Now that VMworld is behind us, I turn my attention once again to Tech Field Day. Specifically, we are finalizing our eighth Tech Field Day Event (and tenth event overall) which is coming up in the middle of September. Once again, we have a great batch of new and returning delegates. And once again, many of the presenters share intriguing characteristics. This time, it looks like we will have something of a storage focus!
Sharing the Work
I have been very, very busy lately. This is a good thing, considering that “I work for no man” but it sure does cause stress! That’s why I’m glad to announce that Matt Simmons has joined me full-time, taking on much of the workload of planning and executing Tech Field Day events.
The great thing about Matt is that he can basically do everything I can do: He’s a systems administrator and can handle all of the techie IT stuff that goes on behind the scenes, and he has experience working with hotels and travel people in planning events. Assuming all goes well with the next few events, Matt and I may even be able to add additional “staff” to meet the demands of an expanding event series!
Of course, the input of current and past delegates and the sponsors themselves helps out a lot too. There’s no way we could make this happen without the delegates help selecting and voting on their peers’ qualifications and helping out with making everything run smoothly on the ground. They’re also a huge help in suggesting new presenters and making introductions.
There’s nothing like an “thought leader” referral, except perhaps the enthusiastic endorsement of previous presenters! And we have had no shortage of enthusiasm, as witnessed by the hearty handshakes (and hugs!) from our friends at Zerto, Embotics, SolarWinds, Drobo, Symantec, Dell, Veeam, and so many other companies. And that was just at VMworld!
Something Old, Something New
We are always trying to keep the Tech Field Day events lively and fresh, and we continue to evolve the “formula”. We have some new ideas for Tech Field Day 8, and a great batch of new delegates and companies as well.
We always try to pick new and interesting voices for these events, and Tech Field Day 8 is no exception. We are also trying to go out on a limb a little more, bringing in up-and-coming delegates that we feel will be the next superstars of the industry. Take a look at our delegate list, and I think you’ll agree that we have a great group!
We are also experimenting with a new roundtable discussion format, something we began with Tech Field Day 7 in Austin. Rather than directly discussing the presenters, we are going to reserve some time in the schedule to discuss pertinent topics and trends in IT. With the help of our friends at Truth in IT, we will produce a series of videos of these conversations. These will be released in the month after the event.
In Austin, we decided to post recordings of the presentations immediately after the event. We will do that again in Tech Field Day 8, and hope this becomes a valuable resource for folks looking to learn about these companies. We got great feedback at VMworld about the streaming and the recordings, with many people commenting that they went back and viewed the presentations once the event was finished.
We are still tinkering with the schedule and trying to decide how many companies we can fit in with our new roundtable concept, but I hope this gives you an idea of the sort of things you learn from Tech Field Day. We expect to announce a few more companies shortly, including some big names who are just going through the process of contracts and legal legwork. Watch this space, and tune into the live streaming of these presentations at TechFieldDay.com!
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