Look, we all know you’re busy. Your inbox is a catastrophe, you’ve acquired back-to-back calendar blocks named “fast sync” (spoiler: nothing about them is fast), and somebody simply pinged you asking when you’ve “had an opportunity to take a look at that doc but” (you haven’t).
However right here’s the factor: you’re about to speculate critical time, cash, and vitality getting your self to Amsterdam. Should you’re committing to flights, lodging, two days away out of your desk, and all of the psychological bandwidth that goes with it — certainly you may make investments quarter-hour now to ensure you really get essentially the most out of it, proper?
Bookmark this web page. Critically. You’ll need it if you’re:
Constructing your two-day session plan
Deciding which new format to strive first
Explaining to your management staff why this journey is value it
Standing in RAI Amsterdam on Wednesday morning considering “the place do I even begin?”
Consider this as your HR Tech Europe insurance coverage coverage. Fifteen minutes of studying now = two days of most worth later. Plus, we’ll make it value your whereas — when you’re going to learn a convention information, it would as nicely have character.
Nonetheless with us? Good. Let’s ensure you completely crush HR Tech Europe 2026.
Should Reads:
HR Tech Europe goes all-in on Amsterdam this 12 months, and when you’re heading to RAI Amsterdam on 22–23 April, you’re in for essentially the most bold version but. We’ve pulled collectively every thing you want to know — the classes, the brand new codecs, the audio system, the networking — so you may stroll in with a plan and stroll out with one thing to truly act on.
Spoiler alert: this isn’t your typical “sit by way of a keynote and accumulate a tote bag” convention. HR Tech Europe 2026 is the place the business confronts its most pressing query: Can HR expertise really assist HCM leads handle workflows and employees, or do they only add extra complexity?
Why HR Tech Europe 2026 is Totally different This 12 months
The Location: RAI Amsterdam
RAI Amsterdam is a top-tier European convention and exhibition venue, that includes over 116,000 m² of versatile area, 12 multi-functional halls, and 70+ assembly rooms — and town round it isn’t dangerous both. Two full days in one of many world’s most habitable cities, surrounded by 2,400+ HR professionals from 86 international locations. The vitality right here is totally different to your common business occasion.
The Scale
Earlier editions have introduced collectively:
2,400 HR professionals
86 international locations represented
110 HR tech resolution suppliers
134 moments of perception and shared journeys
What to Count on for 2026
This 12 months’s programme is seeing some welcome additions, with 4 codecs value highlighting:
AI Lab — A devoted area to get hands-on with AI instruments and discover what’s really deployment-ready
HR Tech Intensives — Deep-dive studying classes designed to sharpen your considering and transcend the floor
Pitchfest 2026 — Watch rising HR tech corporations pitch stay, compete for prizes of as much as €20,000, and make their case to a room stuffed with decision-makers
Get Related — A structured networking format constructed for making the precise connections, not simply amassing enterprise playing cards
And for each referral share by way of the Share for Good marketing campaign, €1 is donated to charity. The extra the group spreads the phrase, the larger the collective impression.
The Massive Themes Dominating HR Tech Europe 2026
1. AI: From Pilot to Observe
The novelty has worn off. HR leaders aren’t impressed by demos anymore — they need proof. The large questions this 12 months: Which AI instruments are literally in manufacturing, and what do the outcomes appear like? How do you construct an AI technique with out betting every thing on one vendor? What does accountable AI in HR really imply — and who’s imposing it? There’s a purpose Accountable AI and Automation in HR is without doubt one of the marquee dialogue subjects this 12 months. The business is aware of the dangers. The query is whether or not it’s being trustworthy about them.
2. The Expertise Structure Rethink
Workforce planning, skills-based hiring, inside mobility — the normal expertise mannequin is being dismantled and rebuilt. Classes will push past concept into operational actuality. How do you progress from job-based to skills-based expertise administration? What does a contemporary expertise market appear like inside a big enterprise? The place does expertise allow the shift, and the place does it simply add noise?
3. HR’s Altering Function within the Enterprise
HR is not a assist perform ready to be consulted. The CHROs and CPOs talking this 12 months are sitting on the govt desk, driving transformation. Subjects will discover how HR expertise permits strategic reasonably than administrative work, find out how to construct the enterprise case for funding, and what it really means to be a data-driven folks perform.
4. Worker Expertise as a Retention Technique
Engagement, recognition, wellbeing, profession growth — corporations successful the expertise warfare are successful on expertise. Classes will interrogate what really strikes the needle: the instruments and approaches that shift tradition reasonably than simply measure it, find out how to personalise EX at scale, and what the workforce of the following 5 years really expects.
5. The Startup Disruption Issue
Legacy HR tech is being challenged from each route. A few of the most essential conversations at this occasion received’t occur on the primary stage — they’ll occur within the Startup Park and the AI Lab, the place the businesses constructing the following technology of HR instruments are displaying their work in actual time.
Should-See Audio system
The Headliners
Josh Bersin, International Trade Analyst and CEO, The Josh Bersin Firm
If there’s one individual whose tackle HR expertise carries essentially the most weight on this business proper now, it’s Josh Bersin. He’ll be bringing his newest analysis and evaluation to the primary stage on Thursday, and his perspective on AI, abilities, and the way forward for work is crucial listening. His session attracts on world analysis and real-world examples to set out the place AI is genuinely reshaping work, what’s working, what isn’t, and the place HR leaders have to focus over the following 12–24 months. He doesn’t do vendor fluff. He does information, sample recognition, and plain talking.
Byron Clayton, CHRO, Pandora
Byron opens the convention on Wednesday morning with a keynote on how Pandora is utilizing predictive analytics and next-generation HR expertise to sort out attrition and unlock workforce productiveness. He’s led on the intersection of individuals, technique, and alter throughout retail, client items, life sciences, consulting, logistics, and expertise. This isn’t concept — it’s a stay case research from one of many world’s most recognisable client manufacturers.
Lucy Adams, CEO, Disruptive HR
Lucy constructed her fame tearing aside HR orthodoxy and changing it with one thing that really works. Her classes problem the assumptions that maintain most individuals capabilities again, and he or she delivers with the type of readability that makes you wish to rethink your total working mannequin on the spot.
The Practitioners (Your Friends)
These are the folks really doing the work inside giant, complicated organisations. Their classes carry a distinct type of weight — no vendor agenda, no polished pitch, simply actual implementation expertise:
Seline Berns-Oost Lievense, Chief Individuals Officer, Samskip
Kris Dunn, CHRO US and Canada, Marriott Worldwide
Kishore Krishnan, Sr. HR Companion, Amazon.com
Isha Smith, International VP Complete Rewards, SoundCloud
Melissa Shelley Höjwall, Supervisor of Digital Individuals Life Cycle, H&M
Anna Gullstrand, Chief Individuals and Tradition Officer, Mentimeter
Tom Hughes, International Digital Expertise Lead Individuals and Tradition, Sanofi
Hester Van Oene, HR Director, Wieden and Kennedy
These are your friends. Individuals managing folks capabilities inside organisations you recognise, coping with the identical pressures you’re coping with. What labored, what didn’t, and what they’d do in another way — that’s the dialog you may’t get wherever else.
The Analysts and Advisors
Trish Steed, Co-Founder and Principal Analyst, H3 HR Advisors
Anna Carlsson, HR Tech Analyst, HR Digi
Dieter Veldsman, Chief HR Scientist, The Academy to Innovate HR
No vendor agenda. Pure evaluation and perception. Should you see any of those names on the agenda, prioritise them.
The 2026 Programme: What’s On and How you can Navigate It
The Convention Programme
The spine of the occasion. Two full days of expert-led classes combining strategic considering and sensible utility throughout HR expertise, workforce technique, expertise administration, AI adoption, and the way forward for the folks perform. No generic talks — each session is constructed round real-world impression. Professional tip: the agenda has competing classes operating concurrently. Plan your day upfront and know your non-negotiables earlier than you arrive.
HR Tech Talks
TED Discuss-format classes tackling the most popular subjects in HR expertise. Quick-paced, punchy, and designed to energise. Superb for selecting up a pointy new perspective rapidly — or discovering a special approach on an issue you’ve been caught on. Excellent for the 20-minute gaps between longer classes.
Ask the Specialists
One of the underrated options of the entire occasion. Throughout designated instances throughout each days, business consultants can be found for casual, one-to-one or small group conversations. No formal presentation. No gross sales pitch. Simply direct entry to a number of the brightest minds in HR and expertise. Include a particular drawback. Go away with a perspective you couldn’t get wherever else. These slots refill — have your questions prepared earlier than you arrive.
HR Government Suppose Tanks
Peer-to-peer discussions for senior HR leaders. No lectures, no displays — simply structured open dialogue with folks working by way of the identical challenges you’re. Centered on key challenges, progressive methods, and actionable options tailor-made to at present’s HR panorama. Should you’re a senior HR chief, that is the place your most respected conversations of the 2 days are prone to occur. The no-vendor format creates a top quality of dialog you received’t discover wherever else on the occasion.
AI Lab (NEW for 2026)
A devoted hands-on area to discover what AI-powered HR instruments really appear like in observe. Not a demo theatre — an energetic studying surroundings the place you may stand up shut with cutting-edge options, achieve real-time insights into transformative applied sciences, and join straight with the instruments shaping the way forward for HR. If AI adoption is in your agenda for 2026, that is important.
HR Tech Intensives (NEW for 2026)
For HR leaders who need extra than simply good classes. Three structured Intensives run throughout the 2 days, every designed as a guided full-day journey by way of the occasion with a shared focus:
Tradition Intensive
Main HR Ahead Intensive
HR Know-how Technique Intensive
These aren’t classes you drop into between different issues. They’re immersive, peer-level experiences designed to sharpen your considering, examine views with friends, and transfer by way of the occasion with construction and objective. Consider it as a masterclass format constructed into the convention itself.
Pitchfest 2026 (NEW for 2026)
Rising HR tech corporations take the stage, pitch stay, and compete for money prizes of as much as €20,000. That is the place you’ll discover the instruments that aren’t in your vendor shortlist but — however most likely ought to be.
The schedule:
Spherical 1: 22 April, 11:15 – 12:15
Spherical 2: 22 April, 16:00 – 17:00
Remaining: 23 April, 11:00 – 11:30
The Pitchfest Remaining on Thursday morning is unmissable. You’ll see what early-stage innovation appears to be like like earlier than it lands on the analyst radar — and the conversations sparked in that room are typically among the many most forward-looking of the entire occasion.
Get Related (NEW for 2026)
Structured networking, carried out correctly. That is the hub that brings collectively Ask the Specialists, AI Labs, Suppose Tanks, and interactive peer experiences in a single place — designed to spark dialog, allow hands-on studying, and create the type of connections you’ll really observe up on. Not a drinks reception with awkward small speak. A purposeful surroundings for making the precise connections.
HR Tech Startup Park
Meet the entrepreneurs constructing the following technology of HR options. These aren’t polished enterprise distributors — they’re founders fixing actual issues with new approaches. The conversations are normally essentially the most energetic of the occasion, and if you wish to get forward of what’s coming earlier than it turns into mainstream, that is the place to look. Do it on Day One whilst you have vitality.
HR Tech Market
The principle exhibition area, with 130+ HR tech resolution suppliers starting from world platforms to specialist instruments. Confirmed for 2026: Workday, Personio, Tradition Amp, HiBob, Rippling, Cornerstone, UKG, Mercer, G-P, Certainly, and Sana — alongside dozens extra. That is the place you analysis, examine, and get direct solutions from the individuals who constructed the merchandise.
Market Technique: How you can Work the Flooring
Don’t wander. Go in with a plan.
Day One — scout and prioritise. Stroll the ground with recent eyes, determine the conversations value having, and e book time along with your shortlist for Day Two. Don’t decide to something earlier than you’ve seen what else is there.
Day Two — go deep. Return to your shortlist with particular questions. Ask about deployment, integration, ROI proof, and actual buyer references. Don’t let distributors management the dialog.
The Startup Park — do it on Day One. The startup conversations are energising and infrequently essentially the most fascinating of the entire occasion. Don’t depart them till you’re exhausted on Day Two afternoon.
Inquiries to Ask Each Vendor
For AI and Automation Instruments:
“Present me a stay buyer deployment — not a demo surroundings.”
“What’s your common time to ROI, and the way do you measure it?”
“What occurs when the AI will get it improper? What’s the fallback?”
“The place is our information saved and the way is it used for coaching?”
“Are you able to join me with a reference buyer in an identical organisation?”
For Core HR Platforms:
“How does this combine with our current stack?”
“What’s within the base contract versus what’s an add-on?”
“Present me the admin expertise — not simply the worker interface.”
“What does implementation really require from our aspect?”
“What does your buyer success mannequin appear like after go-live?”
For Expertise Acquisition and Administration Instruments:
“How do you deal with bias in your AI suggestions?”
“What compliance frameworks are you constructed round, and for which geographies?”
“What are your prospects changing after they purchase you?”
“What’s the most typical purpose prospects depart?”
Sizzling Subjects to Observe
These are the debates value following throughout each days.
“Is Our HR Tech Stack Truly Working?” Many organisations have spent the final 5 years buying instruments. Now they’re asking whether or not any of it’s delivering. The ROI query is all over the place this 12 months — within the classes, within the Market, and within the Suppose Tanks.
“What Does Accountable AI in HR Truly Look Like?” Bias in hiring algorithms. Explainability in efficiency administration. Information governance. These are not theoretical considerations — they’re employment legislation dangers. This dialog is entrance and centre.
“Abilities-Primarily based Organisations: Actual or Fantasy?” Everybody’s speaking in regards to the shift from job-based to skills-based expertise fashions. A smaller quantity have really carried out it. The classes that includes actual practitioners — not consultants promoting the idea — are those value attending.
“Who Owns the Worker Expertise?” HR? IT? The road supervisor? The reply more and more appears to be “the entire above, and no person particularly.” Classes exploring cross-functional possession of EX will likely be value monitoring.
“What Are Startups Fixing That Enterprise Distributors Aren’t?” Pitchfest and the Startup Park will floor the reply. Go in with particular gaps in your present stack and see what’s been constructed to fill them.
The DO’s and DON’Ts of HR Tech Europe 2026
DO:
Plan your agenda earlier than you arrive — the programme fills quick and session conflicts are actual
Attempt at the least one new format — AI Lab, Pitchfest, or Get Related are all value your time
Go to Ask the Specialists with a particular drawback — the extra exact your query, the higher the reply
Go to the Startup Park on Day One — don’t reserve it for if you’re flagging on Day Two afternoon
Observe up inside 48 hours — connections go chilly quick after a convention
Use the Share for Good marketing campaign — it prices you nothing and contributes to charity
DON’T:
Don’t attempt to attend every thing — you’ll burn out earlier than lunch on Day One. Choose your priorities and commit.
Don’t skip the Suppose Tanks when you’re eligible — peer dialogue with no vendor agenda is genuinely uncommon
Don’t ignore the smaller exhibitors — essentially the most fascinating instruments are sometimes from corporations you’ve by no means heard of
Don’t deal with the Market as the entire occasion — the classes and new codecs are the place the true worth lives
Don’t accumulate enterprise playing cards and by no means observe up — 80% of convention connections go nowhere as a result of no person follows by way of first
The Submit-Convention Motion Plan
Inside 24 hours: Block two hours to course of notes whereas every thing remains to be recent. Ship personalised follow-up messages — not generic “nice to satisfy you” notes. Share your key takeaways along with your staff.
Week of 27 April: Schedule follow-up calls with distributors in your shortlist. Join with friends you met on LinkedIn. Transient your management on what you discovered and what you’re recommending.
Week of 4 Might: Construct enterprise instances for any investments you’re contemplating. Create a 90-day motion plan primarily based in your two days in Amsterdam. Observe up with any audio system or consultants you linked with.
Professional tip: Write a visit report — even a brief one. Three takeaways, two distributors to judge, one factor you’re altering. Share it along with your staff. It justifies the journey, creates accountability, and means you really act on what you discovered reasonably than letting Amsterdam grow to be a fond reminiscence and nothing extra.
The Unwritten Guidelines of HR Tech Europe
The hall observe is actual — a number of the greatest conversations occur between classes, not in them
Distributors are extra forthcoming on Day Two afternoon — they’re eager to make an impression earlier than you permit
The opening hours set the tone — arrive early, get oriented, make your first connections earlier than the noise picks up
Impartial analysts know every thing — when you encounter Josh Bersin, Stacey Harris, or Trish Steed in an informal setting, ask them one thing actual
Night occasions are the place the trustworthy conversations occur — casual environments break down the formality quick
The startup founders are sometimes essentially the most fascinating folks within the room — they’re fixing issues the incumbents haven’t observed but
Ask the dumb query — everyone seems to be figuring this out. The individuals who faux they’ve it sorted are those to be most sceptical of
Carry your actual issues — the extra particular and trustworthy you’re about what you’re making an attempt to resolve, the extra helpful each dialog turns into
The Backside Line: What HR Tech Europe 2026 is Actually About
Strip away the agenda, the Market, and the Dutch canal views, and HR Tech Europe 2026 is asking one basic query:
“How will we construct folks capabilities which might be genuinely match for the last decade we’re really in — not the one we deliberate for?”
Each keynote, session, Suppose Tank, and hallway dialog will orbit round some model of this. The business is at a real inflection level:
AI is demanding proof, not simply endurance
Abilities-based expertise fashions are shifting from idea to execution
Worker expertise is changing into a aggressive differentiator
HR expertise funding is beneath extra scrutiny than ever
The subsequent technology of instruments is already being inbuilt startup parks like this one
HR Tech Europe 2026 is the place you’ll discover solutions — not from distributors making an attempt to promote you, however from friends who’ve walked the trail, analysts who’ve studied the information, and practitioners who’ve discovered the onerous means.
Go to Amsterdam with clear objectives. Ask onerous questions. Problem your assumptions. Community with intention. And are available residence with one thing value doing.
See you at RAI Amsterdam.
Keep Related
Web site: www.hrtechnologyeurope.com
Occasion dates: 22–23 April 2026
Social Media: #HRTechEurope
UC At present will likely be on the bottom throughout each days with stay protection, interviews, and insights. Observe us for real-time updates, speaker highlights, and the tales behind the bulletins.
Now go register, kind your journey, and prepare for 2 days that may genuinely form how you consider your folks perform.
Amsterdam is looking. The way forward for HR is ready.
Let’s go.
