In this age when video conferencing has come to the palms of our hands, not to mention our laptops, desktops, and tablets, it is tempting to be dismissive of live events. Who wants the hassle and cost of flying across the country and staying in a hotel when we can see each other wherever we happen to be? But attending events live and in the flesh is a totally different animal from online interactions. Nothing beats meeting in person, and techies more than most should get on the plane and go to events, if only to build stronger connections with their peers!
This was really brought home over the last two weeks as our own Stephen Foskett flew to Las Vegas (twice) and New York for Symantec Vision, IBM’s Storage Innovation Summit, Interop, and EMC World. The interactions we had at these events was priceless, and it will pay dividends the whole year through. We saw cool new technology and met interesting new companies as well as getting to know folks better.
One person who understands the value of personal contact is Thomas Jones, of “Coffee with Thomas” fame. Thomas understands that our back-stories are often as interesting as our day-to-day work, and he’s quick to connect on a personal level. We enjoyed sitting down with him, and turned the tables, interviewing him for a change. Watch the video below and subscribe to his podcast!
This personal connection and community-building is one reason we work so hard to put together the Tech Field Day events and spend so much time away from home. Truly, nothing beats meeting in person, and nothing beats the great folks in our community!