This past August 5th – 8th, a dozen and a half Perficient employees from across the country converged and attended THAT Conference in Wisconsin Dells, WI. THAT Conference is branded as a “Summer Camp for Geeks”. From the THAT Conference website, it is described as follows:
“THAT Conference is the “Summer Camp for Geeks” that combines technology, networking, social events and exposure in an inspirational, family friendly environment at The Kalahari Resort in Wisconsin Dells. Over four days, folks of diverse technology backgrounds and expertise levels gather to take advantage of multiple learning mediums to maximize one’s community and career advancements.
Engage with true practitioners, thought leaders and entrepreneurs while enjoying the perks of summer camp at a giant waterpark. Join us and become part of THAT family.”
There was a wide range of content offered in the daily keynote speeches, various concurrent sessions, and one-off open session groups where any topic could be discussed. The sessions included topics for both technical and soft skills, as well as kid centric sessions (yes, your whole family can come along and have plenty of interesting things to learn while you geek out!). The technical tracks offered both 100 level sessions as well as more advanced 200 level sessions. There were a wide variety of topics to choose from and overall the content was good and applicable to our daily work. Check out the THAT Conference website to see a full list of the sessions that were offered.
Several Perficient employees have attended yearly since its inception several years ago and suggested a larger group attend. This year we coordinated with Perficient employees from around the United States and gathered for the conference as well as some team building and fun! In addition to all the conference activities, which included a pig roast and a water-park night, we bonded as a team at Perficient dinners and on a genuine duck boat tour on the Wisconsin River and surrounding Dells area. The feedback from our team was very positive. We conducted a post conference survey and here are some of the results:
What we liked about the conference:
- “The soft skills talks and spending time with Perficient colleagues”
- “…the variety of sessions from soft skills to technical tracks. Event had a great vibe… friendly, family oriented, and had activities for kids.”
- “Variety of Topics, Team Building”
What we thought could be improved:
- “Some session did not match up to their descriptions very well.”
- “Need more workshops”
- “Some 100 level topics where too high level to be effective”
All that attended would recommend this conference and go again.
Based on the Perficient attendee feedback and my personal opinion about the conference, this was a special event for our colleagues because we all had the opportunity to meet face to face and get to know one another in a fun environment while learning some new things. THAT conference is very unique and was a good experience, but more importantly, we (at Perficient) value opportunities like this to bring our team together. Often we work remotely and work on different projects and this gave us a great opportunity to meet in person and bring together colleagues from different regions. Thanks THAT Conference! We’ll see you again in the future!
