IDC Directions 2026 felt different. More consequential. More ambitious. Not boring.

Join Gerry Van Zandt and me this Thursday to tease out what really matters to vendors and to the Analyst Relations community

Apr 12, 2026

Thursday, April 16, 2026 | 8:30am PDT | 11:30am EDT | 4:30pm BST | 9:00pm IST

And if you’ve been reading the early takes over the past couple of days, you’ve probably noticed something else…

They’re starting to sound the same.

That’s exactly why I’m looking forward to this conversation with Gerry Van Zandt, Senior Director, Analyst Relations at Alteryx and a veteran AR leader with decades of experience.

Next Thursday, Gerry and I will go beyond the “first take” summaries and compare notes on what actually mattered:

Where IDC’s strategy is heading and how real the execution looks
What we heard from analysts, sales reps, and others on the ground
The signals beneath the headlines that vendors and AR teams should be paying attention to

And as always with AR Intelligence: Live, the third participant is you.

Bring your observations, questions, and challenges. Not just in the chat, but live — I’ll be using Zoom’s “Allow to Talk” feature so you can jump in and share your perspective directly. The goal is a real conversation, not just commentary.

If IDC Directions is shaping your thinking right now, this is a conversation worth being part of.

If you were at Directions, I’d especially value your perspective in the discussion.

Click here to see my three top takeaways from IDC Directions 2026. (LinkedIn post — if it resonates, a Like or repost helps it travel.)

For those who want to go a level deeper before the conversation, here are three notes that frame how I’m thinking about IDC right now:

IDC Directions 2026: IDC Quanta™, the Intelligence Layer, and IDC’s Reinvention for the AI Economy (April 8, 2026)
IDC’s 4-Year Transformation - CEO Appointment is the Next Step in Blackstone’s Strategic Repositioning (January 22, 2026)
IDC-AWS Quick Research: The Distribution Revolution Begins (December 4, 2025)

Reminder: Next week is AR Intelligence: Live | In the Hot Seat with Info-Tech Research Group’s CRO Gord Harrison. Register here.

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