Each year that I have attended the Innovate conference, I have tried to blog about what happens and what I learn at the conference. Is it a big IBM/Rational marketing vehicle? Sure it is. It’s a fantastic opportunity to meet face-to-face with our customers to hear their praise, condemnation, and concerns. For those of us “on the inside”, it is a chance to let our customers know more about the products and services that we produce, and a chance to educate them on how to leverage those products and services to achieve real business value, and to meet critical organizational challenges and goals.
What most people DON’T realize is that at this conference, the information flow is in both directions. I am always amazed at the amount that I learn from other people attending the conference. I learn from the really smart IBM people who attend the conference, but I also learn a lot from our customers. They end up teaching me so much, and providing ideas for so many of these blog postings, that it often takes up to a week after the conference is complete for all of it to sink in.
So if you plan on attending the conference, please take some time to find me and introduce yourself. I need to learn more about what is important to YOU. I am doing a couple of sessions at the conference, as well as some other events. This year I am using the Innovate Event Scheduler to try and map out my time. Feel free to send me messages using this event scheduler. I look forward to sharing ideas and experiences with all of our customers. While I will be wandering around for a good chunk of the time, here are some places where you can definitely catch me during the week of Innovate:
Sunday, June 3rd
- I will be in the Developer’s Cafe from 6pm to 7pm.
Monday, June 4th
- 10:15am – 11:15am – I will be doing a roundtable on CLM Enterprise deployments, in the Red Carpet Lounge
- 6:15pm – 7:30pm – I will be at the AVP Cocktail party.
Tuesday, June 5th
- 3pm – 4pm – Session LS -1512 on CLM Enterprise Topologies with Grant Covell
- In the evening I plan on attending both the OSLC Hospitality event and the IBM Business Partners event
Wednesday, June 6th
- 10am – 1:30pm – WKSP – 1805 Jazz Administration Workshop
Dan Toczala's Blog 