One of the cool parts about being VMUG President is being able to get around to a bunch of UserCons and events all over the world and talk to VMUG members – virtually all of whom are technology enthusiasts – and hear what they’re excited about. Being able to hear what is on the mind of a financial services IT Pro in Barcelona, what’s going on in the world of an HCI consultant in Sydney, and how an architect at a university system in the US Midwest is approaching a problem has made it so clear that there’s so little that separates us day-to-day. It has truly been a life-changing experience for a guy like me who grew up in rural New England.
The beauty of a virtual conference is that you can a ton out of it, without it taking a ton out of you. Yeah, I’m looking at you "Captain 42,000 steps a day at VMworld.” Note: that was me. My feet still hurt.
Of course, there wasn’t a whole lot of globetrotting going on in 2020 (at least for me), but I still had the opportunity to make solid connections with people all around the world at events like VMUG Virtual UserCons, VMworld, and Dell Tech World. Of course, it looks different with virtual events, and if you’ve been to one I don’t need to tell you that. One of the things that I’ve been hearing about in many of these conversations is that people are getting tired of virtual events; they miss the energy and shared experience that comes with being at a physical event. Originally, I was really sympathetic to these concerns, but more recently I have started realizing that many may be feeling this way unnecessarily - because they’re kind of doing virtual conferences wrong.
Before I go any further: let me be clear that I acknowledge that there is some loss of fidelity when doing a conference or event online. I’m not going to stand here and say that I don’t miss being able to see friends and other technologists face-to-face. In fact, some conferences are the only times I get to see friends from the other side of the world. Still, there is incredible value in these virtual events, and I’d like to spend a bit of time going over some of my tips and thoughts on the best ways to really dig into a virtual conference.
One of the things that I like about Dell Tech World is how varied the content is, there’s laptops, cloud, and BYO snacks!
One of the major shows that I really like to attend, Dell Tech World is coming up next week on May 5 and 6. Our university could easily be considered a Dell shop as our endpoints, servers, and much of our storage have the Dell logo on them. Of course, we’re also a huge VMware customer which is part of the Dell Technologies family (at least for a few more months.) As such, there’s a ton of announcements and information at the conference that I am excited to hear about. Perhaps more importantly for me though, tons of industry leaders show up and I always look forward to connecting with - and learning from - them. So because it’s familiar to me and coming up soon, I’m going to use Dell Tech World as my example for each of my tips.
First (and most important to me) is to register in advance. This way, you get the updates and news as it comes out instead of needing to feel it out the day (or days) of the events. This is especially important in virtual events because some of the virtual environments they are held in can be expansive, and you may not get to explore it all if you wing it the day of the event which means that you will almost certainly miss something. You want to take a look at the agenda and plan out what sessions you want to take in, as well as what extra options they have going on. Some sessions are live and so you need to make sure you schedule them on your calendar. Others may be on demand or recorded and broadcast at multiple times.
Continuing the theme of planning, registering for a virtual conference like Dell Tech World ahead of time means you can prioritize any sessions that are on-demand that you don’t want to miss. In my case, the sessions at the top of my must-do list are:
Michael Dell’s opening keynote, “Moving Forward—Together”
A Work and Learn From Anywhere session, Empowering Innovative Work From Anywhere, Anytime
Modernize Security for IT Resilience session, Improving Cyber Agility: Utilize an AI-driven, Zero-trust Approach
You’ll note that the keynote is high on my list of priorities, and I encourage you to not skip keynotes at virtual conferences. I’ve found that at virtual events, there is incredible effort put into making sure that the keynote sets the stage for other sessions and many of them presuppose that you’ve seen them. Of course, this is also where you may hear about a new announcement that could alter the course of what you want to take in during the day. The point is you need to make sure that you plan your day, and the best way to do that is to get the agenda and associated information that gets sent to you when you register – so do it early!
Second is to make sure that you don’t just become a passive participant. Yes, you can attend a virtual event in your pajamas and just watch the sessions and call it a day, but you’re missing out on the best part of conferences in my opinion - connecting with the other attendees and swapping information and stories that help us all grow together as technologists and IT leaders. For me, I plan to spend a bunch of time in the Connect area at Dell Tech World meeting up with VMUG members. This is an important part of the event for me and I encourage you not to miss it. However, just like at a physical in-person event you should make sure that you’re balancing your time between connecting and taking in new information at sessions; make sure you don’t over-rotate and spend all your time chatting it up.
If you are new to networking with other technologists, let me give you a simple tip that has worked for me in the online environment. If you see someone ask a question in a session, or if you see someone say something in a lounge environment that you find interesting, agree with, or even disagree with – send them an IM (most platforms allow this). Tell them that you appreciated their perspective and then share how you see the topic. Maybe you agree and have a great story about why you feel the same way or maybe you’ve seen it play out differently. The point is to make that personal connection. After you’ve gone back and forth for a few messages, thank them for their time and send them your email and LinkedIn URL. Connect with them after the event and see what they thought of it. Congratulations! You just expanded your network by one, and sometimes that’s the most important takeaway from a conference.
Third, make sure you take advantage of the opportunities that a virtual event provides you that an in-person event could not. In-person events have the hallway track, but better virtual events have something very similar that could in some ways be better. Sure, you can’t just walk up to someone and say hi - but if you take advantage of the technology, making a connection certainly is possible and sometimes even easier than trying to find someone walking around a show floor. Features like “Search” allow you to find and create a list of other attendees you’d like to further relationships with in advance. I know it isn't like finding them in the hallway, but you can connect with more people because of the efficiency of the technology. Wouldn’t a “Search” feature be nice in person?
Not going to lie, I’m getting anxious just looking at a room full of people like that.
Finally, make sure you don’t just drop in and leave a few hours into the event. I understand the temptation to schedule a session or two and then check out for the rest of the day so you can tend to the fires in the office or get project work done, but I think that’s selling a lot of these events short. You likely wouldn’t fly to a major conference only to attend two sessions and spend the rest of the time in your hotel room working unless something went really wrong back in the office (and by the way, we’ve all been there), so why would you check out of a virtual event the same way? I’ve found that the way to get the most out of an event like this is to stay “in the flow” of the event. Just like at an in-person conference, you never know what you can learn by checking out the show floor and seeing what new solutions are just over the horizon for you.
Ultimately, what I’m trying to say is that these virtual events can be every bit as good as an in-person event, and if your perception of an online conference was formed in the middle of 2020, you owe it to yourself to check out the latest innovations that are going into the conferences that are about to kick off or are in the planning stages for 2021. A key difference this year is that the event planners now have much more experience and time to plan a first-rate online event, and they’re trying some new things that I think are really exciting. One at Dell Tech World that I’m excited about is that the Converged User Group is hosting a virtual reality lounge where you can network with some incredible industry leaders in a whole new way that certainly doesn’t give you “Zoom fatigue.”
If you have been missing attending your favorite conference or event over the past 13 months, I’d encourage you to really commit to taking in everything that virtual events have to offer. Yes, I’m with you in that I hope to get to some real events in late 2021 or 2022, but the simple reality is that virtual is what we have for now and they can be pretty good or even great – so make the most of them.
Questions for reflection:
What is your favorite conference or event? How did it translate to a virtual event if they did so last time?
Has anyone done attendee-to-attendee connections or networking especially well? Why?
Can you commit to attending one event and really sticking with it all day (or days if it’s a multiday event) just like you were there in person?
