Tampa Bay Tech’s poweredUp event is May 14

Tampa Bay Tech will host its annual poweredUp Tampa Bay Tech Festival May 14, at the Mahaffey Theater in St. Petersburg.

Every year, the event brings tech professionals, enthusiasts and students together, providing them with opportunities to meet industry leaders and learn about new innovations.

Arnie Bellini, co-founder and former CEO of Tampa-based ConnectWise, is scheduled to deliver keynote remarks at the 11 a.m.-6 p.m. event. Bellini began developing innovative software in the early 1980s before computers became readily available in the office and at home. Under his leadership, ConnectWise was able to become the Tampa Bay area’s first billion-dollar software company. 

This March, he and his wife made a landmark $40 million donation to the University of South Florida to help create the Bellini Center for Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity and Computing. The new college will educate and inspire future leaders, providing them with the skills necessary to combat cyberattacks and other technology-related security threats.

“This year is really different where we have a really cool, I think, regional approach,” said Meghan O’Keefe, Executive Director of Tampa Bay Tech. “I think our region’s at an interesting tipping point with being a new kind of tech hub, and we have people like Arnie Bellini who have been building products here for decades that people don’t really know about.”

As with poweredUp events, guests can expect educational and enlightening tech track sessions. Topics for 2025 include robotics and intelligent process automation, healthcare tech and its impact on care, and how Universal Destinations & Experiences uses state-of-the-art technology to develop attractions.

Throughout the day, over a dozen speakers will present, including representatives from Jabil, Accenture, Trellix, Dynasty Financial, Guidepoint Security, Haddy and others.

New this year: Attendees can participate in a capture the flag cyber challenge. A popular simulation in cybersecurity training, capture the flag challenges give participants the opportunity to find hidden content through cybersecurity technology.

“This is going to be sponsored by Cyber Florida, giving people a little bit of experience around that,” O’Keefe explained. “Anybody can come in day-of, follow the process pretty easily and get through the challenge.”

Once the event concludes, attendees 21 years or older can enjoy a happy hour and network with other guests.

Added O’Keefe: “This event is open to the community, and we give free tickets to students, which is really awesome to get them in front of people – whether they’re looking for internships or their next career, or maybe in high school trying to explore potential interests that they have. But we try to do this for the community, whether people are tech executives and want to see what other executives are doing – to just someone who’s a tech enthusiast on their own.”

For tickets and additional information, visit the Tampa Bay Tech website.