Changing The Value of Going to Data Center Conferences from focusing on Content to Friends

Update: as much as this may seem a bit of extreme.  I just thought of three friends, maybe four who are going to the same cities to see friends.

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I had lunch yesterday with a data center executive yesterday who is a good friend.  We caught up on a bunch of different things, then we talked about conferences - Uptime Symposium, AFCOM, 7x24 Exchange are all coming up.   AFCOM is end of Apr.  Uptime is 3rd week of May.  and 7x24 is first week of June.  And as much as I was not trying, I am going to all three.  Well I am going to the cities, not attending all three conferences.  

So what got me to go to three conferences in less than 6 weeks?  Friends.

The philosopher Aristotle said, “In poverty and other misfortunes of life, true friends are a sure refuge. They keep the young out of mischief; they comfort and aid the old in their weakness, and they incite those in the prime of life to noble deeds.”

Ralph Emerson said, “A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere.”

Most would think you want to go to a conference for the content.  Content is nice, but friends are more valuable.

Here is what my plans are.  

I fly in to LV on Apr 29, awesome $200 roundtrip airfare from SEA to LAS.  Stay at the Westin for less than $150. Go to a party.  Participate in a 10a Apr 30 GigaOm Webinar on Taking the Guesswork out of Operational Expenses: Quantifying the Value of Uptime  Fly home on Apr 30.  Not going to AFCOM.

May 20 - 23, SEA to SJC.  Have one company party on May 22.  Another party I am hosting on May 21.  Lots of other friends to see that are in town.  Not planning on attending Uptime Symposium, but will most likely need to go to the hotel bar to meet others who are in town.

June 1-4, SEA to FLL.  Will attend 7x24 Exchange. Sit in presentations.  Attend event parties.  See lots of friends.

What finally got me to go to all three locations in 6 weeks are the friends who I knew would be there.  The content isn’t as important which is why 2 out of 3 I don’t plan on attending the conference.  

Here is a description of 8 different types of roles for friendship.  Below are the three I plan on focusing on going to the above events.

5. Connector

“A connector is a bridge builder. …. Connectors get to know you — and then introduce you to others” (111). Connectors are always inviting you to lunch and other gatherings where you can meet new people, and point you in the right direction when you need something.

6. Energizer

“Energizers are your ‘fun friends’ who always give you a boost. You have more positive moments when you are with these friends. Energizers are quick to pick you up when you’re down — and can make a good day great” (117).

7. Mind Opener

‘Mind Openers are the friends who expand your horizons and encourage you to embrace new ideas, opportunities, cultures, and people. They challenge you to think in innovative ways and help you create positive change. Mind Openers know how to ask good questions, and this makes you more receptive to ideas” (123).

230 people attend 7x24 Exchange Oregon 1st User Group meeting

Many of the data center conferences are finding it harder to get the attendance of end users to their events.  At the same time there is pent up demand for data center users to socialize with their peers.  What to do?

One option is a 7x24 Exchange chapter meeting, but those events tend to be small.  Then some of my Portland friends said they had 200+ people registered for their event on Feb 27, 2014 at Intel’s Jones Farm Campus.

I’ve been to the campus and it has a great facility to host 7x24 Exchange.  

Here a couple of pictures from the event which ended up having 230 people attend.

Uptime Symposium takes another step in the Transition to be more Gartner Data Center Conference

I stopped going to Uptime Symposium three years ago, when I was no longer able to attend the conference as media.  My blog doesn’t qualify as full time industry publication.  Explained another way, my blog doesn’t play by the rules influenced by the industry vendors and analysts.  If I had any ad sponsorship money from the data center industry then it is hard to say it wouldn’t influence what I write.  I do get influenced by my friends and what they think. :-)

Missing the conference means I don’t see friends, but I find I can go to other conferences like 7x24 Exchange and see most of the people I want to connect. 

When I took a look at the latest schedule for the 2014 Symposium it reminded me of a Gartner Data Center conference where most of the presenters are Gartner analysts with a sprinkling of industry people.  This next Uptime has 451 group as the speakers which is great for those who subscribe to 451 Group’s services.

I remember going to my first Uptime Symposium with Mike Manos and Christian Belady.  I learned a lot and made good friends.  One of the more memorable is an ex-Google data center engineer who I was able to have insightful discussions on the state of the data center industry and still keep in touch with.  

Industry events are great places to meet people.  Next week I am off to wireless/mobile conference in Vancouver.

Here is the event.

The session I am speaking on is this one.

What’s Real at the Nexus of Forces: Mobile, social, data, cloud?

This time, change is coming from four directions. Post-web computing harnesses disruptive technologies in the cloud and on mobile devices, and puts social media and big data to work. While consumer-driven tech leaks into the enterprise, line of business management and IT must collaborate to get the most of these four critical technologies. But hold off the hype, and keep the futurists focused: this session will zero in on what’s realistic in the next 12-24 months. What’s pie-in-the-sky and what’s driving 12-24 month decisions that can show payoff?

Off to Open Compute Summit V, Who else will join the OCP efforts

I am off to the fifth Open Compute Summit.

OCP Summit V

Wednesday, January 08, 2014 · Posted by at 12:00 PM

We are pleased to announce the dates for the next Open Compute Project Summit on Tuesday, January 28 and Wednesday, January 29, 2014 at the newly expanded San Jose Convention Center in San Jose, CA.

At the last summit, attendees came from the technology sector in addition to finance, government, and consulting. These attendees represented executive-level roles of vice president or higher as well as IT directors and managers.

The Open Compute Project Foundation would like to thank these sponsors for making this event possible!

Venue

San Jose Convention Center - 150 West San Carlos Street, San Jose, CA 95113

The growth of Open Compute I think has surprised most every one, going from space on Page Mill Road in their office building to venues in NYC, Rack Space in San Antonio, Santa Clara Convention Center and now San Jose Convention center.

Don’t know what my rate of blogging will be.  There are plenty of media folks that will be there to cover the event. I’ll probably focus on networking and catching up with old friends, then blog later.

Calling Data Center Hackers! Test your skills at Open Compute's 3rd Hackathon Jan 28-29

Many data centers have a hack or two or more.

In modern computing terminology, a kludge (or often a "hack") is a solution to a problem, doing a task, or fixing a system that is inefficient, inelegant, or even unfathomable, but which nevertheless (more or less) works. To kludge around something is to avoid a bug or some difficult condition by building a kludge, perhaps relying on properties of the bug itself to assure proper operation. It is somewhat similar in spirit to aworkaround, only without the grace. A kludge is often used to change the behavior of a system after it is finished, without having to make fundamental changes. Sometimes the kludge is introduced in order to keep backwards compatibility, but often it is simply introduced because the kludge is an easier alternative. That something was often originally a crock, which is why it must now be hacked to make it work. Note that a hack might be a kludge, but that 'hack' could be, at least in computing, ironic praise, for a quick fix solution to a frustrating problem.^[10]

The folks at Open Compute have figured out that Hacks are the reality of data center operations and sharing your hacks help them get better.

Here is the invite to the event on Jan 28-29, 2014.

Open Compute Hackathon III registration@opencompute.org Tuesday, January 28, 2014 at 12:00 PM - Wednesday, January 29, 2014 at 12:00 PM (CST) San Jose, CA

 

Event Details

Have a great idea for innovating data center technologies or want to hack on hardware to seed your company?  Then join us for our third hardware hackathon at the upcoming Open Compute Summit, January 28 - 29, 2013 in San Jose, California. 

We will have cash prizes to help you seed your initial idea. In addition to the prize money, the Open Compute Foundation is partnering with a team of angel investors and venture capitalists who will work with you to formulate your initial idea into a business plan.