Honestly, when I wrote it, I knew it was a misleading title but thought it might grab your attention. We are less than a month away from Sitecore Symposium – aka my favorite time of the year. Man, do I love symposium.
1. I get to travel with all my work buds.
2. I get to see my friends from the Sitecore community who I don’t see as often throughout the year.
3. I get to get my learn on.
4. I get to make even more NEW friends in the Sitecore community.
See what I mean? How can you not love going to Sitecore Symposium?
Now, as a seasoned veteran, I feel it is my responsibility to lay out the dos and don’ts for this years events. To be fair, there are definitely more dos than don’ts, but it’s still a list of my recommendations nonetheless. While I could recommend sessions, there are so many good ones to choose from and it’s honestly a personal preference to what you attend, so I took a bit of a different approach
I will spare you more nonsensical rambling and get straight to the points….
DO walk around the partner pavilion. If you are a Sitecore customer or are considering Sitecore, there is a lot of brainpower from all the partners concentrated in that one room. Plus, we all bring some pretty awesome SWAG. And while you are in there, make sure to stop by booth 308 and say hi to me and our team.
DO bring a notepad and a pen (or see point one and scope out a booth that is handing out said items). The information at this event is flowing and with lots of knowledge being shared you don’t want to miss out on anything (and carrying your laptop around all day can get heavy).
DO wear comfortable shoes. With so many sessions, the rooms can be spread out so you might be hoofing it across the hotel to get your front row seat. Comfortable shoes are key to making sure you don’t miss anything in the presentations you are attending.
DO go to any session you can get your hands on that talks about Sitecore’s content hub. As the latest and greatest product released from Sitecore you will want to be the first to hear about the features, use cases and more.
DO go to the Magic Johnson keynote. It’s Magic Johnson. It’s a no brainer.
DO seek out MVPs. We have special designations on our badges (and honestly, I might wear a crown so you can spot me more easily). But as MVPs we are a great resource to go to for various Sitecore questions and honest opinions about what we have seen work, where we have seen challenges, etc. We are always happy to hear about your experience and discuss. That’s why they call us MVPs.
DON’T be afraid to cross tracks. And by that I mean if you are a marketer and you are focused on the optimization track, definitely check out a Getting Started or DevOps track. The Sitecore universe is vast and there is no such thing as irrelevant information when it comes to the platform.
DON’T drink too much at the Sitecore party on Wednesday night because yours truly will be presenting again in the hangover slot at Symposium. Yup, you read that correctly. On Thursday morning, at 9:30 sharp, my client Craig Burkart from Ecolab and I will be doing a follow up presentation to our session last year. This year we will be discussing the benefits of putting together a personalization POC and exactly how to do just that. You don’t want to miss it.
As always, if you have any questions about this year’s events, want me to recommend any sessions or just want to connect, HMU on twitter @jgrozalsky or submit a comment in the form below.
Stay thirsty, friends!
Love all the Dos and Dont’s for #SitecoreSYM, especially the idea about putting a crown on all MVPs! 🙂
Or we can all wear those Sitecore … Loading shirts that BrainJocks gave out last Symposium. Loved them. People thought the flashing lights were a game and were a good conversation starter.