Conference Insights: Thoughts from our 2026 Tech Conference

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Welcome.

You're listening to another episode of PodSent, the series where we discuss some of the best ideas coming out of Deutsche Bank Research.

My name is Matt Barnard, Director of U.S. Equity Research here at Deutsche Bank.

Just a few weeks ago, at the end of August, we hosted our annual tech conference in Dana Point, California.

The conference was a great way to kick off what will be a very busy sprint into the end of the year.

This year's conference featured nearly one hundred companies from across all the key tech sectors, including software, hardware, semis, internet, data networking, payments, IT services, and many more.

And no surprise, AI was the center of most conversations, with the overall tone for management teams remaining positive, both around how AI is impacting their top lines as well as their bottom line.

To help us unpack some of the key themes discussed at the conference, with me today is Brad Zelnick, Melissa Withers, Gianmarco Conti, and Nate Svenson.

We have a lot to discuss today, so let's dive right in.

Brad, let's start with you.

What were some of the key takeaways from the conference in your view?