How to Host
Follow the official host playbook for event ideas, submission requirements, Partiful setup, marketing, guestlist management, content capture, and support resources.
New host information is added regularly, so check back for updates. For event questions, email support@tech-week.com.
Tech Week 2026 dates
Boston
May 26–31, 2026
Deadline: April 17, 2026 at 5pm PT
Submissions closed
New York
June 1–7, 2026
Deadline: April 17, 2026 at 5pm PT
Submissions closed
San Francisco
October 5–11, 2026
Deadline: August 21, 2026 at 5pm PT
Submissions closed
Los Angeles
October 12–18, 2026
Deadline: August 21, 2026 at 5pm PT
Submissions closed
Everything one click away
Submit your event proposal
Start with a clear event idea, then submit it through the official host form. The Tech Week team reviews proposals and approved events are marketed under the Tech Week umbrella and listed on the official calendar.
- Each host can submit up to four events.
- Earlier submissions give the team more time to review and approve your event.
- Late submissions can be sent after the deadline, but approval is not guaranteed and depends on capacity, calendar availability, event quality, operational bandwidth, and remaining promotion time.
Choose a strong event format
Any event type can work when the audience and purpose are clear. The strongest events create a specific reason to attend and feel useful, memorable, or newsworthy for the Tech Week community.
Speaker panel
Curate a sharp topic and moderate a focused discussion, such as how to fundraise in 2026 from three top founders.
Happy hour
A lightweight way to gather a specific audience, such as fintech founders, AI builders, or product leaders.
Breakfast, lunch, or dinner
Best for invite-only or smaller groups where the goal is a more intimate conversation.
Experiential event
Community-building formats like tournaments, tastings, cruises, creative workshops, or other memorable activities.
- Hackathons where engineers, researchers, and developers leave with something they built.
- High-quality speaker panels with CEOs, senior executives, successful founders, talent, public figures, or other standout voices.
- Newsworthy moments such as product launches, financing announcements, or major executive announcements.
- Founder-focused activations such as fundraising events, demo days, and hackathons.
- Investor-led events for LP, seed, and angel communities.
- City-specific formats that feel native to SF or LA, such as builder sessions in SF or media, entertainment, gaming, wellness, defense, and hard-tech gatherings in LA.
If you combine a panel, fireside chat, or keynote with a mixer, run the content first and the networking second. It is much harder to quiet the room down once guests are already mid-conversation.
- Build in more audience Q&A time than you think you need.
- Use the panel to create shared context, then let guests continue the conversation during the mixer.
Pick a location, day, and time
You can host in any neighborhood, but central event hotspots usually create stronger density, better attendance, and lower attrition.
Boston
Back Bay, Seaport, Kendall Square
New York
SoHo, TriBeCa, Flatiron, Union Square
San Francisco
SOMA/Mission, FiDi, Marina. Avoid East Bay, South Bay, and the Peninsula when possible.
Los Angeles
Westside, primarily Santa Monica and Venice
Select the day and time that works best for your audience and format. Close-out events often perform better on Fridays than Sundays. Panels, mixers, meals, workshops, and founder gatherings can work on any day with the right audience and promotion plan.
LA events can stand out when they draw from local strengths like media, entertainment, gaming, consumer, wellness, defense, American dynamism, El Segundo hard tech, or beach and outdoor culture. SF events often shine when they lean into builders, AI, developer tools, startups, and investor density.
Set up your Tech Week event on Partiful
Partiful is the only official events platform this year. To be listed on the official Tech Week calendar, create your event with the Tech Week Partiful template and submit your proposal through the host form. Events listed on another platform may be removed from the calendar.
Partiful is where you manage RSVPs, screen attendees, and communicate with guests before and during your event.
Create your Partiful before submitting, use that link in the host form, and treat the page as the source of truth for your calendar listing. Your date, time, title, and description can be rough at submission time; update Partiful later and the calendar will sync.
Partiful requirements
- Create the event with the Tech Week Partiful template so required settings are turned on.
- Include #[City]TechWeek at the end of the event title, such as #SFTechWeek or #LATechWeek.
- Write at least one paragraph of event description, with a minimum of three sentences.
- Include the proposed start and end time.
- List only the neighborhood at first. Share the exact address with confirmed attendees closer to the event.
- Use Tech Week branding in your event graphic. Do not use the a16z logo unless a16z is directly involved.
- Keep the required filtering questions so you can screen and approve attendees.
- Use the Tech Week template so Tech Week is added as a co-host.
Invite-only events
Invite-only events still need a Partiful link. Create the Partiful, turn on required approval, and approve only the invited guests you want in the room.
Paid or ticketed events
Partiful supports ticketed events. Review Partiful ticketing for setup details, ticket tiers, promo codes, sales tracking, payouts, and check-in tools.
VIEW PARTIFUL TICKETING ↗For Partiful platform issues only, such as bug reports, account issues, or template setup problems, email techweek@partiful.com. For general event questions, email support@tech-week.com.
Market your event
As the host, you are responsible for marketing and filling your event. Tech Week helps by featuring approved events on the official calendar and coordinating launch visibility, but your own community, email list, social channels, and co-host networks will drive the strongest turnout.
How Tech Week helps
- Approved events appear on the official Tech Week calendar.
- Calendar launch visibility gives hosts a shared moment for promotion.
- Select approved events may also be highlighted through Tech Week channels.
What hosts should do
- Promote to your own audience before relying on the public calendar.
- Use the Brand Kit for logos, assets, and marketing materials.
- Coordinate with co-hosts so every partner posts around key launch moments.
- Ask every speaker and co-host to post from personal accounts.
- Personal LinkedIn and X posts usually outperform company-page posts.
- Use Social Cards for speaker, host, and attendee announcements.
- Consider creating a LinkedIn Event and pointing RSVPs back to your Partiful page.
- Keep marketing after approval with reminders, speaker updates, final event details, and day-of notes.
Manage RSVPs and account for attrition
Free Tech Week events regularly see 50–70%+ no-shows. Approve 2–3× your room capacity to land a full room.
Communicate RSVP status
- Approve qualified applicants within seven days of application.
- Reject unqualified applicants quickly so they can apply for other events.
- Remember that denied applicants are not notified automatically. Download the CSV if you want to contact them directly.
- Send weekly reminders leading up to the event and daily reminders during Tech Week.
- Ask guests to confirm whether they can attend so your headcount stays realistic.
Plan for no-shows
- Promote to your own audience instead of relying only on the public Tech Week calendar.
- Send personalized one-to-one invites to the people you most want in the room.
- Use the Attrition Calculator in Host HQ before ordering food or setting final room plans.
Tech Week also has community guidelines for attendee behavior, including expectations around registering for events and avoiding multiple signups during the same time slot.
Plan content and support resources
Costs and logistics
Tech Week does not charge hosts to submit an event or appear on the official calendar. Hosts own their event budget and logistics.
Capture content
Take photos and videos during your event, repost on social, and use #TechWeek plus the city hashtag so attendees and the Tech Week team can find and amplify your content. Book photo or video coverage early if you want a polished recap.