. We will look at how teams are using AI to bridge gaps between tools, reason across disconnected information, and turn fragmented data into something usable and actionable. Attendees will leave with a clearer understanding of how AI moves beyond chat to become a connective layer across systems, workflows, and knowledge.
    All Things AI
    Engineering
    Where
    Breakout Room 1 @ The Ion Houston

  • As enterprises move from simple chat assistants to fully agentic systems, a new challenge is emerging: agentic sprawl. Organizations are rapidly deploying AI agents connected to overlapping tools, APIs, and workflows, often without clear ownership, governance, or security boundaries. At the same time, SaaS platforms and solution providers are introducing their own agents, creating an ecosystem in which multiple agents perform similar tasks and compete to execute actions. In this session, I will explore how enterprises can design governed agent ecosystems by clearly defining agent scopes, managing tool access, and introducing architectural patterns such as agent registries and decision boundaries. Attendees will learn practical approaches for scaling agentic AI securely while maintaining clarity, trust, and operational control across enterprise systems.
    All Things AI
    Where
    Breakout Room 2 @ The Ion Houston

  • What does it really take to scale an idea into a venture-backed company, especially in one of the most complex industries in the world? Nimbus Aerospace CEO Adrian Groos and CTO Akim Niyonzima share how a single LinkedIn connection evolved into a funded aerospace company at the intersection of AI, sustainable aviation, and advanced engineering. As one of the few Black-owned aerospace companies globally, the Nimbus Aerospace journey offers a rare behind-the-scenes look at building credibility, capital, and cutting-edge technology in a highly regulated, capital-intensive industry. This session breaks down the path from idea to prototype, securing over $1M in funding, and developing hybrid-electric aircraft models - while showing how innovation, representation, and community impact can scale together.
    Community & Tech
    Startups, Founders & Entrepreneurship
    Where
    The Forum Stairs @ The Ion Houston

  • Black innovation is not underfunded because of a lack of talent or ambition. It is underfunded because readiness is rarely defined, measured, or built intentionally. In this session, I break down the Readiness Gap and how investors evaluate market fit, business model, traction, and team strength. Attendees will leave with a practical framework to identify gaps, strengthen their business model and traction, and become investment-ready with clarity and confidence.
    Career Development
    Startups, Founders & Entrepreneurship
    Where
    Breakout Room 1 @ The Ion Houston

  • "You scaled to $1M on scrappiness. Now you're at $2M–$5M ARR—and those same moves are creating chaos. You're the bottleneck. Revenue is up, margin is flat. Welcome to the messy middle. This workshop exposes the 5 operational traps that sabotage Seed–Series A founders—and the exact systems to escape them. Drawing from 100+ scaling journeys and $30M+ in collective client revenue, you'll run the SCALE diagnostic, identify your top 3 sources of operational debt using the GEAR framework, and map your 3 critical handoff moments in sales, delivery, and decision-making. No theory. No ""hire a VP of everything."" Just live pattern recognition from founders navigating this stage right now—distilled into frameworks you can use Monday morning. Leave with clarity."
    Startups, Founders & Entrepreneurship
    Where
    Breakout Room 2 @ The Ion Houston

  • Emerging technologies are redefining how financial systems operate and who they serve. This session explores how fintech, AI, and digital platforms are expanding access to capital, investment opportunities, and wealth-building tools. We’ll discuss how these innovations can empower Black professionals, entrepreneurs, and communities to build stronger financial futures and create new pathways for long-term economic growth and generational wealth.
    Community & Tech
    Where
    The Forum Stairs @ The Ion Houston

  • "Accessibility as Engineering- Research to Reality: Prototyping Assistive Tech that works for everyone  How do we design accessibility tools that don’t just work in the lab—but in life? This session examines the intersection of human-computer interaction, perception, and rehabilitation robotics, drawing from projects like my eye-gaze tracker and spatial audio navigation toolkit for blind and low-vision users. I’ll discuss how rapid prototyping, participatory design, and field testing reveal the hidden emotional and sensory layers of assistive technology. This talk is for researchers, designers, and engineers looking to make inclusive design both practical and scalable."
    Community & Tech
    Where
    Breakout Room 2 @ The Ion Houston

  • This Session details the rising practice and operational framework of FinOps (Financial DevOps) and the journey that many companies and Government Entities go on to continually optimize and shift cloud operations. As a framework, FinOps serves as an enablement tool for engineers to monitor and understand the impacts of their architectures, and as a method for C-Suite executives to access the cost, usage, and overall business intelligence needed to make enterprise-scale decisions. Over the short seven years it's been growing, FinOps has gained even more acceleration after being absorbed by the Linux Foundation and has since expanded to cover not just cloud but all technology, especially AI.
    All Things AI
    Engineering
    Where
    Breakout Room 1 @ The Ion Houston

  • Day 5

    April 24, 2026