I have been in the Information Technology field for about 20 years at this point but there was a very distinct inflection point in 2013 when the social side of my career began. In a very quick series of events (at the same time actually) I attended my first technical conference (CiscoLive US), setup my twitter account, and met many of the people I now consider the thought leaders I turn to when it comes to deciding what new technologies are coming to be and how important they are going to be to me and my organization’s needs.

At this same time I was also introduced to Tech Field Day and it’s founder Stephen Foskett and I was pretty much instantly in awe of what they were all about; selecting panels of delegates, flying them to a common city where a number of companies would present either themselves as a company or their newest products over the course of a couple of days, all of which was then recorded and put on their YouTube channel. I as a member of the tech twitterati could tweet at delegates and often get questions answered, it was amazing to me then! I honestly can’t tell you how many solutions I’ve used TFD presentations as part of my research into if I should be looking to purchase their products and services but it’s more than an handful.

From the get go I’ve had a bucket list item of being on a delegate panel, but sadly my previous role had distinct rules against such things. Fast forward to now, new organization, new rules and here I am invited to be on the panel for Cloud Field Day 8. While this is a virtual event I am no less excited to be a part of the early group delegate panel. The experience so far has been great and I’m very appreciative of Stephen, Ben Gage and Mel Zura in helping to get me up to speed with how the event will go.