TechX Florida 2026 Tech Conference

TechX Florida 2026 takes over the Marshall Student Center on Saturday, October 24, from 11 AM to 5 PM. It's a free cybersecurity conference run by the IEEE Computer Society's student chapter at the University of South Florida, part of the larger IEEE computing society that counts over 370,000 members. This is the third edition of the event, which drew 336 attendees in 2025 and 124 in 2024, and it's open to students, professors, industry professionals, and tech enthusiasts from around the world.

The day splits its time between technical talks and career-growth opportunities. On the talk side, the lineup brings together a range of perspectives: Ken Andersen, chairman and CEO of Benchmark Technology Corporation; Fabio B, a Siemens system engineer and OT cybersecurity specialist; Joel Sierra, a senior cybersecurity solutions architect and threat intelligence advisor; Yukti Lnu, lead software architect and IEEE Women in Engineering leader; Karthik Pattabiraman, a professor and researcher at the University of British Columbia; and Michael Hall, managing partner at MediumFour and president of Tampa Bay Tech Week. Between them, they cover the corporate, academic, and specialized engineering sides of the field.

Running alongside the talks are the hands-on professional services: free resume reviews by industry professionals, professional headshots taken on site by a photographer, and a career fair with companies recruiting across computing, AI, cyber, IT, and electrical engineering. There's also a gamified networking activity called 'TechX Handshake' that runs throughout the day, with the top participants recognized and awarded prizes at the closing ceremony. Breakfast and lunch are provided free of charge. The whole thing is held on the second and third floors of the Marshall Student Center at USF in Tampa, and it's free to attend.