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    Spiceworld London 2016

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved IT Discussion
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    • scottalanmillerS
      scottalanmiller @Deleted74295
      last edited by

      @Breffni-Potter said:

      Never done Austin. But is the value high enough to warrant flights & time?

      Value is dramatically different than London. London I would question attending even if I lived in town and had zero costs. Just showing up might not be worth the time. Austin I fly in from wherever for and schedule my year around. So is there enough value for you, can't say. But I put the value of London near zero and the value of Austin decently high.

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
      • KellyK
        Kelly @Deleted74295
        last edited by Kelly

        @Breffni-Potter said:

        @scottalanmiller said:

        @Breffni-Potter said:

        @scottalanmiller said:

        The event was well done, but the interactions didn't exist and there was just "nothing" to it. No one talked to each other

        Apart from a few cliques who I keep seeing buddying up with each other, I had a lot of chats with different faces. And they were not vendors 😮

        The total time for talking was a tiny fraction that of Austin. If you've not done Austin, I doubt you understand the level of social interaction. The London event was so much "less" both per day and in total.

        Never done Austin. But is the value high enough to warrant flights & time?

        @Breffni-Potter I think it would depend on what you were valuing. If you're looking at going to a tech conference and a chance to meet vendors I think it would be a terrible value. This is what I found at SWL last year. As a tech conference and a chance to connect with vendors it was a waste of time. The sessions are either marketing crap or technical fluff. The vendors would be US oriented and unacquainted with what it is like to work in the SMB outside of the states. If you're going to meet other IT professionals, network, and have a good time with peers that you've never met in person, it is a good value. I mostly had a good time in London last year, and some of it was talking with vendors, but it was never about the vendors products. Richard@webroot, Katie@Unitrends, Joe@Lenovo, etc., were all great people, not just sales drones. I think that is one of the differences at SWA. There are more person to person interactions with vendors and Spiceworks staff, and not just a booth crawl.

        scottalanmillerS 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • scottalanmillerS
          scottalanmiller @Kelly
          last edited by

          @Kelly said:

          There are more person to person interactions with vendors and Spiceworks staff, and not just a booth crawl.

          there is an epic booth crawl, but those of us in the know just skip that. I don't visit the booths t all.

          KellyK 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • C
            Carnival Boy
            last edited by

            I guess these events are great for networking but unfortunately networking isn't a skill I've ever managed to master.

            KellyK 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • KellyK
              Kelly @scottalanmiller
              last edited by

              @scottalanmiller said:

              @Kelly said:

              There are more person to person interactions with vendors and Spiceworks staff, and not just a booth crawl.

              there is an epic booth crawl, but those of us in the know just skip that. I don't visit the booths t all.

              I meant that the interactions consist of more than just the booth crawl.

              scottalanmillerS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • scottalanmillerS
                scottalanmiller @Kelly
                last edited by

                @Kelly said:

                @Breffni-Potter I think it would depend on what you were valuing. If you're looking at going to a tech conference and a chance to meet vendors I think it would be a terrible value.

                Meeting vendors works really well. You just have to know how to do it. At the conference proper (all there is in London) or the "no talking" official events you get almost no chance to talk. If you go with the crowds to the unofficial events, you get tons of access to vendors with time to talk.

                KellyK Minion QueenM 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • scottalanmillerS
                  scottalanmiller @Kelly
                  last edited by

                  @Kelly said:

                  @scottalanmiller said:

                  @Kelly said:

                  There are more person to person interactions with vendors and Spiceworks staff, and not just a booth crawl.

                  there is an epic booth crawl, but those of us in the know just skip that. I don't visit the booths t all.

                  I meant that the interactions consist of more than just the booth crawl.

                  Not the official ones 🙂

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • KellyK
                    Kelly @Carnival Boy
                    last edited by

                    @Carnival-Boy said:

                    I guess these events are great for networking but unfortunately networking isn't a skill I've ever managed to master.

                    I wondered about this before my first SpiceWorld, but I realized that it was more like meeting up with friends I'd never met in person before. I wasn't networking. I was just hanging out.

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • KellyK
                      Kelly @scottalanmiller
                      last edited by

                      @scottalanmiller said:

                      @Kelly said:

                      @Breffni-Potter I think it would depend on what you were valuing. If you're looking at going to a tech conference and a chance to meet vendors I think it would be a terrible value.

                      Meeting vendors works really well. You just have to know how to do it. At the conference proper (all there is in London) or the "no talking" official events you get almost no chance to talk. If you go with the crowds to the unofficial events, you get tons of access to vendors with time to talk.

                      I was responding specifically to @Breffni-Potter's question about the value to him. As a UK based MSP, American sales reps aren't going to provide him much, if any, value.

                      scottalanmillerS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • coliverC
                        coliver
                        last edited by

                        I heard there was a conference in upstate NY that would be a great way to network and be introduced to technical topics. 😛

                        Minion QueenM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 4
                        • scottalanmillerS
                          scottalanmiller @Kelly
                          last edited by

                          @Kelly said:

                          @scottalanmiller said:

                          @Kelly said:

                          @Breffni-Potter I think it would depend on what you were valuing. If you're looking at going to a tech conference and a chance to meet vendors I think it would be a terrible value.

                          Meeting vendors works really well. You just have to know how to do it. At the conference proper (all there is in London) or the "no talking" official events you get almost no chance to talk. If you go with the crowds to the unofficial events, you get tons of access to vendors with time to talk.

                          I was responding specifically to @Breffni-Potter's question about the value to him. As a UK based MSP, American sales reps aren't going to provide him much, if any, value.

                          I don't know if that is true. Most of the ones at the UK event are American ones anyway. Katie and Richard are US based. Brian from Scale is German and does the US events, that isn't an issue here. I think the country basis isn't as big as you'd think. AetherStore is nearly 100% European staff.

                          KellyK 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • KellyK
                            Kelly @scottalanmiller
                            last edited by

                            @scottalanmiller said:

                            @Kelly said:

                            @scottalanmiller said:

                            @Kelly said:

                            @Breffni-Potter I think it would depend on what you were valuing. If you're looking at going to a tech conference and a chance to meet vendors I think it would be a terrible value.

                            Meeting vendors works really well. You just have to know how to do it. At the conference proper (all there is in London) or the "no talking" official events you get almost no chance to talk. If you go with the crowds to the unofficial events, you get tons of access to vendors with time to talk.

                            I was responding specifically to @Breffni-Potter's question about the value to him. As a UK based MSP, American sales reps aren't going to provide him much, if any, value.

                            I don't know if that is true. Most of the ones at the UK event are American ones anyway. Katie and Richard are US based. Brian from Scale is German and does the US events, that isn't an issue here. I think the country basis isn't as big as you'd think. AetherStore is nearly 100% European staff.

                            Perhaps not. However, what I stated reflects my experience at SWL. With the exception of the vendors that were primarily US based, they either weren't interested in engaging or weren't capable of reframing their information. I was actually interested in the offerings from one vendor who was international, but despite asking them to put me in contact with a local sales rep I kept getting UK regionalised information and pricing.

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                            • DashrenderD
                              Dashrender @scottalanmiller
                              last edited by

                              @scottalanmiller said:

                              @Breffni-Potter said:

                              Some stall holders were just grumpy, disinterested. I don't get why they were there. One of them when I tried talking to them said "We sell storage systems for the 50k mark, so mainly enterprises" - But you are at a heavy duty SMB focused event?

                              Austin gets that, too. Lots of vendors have never heard of the community and just get sold the stall by sales people without explaining to them who the audience is or outright telling them things that are inaccurate. You get a lot of vendors there that are pretty confused or just don't care and actively shun the audience they just paid for.

                              That was the case for Cylance - they only sell to 250+ seat places.

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • Minion QueenM
                                Minion Queen @scottalanmiller
                                last edited by

                                @scottalanmiller said:

                                @Kelly said:

                                @Breffni-Potter I think it would depend on what you were valuing. If you're looking at going to a tech conference and a chance to meet vendors I think it would be a terrible value.

                                Meeting vendors works really well. You just have to know how to do it. At the conference proper (all there is in London) or the "no talking" official events you get almost no chance to talk. If you go with the crowds to the unofficial events, you get tons of access to vendors with time to talk.

                                Except there were very few unofficial ones. And everything in London closes up so early. @scottalanmiller and I who are so familiar with SWA were pretty bored at night 😛

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • Minion QueenM
                                  Minion Queen @coliver
                                  last edited by

                                  @coliver said:

                                  I heard there was a conference in upstate NY that would be a great way to network and be introduced to technical topics. 😛

                                  Thank you @coliver!

                                  Deleted74295D 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • Deleted74295D
                                    Deleted74295 Banned @Minion Queen
                                    last edited by

                                    @Minion-Queen said:

                                    @coliver said:

                                    I heard there was a conference in upstate NY that would be a great way to network and be introduced to technical topics. 😛

                                    Thank you @coliver!

                                    Except the cost of said conference is much higher due to the time & travel expenses required. So thanks but no thanks 🙂

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                                    • Minion QueenM
                                      Minion Queen
                                      last edited by

                                      Oh I understand 😞

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • Deleted74295D
                                        Deleted74295 Banned
                                        last edited by

                                        I won't be going to MangoCon for the same reason I won't be going to Austin 😛

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                                        • StefUkS
                                          StefUk
                                          last edited by

                                          I think it's still worth going to spiceworld London.

                                          As far as content goes, for an IT tech conference, you get a lot of interesting talsk and not always from vendors. The drill is stil the same, ie vendors flussing things up, but I find it interesting depending on the projects that you are involved in you can always make some good conversation. Most of vendors are pretty nice @Lenovo - unitrends - cyberoam - webroot etc .. you ll always get some annoying one ..

                                          In terms of value for money .. you get decent food, decent swag and a good free booze party ... I don t think is all that bad.. 🙂

                                          I can't compare it the Austin one but as a UK venue it's not all that bad ... will need to find the time to come over the pond and sample the Austin one ..I hope soon ...

                                          Stef

                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                                          • larsen161L
                                            larsen161
                                            last edited by

                                            If you're looking for a great tech conference in London check out BSides. It runs along InfoSec typically and as such is a security focused conference. Very few vendors to get in the way (5-10 maybe) and everyone talks to everyone at the breaks.

                                            Problem with this conf though is trying to get a ticket. Supplies are very limited.

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