Gestalt IT Tech Field Day
In my last post, I highlighted one of my favorite industry events, Shmoocon. This led to me to start thinking about and researching other events, trade shows, and the like.
One interesting website that I have been researching is Gestalt IT. It appears that they have held several events in the last year connecting IT vendors w/ bloggers & other influencers. It looks like their Flagship event is called the “Tech Field Day“.
I would like to know if any of my readers have participated in one of these events as either a vendor or a delegate. What did you think — good, bad, or indifferent?!? Besides the delegates, are their other attendees? Feel free to leave a comment or email me directly at douglas <dot> haider <at> xirrus <dot> com.
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WiFi Jedi.com 
I was at Tech Field Day Seattle last month as a delegate and had a great time learning about Storage (and Fibre Channel over Token Ring – FCoTR). The opportunity to hear from vendors about their product and the technology used was amazing.
The networking opportunity that comes with the event is another experience that makes attending the event worthwhile. The event isnt for the faint of heart… it is nonstop for the entire two days.
I’m a two time delegate and reader of your blog. And also help in preparation of the Gestalt IT events on a voluntary basis.
As a delegate, I get two days of intense vendor participation, often with their very best people from the engineering team, and learn more about a vendors products in those few hours than several days of research and lab time. I also get to socialise with some of the smartest and most motivated people in the IT industry and discuss the technologies with other engineers.
As a blogger, I get exposed to new ideas and products that take my thinking in new ways. This get reflected in my writing and speaking as I often refer to concepts and knowledge gained as I go forward.
As a professional, I use the information to intelligently apply new products to the market, sometimes resulting in new sales for those vendors.
The vendor gets their name or products exposed to a whole new audience. The delegates have put a lot of energy into sharing their knowledge or views with blogs or twitter, and have a large number of people who hear what they have to say.
And those people want to hear their opinions because it’s a trusted source. I’ve often been criticised for being harsh on vendors at the Field Days, but if I’m going to support a product or strategy, then I need to be confident that I’m recommending a worthy product. It’s an amplified version of word-of-mouth.
Plus, it’s global. Some of the delegates travel from Europe, UK and Australia to get to the event. It’s a whole new audience for many smaller firms.
Feel free to get in contact if you’d like to discuss in person. Happy to share my participation in the networking community.
I participated in Tech Field Day Seattle as a vendor (Veeam). The opportunity for Veeam to present our upcoming technology and get unbiased feedback from the delegates was very valuable.
One good thing about the delegates was that they weren’t all “VMware” related, there were delegates there representing storage and networking as well who had never really heard of Veeam.
It’s also a good opportunity for vendors to build relationships and network with some of the top industry bloggers.
I was an attendee at the last Gestalt IT Tech Field Day in Seattle and found it to be a thoroughly worthwhile event. One I would have no hesitation in travelling half way round the world to attend again.
It was first and foremost a great opportunity to speak frankly with vendors about what they’re doing and what they are planning to do in the near future. This was all done without the usual NDA restrictions and in most cases was streamed live on the internet; there is no hiding place for vendors when the difficult questions are asked and I like that.
As an IT Professional it is a fantastic chance for me to expand my knowledge in areas of technology I may not deal with on a regular basis as part of my day job. This kind of exposure to companies at the highest technical level gives me an insight into products and services I could not get through the usual technical account manager route. I can then re-apply that knowledge in my day job to come up with fit for purpose technical solutions, potentially based on a company that I’ve seen but nobody else has heard of.
As a blogger it was a superb opportunity to meet people from different backgrounds with very different skill sets. It was a great opportunity to speak to people on various interesting subjects over a few beers and dinner. I left with a lot more insight and knowledge about certain areas of IT that I would never have looked at if left to my own devices.
In Summary, Tech Field Day is a great experience for both bloggers and vendors alike. I think the popularity of it as a format is constantly growing among vendors and of course the IT professionals who read the blog articles that come out of the back of it. I would not hesitate to do it again and am looking forward to catching up with the Gestalt IT Tech Field Day delegates old and new at VMworld later this month.
Hapy to discuss further if anyone has any questions
Not much to say that hasn’t already been said — I have also been a delegate. Was a great time, learned a lot from the vendors both as part of presentations and in what would be called “the hallway track” if this were a conference. I probably had way too much fun with the guys I was with, too.