I must say that I’ve enjoyed my 2 days at the S4 conference.
This is the first time I’ve experienced the WebEx “Virtual Attendee” capability for a conference. The reality of the program is that you don’t have to put up with the increasingly hostile air travel system but you miss out on the side-bar conversations and mixing with your co-attendees.
In a comment posted by Dale Peterson, he asked some specific questions which I’m more than happy to answer (I like Dale – he’s a good egg.)
I’ve enjoyed reading your comments, good and bad, about the S4 event. I guess it is payback for me when I do it at events.
I would be curious to get your final opinion, for all to see good or bad, on the Virtual Attendee experience. Obviously the problems at the first keynote started it off poorly, but now that you have done it for two days, should we offer it next year? Should others that can’t travel consider it or save their money? Would you like to see it for other, non-Digital Bond events?
My final opinion is this: For some kinds of conference – the Virtual Attendee program is “almost as good as being there.” I wouldn’t suggest it as sufficient for a conference or symposium with more than ~100 attendees as you’d miss too much of the “action”, but for a smaller, focused, intense discussion such as S4 — it’s a great fit that let me attend and contribute without actually having to leave the comfort of my desk. Blackhat wouldn’t work this way – S4 does quite well.
I would ask that it be offered again next year with a couple of minor changes:
- allow on-site participants to log into the chat area
- provide a feed of the non-conference proceedings – breaks and lunch – etc.
- allow virtual attendees to see the full list of other attendees (virtual and non)
- provision slides before hand – being able to flip back a few slides and ahead a few slides during the talk to help with context is important and is available to the onsite participants.
If you can make the case for needing access to the information but can’t clear the hurdles associated with international travel or some other reason (hesitant to fly into the USA given current TSA policy and practice) seriously consider spending the money on the virtual attendee program for next year’s S4.
Would I put in the effort for another conference or symposium – depends on the subject matter, the topical content, the speakers, and whether or not I get coffee service during the breaks and lunch sent in at the appropriate time!
Thanks for putting the program together Dale, and maybe next year, we can arrange for control-systems-engineers vs. IT security paintball/dunk tank/mud wrestling…
Maybe not the mud wrestling.
[tags]S4, SCADA, Security Conferences, Dale Peterson[/tags]