The CIO Circle Program

Designed specifically for Chief Information Officers, the CIO Circle Program provides exclusive sessions for eligible CIOs attending Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo to explore new strategies, share innovative ideas and grow your community of peers.

This experience includes:

Networking and knowledge-sharing opportunities with a group of CIO attendees to swap experiences, trade best practices and expand your executive peer community. 

Access to exclusive sessions throughout the conference, including thought leader lunches, workshops, roundtables and research discussions tailored to the most important topics for CIOs.

Priority booking capabilities for limited-capacity sessions and One-on-One Meeting(s) with a Gartner expert to ensure you don’t miss out on these conference offerings.

CIO only sessions

Integrated within the broader conference agenda, the CIO Circle Program includes interactive discussions covering the top priorities of CIOs, as well as casual networking opportunities to connect with other technology leaders from a variety of regions and industries. Through these sessions, participants connect over common initiatives and accelerate, validate and solidify their strategies. See examples below.
  • Workshops
  • Roundtables
  • Lunches

Workshops

  • CIO Circle Workshop: Develop and Refine Your Practical AI Strategic Plan
  • CIO Circle Workshop: Lead Resilience From Definition to Implementation in Uncertain Times
  • CIO Circle Workshop: New-to-Role CIO - A Structured Approach to Accelerate Your Speed to Value
  • Women CIO Circle Workshop: Imposter Syndrome - Phenomenon or Crisis of Confidence?
  • CIO Circle Workshop: Anticipate Disruption Using Scenario Planning
  • CIO Circle Workshop: Assess and Transform Your IT Operating Model

*Agenda as of June 2025

Roundtables

  • CIO Circle Roundtable: Getting Ahead of Strategic Trends for the Future (Multi-Group)
  • Women CIO Roundtable: Your New Superpower Is Resilience
  • CIO Circle Roundtable: The New Target Operating Model for IT with AI
  • CIO Circle Roundtable: Leading Through Disruptive Change
  • CIO Circle Roundtable: Workforce Upskilling Best Practices to Unlock AI Value
  • Women CIO Circle Roundtable: Designing Your Next Decade — Legacy Beyond Metrics

*Agenda as of June 2025

Lunches

  • CIO Circle Lunch: Reset: How to Change What’s Not Working - Guest Speaker, Dan Heath, New York Times Best Selling Author
  • CIO Circle Lunch: The Never Normal - Guest Speaker, Peter Hinssen, Entrepreneur and Author nexxworks
  • CIO Circle Lunch: Leading with Levity: How to Harness the Competitive Advantage of Improv and Humor, Seriously - Guest Speaker, Naomi Bagdonas, Executive Advisor, Besting Author, and leading expert in the intersection of humor and business

*Agenda as of June 2025

"Fantastic event, with an environment that encourages networking and great speakers. The venue encourages people to be more receptive and share their experiences."

Igor Brandão
CIO, SEI

Apply to join the program

The CIO Circle Program is exclusive to eligible CIOs attending Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo. We recommend applying when you register for the conference as session seats are limited and fill up quickly.
How to qualify

Applicants must meet the following qualification criteria to participate:

  1. Enterprise-wide Chief Information Officer CIO, or
  2. Business unit/ region/ government division Chief Information Officer CIO responsible for:
    1. Private sector: $250+ million in revenue
    2. Public sector: 1,000+ employees

CIOs from a marketing vendor or consultancy are not eligible to participate.

You can apply to participate in the CIO Circle Program when you register for Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo. During the registration process, the program application will be prompted by answering ‘yes’ to the question, “Are you the CIO or do you serve in the CIO role for your organization?”. You will be notified via email regarding the status of your application.

Application and approval are required for participation.

Log back into your Gartner conference profile, click “Edit” next to “Registration Profile,” and scroll down to answer the “Attendee Profile” questions.