Host Playbook
Colombia Tech Week 2026 · August 10–12 · Bogotá, Colombia
The most relevant tech week in Latin America.
It brings together founders, investors, corporates, accelerators and tech leaders in Bogotá for a dense week, with dozens of simultaneous events organized by the community. The model is decentralized by design, there is no single stage or top-down agenda. CTW is what its hosts make of it.
Why would someone choose your event?
Before applying, answer this in one sentence. If it's vague, the event probably is too.
Thematic relevance
The core content must be tech. A company showing how it redesigned its operation with AI counts. A networking cocktail with no tech content doesn't.
Content quality
What you offer should be worth rearranging an agenda for: real technical demos, debates with friction, honest postmortems. No generic panels.
Host credibility
You don't need to be the biggest company. You do need something real to say. Real traction matters more than org size.
Convening power
If you pitch 200 people, you need the community to fill it. If it's 30, the filter on who those 30 are matters as much as the content.
Operational autonomy
CTW does not provide logistics or production. The event is fully yours, venue, catering, speakers. Tickets for attendees are always free.
What CTW provides if you're selected
Your event appears on the official CTW site and on Luma, where registration is concentrated. The ecosystem will be active in a way it isn't the rest of the year. Visibility and context, the rest is on you.
What we want to see most in 2026
Live demo
Product or tech in real time, no edited deck. What works and what doesn't yet. Hard to do well, that's why it lands harder when it does.
Unscripted conversation
Two or three people with different points of view on a topic with real tension. Clear positions, willingness to disagree. The value is in the friction, not the consensus.
Postmortem / retrospective
What went wrong, what pivoted, what cost more than expected. The Latin American ecosystem has a deficit of public honesty, the space and the audience are both there.
Workshop with concrete output
A real working session, a defined problem, a tangible result at the end. Requires serious prep but generates engagement no panel can match.
Hackathon
An intensive build session with a clear challenge, teams racing the clock and demos at the end. Works when the problem is real and the jury has technical context.
Wellness for techies
Movement, breathwork, mental health or recovery, designed for founders and tech teams. Space to decompress in the middle of an intense week.
High-caliber closed format
Breakfasts or private sessions where who's in the room is the value. Works for investment funds, founder peer groups and specialized technical communities.
They start at a disadvantage
Not banned, but they're behind from the start.
- Single-speaker keynotes on general trends, unless the speaker has something genuinely new to say.
- Panels with more than four people, the density of voices dilutes the conversation.
- Events whose real value is branding, not content. That's sponsorship, not hosting.
- Events with fewer than 20 people without a strong format justification.
The 4 questions that weigh most
The application is a form, but how you fill it out decides whether you move forward.
Event description
Don't describe the format, describe what people take away. "Three founders share real retention metrics and explain what they changed" says it all. "A panel of fintech experts" doesn't.
Expected audience
"Product leads evaluating AI rollout at 50+ employee companies" works. "100 people interested in tech" doesn't. Specific about who, not just how many.
Why this event at CTW 2026
Tie the content to something happening in the ecosystem right now. If the answer is "we want visibility", better not apply.
Convening capacity
Don't promise the number, show you have the network to try. If you pitch 150 people, explain where they will come from.
FAQ
Checklist: answer yes to all
COLOMBIA TECH WEEK 2026
If you have something real, apply.
Applications close: June 12, 2026 · #CTW2026