NeurIPS: A Playground for Builders, Doers and the Brilliant

How to maximize your experience - from someone who’s been

To compare NeurIPS to the Super Bowl is both a bad cliche and oddly accurate in that this single event houses all the people, technology, and possibilities you would want to find in the field of  machine learning and artificial intelligence.

I’ve been working in this field for more than a decade and can honestly say of the dozens upon dozens of conferences I have been to, this one is completely different and incredibly valuable.

What NeurIPS is really like

It’s big. Really big. Organizers tell me they expect 18,000 people at the 2025 event. That can be overwhelming in scope and scale, but also present infinite learning opportunities in that it is end-user, engineering, and developer-focused. This is not a vendor-to-vendor circus. It’s a place where real builders gather to talk about the work. They also listen to feedback on how to make it better.

Think less sales conference and more deep tech meetup. Every conversation feels like it could turn into an all-night, ‘let’s order some pizzas and find a whiteboard’ brainstorm session. The breakout sessions are actually informative, not filler. I walked away with dozens of photos in my phone of scribbled notes, new ideas, and people and platforms to more deeply research on the long flight home.

This is an event where it was easy for me to justify the ROI to my bosses. I didn’t come back with metrics about scanned badges and business cards. I walked into the office the following Monday with excited contacts for new partnerships, insights, and yeah, in some cases, actual deals.

Who you’ll meet

As my title implies, you’ll meet doers: hands-on developers, systems administrators, data scientists, and decision-makers who live and breathe technology. The kind of people who can go from brainstorming an idea to running a proof of concept in a weekend.

These are people who - if you are listening - ask the smart questions. They want to understand how things work - not what’s trending. They’re not there for small talk; they’re there for deep technical conversations. If you’re someone who loves to geek out over architecture, optimization, or GPUs, you’ll fit right in. Which brings me to …

Who this event is not for

If you’re looking for a traditional trade show full of broad pitches and surface-level networking, this isn’t your event.
High-level salespeople who are more comfortable pitching and less comfortable listening and answering deep technical questions may struggle here. Marketers who sit outside of product may also find it tough to connect.

NeurIPS isn’t about selling. It is about learning. It’s about engaging, exploring, and understanding where this industry is headed next.

Why I’m going back (and what I’ll do differently)

This year, I’m doubling down on preparation. I’m studying the agenda ahead of time: the  breakouts I want to hit, the vendors I need to connect with - and those who just intrigue me - and focusing on the topics that align with Voltage Park’s roadmap. I’m also bringing my senior solutions engineer along for those extra-deep technical dives.

The best advice I can give: plan for downtime and team downloads.

NeurIPS can be overwhelming, and some of the most valuable moments happen after hours — when your team gathers to swap notes, connect the dots, and turn insights into action.

Bring some goals to NeurIPS

If your only goal is to collect leads, you’re missing the point.

For us, NeurIPS is a chance to:

• Listen: to where the industry’s heading and what challenges teams are facing.
  
  
• Learn: from researchers, builders, and innovators pushing AI forward.
  
  
• Collaborate: with potential partners and customers.
  
  
• Reflect: with our own team afterward to see how what we learned should shape our roadmap.
  
  

We go to NeurIPS with two ears and one mouth for a reason — listening is more powerful than talking here.

Why Voltage Park will be there

Voltage Park is one of the top five largest neocloud providers in the world with a growing inventory of current and next-gen GPUs built for AI builders. We’re also scaling our managed services, and building out a unified AI Factory with some of the same minds behind Amazon Bedrock.

“What we’re building is fun.” 

If AI could have a physical playground, we’d be it.

This stage of AI is full of experimentation, collaboration, and discovery. We’ve built a technically solid infrastructure and now we’re building a flexible sandbox to build complete, customized AI systems. It’s for people who want to create, test, and push boundaries in AI. 

It’s for people - who will find themselves right at home at NeurIPS.

Stop by booth 641 or secure some time with us by filling out this form. We want to know what you’re building next, and see how we can get you there faster.

-Brandon Peccoralo, Vice President, Sales & Partnerships

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