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I am making the trek up to Las Vegas tomorrow to attend Forrester’s 2011 IT Forum.   The event actually starts today and runs through Friday.  It is being held at The Palazzo (which is part of The Venetian Hotel and Casino).

In year’s past, Forrester has used UStreamto broadcast many of the keynotes across the internet.  I don’t have the specifics, but it’s worth a search, when keynote presentations run from 8:30 – 12:30 Pacific Time (Friday morning keynotes end at 10:05).  Personally, Friday morning’s keynotes are of particular interest.  The first is titled “iPads And Torches And Droids — Oh My! Mobile’s Not In Kansas Anymore“.  That is followed up by another session called “Killing The Laptop: How IT Solutions Amplify Business Productivity On Tablets and Smartphones”.

After the morning keynotes, the afternoons are packed with 3-4 sets of track sessions.  The track that really jumps out at me so far is one called “Transform Processes That Touch Your Customers”.  It has sessions on topics such as next-gen CRM and customer service through social technologies.

The content is spot on.  For example, last year, I heard Ted Shadler speak about his book, Empowered, which mentions the rise of four key technologies: social, mobile, cloud, and video.  In my opinion, those four areas absolutely dominated the IT mindset in the past year, and are only growing in importance.

Like any conference, beyond the actual content, one of the most valuable aspects of attending are the networking opportunities.   In the past, Forrester has done a good job of trying to connect people with similar interest with role-specific ribbons to add to attendee badges.  They also put placards on the lunch tables to group people with similar interests.  Forrester also offers one-on-one meetings with their analysts — at no extra cost for attendees.

Please let me know if you are attending the forum (or happen to be in Las Vegas for something else), and would like to meet up.   If you are unable to attend, keep a look out here, my Computerworld Blog, or my Twitter stream for a recap of  what I find the most interesting and relevant.  You can also keep a tap on what’s happening at the conference with the official Twitter hashtag, which is #ITF11.