Sitecore Symposium 2020 - Tips for Attending the first Virtual Conference

Sitecore Symposium Goes Virtual

If you weren't already aware, with all the craziness going on in 2020, with Covid-19, Sitecore Symposium which is usually held at a large conference hall somewhere in the United States, is being held in a virtual medium for the first time this year. We will that this will make this year's event more difficult to catch everything, unlike previous years. Also for those that aren't as technically savvy, will have struggles adapting to this new digital medium.

Tip #1

Preparation for the event is the best strategy. From previous experiences with live events and attending Microsoft Build virtual conferences, the biggest challenge is exactly knowing all the things that you can do, and all the options that you can attend either live or on demand. It is recommended that you go into your account and check out all the options and explore all the capabilities. If you've paid for the premium access, you have alot of options available to you, with similarities with options that were previously available at a live event.

Tip #2

Just like previous years, use the website to build a schedule. What we really like, is the ability to download the times as outlook calendar events. This way they are on your calendar, and you will be less likely to miss the events that you specifically want to check out.

Tip #3

Since this conference is a virtual event, keep in mind that events are more likely to appear in timezones closer to your current home location. So you don't need to worry about staying up all night to catch a keynote that's taking place early in the AM in the US Central Time Zone. Another great advantage of the virtual event, is that you don't need to worry about dealing with travel, traffic, getting from one session to another, sore feet, or cold weather in this years event.

Tip #4

Check out some of the pretty awesome ways that Sitecore is encouraging it's users to participate in activities this year. For example, here are some of the interesting things to be on the look out for:

• Guru Bars

These are great for going to these events to meet with Sitecore employees to learn about a specific area of the product. They have four key areas including Business Case, Content Hub, SBOS Marketing, and Technical Consulting.

• Job Board

Are you looking for a new job at Symposium? Use this innovative feature to find open positions at many of the largest Sitecore partners.

• Q & A

As I previously mentioned, for those that are not extremely experienced with new digital products, it's a really good idea to read the Q & A and then use that information to add items to your agenda or to adjust settings so you can better network.

• Gamification

This took some digging to find, but if you are on the homepage of the logged in experience, you will see a link for "Moments of Fun". This is Sitecore's way to keep everyone active and while doing this you could win some money, top prize is a $500 gift card (only eligible to residents of the USA). I personally love the Hedgie/Pillow's they've hidden throughout the application, which is a touch of the experience from the previous Symposium.

• Network

This is a pretty powerful feature. You can enroll and then specify the types of people you are most interested in speaking with and why. We are curious to see exactly how popular this feature might be, but if you are attending go to the Network tab and search for us "Ignium Digital" and

Conclusion

And finally, we hope you have fun this year. It's unfortunate that we couldn't see everyone in person this year, but there will always be next year. Make sure you tune into every keynote, so you can hear all the latest announcements and find out where Symposium will be next year.