| HP Discover 2012 Las Vegas edition is over and I’m home recuperating from the trip. (My wife and I drove out this year.) My brain started popping with blog ideas so I sat down and began composing this entry. |
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Conferences are one of those things that can be something different to many people. One person may be there just to nerd out and see all the new tech, another may only be there to try and pick up some new customers, someone else may be there to actually learn something or get certified, and another person may be there just to network and hopefully land a better job.
I ran into several of that while out there. Me, I was there to learn and get certified. As the admin for our instances of HP ALM 11 and Performance Center I like to learn as much as I can so I can apply that knowledge at my job and help provide a better user experience for the users. I did do some networking but it wasn’t in the sense of looking for a better job, it was to further get to know my peers and others that work with ALM and Performance Center. I figure the best learning is from those whom actually work with the applications. Sure, the Product Manager and sales guys can tell you about it but what about actually using it? You know, real life scenarios.
This years conference was good, I won’t say it was great from the aspect of presentation. As you know I attended last year’s event and was really blown away by it. Granted that may be reminisces of it being my first real conference I’ve ever been to (as opposed to ChaserCon) so there were some unspoken expectations I had of this years conference.
Layout
Let’s start with the layout, I wasn’t too impressed. It was an L shape like last year but I think it was reversed compared to last year. As you walked into the Discover Zone, you were immediately presented with a lounge area. similar to last years but it was more condensed. Then the various vendor booths were the first things you walk into followed by all the main HP products and sponsors areas. The other booths like Vivit’s, Connect and blogging area was all tucked away back in the back. I believe this area was the area where they had all the vendors last year. The biggest feeling I got was that it wasn’t as open as it was last year, it seemed really enclosed.
Sessions
The sessions were in their normal place utilizing all the conference rooms located on the 1st through 5th floors and were pretty easy to locate. I figured out halfway through that if the room was say, 4202 this was also the floor number (4th floor). The general sessions when they had keynote speakers was pretty good. last year it seemed the seating was slightly inclined so the farther back you got, the better chance you had of seeing what was on stage. This year it was all flat so you hoped no one really tall sat in front of you. They did have several large screens for the folks in the back so they could see as well. The audio was a little lacking toward the back but you could still hear ok.
Meals
I would like to start by thanking HP for providing breakfast and lunch as I know they don’t really have to do that. I also want to thank thank the food services company that was hired to do them as those folks did a really good job and worked really hard. To me, they were the unsung heroes of the conference. the meals were not like they were last year, there really was a spread laid out last year. This year they consisted of fresh fruit (which is good), and pre-packaged items like sandwiches, salads, and things like that. Again though, it was free so I can’t really complain.
Overall Impressions
A conference is what you make it to be. last year it was all about learning for me. This year, it was a combination of both learning and a little networking with the various vendors we do business with. I didn’t get to do as much networking or talk with the vendors as I would have liked to as my schedule was really booked with sessions on Performance Center. So to all our vendors out there (ZAP, Orasi, PerfectoMobile, Assure and Go2Group) I apologize if I didn’t get much of a chance to spend some time or as much time with you as I would have liked. We’ll make up for that next year!
As for the events put on by HP, They weren’t as fancy as in the past and I felt like it was more of a “Ok, here ya go now leave me alone” sort of thing. I did keep reminding myself that HP has gone through some shakeups as of late and made some major changes so there probably wasn’t as much effort put into this conference like there was last year and I can understand that.
HP Discover is still one of the premiere events to go to if you are in the IT industry whether you use HP products or not. There is a lot of great information available there plus you get to chat with actual users of the various applications or technologies. HP does have a lot of offerings and I found a few new ones that I feel my company could benefit from. It’s also a good way to gauge how your organizations is doing compared other companies, are you headed in the right direction? Are you utilizing your applications or hardware to it’s fullest potential? Are you experiencing the same issues others are having?
If you do get the opportunity to go, please do. You (and your company) will thank you for it.
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