(Note: I started the blog while waiting at the airport, but since it (obviously) takes less than 72 hours to return home, I finished the blog post while at my house. Needless to say, I am not changing any of the grammar to have the correct tense, however, I don’t mind putting this disclaimer in the beginning).
So here I am, sitting in Washington National Airport and recapping the events from the past few days while living at Fusion11. I really had hoped to type up a few blog posts throughout the event, but to be honest, I was having way too much fun which I’m now paying for in the form of a very powerful, and unwelcome hangover (thanks to the ITSM Academy for the most recent one). In the spirit of being direct and to the point, I’ll lay out a few lessons/observations from this year’s conference so if you didn’t attend, you’ll hopefully get a general feel of the conference.
1. Life is damn tough as a vendor: OK, I think I stated this from last year’s conference, and I know vendors are out there trying to make a living (like the rest of us), so they obviously have to attend, but it’s not an easy life. The vendor reps have to spend days away from their families, live out of suitcases, battle air travel, and then when they get to the conference, they have to try and talk to as many people as possible, which often means accosting (in a very polite manner) attendees to try and reel them in to their booths. I couldn’t do it, so I definitely salute your efforts. By the way, if you’re a vendor and reading this, I really do apologize for ignoring you. I’m sure your software and/or services are fantastic – I really just couldn’t pretend to be interested when all I want is to enter into your raffle. But I did collect business cards, so if I really need your products you can bet I’ll be contacting you.
2. Brilliance goes beyond knowledge: One of the keynote speakers touched on this one, but it’s very obvious from spending time with many of the ITSM heavy-hitters. There are a lot of bright and intelligent people out there, but what sets Malcom Fry, Chris Dancy, Gene Kim, etc., apart from the rest, is that they just have fantastic personalities. They are funny, outgoing, and know how to deliver wisdom in ways that I couldn’t fathom ever doing. I’ve been called smart before (I did pay them though), but after talking to a few of the very well known people in the ITSM industry, these guys/gals are down right brilliant and there’s a reason why they have thousands of followers on Twitter.
3. Networking, networking, networking….(a.k.a., partying): I did attend a few sessions while at the conference, and those few presentations were quite good, but overall, I have to say the magic of Fusion11 isn’t in the content, but in the networking. After all, itSMF has the motto “connect, learn, grow,” not “sit, take notes, return to hotel room and catch up on Forces of War.” There’s a reason why “connect” is the first item on that motto list; it’s because connecting leads to interacting and learning through the experience of others, which propels growth (without having to make the same mistakes). I really don’t mean to put down any of the sessions, and if you’re new to ITSM I highly recommend you attend as many as possible, but this is my second conference and between webinars, LIG meetings, white-papers, opinions and blogs, there was not a whole lot of new content for me (I hate to say it, even Malcom Fry repeated some of his jokes). On the other hand, I made a ton of new professional contacts, got to hang out with some very well known ITSM’ers (I should have gotten Chris Dancy’s autograph, but I didn’t want to be “that guy”), and really made connections from which I can learn more than what any session could offer.
4. Leave the laptop at home: There was no time to use it and getting it through airport security was just a pain.
5. Take every opportunity to talk to the “brilliant people:” I admit, I blew this one. Before leaving for the conference, my director suggested I take any opportunity to talk to Malcom Fry (even if he repeats jokes). I definitely agreed with the strategy but I have to admit, I chickened out on my opportunity. So there I was, last night of the conference and Malcom was chatting with some fellow in the lobby of the hotel. I seriously considered going up to him to somehow join in on the conversation, but I really didn’t have any smooth way to do it. Needless to say, I did not want to be “that guy,” and left for an after-party, at which point I got properly hammered and made a total schmuck of myself (I think). So, even if I didn’t follow this advice, I still stand by the advice as a lesson learned and say to meet with as many people as possible.
6. Incident Management – f**k it: This is a great lesson that needs some explaining. I met a british chap who also deals with Incident Management, but he also mentioned he’s working on Problem Management, and since rule #1 in Incident Management is never to have the Incident Manager be the Problem Manager, I was really curious as to how he was going to get the processes to work. His explanation; Incident Management works well without him, so f**k it. This is definitely a brilliant truth and one that I’ve thought of as well, which is…life as an Incident Manager seems pretty dismal, so if an organization has a need for Problem Management, it’s better to put the energy into that process instead of incidents. I don’t know if this lesson really fits in well with the Fusion 11 blog post, but the conversation occurred at Fusion so it fits into this list. By the way, sorry for the uncouth phrase and I hope the use of asterisks softens this up a bit. I considered rewording the saying, but nothing really can quite convey my feeling as well as one of the most prolific swear words in history.
There you have it, Fusion 11 in a quick and dirty blog post. Was there more going on? Absolutely. Do I have any comprehension of how much? No, but it was a great conference and I highly recommend attending Fusion 12. If you go, maybe they’ll have a mechanical bull at the conference. It’s in Texas, so my money is on “yes.”
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