What did I get into?

I use Powershell day in and day out in my daily role. This conference made a lot of sense to attend but what I didn’t realize is I am more of a utility scripter and the conference had a big DevOps focus this year but that is how Powershell is heading as a whole. This mindset is a change for me and how I use my scripts by focusing more on reusable code such as functions and parameters vs hard coding information.

More intimate conference

There would be between 200 and 300 attendees (strictly a guess) so this made it very easy to drum up conversation between sessions and the sessions appear to be more by users than companies. My “big” conference is VMworld or now known as VMware Explore but the sessions there are centered around giant business. Out of thousands of sessions at the last VMware explore I found more than 50% of them dealt with 5G telecommunications technologies which baffled me. I find myself attending community sessions more than anything else but I spend the majority networking with other IT professionals more than looking for my next session. PowerShell Summit was very nice for finding sessions as it seemed I always wanted to be in 2 or 3 at a time on a 4 session track.

As with many conferences

Spending your time balancing sessions and networking with others in different industries is very important. This is something that to me is priceless at any conference and honestly, I get the most out of the conversations. It’s always a great time to shop talk and discuss problems that you are banging your head against and then someone from 5 states away goes and says " Oh yeah we solved that by doing X “. I do wish these conversations flowed in a similar format when online but the conversation by nature just does not flow as freely as sitting around the table at lunch talking shop.

The food

The conference meals were very good. They did a good job to try and have an option for various dietary needs. Breakfast was your typical choice of eggs, bacon, sausage, pastry, muffin, pancakes, french toast, cearel, yogurt, and fruit. Paired with Coffee, Water, Cranberry juice, and milk. Lunch was a variety of options in a wide range. It was all good and nothing too crazy most the time. I am a simple mid-westerner and can live on steak and potatoes often food can get too fancy for me and my basic palate.

Would I attend again?

Absolutely! While I did find at times I may already be doing what was being discussed in a session. More often than not I would note things down that were subtle and different than how I may be handling it. This could save me some time and make my code and workflow look ultimately nicer. I did find it refreshing to not be bombarded by 200+ vendors in a large expo hall feeling the need to walk and often guard my badge from being “drive-by scanned” by a vendor. The vendors that were there were none intrusive and respectable to have an intelligent conversation with.

Conference info

Info for this conference can be located at [https://powershellsummit.org/]“https://powershellsummit.org/")

I believe the next conference will be April 15-20th, 2024 but don’t quote me as I remember seeing that but do not currently see it on the site.