Gartner’s inaugural North American event for procurement, sourcing, and vendor management leaders, the Gartner Procurement Conference 2026 took place September 15 to 16, 2026, at the Gaylord Pacific Resort & Convention Center in San Diego.
The next edition is scheduled for September 13 to 14, 2027, also in San Diego.
Key Takeaways
- Gartner Procurement Conference 2026 ran September 15 to 16 in San Diego, and the 2027 edition is set for September 13 to 14.
- The agenda spans leadership, cost and value, risk, and AI, with IT sourcing and vendor management also named as a core topic.
- Paid attendees can book one private 30-minute analyst meeting, but not for vendor briefings or product demos.
- You do not need to be a Gartner client, because a paid registration covers all activities and session documentation.
- If you are evaluating technology, arrive with your vendor count, slowest workflows, and a written question list.
Gartner Procurement Conference 2026 at a Glance
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Dates | September 15 to 16, 2026 |
| Venue | Gaylord Pacific Resort & Convention Center, San Diego, CA |
| Format | Keynotes, track sessions, workshops and roundtables, analyst one-on-ones, and an Exhibit Showcase |
| Audience | CPOs and sourcing, procurement, and vendor management leaders across direct, indirect, and IT |
| Registration | Through Gartner’s registration page, with the agenda built in Conference Navigator |
| Next edition | September 13 to 14, 2027, San Diego, CA |
Who Gartner Procurement Conference Is Built For
Gartner lists chief procurement officers, heads of IT sourcing and vendor management, heads of strategic sourcing, category management, and indirect procurement, procurement center-of-excellence leaders, and IT procurement and vendor managers as its core audience. The range is deliberate.
The program offers different benefits to a CPO addressing board-level strategy than to a category manager focused on category management, because it is designed to serve both. Moreover, it includes the three most common spend types teams handle, enabling direct and indirect procurement leaders, as well as IT procurement owners, to follow tracks that match their categories.
Selecting sessions by role ensures the two days stay focused. The CPO gets the most value from the leadership and AI tracks and, if eligible, also joins the CPO Circle. A category manager should compare the cost and value track with the Exhibit Showcase, since the Showcase lets them compare tools such as category management software face-to-face.
IT sourcing and vendor managers should follow the IT sourcing and vendor management sessions, then use the showcase to see how procurement platforms handle software renewals and vendor risk, which our SaaS procurement guide covers from the buying side.
Gartner Procurement Conference San Diego: Dates, Venue, and Scale
The 2026 event took place from Tuesday, September 15 to Wednesday, September 16 at the Gaylord Pacific Resort & Convention Center, while the 2027 edition will go back to San Diego on September 13 and 14. Accommodation and transport information is available on Gartner’s venue page.
On scale, Gartner’s conference site, now promoting the 2027 edition, cites 1,500+ procurement and sourcing leaders in attendance, 25+ Gartner analysts, and 20+ solution providers.
Gartner’s own advice for logistics is practical: wear business casual, bring layers because session rooms run cold, and wear comfortable shoes for the walking between rooms and the show floor.
Gartner Procurement Conference Agenda: Tracks and Sessions
Gartner’s announcement described six tracks, while its tracks page groups the agenda into seven topic areas. The four lettered tracks below lead that list, and the announcement also names IT sourcing and vendor management as a core topic.
Tracks named on Gartner’s conference tracks page
Each track maps to a part of the function you can work on today. Track A suits leaders redesigning their procurement organizational structure. Track B moves beyond short-term cuts toward long-term value, the territory of procurement savings and sourcing optimization. Track C covers disruption, geopolitical uncertainty, and cyber threats, the same ground as procurement risk management. Track D covers data governance, targeted use cases, and AI literacy, which our guide to AI in procurement explores from the buying side.
Named sessions give a sense of the tone. The opening keynote, from Lindsay Azim, looked at how procurement can lead in the autonomous era, and other sessions in Gartner’s announcement covered AI’s influence on tomorrow’s talent, balancing hype, reality, and strategic value in AI, hidden costs in regionalization strategies, and optimizing data and analytics for strategic success. The sessions page lists the full program. A track is easier to use with a question in hand. These are starting points of our own, not Gartner agenda items.
| Track | A Question to Bring |
|---|---|
| A: Leadership and Functional Design | Which decisions should procurement own, and which should business units own within guardrails? |
| B: Cost and Value Optimization | How do we report value beyond price, such as avoided cost and reduced risk? |
| C: Risk Management and Resilience | Which vendors would stop us operating if they failed, and who monitors them? |
| D: AI and Technology Innovation | Which one workflow has clean enough data to automate first? |
What the 2026 Agenda Signals for Procurement Teams
Taken together, the tracks indicate three pressures already apparent in the research. The first of these is that the adoption of AI is as much a matter of people as it is a technological issue; according to Gartner’s survey of CPOs carried out in May 2026, only 36% of them are very confident about their ability to redesign jobs and processes in light of AI, which is why leadership design and AI are listed together on the agenda.
The second is continuity. The Hackett Group’s 2026 research ranks supply continuity as procurement’s top priority, ahead of cost reduction, which the risk and resilience track covers. The third is capacity. Hackett projects procurement workloads will rise 8% while headcount and budgets decline, and organizations plan to raise technology spend 6.1% to compensate, so cost and value work is shifting from cutting to better decisions and automation. Teams planning that technology spend can compare procurement software pricing from Zapro, which starts at $699 per month with unlimited users.
Gartner Procurement Conference 2026 Speakers
Gartner’s speakers page lists two keynote speakers: Lindsay Azim, Senior Director Analyst at Gartner, who gave the opening keynote, and David Epstein, author of Range and The Sports Gene. Featured Gartner analysts included Jo Ann Rosenberger, Distinguished VP Analyst and conference chair, along with Melanie Alexander, Miguel Cossio, Andrea Greenwald, Yanni Karalis, Fareen Mehrzai, Mike Tucciarone, and Cheryl Van Dyke.
Beyond keynotes and breakouts, every paid, registered attendee can book one private 30-minute one-on-one with a Gartner analyst. Because demand for particular analysts is high, slots go first come, first served, so book early through Conference Navigator. These meetings aren’t available for solution provider briefings or product demonstrations, so save them for your own questions.
The CPO Circle Program
Gartner also runs a CPO Circle Program inside the main conference. It offers eligible chief procurement officers exclusive sessions to share ideas with peers and requires an application.
What Attending Gartner Procurement Conference Involves
Gartner’s first-timer guidance breaks the experience into three phases.
- Before: Create your agenda using Conference Navigator, finish setting up your profile, and pre-register for the roundtables, workshops, and your meeting with the analyst.
- During: You can move from one session to another, to analyst meetings, and to the Exhibit Showcase, where daily receptions give you the opportunity to meet solution providers.
- After: Look through the session documentation included with a paid registration and then contact any vendors who have been shortlisted.
The Exhibit Showcase brings together procurement, sourcing, and vendor management solution providers, and Gartner publishes a directory of current exhibitors. If a session is listed as full, Gartner suggests arriving about 15 minutes early to join the waiting list.
How to Use the Conference to Evaluate Procurement Technology
The Exhibit Showcase brings together many procurement technology vendors, but it is only beneficial if all conversations stick to the same script. First, conduct an honest assessment of your current situation using a procurement maturity model, then take a brief written list to each booth.
The same questions for every vendor
Vendor count and spend under management let a provider answer in specifics. Your slowest workflows, usually vendor onboarding, RFP cycles, and contract renewals, show whether a platform fixes your actual bottleneck. A Zapro AI demo can be run against those same slow workflows, so the answers are comparable with what you hear at each booth.
The platform questions separate serious tools from marketing: ask where AI is built in rather than recently added. Afterward, score each vendor on one sheet. Our 12-point demo checklist works for any vendor, and the procurement software comparison is a fair place to start your shortlist.
Building a shortlist before San Diego?
Walk the Exhibit Showcase floor with your questions already written down. We’ll help you turn your current vendor count, spend under management, and worst manual workflows into a scoring sheet you can use on every booth — including ours.
Talk to a procurement expert 30 minutes · No credit card · Bring your own evaluation criteria
Planning for Gartner Procurement Conference 2027
The Gartner conference website currently has the 2027 edition, which is set to take place from September 13 to 14, 2027, in San Diego, and is inviting people to register for updates to the agenda and speaker listings. The list of topics, stated to be those covered at last year’s conference, serves as a good preview of the content: cost optimization and value creation, digital transformation and AI in procurement, and leadership and business alignment. Consider it a signal rather than a fixed schedule.
A reasonable plan should begin by defining the aim. When you’re assessing technology, select vendors beforehand and prepare your scoring sheet; if you’re benchmarking, choose two tracks and the questions listed above first. In both cases, register early enough to ensure you are assigned an analyst for a one-on-one meeting, since slots are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.
Gartner Procurement Conference Registration
Registration runs through Gartner’s registration page, with pricing and current availability shown there. You do not need to be a Gartner client: as long as the fee is paid, you have access to all conference activities and Gartner session documentation. Limited-seating sessions, including workshops, meetups, and roundtables, need advance sign-up in Conference Navigator.
Frequently Asked Questions
When Is Gartner Procurement Conference 2026?
It was held September 15-16, 2026, at the Gaylord Pacific Resort & Convention Center in San Diego. Gartner has scheduled the next edition for September 13 to 14, 2027, in San Diego.
Who Should Attend Gartner Procurement Conference?
It is built for chief procurement officers and leaders across sourcing, category management, indirect procurement, vendor management, and IT procurement, not for a single job title.
Do I Need to Be a Gartner Client to Attend?
No. Any attendee who pays the registration fee gets access to all conference activities and session documentation, whether or not their organization holds a Gartner subscription.
How Do I Get a One-on-One Meeting With a Gartner Analyst?
Paid, registered attendees can book one private 30-minute meeting through Conference Navigator. Slots go first come, first served, so register and schedule early to reach a specific analyst.
What Is the CPO Circle Program?
It is an application-only program within the main conference, offering sessions reserved for eligible chief procurement officers and separate from the general agenda.
Is There a Gartner Procurement Symposium?
Searchers often use that phrase for this event, but its official name is Gartner Procurement Conference. Gartner uses the symposium format for other events, such as the Supply Chain Symposium/Xpo and the IT Symposium/Xpo.
Score Every Vendor
If you attended in September or are planning for 2027, the conference works best as a source of questions and benchmarks, not a shopping trip. Take the analyst guidance back to a written scoring sheet and hold every platform to it, Zapro AI included.
Our team will help turn your vendor count, spend under management, and slowest workflows into a sheet you can use on every vendor, including us.
Sources / References
- Gartner, “Gartner Announces Gartner Procurement Conference 2026” (June 3, 2026): https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2026-06-03-gartner-announces-gartner-procurement-conference-2026
- Gartner Procurement Conference (home page, 2027 edition): https://www.gartner.com/en/conferences/na/procurement-us
- Gartner Procurement Conference, “Conference Tracks”: https://www.gartner.com/en/conferences/na/procurement-us/conference-tracks
- Gartner Procurement Conference, “Speakers”: https://www.gartner.com/en/conferences/na/procurement-us/speakers
- Gartner Procurement Conference, “Sessions”: https://www.gartner.com/en/conferences/na/procurement-us/sessions
- Gartner Procurement Conference, “Venue and Travel”: https://www.gartner.com/en/conferences/na/procurement-us/venue-travel
- Gartner Procurement Conference, “Register”: https://www.gartner.com/en/conferences/na/procurement-us/register
- Gartner Procurement Conference, “CPO Circle Program”: https://www.gartner.com/en/conferences/na/procurement-us/programs/cpo-circle
- Gartner, “Gartner Announces Gartner Supply Chain Symposium/Xpo 2026” (February 26, 2026): https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2026-02-26-gartner-announces-gartner-supply-chain-symposium-xpo-2026
- Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo: https://www.gartner.com/en/conferences/na/symposium-us
- Gartner Procurement Conference, “Exhibitors”: https://www.gartner.com/en/conferences/na/procurement-us/exhibitors
- Gartner, “Gartner Survey Shows Just 36% of Chief Procurement Officers Are Very Confident in Ability to Redesign Function for AI” (May 19, 2026): https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2026-05-19-gartner-survey-shows-just-36-perecent-of-chief-procurement-officers-are-very-confident-in-ability-to-redesign-function-for-ai
- Institute for Supply Management, “AI, Risk and Productivity Pressures Are Reshaping Procurement Priorities” (February 2026): https://www.ismworld.org/supply-management-news-and-reports/news-publications/inside-supply-management-magazine/blog/2026/2026-02/ai-risk-and-productivity-pressures-are-reshaping-procurement-priorities/
- The Hackett Group, “2026 Procurement Agenda and Key Issues Study” (whitepaper): https://info.ivalua.com/whitepaper/2026-hackett-group-procurement-key-issues
- Zapro AI, “What Is Procurement?”: https://zapro.ai/procurement/what-is-procurement/
- Zapro AI, “Category Management”: https://zapro.ai/procurement/category-management/
- Zapro AI, “Direct vs Indirect Procurement”: https://zapro.ai/procurement/direct-vs-indirect-procurement/
- Zapro AI, “IT Procurement”: https://zapro.ai/procurement/it-procurement/
- Zapro AI, “Procurement Organizational Structure”: https://zapro.ai/procurement/procurement-organizational-structure/
- Zapro AI, “AI in Procurement”: https://zapro.ai/procurement/ai-in-procurement/
- Zapro AI, “Category Management Software”: https://zapro.ai/procurement/category-management-software/
- Zapro AI, “SaaS Procurement”: https://zapro.ai/procurement/saas-procurement/
- Zapro AI, “Procurement Maturity Model”: https://zapro.ai/procurement/procurement-maturity-model/
- Zapro AI, “Procurement Software Demo”: https://zapro.ai/procurement/procurement-software-demo/
- Zapro AI, “Procurement Software Comparison”: https://zapro.ai/procurement/procurement-software-comparison/
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About the Author
Md. Kafil
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