10 CMO Summits Worth Traveling For In 2023-2025
Influential CMO summits providing high-level insights and networking opportunities for top marketing executives. Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) know that it's essential to keep up with the rapid changes in the field and improve on skills for consistent success.
Conferences and summits are one of the best ways to stay up to date on new trends and connect with your fellow professionals and vendors. After the Covid crisis, it is a welcome change of pace to be able to meet in real life, and while the majority of events are now in a hybrid structure, in-person events are having a come back.
Best Marketing Conferences 2023-2025 Shortlist
Here's my shortlist of the best marketing conferences to attend in 2023-2025:
- IRL - Alberta, Canada (Oct 2025)
- MMA CEO & CMO Summit: Architect the Future
- Six Days with Kellog
- Gartner Marketing Symposium/Expo
- GDS Group CMO Digital Summit
- DigiMarkCon
- ANA Masters of Marketing Conference
- TECHSPO
- Experiential Marketing Summit
- OnConference
Here is a list of CMO summits, events and conferences on tap for 2023-2025. The majority of them occur on a yearly basis, so don't worry too much if you miss one this time around, as there will be another opportunity to attend in future.
Try these exciting marketing events that cover a wide range of marketing topics and strategies.
Best CMO Summits
1. IRL - Alberta, Canada (Oct 2025)
- Dates: October 1-4, 2025
- Location: Alberta, Canada
- Pricing: From $2,950
- Website: IRL
Overview:
The IRL 25 conference is an exclusive and immersive event for SaaS executives scaling their businesses from millions to billions in revenue. It's for leaders scaling up post-Series B, and the conference will cover challenges including as product-market fit, go-to-market strategies, customer retention, leadership hiring, and scaling infrastructure.
IRL is a conference designed for participation. Participants engage in tailored tracks, collaborative workshops, expert-led discussions and masterminds while enjoying outdoor adventures and gourmet dining experiences together.
Why You Should Attend:
The IRL conference stands out due to its unique approach to outdoor programming and building in-person engagement. It's also by application only to ensure a high quality of attendees. This one-of-a-kind event forgoes the typical conference format—it's participant-driven, with a carefully selected roster of SaaS executives who form an exclusive network that help each other take their business to the next level.
The IRL conference offers a rare chance to build relationships with like-minded leaders in a refreshing environment away from the usual hustle. If you’re part of an exec team at a SaaS company driving growth beyond $10m ARR, IRL is for you.
2. MMA CEO & CMO Summit: Architect the Future | July 23-25, 2023 | Napa, California
The MMA 2023 CEO & CMO Summit is an in-person invitation-only event, which features not only CMOs but industry leaders alike. Now running for 12 years, you can request an invitation on their website to listen to top speakers. The panel includes representatives from business titans like Campbell's, Peloton, AT&T and many more. While the agenda for this summit hasn't been posted yet, we are expecting a great event.
3. Six Days with Kellog | May 15-17 and June 26-28 2023 | Evanston, IL
This in-person forum is not a typical summit, in the sense that it is structured as a symposium. The main goal is to assist newer CMOs to master the swift-changing nuances of the tectonic field of marketing. Over four days, a small group of engaged CMOs will be brought together to focus on marketing innovations, building C-Suite relationships effectively, personal development and leading a costumer-focused enterprise.
4. Gartner Marketing Symposium/Expo | May 22-24, 2023 | Denver, CO
Gartner's hybrid symposium is designed to challenge the way marketing leaders think about growth and utilize new technologies. The top 5 priorities that CMO Summit are preparing for the future of hybrid marketing, integration planning, budgets and activations, reasserting marketing’s digital orchestrator role, measuring values for stakeholder, rebuilding flexibility for the marketing and communications engines.
5. GDS Group CMO Digital Summit | June 27-29, 2023 | America
GDS Group's free online summit is focused on tackling the current business critical challenges and moving the needle for the new industry standards. It's a free space to connect with other CMO leaders. By bringing together senior decision-makers and likeminded leaders, it emphasizes de-risking your projects in the innovative ways. With inspiring panel of speakers from businesses like Meta, Gymshark and Square, this summit encourages open communication and debates.
6. DigiMarkCon | Multiple dates and locations
In 2023, DigiMarCon continues to provide the industry leaders with an opportunity to attend summits in more than 40 cities worldwide across 18 countries, plus an international cruise available yearly. It's considered one of the world's largest conference and exhibition series in the world. With a variety of events throughout the year, it is a great place to connect and learn while on a packed schedule.
7. ANA Masters of Marketing Conference | October 24-27, 2023 | Orlando, FL
ANA's yearly in-person conference/summit tells the creative thinking and inspirational strategies stories of the world's top CMOs and leading brands. The line-up of speakers will go into detail on how they have implemented to meet and exceed their customer needs, drive growth, and inspire change. Some of the previous speakers include C-suite leaders from P&G, Chipotle Mexican Grill and WWE.
8. TECHSPO | Technology Expos | Multiple dates and locations
TECHSPO events bring together some of the best marketers, developers, brands, and innovators looking to share innovative ideas in the advanced world of technology. Happening all over the globe, these two-day events might be a good fit for CMOs working in the tech field to connect with the top talent. TECHSPO showcases the next generation of technology & innovation including Internet, Mobile, AdTech, MarTech & SaaS Technology.
9. Experiential Marketing Summit | May 9-11 2023 | Las Vegas, NV
EMS is an in-person event designed to help CMOs gain a new perspective from brand-side event marketers. They will lead a three-day conversation focused on the latest trends in the space. EMS gives you an opportunity to meet new partners inside their "Hall of Ideas". Latest trends in the experiential marketing is the main focus on the summit. Three-day event will be filled with traditional breakout sessions, Q&As, deep-dive workshops, power panels and keynotes.
10. OnConference | April 24-25, 2022 | Online
ONCON Executive Leadership Virtual Summit is an annual event for the top executives for 10 different tracks, one of which is CMO. However, you can attend sessions in any track, if there is an interest in doing so. There is a cap of 100 C-level or executive leaders per track, so make sure to book your spot in advance. The topics vary drastically based on the speaker, so there is a bit of everything for everyone. Panel of speakers includes CMOs from Lenovo, Conductor, Dell Technologies and many more.
So that's our take on the 9 CMO Summits you should attend in 2023. For more, check out our 15 CMO Conferences You should attend in 2023. Would you add anything to this list? Leave your suggestions in the comments below!
