Top 11 Conferences for Operations Managers to Attend in 2024

As an operations manager, you’re running a tight ship. You’re tasked with ensuring processes run smoothly, checking everyone follows regulations, and making sure productivity is increasing. However, getting your organization to run like clockwork is no easy feat, you’ll need all the support you can get.

That’s precisely where operations management (OM) conferences can help. Whether you’re interested in the newest logistics software or industry expert best practices, OM conferences have everything you need to develop and improve your operations.

In this article, we’re covering the 10 best in-person operations manager conferences you should consider to take you from hopeful to hero. We’ve also divided them by region so all you have to do is mark your calendar and book your travel!

Operations Manager Conferences in the USA

American Supply Chain Summit

30th April - 1st May, 2024

Heat, Regency Dallas, Dallas Texas

The American Supply Chain Summit gathers managers from across the globe to discuss cutting-edge strategies, methods, and technologies for improving supply chain and procurement. It offers a comprehensive view of the industry, including market dynamics and case studies on logistics disruptions.

This year’s key themes include profitability, risk management, cost optimization, emerging technology, and workforce management. Besides engaging keynote speeches, the summit will also provide attendees with various workshops, live demos, and open discussion platforms covering the unique challenges and potential solutions in supply management.

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The Future of Everything Festival

21st - 23rd May, 2024

Spring Studios, New York City, New York

The Future of Everything, as the name suggests, is a festival covering a broad range of topics in innovations, trends, and future solutions. This operations conference is not limited to a single industry, it’s a meeting place for leaders, executives, and managers eager to discover transformative insights from globally renowned brands like Google, Ford, and more. The conference covers the latest updates in various industries including: technology, business, healthcare, economics, finance, and science.

Operations managers will also be able to take advantage of immersive technology demos while learning strategies for smooth implementation. If you’re a global operations manager seeking to expand your horizons and learn from executives across industries, then The Future of Everything is for you.

Conference Visitors Paul Hanaoka 6FqkGMOLskY Unsplash

Executive Leadership Development Conference

21st - 26th July, 2024

Stanford University, Stanford, California

The ELDC is a conference for those in leadership and executive roles. It promises a wealth of insights on strategic principles, policy implementation, and best practices for operation managers to regularly use on the job. If you’re an operations manager with a considerable amount of managerial responsibility on your plate, the executive leadership development conference is a must.

This conference starts by evaluating your leadership style and effectiveness using Stanford's proprietary 360º leadership assessment. Throughout the conference, attendees are invited to hone their leadership skills at three in-depth coaching sessions. The curriculum follows Stanford’s MBA program across three main themes: business acumen, innovation, and leadership. You’ll work closely with Stanford faculty, making this the perfect opportunity to connect and collaborate.

Future Festival

1st - 3rd October, 2024

TIFF Bell Lightbox, Toronto, Canada

If you’re looking to brush shoulders with some of the biggest brands in the world, this one’s for you. Brands like Google, Starbucks, NASA, and Netflix all send their leadership teams to learn about innovation in management at Future Festival.

The conference starts with introductions and insights from top-tier innovators. Once everyone is settled, the conference progresses with keynote speeches on the latest trends, networking opportunities, and an after party. As an operations manager, you’ll learn all about the current and upcoming technology for operations management with industry-specific insights for implementing them.

2024 ACUHO-I Conference & Expo

28th - 31st October, 2024

TBC, Bethesda, Maryland

ACUHO is a place where managers can learn about business operations and best practices across multiple industries. Whether you’re in marketing, information technology, or business administration, you’ll get the latest emerging insights through a series of presentations and industry-specific discussions.

Besides curated educational content, ACUHO also offers specialized community-building spaces where you can meet with other managers and build your network. To top it all off, ACUHO celebrates a series of reward ceremonies for the best tools, solutions, and practices in management.

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The best Operations Manager conferences in Europe

Creative Operations 2024

1st March, 2024

Bishopsgate, London, United Kingdom

Creative Operations is a conference where exhibitors, researchers, and industry experts can come together to explore, strategize, and discuss the power of change across multiple industries. Some of the sessions include panel discussions, symposium exhibits, breakout sessions, and presentations geared to help you leverage the newest technologies and emerging trends in creative management.

Just some of the themes attendees can expect to learn about include embracing innovation and technology, building effective partnerships, and communication and collaboration in the workplace. Let’s not forget that decision-makers from some of the most influential brands like Amazon, Meta, and Google will be there. Will you?

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Operations Research, 2024

3rd - 6th September, 2024

Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany

The Operations Research conference in Munich, Germany, is a must-attend for operations managers. Its wide scope of presentations, which look into Operations Research, Management Science, Data Science, and Analytics, makes this the ideal conference for future-facing operations leaders who want to keep up with the fast-evolving operations management process.

Both academics and practitioners will be sharing their latest findings, providing attendees with data-backed trends to better inform their management practices. The conference will have multiple presentations on artificial intelligence, analytics and data, decision theory, and supply chain management. While OR is a conference that mainly attracts academics, it’s still a valuable opportunity for operations managers to obtain in-depth insights that can inform their daily decision-making.

ProcureCon Europe, 2024

17th - 19th September, 2024

Hyatt Regency Hotel, Barcelona, Spain

ProcureCon Europe is ProcureCon’s flagship conference, in which you’ll have the opportunity to benchmark your strategy against some of the world’s biggest companies. Attendees will hear from the likes of Hugo Boss, Ferrari, and Henkel about their procurement strategies and processes.

With so many experts around, ProcureCon is any operation manager’s ideal networking opportunity. Besides engaging in panel discussions, attendees can also take advantage of a series of interactive events, including their synergy workshops, interactive case studies, and Oxford-style debates.

Can’t-miss Operations Manager conferences in Asia and Africa

5th Asia Pacific International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management

10th - 12th, September, 2024

Waseda, Tokyo, Japan

IEOM is a forum for operations management officials, academics, researchers, and practitioners to discuss the most influential trends affecting the industry, while also identifying opportunities for advancement in both theory and practice. Dating back to 2010, it’s a long-running conference in the operations management space that’s engaged attendees all over the world, including in China, Thailand, France, and more.

IEOM will feature more than ten immersive tracks and panel presentations on artificial intelligence, supply chain and logistics, sustainability, engineering management, project management, and more. However, gripping presentations aren’t the only reason for operations managers to attend. IEOM also places special value on fostering communication and partnerships between researchers and practitioners—with plenty of networking opportunities between sessions to ensure you’ve got the time to connect with others in the industry.

International Conference on Leadership and Management

24th - 25th, October, 2024

Venue TBC, Oran, Algeria

Every year, the International Conference on Leadership and Management attracts more than 500 global operations professionals to discuss, strategize, and collaborate on leadership challenges and solutions.

For this conference, there’ll be a mix of experts ranging from researchers to industry practitioners with first-hand experience. The goal? To bridge the gap between the theory and practice of effective leadership. There’s no shortage of events to get stuck into—you can expect engaging fireside chats, ample networking opportunities, and plenty of discussions on fresh perspectives and ideas.

Sharpen your skills with these operations management conferences

Operations management conferences are the perfect place to learn about industry trends and new tech impacting the way you work. They’re also the ideal spot to connect with other like-minded pros to chat all things operations.

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Top 10 Conferences for Operations Managers to Attend in 2024