IBM’s Think Is Back
I had the incredible opportunity to attend the Think tour kickoff in Boston. The potential of a revitalized Think conference was so exciting that I took the week as a vacation, brought my wife, and paid my entire way. I wish that all my investments paid such dividends. Every convention and User Group was hard hit by the pandemic. Some transitioned to Virtualized online — Web-hosted events, some reinvented themselves as blogs, and others just collapsed. I am thrilled to say that after two years of having a virtual conference, IBM decided that the time was ripe to bring us all back together. Boston was the first, with a series of other venues throughout the year. I’ve attended onsite conferences for decades and have hosted a few smaller regional ones. Like all of us, I’ve had to shift gears over the past two years while the conferences went on-line. The industry tried several different formats and a variety of platforms, with varying degrees of success. Speakers learned to adjust to the nuances of on-line presentations, and audiences did as well — but something was always missing. Fortunately, in-person conferences are back. Think is back!
For me, there are three primary drivers that keep me returning to In-Person conferences: Focus, Energy, and Networking. Content is important too, but I’ve rarely been disappointed with the content at any conference and there are many ways to deliver quality content outside of a conference experience, whether that experience is In-Person or Virtual.
One of the key advantages of being In-Person is the ability to focus — to honestly focus on what the event is all about. By putting the time and effort into attending I have more skin in the game, so I can honor the event with my full attention. I have long found that online events & presentations struggle with distractions. The pressures of the Day Job often intrude, whether it is phone calls, emails, or other deliverables. The online conference sometimes becomes just another window on our screen competing for attention — and besides, I always tell myself that I’ll watch the recording when I get those fantasy-free minutes later in the day. On the other hand, it is hard to be distracted or disengaged when you are in the same room as the presenter, especially when they are looking at you straight in the eye. Even being on camera, while a great step in the proper direction, is no substitute for that acetylene stare of a seasoned presenter — and don’t even think about pulling your phone out, unless it is to take a picture of the slides to support your notes. I carry a single journal that travels with me from conference to conference. In it I keep track of all the sessions I attend along with tidbits that I glean from those sessions. There are many speakers that I’ve seen give different sessions at different conferences. Closing the loop with a prior presentation of theirs is a wonderful way to jumpstart the conversation during the Q&A portion at the closing, or during those precious minutes between sessions when you can grab their attention.
Focus and Energy are the Tango that plays so well together. Dropping a question in the sidebar chat of a virtual session has none of the energy of the back-and-forth conversational banter that great questions generate in a room full of engaged people. As a presenter, I’m able to catch those subtle hints suggesting that someone has a question but is just a bit too nervous to ask it. I’m not suggesting that our industry attracts introverts, but it is sometimes easier to coax participation out of the audience and bring their voices into the conversation when we are all physically in the same room. Perhaps it is that sense of a shared experience that energizes the conversations, or the ease of others within the space to participate to the extent that they wish, but I generally see more interaction from a wider range of attendees when we are all in the same room.
The third pillar, and perhaps the one that is most suited to in-person events, is networking. There is no better way to meet and interact with people than by being in the same physical space with them. I’ve had many chance meetings that then developed into lasting friendships. Several also became job opportunities. In fact, it is safe to say that the entire in-person event can be thought of as a soft interview. Mealtime is a great way to meet people in other regions, industries, and technologies, especially if you are attending the event as the sole representative of your firm. I’ve found that sitting at the last open seat of a table serves as an instant introduction to all the others who arrived before me. Be sure to pick a table that looks to be in the initial stages of their meal, if they are digging into dessert, look for another table that is just starting off. I bring along a stack of my business cards and make notes on the backs of the ones I receive, they serve as mini-notecards to record your initial impressions. I store them chronologically, so they correspond with the notes I keep in the journal. Often there are “Meet the Author” events where you can chat with the author of a Redbook or other industry publication. I always go home at the end of the session with a signed copy that becomes my airplane read for the return trip. I always take away wonderful insights from the various round table sessions that work so much more naturally in-person than virtual. Whether I am on the stage or in the audience, there is a lively conversation that usually continues well after the normally scheduled end time. Boston’s Think conference introduced a new format to the always popular after-hours networking. Rob Thomas and many of the senior IBM leadership team served as our bartenders. It may have been the best-attended event of the week!
One of the consistent high points of Think 2022 was whenever Spot, the Boston Dynamics dog came wandering by. We’ve all seen them dance to “Do you love me?” (and if you’ve not, it is worth the search on YouTube) but the commanding presence that they exude is difficult to describe. It definitely exceeds any video I’ve seen them do. Having Spot in the same room gave all of us access to their handlers. The upside was that we were permitted a view “behind the curtain” to see how the staff of Boston Dynamics view and treat these remarkable devices. What I found particularly interesting was that they did not refer to them as Robots, for indeed they are not robots in the classical sense. Rather they consider them Co-Bots, the idea being that they are an extension, an augmentation of their handler, not a replacement for the handler. During one session I attended, the Boston Dynamics team focused on industrial use cases in remote settings. One of the examples they discussed involved deploying a Spot at a pumping station that was well off the beaten path. Spot would be used for remote temperature and visual monitoring of the equipment in the location. The legs gave it the mobility to handle steps and obstacles, both low and high, that would have limited the access that a wheeled bot could navigate. The arm also helps in a myriad of ways, whether it is by adding flexibility to the probes or by moving lightweight items out of the way. I found them to be inspiring, and a promising indicator of the sorts of augmentation that may be available to us in a more widespread fashion in the near future.
Arvind Krishna, IBM’s CEO, invited us to create. His keynote helped set the tempo for the entire event. No, there weren’t any earth-shattering announcements involving Content Management, my sector of the computational universe, but he made it clear that AI and Data were the keys to the future. Technology has long been seen as a cost of doing business, perhaps the ugly duckling of the business, but no longer. The future belongs to the swan. Technology is becoming an asset. Whether it is the transformational opportunities of becoming truly digital or the insights that have been long hidden within our unstructured data, technology has become a partner and has earned its seat at the table. The adoption of AI will accelerate the appreciation of the asset value of technology. The point being that data is not just an input to the process, it actually becomes the process, especially when coupled with proper AI models. Workflows are not just data-driven and human monitored, rather, with modern algorithms we are finding that more and more processes are occurring without the need for the delays and uncertainties that humans introduce. The AI’s can leverage far more data and can produce more consistent results.
This theme was not just in the keynotes, the exhibitors also had their AI on display. McDonald’s has long been far more than just a burger joint, (OK, I love their fries too). They have embraced technology and innovation for decades. One of the more interactive exhibits was the AI-powered McDonald’s ordering kiosk. While we have all encountered the iPad-based menus and ordering appliances, McDonald’s has advanced this technology so that it is no longer simply a substitute for “Do you want fries with that?”. I spent several sessions with their demo and found it to be closer to a senior waiter at a long favorite restaurant than just an order taker behind the counter. It went beyond interactive to being contextually aware. For example, I could talk my way through an entire order and at the end ask it to change the size of the drink to a medium. The use of this technology will only increase as the effects of the pandemic continue to shift the McDonald’s customer experience from the lobby to the car. What started as self-checkout in your local supermarket is being rolled out to new applications. AI continues to be the foot on the accelerator pedal and from the looks of it, I don’t see any brake lights out in front.
Arvind did hint that there are industry challenges ahead of us. He sees a shortage of skilled technologists over the years ahead, in particular within cybersecurity. I’ve also had similar concerns within the broad range of domains that now make up our industry. While some of the issues may be addressed with the various “Low Code” opportunities that continue to arrive and a renewed interest in STEM in our schools, there is good reason for us to be wary of the future state of the programming industry. The proliferation of short lifespan languages may well make it more difficult for our programming staffs to gain deep knowledge in their tools. What is clearly not going away is the Google-fication of solutioning, where folks are more likely to Google rather than noodle their way out of a particular programming question. While it solves the immediate local problem, Googling the answer does little to advance the craft of the programmer.
There were many incredible presentations, interactions, and demos at Think Boston, but for me, the highlight was the chat we were able to have with Rob Thomas, Senior Vice President of IBM’s Global Markets. Many of us in the Champion’s Lounge already knew Rob, and he knew us. This permitted us to dispense with the typical formality that one might expect when in the presence of an SVP. Not only was Rob willing to give of his time, but he also showed genuine interest in both the concerns and questions that we brought up. Here was another prime example of how an on-site event offers opportunities that could never be matched when remote. Yes, we had all attended numerous presentations and briefings held by Rob over the past two years, but there is something to say about having an SVP take an hour out of his day, an hour that could be used to woo new clients, just so he could do a private session with us. It was magic. It was also a reminder of the different sorts of networking opportunities that present themselves when we are all together onsite. Rob got to know each of us in a far deeper manner than if we had attempted a similar session online.
If I ever need to justify traveling to a distant city again for a conference, all I’ll ever need to do is show this picture to my wife and my boss. No, they are not the same person, but they both are interested in growth and happiness. Boston had been on my wife’s bucket list for three decades, but something always got in the way. Once Think Boston was announced it didn’t matter when it was (a chilly week in May), it didn’t matter whether my day job would cover it (they wouldn’t), the only thing that mattered was: when do we start packing? Oh, and remember to leave some space in your luggage for all the conference swag. Going on-site was the perfect solution to a long-standing request. I’ve managed the same for nearly all of the conferences that I’ve attended. Regardless of where the hosting city is, there is enough of a draw to convince a non-attendee to put in for the time and make the trip. Schedule a few days either before or after the conference to explore a corner of the world that would not usually be open to you. In general, I find that arriving a day early gives me the head space to shift from “work mode” to “conference mode”. When I plan on doing additional sightseeing, I take those days after the conference. Those few days serve more as an opportunity to calm down after the non-stop excitement that every conference entails. While there are many people who can jump on a flight as the conference closes, I need some time to unwind, consolidate my notes, and start the transition back to my normal day job frame of reference. Highly recommended, take the extra days and go see a new part of the world — your day job will still be waiting when you return.
I’ll close with a few suggestions to make your next In-Person conference a memorable success. Try to arrive the day before, this allows for far less stress and offers the chance to check out the lay of the land and avoid the registration lines. When able, try to book the on-site hotel, or find one that is a short walk. There is an incredible freedom that comes with proximity, not to mention all of the time savings. Bring a stack of your business cards and something with your company logo so you can send photos back to your management.
Of course, have fun. Focus on the event, feel the energy reinvigorate you, meet other practitioners of your art — and return home transformed. They are always my favorite week of the year.
Paul Cortellesi
