a glimpse of my professional life -- conference this week

I got to go to a conference this week -- close to home, slept in my own bed every night. When I signed up, I knew that my organization would be researching a particular type of software but I had no idea how timely the info available at the conference would be.

The very first talk I attended was incredibly helpful. It was called "Navigating the Vendor Maze" about the actual type of software we're purchasing. The talk was chock-full of advice about making the very decision we're about to make. That night, I got the list of finalist vendors that our committee (of which I'm part) had chosen.

I had spoken to some of the vendors at the tradeshow part of the conference on the first day. The next day, I went back to speak to nearly all of them again.

For technical reasons, we rejected one vendor who would otherwise have been at the top of the list. So I spoke to their representative, said I was sorry, and said I hoped our paths would cross again. He was so professional and actually gave me some advice about the next part of the process. I really do hope I get to work with that company some day. They sound like a first-class act.

Then I talked to three of the four finalists who were at the show. Two of them look like they'd be great (at least from the perspective of getting just a shallow look at their products).

The last one and I got into a bit of a tussle -- they've made some architectural decisions which force their customers to adapt their work style to the tool rather than having the flexibility to adapt to their customers. I argued with the VP of development, who basically took the attitude that people shouldn't do things in a way that he hasn't thought of already (him: "No really, our way is much better than what you're suggesting" me: "But you're taking away the way we think, conceptualize, and work" him: "But it makes the system so much faster" etc -- aargh!).

Meanwhile, the director of sales was laughing at the two of us. Neither approach -- the rigid affront, or the tremendous amusement -- gave me warm fuzzies about the company. As someone pointed out, pay attention to how these guys treat you now before you select them -- it doesn't get any better than this, and it probably gets worse.

Usually, when I'm at a tradeshow, there's nothing I want to buy and I don't want to waste the time of the salespeople by trying to figure out what exactly they're selling. (I should probably get over it and visit more tradeshow booths.) This time, the tradeshow part of the conference was enormously helpful and instructive.

I found some of the talks interesting -- there was one on linguistics, an old love of mine, and applying it to my field. Other talks were -er- pedestrian or less relevant.

The networking was great. I got to catch up with some former colleagues, both people attending the conference and people at the tradeshow. I got to spend an entire lunch with one of my favorite former coworkers of all time. I got to meet people I've only known electronically or over the telephone. And I made some connections for a possible revival of an area professional group that I participated in and helped lead a few years ago.

So personally and professionally, it was time and money well spent. I'm glad I went. And it's nice to have a weekend to recover before plunging back into things.

Next week, we need to prepare to talk to the finalist vendors. The leader of our selection committee will be out of town, so he's asked me to organize and present the list of questions we'll have. Sounds like next week will be busy. Sounds like I'll be even better prepared to do the work than I might have been pre-conference. I love synchronicity.