back to blog

Celebrating 10 Years of Innotech Austin: Q&A with Executive Director Sean Lowry

Can you smell it? HT Staffing’s freshly popped popcorn will again permeate the exhibit hall October 16, 2013, for one of our favorite conferences of the year: InnoTech Austin. Our technical recruiters, temporary staffing specialists and executive recruiters will hold court at Booth 317 to meet and offer help to clients, prospective clients and others in the Austin tech community.

This year marks the 10th anniversary for the conference in which education, innovation, peer-to-peer networking and the latest technology and business solutions collide. The 2013 keynote focuses on the cloud, as Microsoft’s Chief Technology Officer of Worldwide Services Norman Judah addresses perception versus insight when it comes to cloud and cloud technology.

As the event draws near, we had the rare opportunity to catch up with InnoTech Executive Director Sean Lowry for his thoughts on the conference’s past, future, and why he’s one of Austin’s biggest fans. Here’s what he had to say.

What does this 10-year anniversary of InnoTech Austin mean to you? Very few events make it past year two, so successfully producing InnoTech Austin for 10 years is a dream come true. This event would not be possible without the culture and drive of the people in Austin.  They make this event a success; our company is just in the background working through the details.

I enjoy producing InnoTech and enjoy the people in Austin. I have made some amazing friends and business relationships over the 10 years. The significance for me is more personal than business.  In fact, my 9-year-old son is named Austin in celebration of this city and InnoTech.

What’s InnoTech’s future?  I am told the conference has become a must-attend event for technology professionals in Austin. It is a pleasure to see people meet up once a year and stay engaged in the community.  The quality of the conference continues to rise and will remain a focus of growth and improvement. Technology events come and go in Austin, but InnoTech remains and will return in 2014.

The great thing about InnoTech is that it changes just a little bit each year. Last year, we created the Women in Tech Summit that drew 230 female technology professionals. This year, we will present the first Collegiate IT Summit.  What will happen next year and where technology will take us remains to be seen.

What do you personally love about attending InnoTech Austin? I love traveling from my home in Portland, Oregon, to Austin each and every time.  Austin is like a vacation destination for me while I am working.  The InnoTech Advisory Council has committed countless hours to creating a fantastic conference full of nationally recognized speakers and great education for a fraction of the national conference price. And most InnoTech conference participants only have to drive a few miles and pay a nominal fee for such a great opportunity.

Sign up today, pay us a visit at Booth 317, and let us know how InnoTech Austin has impacted your career. Here’s to another great decade to come!