The Internet is responsible for the demise of many “meatspace” industries, from magazine publishing to CD sales, but there are some things it’ll never do: No matter how much time you spend interacting online, meeting in person is something else entirely. I’m not trying to advocate a return to the old world of tech conferences and user groups. Rather, I envision a new breed of connected events that reinforce online communities with real face-to-face communication.
conference
Interop Show-Floor Gimmicks: What’s the Tie-In?
I was at Interop Las Vegas this week, and the Expo floor was alive with gimmicks. We had a talking robot, a boxing ring, a GT40, and two Mythbusters lookalikes. But what’s the point of a gimmick without a tie-in?
Conference Loot: SNW Orlando 2010 Edition
I’ve never been a fan of the junky, wasteful side of conference attendance. I railed about “booth babes and chotchkies” last year, and tried to make my presentations qualitatively different. But there is another class of giveaway at conferences: Solid, pricey loot.
Preparing For Cloud and Virtualization Expo in Prague
The final approvals are in, and I’m pleased to announce that I will have speaking sessions at both of Sys-Con’s European Expos in Prague in two weeks’ time! I am very excited to be visiting “Praha matka mÄ›st” for the first time, but now have to work to get my sessions ready. There is still […]
My Cloud Slam Topic: Enterprise Storage (Predictable?)
I am pleased to be part of Cloud Slam ’09, the cloud computing virtual conference! My presentation on Monday evening focuses on the emergence of cloud storage in the enterprise space: Why it’s important, what it is, and how to act on it. I start by talking about the drivers, including the unexpectedly high cost […]