Activate conference – Description
The Activate Conference is an exciting 4-day event that brings together people who love technology, especially Search and Artificial Intelligence (AI). It is one of the biggest meetings in the world for people who work with Solr (a super-fast search engine) and AI.
This year the conference happened from Monday, September 9th (for 4 days).
What kind of topics do they talk about?
Some of the cool things people learned about:
- How to build better search engines
- Chatbots and virtual assistants (like the voice that answers questions on your phone)
- Using AI and Machine Learning
- Making online shopping and websites work better
- How search can understand feelings and emotions!
Who comes to this conference?
Hundreds of smart people from big companies like:
- Salesforce
- Uber
- Airbnb
- Bloomberg
- Lucidworks
One of the speakers was Angel Maldonado. He gave a very interesting talk called “Morphological Search”. He asked big questions like:
- What makes a search feel “good”?
- Can a search engine actually make us feel happy, surprised, or calm?
- Can we build a search that changes its look and style depending on how the user feels?
Why is this conference special?
- You learn new things about the newest technology.
- You meet new people – great for making friends and future job connections.
- You get inspired to create things that can help the world.
Different kinds of “Activate” conferences
There are a few events called “Activate”. Here are the main ones:
- Lucidworks Activate → about Search and AI (the one we are talking about)
- Iterable Activate Summit → about marketing and talking to customers
- UBC Activate → a leadership conference for students who want to become leaders
This year’s big idea
“Empowering Innovation for a Sustainable Tomorrow” That means using new technology to help the planet and make the world better for everyone.
Why should you care (even in Grade 9)?
The things talked about at Activate (AI, search, chatbots) are the same tools that power:
- TikTok and YouTube recommendations
- Google and Siri
- Online shopping suggestions
- Games and apps you use every day
Learning about them now helps you understand the future and maybe even create the next big app one day!
In short: Activate Conference = Where smart people meet to make search and AI cooler, kinder, and better for the world.