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3 Steps for a Great ILTACON: Insider’s Guide 2018

Tracy Kraft

2 min read

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For suggestions about specific sessions and other tips that will help you make the most of ILTACON, register for the Insider’s Guide August 6 webinar.

Want to link up over lunch or learn more about our plans? Drop us a note and we’ll be happy to coordinate.

See you in Maryland!

-KK Team

 

1. Populate your calendar.

With so much going on over the course of these five tightly packed days, it’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with the schedule ahead of time. We recommend that you start populating your calendar now to create a loose agenda for the week— this way you will avoid getting overwhelmed and plenty of opportunities for spontaneity will still arise.

(To help you prepare, our CTO Marcus will be giving specific tips and highlights at the Insider’s Guide to ILTACON 2018 webinar. If you’re in the Dallas area, check out our pre-ILTA lunch and roundtable.)

First, take a look at ILTACON’s Agenda Overview to get a high-level view of the conference’s rhythms—you’ll notice that it’s educational, fun, and yes, exhausting (in a good way). Study the more detailed session grid to identify the sessions you’re interested in and search for social events and sessions using the index tool.

 

2. Plan for productivity.

ILTACON can be an inspiring, generative, and productive experience if you make the most of it.  Think about your goals. Do you have specific questions about, say, cloud technology or predictive analytics? Do you want to explore the near future of technology in general? Prepare your questions ahead of time. In addition to using the session search tool to search by topic, check out the Education Hub, which lists shorter, 20 to 40 minute sessions that will be held between the longer official educational seminars for extra learning.

Or maybe you want to come back to the office with a road map for the year ahead in hand. Schedule a road mapping session with a strategic consultant to sequence, prioritize, and budget for your upcoming projects. This is a unique opportunity for a valuable one-on-one with a leading expert.

Optimize your experience by customizing it to you and your firm. ILTA has helpfully color-coded its session grid by role and provided custom content maps organized by business problems and area of focus.

 

3. Register for some fun.

ILTACON famously offers as many opportunities for play as for work.

Hopefully you’ve been practicing your swing for this year’s golf tournament, which will feature the usual contests, including Longest Drive, Closest to the Pin, Hole-in-One, and trophies for the top teams.

Drinks and conversations will flow at the Genius Bar, Kraft Kennedy’s cocktail hour hosted by world-class IT experts on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. For more wholesome fun, there will be yoga and Zumba sessions every morning.

For first-timers, ILTACON offers a buddy system: “a conference veteran will help you prepare for the conference, advising you on good sessions to attend, how to make the most out of the networking events and other ILTACON attendees you should meet.”