Houston is about to get very busy. AfroTech, billed as the world's largest Black tech conference, lands at the George R. Brown Convention Center from Monday, November 2 to Friday, November 6, and this year it's marking its 10th anniversary. The scale is hard to overstate: more than 40,000 people are expected through the doors, with 11 stages, 15 programming tracks covering AI, FinTech, MedTech and cybersecurity, and 226 sessions spread across the five days. More than 300 speakers are on the bill, so there's a good chance something will catch your interest regardless of where you sit in the tech world.
Every week we pick 🏆 the 5 best 🏆 things to do in Houston and send them to your inbox. Just one weekly email, no spam.
By submitting your email, you accept our Privacy Policy
That speaker list is a who's who. You'll find Carrol Chang, CEO of Andela; Shannon Womack of Delta Air Lines; Monique Idlett of Reign Ventures; Larry Quinlan of Deloitte; Dr. Louis Carr of BET; Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley; Aaron Russell of Meta; Adam Holton of GE HealthCare; Adrian Groos of Nimbus Aerospace; Andrew Yang, president of the Forward Party; Dr. Uché Blackstock, founder and CEO of Advancing Health Equity; Dr. Jessica Shepherd of Hers; Rashad Bilal and Troy Millings of Earn Your Leisure; Vindell Washington of Verily; Dr. Timnit Gebru, founder and executive director of DAIR; Dr. Nicole Murray of NVIDIA; Dr. Vanessa Riley of KhonsuAI and VytalFlow AI; Roy Wood Jr.; Vic Mensa; Segun Oduolowu of CNN; Reginald DesRoches of Rice University; Reginald Parker of Freedmen Green Bank; and Lee Merritt of Merritt Law. Dr. Gebru, who co-founded Black in AI and serves on the board of AddisCoder, is well known for the paper that led to her departure from Google in 2020. Dr. Blackstock, author of 'Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons With Racism In Medicine', is the first Black mother to graduate from Harvard Medical School, alongside her twin brother, Oni.
If you're planning to go, the ticket tiers are worth a look before you buy. General Access is $625 for a four-day pass. Executive is $850 plus fees and adds an executive lounge and the Executive Policy Brunch. All Access VIP jumps to $2,250 plus fees, with dedicated seating, an exclusive lounge, the Executive Policy Brunch and wellness resources. There's a Medical pass at $925 that bundles executive benefits with specialized workshops, and a $97 AI Virtual Training day if you'd rather dip in from home. Day one sets the pace: registration from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM in the Grand Lobby, a student hackathon at the PROPEL Center HBCU from 11:30 AM to 3:50 PM, and a run of sessions in Meeting Room 320, including 'Preparing to be Remembered: Build Your Unique Professional Presence', presented by Howard University, and 'Strategies for Success Beyond College', presented by PwC. Later in the week, look for 'From APIs to Agents: How Agentic AI Handles Ambiguity' with a live demo on Tuesday morning in Grand Ballroom A.
The conference is only part of it. AfroTech Week runs from Sunday, November 1 to Saturday, November 7, with more than 103 activities scattered around the city. 'The Green Room' opens the week at Sanctuary EaDo on Sunday; the official 10-year anniversary kickoff, 'FRNDS Only', takes over Warehouse Live on Tuesday night; 'Blavity In Black' and the community 5K land on Wednesday; 'A Mad Nice AfroTech' with Xavier Omär plays at IYKYK Nightclub on Thursday; the 'BLACK TECH SOCIAL' fills Kamp Houston on Friday; and the Houston AfriFEST closes things out at The KBC Event Venue on Saturday. Throw in partner events like the CareFreeBlackGirl Cookout at Boozers HTX, the Digital Frequencies art opening at Studioco and 'The Future Is Queer' at Ronin 2, and the city becomes one big campus for the week. Whether you're there for the sessions or the social side, it's a lot to track, so it's worth browsing the schedule before you commit.
Published Date
28 October 2026
