OPEN Forum 2026

OPEN Silicon Valley holds OPEN Forum 2026 on Saturday, November 7, 2026, from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM at the Santa Clara Convention Center, 5001 Great America Parkway. The theme is Build. Bridge. Belong., marking 25 years of the chapter. The host frames it as a full-day gathering of South Asian founders, executives, and investors, with workshops, a marketplace, lunch, and an evening close. Confirmed speakers on the registration page include Mehdi Hasan, founder and editor-in-chief of Zeteo; Amit Zavery, president, CPO, and COO of ServiceNow; Hasan Rizvi, executive vice president at Oracle; Tehmina Jaffer, EVP of business affairs at Disney Kids & Family; Wajahat Ali, author and New York Times contributing op-ed writer; and Zareen Khan, chef, author, and co-founder of Zareen's Restaurant, among others still being added.

OPEN is a global Pakistani-diaspora entrepreneur network with chapters from Silicon Valley to New York, London, and Islamabad. OPEN Silicon Valley is the Bay Area chapter. Forum admission is included for current General, Executive, and Charter members. Non-member online general admission was $75 with online registration closing November 5. After that cutoff, the host says tickets are only at the door for $125. Student admission is $25 with a valid ID; email rabia@opensv.org for that path. Membership-plus-Forum bundles remain on the registration record at $350 and $500 if those tiers still show open. Re-check the live checkout before you drive; a leftover online tier is not the same as a door ticket.

This is right for Pakistani and broader South Asian founders, operators, and investors who can spend a full Saturday in Santa Clara. Skip it if you only wanted a two-hour mixer or Ascend NorCal's Diwali night earlier in the week. Those are different rooms. Bring a student ID if you claim the student price.

On-site parking is listed as free in the convention-center garage, with light rail at Tasman and Convention Center. The Hyatt Regency Santa Clara connects to the building if you are overnighting. SJC is about six miles; SFO is a longer Peninsula haul. Screenshot confirmation or your door-ticket plan. Re-check the speaker list the morning you go; names still move on the host page.