Earlier this year I submitted three sessions to the IT DEV CONNECTIONS conference and to my big surprise all of them was accepted. I was hoping that at least one of them was accepted, but all three was, and that is just incredible. I must admit at first that I was a bit scared, since I have never done sessions in the United States before and the thought of speaking English to a crowd can be a really scary thing for a Norwegian guy.
To prepare myself for the battle against the jetlag I went 4 days before the conference started and used my time to see a little of San Francisco. This place is a very nice place to visit as a tourist and has lots of great food to offer. Fortunately, I was travelling along with two of my co-workers, so the time before the conference went really fast. We did get to see a lot of stuff for sure.
As a speaker at the conference I could view any session I wanted, and this was a great experience. IT DEV CONNECTIONS had a looong list of awesome speakers. Some of the speakers I even consider my friends.
I enjoyed most of the sessions I went to and I learned lots of new stuff. The only problem when speaking is that (at least me) tend to focus on the fact that I need to prepare and think a lot about the session I am about to deliver. Therefor it is sometimes hard to really relax and enjoy the sessions. I had sessions on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
Tuesday 1:15 – 2:30 pm – Hacking and Detection in Windows Environments
This was my first session and after being to some of the other sessions I expected that there would probably come around 10-20 participants. To my big surprise the entire room was filled up and the staff had to bring inn extra chairs. I did not get a chance to count how many participants that was in the room, but I was overwhelmed.
This was my first time presenting in the USA and on IT DEV CONNECTIONS, so to experience that many participants showing up to my session is just amazing.
I felt that I got a good connection with the audience and could learn them something new and that feels great.
The best feeling in the world is to be able to share knowledge that other finds valuable. Got good feedback after the session and that means a lot to me.
Slides is up on the IT DEV CONNECTIONS homepage, and the demo videos I promised can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buJVB5AgJZM&index=5&list=PLMT5K0ti42SZePSjYX8SoSuzoF_ksMzpK
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHwhAwVzdEY&list=PLMT5K0ti42SZePSjYX8SoSuzoF_ksMzpK&index=6
Wednesday 3:00 – 4:15 pm – How Hackers (Mis)use your Business Digital Footprint Online
This was the session I was most excited about since I have never done a session about this topic before. I also figured that this topic would probably be the least interesting of my sessions, but it turned out that it filled up the room again. Overwhelmed again and really happy about the fact that so many participants showed up.
The session was not a very technical session, but more about how to find information and how to use it. I got a lot of positive feedback after this session and that made me very happy.
Slides is up on the IT DEV CONNECTIONS homepage, and the demo videos I promised can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdHZrMu2Uv0&list=PLMT5K0ti42SZePSjYX8SoSuzoF_ksMzpK&index=7
Thursday 10:15 – 11:30 am – How to Make Windows Clients More Hacker Unfriendly
I just loved to present this session. This session was about how to harden Windows and that is something that is important to me. I think that learning how to make Windows more secure is something we all can get better at. This session was so crowded that people started standing along the wall and to me as a presenter this is really something to experience. I did get a great connection to the participants during this session and felt that I really was able to deliver my content in a good way. Thanks to all the participants.
Slides is up on the IT DEV CONNECTIONS homepage, and the demo videos I promised can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CG7MQ89OmOQ&list=PLMT5K0ti42SZePSjYX8SoSuzoF_ksMzpK&index=1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0NbLW-87H8&list=PLMT5K0ti42SZePSjYX8SoSuzoF_ksMzpK&index=2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzcD-qz36VY&list=PLMT5K0ti42SZePSjYX8SoSuzoF_ksMzpK&index=3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hGzDGrHSaE&list=PLMT5K0ti42SZePSjYX8SoSuzoF_ksMzpK&index=4
Summary
IT DEV CONNECTIONS is really a place to be to network and go to awesome sessions to learn new stuff. I can really recommend it. As a speaker I must say I am very grateful for all the participants that made me feel “welcome in the room” and engaging in my content. The conference went very smooth and all the people standing behind all the hard work has done a great job. Next year the conference is in Austin Texas and I am for sure sending my sessions for the conference. Hope to see you all next year.
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