Conference times two
October 6th, 2009 Posted in Business news/resources, Technology News | No Comments »I just got back yesterday from a week out on the road. Along the way I attended two quite different conferences, each of which I found both valuable and fun.
Last Monday, I took in the first day of the 3rd Annual Wyoming Business-to-Business Idea Expo put on by the Wyoming Business Council. The breakfast keynote speech by Tim Gard was a hoot but also full of useful tips for surviving your business and your business travel. I went to several breakout sessions but the two on using social media (Facebook, Twitter, Linked-in) to help promote your business and on search engine optimization (SEO), both put on by Chris Hansen, were standouts. The best came last, however, when the regular bimonthly Laramie e2e networking meeting hosted speaker Yoshi Noguchi, of InterBusiness Corporation, who gave an extraordinary overview of cloud computing.
Wednesday through Friday, I was at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing. This event, which is now held annually, had record attendance (1600+) despite many other national conferences having a down year and attracted a star lineup of keynote speakers and panelists: the head of technology acquisitions for Google, the CTOs of Amazon and Facebook, and many, many other influential technologists. The conference is primarily aimed at undergraduate and graduate students in Computer Science, CS faculty, and mid- to high-level executives in large high technology companies. So I was a bit of a fish out of water but, frankly, the Google keynote was worth the price of attendance all by itself. It gave me some confirmation for a product idea I’ve been chewing on AND a different, probably much easier, approach for how to implement it.
(BTW, for any of you with daughters, nieces, or young female acquaintances currently studying Computer Science or a related field: One of the main things that goes on at the Hopper conference is interviewing and recruiting for both internships and fulltime jobs. The economy may be down and competition for jobs may be hot but GHC is a great opportunity for young women to get both inspired and hired. And a lot of scholarship money is available each year to underwrite attendance for those whose colleges don’t send a delegation.)
On the way back home to Sheridan, which included a 3-hour flight delay in Denver, doled out in 20- and 30-minute units, a diversion to Cheyenne for the medical emergency of one of my fellow travelers, and an approach to the runway through a driving rain/snow storm, I got to apply some of the Tim Gard lessons on keeping your sense of humor when all about you are losing theirs. I even made a gate attendant in Tucson laugh, which helped me smile the rest of the day as the travel got harder and harder.
ag
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Anne Gunn
ompeag @ wyoming.com