Earlier this year DevTalks started a collaboration with IT Arena, the largest tech event in Ukraine. We shared the same passion for IT and the eagerness to find out more about each other as IT communities. Visiting another IT conference, meeting IT professionals from different parts of the world and getting new insights was a great experience so here is what DevTalks did at IT Arena 2017.

IT Arena took place from the 29^th of September to the 1^st of October in Lviv, Ukraine. This year, the conference gathered 2,300 participants at Arena Lviv Stadium, together with amazing speakers from the world’s leading companies, top management of Ukrainian and foreign IT companies, local and international media representatives, investors, startups, IT experts and IT students.

What DevTalks experienced at IT Arena?

Fresh insights

Like in any other conference focused on the content, the Agenda brought many key leaders and speakers from the IT industry on the stages. The first day was about How to build awesome product teams, What will be the next truly revolutionary technological development in healthtech, or The Future of 3D Biofabrication.

The conference continued in the second day with another inspiring topics on Business, Technology and Product.

Alexander Nix, CEO at Cambridge Analytica, introduced Big Data’s approach to electoral and commercial campaigns. Cambridge Analytica shows that technology and scientific research affect each and every one of us, because – according to Alexander Nix – the huge amounts of Data allows to understand groups and individuals better, and therefore, predict their next step. Behavioral Science, Big Data and targeting are used by Cambridge Analytica in their projects and have been proven successful.

“We use Big Data to better understand audiences. The right messages really can change people’s behavior”.  – Alexander Nix

On the Business Stage, Mike Butcher, Editor-at-Large at TechCrunch, demonstrated how businesses start to use Artificial Intelligence and how it is already changing our lives, the way we live and the space we live in.

Next, Rachel Sibley from Leap Motion talked on the Technology stream about Virtual and Augmented Reality. Allan Grant, talked about his personal failures on the way to success on the Business Stage, and Jock Busuttil and Martin Ericksson joined the Product Stage with insights on Product Management.

„You should be able to change your product. If you cannot change the product, there’s no point in learning” – an impressive lecture by Jock Busuttil

„People think that in order to have a good product you need from the start a perfect blend between the client, technology and business. But it’s not always like this. You need a team with talent mix.” – Martin Ericksson about Product Management

The vibe of a great IT community

Apart from the talks, IT Arena gathered a great community of IT professionals passionate about what they do and willing to learn and give back what they know. We really liked to see that there is a lot of energy and eagerness to inspire and contribute to the growth of what’s coming next in technology, business, product management, and not only.

Fun & Networking

We consider that the main key ingredient for a strong community of IT professionals is the networking. Exchaging ideas, staying up to date with what’s new, making new connections, inspiring an being inspired by other is an important process of growing as an individual and not only. The fun and networking did not miss from IT Arena and we got the chance to meet people from different parts of the world, with different perspectives and ideas that maybe one day can change the world. And that is the beauty of being part of an IT community!