On October 12th, I'll be attending Evolve 2022 in NYC. Truly the data event to end all data events, the intimate one-day event is hosted by industry luminaries Cloudera, IBM and Intel. While I should disclose that I will be one of the featured speakers at the event, believe me when I say that I would be there regardless. The event will be a who's who of data leaders and enthusiasts focused on digital, analytics, innovation and digital transformation, spanning industries including but not limited to financial services, insurance, retail, communications and manufacturing. Come to Evolve 2022 for curated sessions, thought-provoking keynotes, peer-to-peer discussions and plenty of personal networking. Leave with new knowledge, professional connections and, hopefully, inspiration to implement a transformative data strategy at your own business. I recently hosted Hannah Smalltree, Senior Director at Cloudera, on my Insider Podcast. I learned more about the upcoming event, the world of data today and how her company fits into it. She brought a wealth of knowledge to our conversation from her long history of working in the data world as a tech reporter and editor. I'd like to share some of that here today. 

While not super well-known outside of the data world, Cloudera is one of the world's top enterprise data platform companies. In my estimation, it is the only game in town for end-to-end data management across hybrid, multi-cloud and on-prem. Beyond simply gathering and storing data, Cloudera's platform seeks to quickly and easily analyze data. Moreover, it tracks and secures this data across all an organization's environments.

Smalltree first noticed data science's potential as a competitive differentiator while working as a tech reporter. In my capacity as a tech analyst, I've also seen how the companies with the most comprehensive data strategies seem to be pulling ahead of the pack. Unlocking the power of data analytics is a crucial tenant of a successful digital transformation. Yet, as Smalltree noted, it's not always the most accessible topic to talk about in print.

This brings us to what the hosts are trying to do with Evolve: put together a live, in-person event expressly for the data people: the Chief Data Officers, heads of analytics, aspiring Chief Data Officers, lead data scientists, senior VPs and others in data leadership roles. Evolve 2022 seeks to bring all these data visionaries together to discuss making the data-driven enterprise a reality—how to get things done, how to design flexible architectures, how to leverage AI, how to drive data culture, how to harness real-time data and how to find and retain data talent. In Smalltree's words, it's "a little bit less about demos and code and more about how people leverage technology and mobilize lots of resources to deliver outcomes."

I cover countless conferences and events every year, so believe me when I say that Evolve 2022 looks like it will be a one-of-kind, can't-miss experience for anyone in the world of data science. It's not the only conference with data at the center—the old Strata Data Conference comes to mind—but it will be smaller and more intimate than any other event related to data and analytics I'm aware of. Forget about the giant Expo halls and the inscrutable technical sessions. According to Smalltree, this smaller format will allow attendees to connect and talk more in-depth about design concepts, best practices and leadership skills around data and analytics. The event will still offer many illuminating speaker sessions—Josh Wardle, the software engineer who created the massively popular Wordle word puzzle, for one. However, Smalltree says Evolve is just as much about having a conversation with the person sitting next to you about what is going on with data in their organization.

My favorite events are always the smaller ones, where you get to rub shoulders with company leaders and share stories and experiences with fellow industry folk. It's something I have missed a lot over the last several years as the pandemic forced most events to go virtual. The fact is, you learn and connect in a different way face-to-face. While we're lucky to have the tools to attend events virtually when it is too difficult to make the trip in person, there's nothing like the real thing. If you're a data fanatic like me and only attend one event in person this year, you'd be wise to make it Evolve 2022. I'll see you there. You can sign up here.

Note: Moor Insights & Strategy writers and editors may have contributed to this article.