There are a lot of Sitecore developers and marketers who haven’t had the opportunity to attend a Sitecore Symposium in the past. They may be wondering if they should attend and why. Or even how do I convince my boss to send me on a journey to Las Vegas in a quest of Sitecore knowledge. As a 3 time Sitecore MVP, I’ve been fortunate enough to attend 2 Sitecore Symposiums in the past and wanted to share my experiences. Hopefully this will get you excited about attending or at least provide some much need ammunition for you justification for the trip. Stay tuned to the bottom of the post for a $100 discount on your Sitecore Symposium registration!
1) Networking with other Sitecore folks
The networking at the Symposium is great! You get to meet with lots of talented Sitecore developers and marketers. These conversations lead to many great ideas but also establish a solid relationship within the community for when you need to bounce something off another person. Some of my greatest ideas have stemmed from side conversations at the Symposium. The relationships gained are priceless. Besides being able to put a face to who you are chatting with on Slack or Sitecore Community, I’ve had a few times where I’ve needed to bounce ideas off something else who has as good, if not better understanding of Sitecore then I do. If not for those encounters at the Sitecore Symposium, I wouldn’t have been able to have someone to run ideas by.
The Mirage Hotel & Casino
2) Sessions are amazing
The best way I can describe attending the Sitecore Symposium is that it is like drinking from a fire hose. Tons of great information being discussed in the sessions, so much so that you will be eagerly awaiting some of the sessions on video so that you can watch a second time in hopes of fully consuming all the information. There are so many sessions that one can’t attend them all. I know some Sitecore teams implement a divide and conquer mentality and split their teams up to cover all the sessions. As the only Sitecore developer at Mathematica, I’m not that lucky so I generally have to make a hard decision and hope that someone in my network attends the alternative session that I missed.
3) Keep up with Sitecore and upcoming releases
I still recall my first Sitecore Symposium that was held in 2014 at Aria hotel in Las Vegas. It was kicked off with Michael Seifert giving us a glimpse of Sitecore 8. Seeing the direction of the product really got me excited to get back and push management for an upgraded to the latest version. Seeing the power of the xDB was so amazing. Trust me if you have been around since the early inception of Sitecore – this was HUGE! It is this type of insight that is gained.
The 2017 Sitecore Symposium looks to have many must attend events/sessions:
There are 2 keynotes that I’m really looking forward to this year. With Mark Frost taking over for Michael Seifert, I’m very excited to hear him speak at the Symposium. The other keynote is Mark Hamill aka Luke Skywalker. As a Star Wars geek, this one has me very excited!! Hey, Sitecore – any chance the Sitecore MVPs could meet Mark Hamill? Pretty please!
There are so many great sessions this year. On the technical track, there is a large focus on the cloud. I’m looking forward to learning more about integrating with IoT devices, machine learning (T-1000), the Sitecore Data Exchange Framework, and Cognitive Services! See the full developer track. Within the marketing and strategy tracks there are several interesting sessions dealing with context marketing, personalization, and analytics. See the full Marketing track and Strategy track:
Rumor has it there may be fun at the Sitecore Symposium too!
1) Networking events: The Sitecore Symposium is filled with lots of fun networking events. Sitecore always does a top notch job at planning a great networking activity that gets the community to interact in a fun and entertaining setting. Past symposium events: House of Blues in New Orleans and night club rooftop party in Las Vegas.
2) It is in Vegas! I hear some people actually visit Vegas for fun. Something about Sin City, casinos, Vegas strip, and the Fremont Experience. Let’s just say there are activities in the area if you happen to get bored. A few of us are planning pre-Symposium events:
Brewery Tasting Tour
Las Vegas Knights Hockey game
So you are still looking for more…..just sign up now – use my special link to save an additional $100 off the registration costs.
1) Networking with other Sitecore folks
The networking at the Symposium is great! You get to meet with lots of talented Sitecore developers and marketers. These conversations lead to many great ideas but also establish a solid relationship within the community for when you need to bounce something off another person. Some of my greatest ideas have stemmed from side conversations at the Symposium. The relationships gained are priceless. Besides being able to put a face to who you are chatting with on Slack or Sitecore Community, I’ve had a few times where I’ve needed to bounce ideas off something else who has as good, if not better understanding of Sitecore then I do. If not for those encounters at the Sitecore Symposium, I wouldn’t have been able to have someone to run ideas by.
2017 Sitecore Symposium
The Mirage Hotel & Casino
2) Sessions are amazing
The best way I can describe attending the Sitecore Symposium is that it is like drinking from a fire hose. Tons of great information being discussed in the sessions, so much so that you will be eagerly awaiting some of the sessions on video so that you can watch a second time in hopes of fully consuming all the information. There are so many sessions that one can’t attend them all. I know some Sitecore teams implement a divide and conquer mentality and split their teams up to cover all the sessions. As the only Sitecore developer at Mathematica, I’m not that lucky so I generally have to make a hard decision and hope that someone in my network attends the alternative session that I missed.
3) Keep up with Sitecore and upcoming releases
I still recall my first Sitecore Symposium that was held in 2014 at Aria hotel in Las Vegas. It was kicked off with Michael Seifert giving us a glimpse of Sitecore 8. Seeing the direction of the product really got me excited to get back and push management for an upgraded to the latest version. Seeing the power of the xDB was so amazing. Trust me if you have been around since the early inception of Sitecore – this was HUGE! It is this type of insight that is gained.
The 2017 Sitecore Symposium looks to have many must attend events/sessions:
There are 2 keynotes that I’m really looking forward to this year. With Mark Frost taking over for Michael Seifert, I’m very excited to hear him speak at the Symposium. The other keynote is Mark Hamill aka Luke Skywalker. As a Star Wars geek, this one has me very excited!! Hey, Sitecore – any chance the Sitecore MVPs could meet Mark Hamill? Pretty please!
There are so many great sessions this year. On the technical track, there is a large focus on the cloud. I’m looking forward to learning more about integrating with IoT devices, machine learning (T-1000), the Sitecore Data Exchange Framework, and Cognitive Services! See the full developer track. Within the marketing and strategy tracks there are several interesting sessions dealing with context marketing, personalization, and analytics. See the full Marketing track and Strategy track:
Rumor has it there may be fun at the Sitecore Symposium too!
1) Networking events: The Sitecore Symposium is filled with lots of fun networking events. Sitecore always does a top notch job at planning a great networking activity that gets the community to interact in a fun and entertaining setting. Past symposium events: House of Blues in New Orleans and night club rooftop party in Las Vegas.
2) It is in Vegas! I hear some people actually visit Vegas for fun. Something about Sin City, casinos, Vegas strip, and the Fremont Experience. Let’s just say there are activities in the area if you happen to get bored. A few of us are planning pre-Symposium events:
Brewery Tasting Tour
Las Vegas Knights Hockey game
So you are still looking for more…..just sign up now – use my special link to save an additional $100 off the registration costs.
Sitecore symposium may help to know about sitecore
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