The Nerd’s Going to Have a Field Day!

Guess who gets to go to San Jose for something OTHER than the lab for once?  That’s right, THIS GUY <—–!

Thanks to the wonderful folks over at Gestalt IT, I have been invited to be a delegate at Tech Field Day 5!  This is a tremendous opportunity for me to get involved with the sponsoring technology companies and hear about their products and strategies for the coming months.  Tech Field Day offers engineers and technical people the chance to hear about these great things in an environment conducive to learning (i.e. no sales pitches).  I’ve read the coverage of the previous Tech Field Day events from some of my other blogging brethren (and sistren) and found the information that they’ve given the community to be quite valuable.  I’m looking forward to the opportunity to spend some time listening to the best and brightest that will be in front of the delegates, and of course I can’t wait to pick their brains about technology!

Disclosure

What would an event be without some kind of disclosure?  In this case, the TFD sponsors are paying for my travel costs and lodging costs during my stay in San Jose.  That being said, they are NOT putting any limitations on what I say about the information I receive or the feelings that I have about the conference, other than to respect any information that might not be public knowledge or embargoed (which I would have done anyway).  I can assure you that any and all opinions expressed about the content of TFD are mine and mine alone.  I want to give you the unvarnished truth behind what I see and hear.

How Do I Get Involved?

Gestalt IT is always keeping an eye out for TFD delegates.  I’ll admit that while I have wanted to be a delegate for a while now, I never thought I’d be one until I was asked.  There are some things to keep in mind:

1.  Read the TFD FAQ and the Becoming a Field Day Delegate pages for more information on each.  Those pages are the best source of information about the process and criteria for TFD and its delegates.

2.  Understand there isn’t some kind of strange conspiracy or secret machine driving this.  These people look for independent critical thinkers that aren’t afraid to voice their opinions about subjects.  Don’t be afraid to show your independence and be sure to speak about technical subjects.

3.  Ask questions.  Anywhere and everywhere.  You never learn if you don’t ask questions.  I question things all the time.  And if you have any questions that you’d like me to ask at TFD, please let me know in the comments.  I’ll be making more posts as the list of presenters becomes final so that you know who I’ll be interacting with.

Be sure to follow @TechFieldDay on Twitter for more information about TFD 5 as the date approaches in February.  You can also follow the #TechFieldDay hash tag for updates live as the delegates tweet about them.  For those of you that might not want to see all the TFD-related posts, you can also use the #TechFieldDay tag to filter posts in most major Twitter clients.

For more information about sponsors and delegates, head on over to the TFD5 page on GestaltIT.