My Experience at the Radware Executive Exchange 2013
Jared Stauffer is the founder and CEO of Brinkster and is a featured guest blogger.
I have often joked with people that if you wanted to, you could be gone at a conference every week of the year. The trick is – finding the conferences that will truly add value and not be a complete waste of your time.
When choosing to attend a conference I use the following criteria (beyond the usual cost and timing considerations):
- Will I have the opportunity to gain key knowledge in subject areas important to me?
- Will I have the opportunity to meet potential customers?
- Will I have the opportunity to share knowledge I’ve gained?
- Will I have the opportunity to meet interesting people?
- Will I be among my peers?
If I can achieve at least three of these five, the conference is almost guaranteed to be of value to me and my company.
The Radware Executive Exchange 2013 scored a five out of five for me and was a rousing success. Here’s why:
- Key knowledge was shared in various subject areas by a diverse group of presenters
Radware did an excellent job selecting specific topic areas to cover. Next generation Radware product features were presented along with some great information about how they stacked up against their competition. Carl Herberger, VP of Security for Radware, in a unique and entertaining presentation, discussed the current cyber security threats and landscape using references from Sun Tzu’s – “The Art of War”.
There was also an opportunity for a small group of Radware customers to present. It was very interesting to hear from a different point of view what value each company was getting out of the Radware product line.
- This event was an Executive Exchange that lived up to its name.
Executives from an almost worldwide set of companies were in attendance along with a select group of Radware employees. Several opportunities were offered for conference attendees to network and spend time with their peers and the subject matter experts at Radware. It is invaluable for customers to meet, give feedback, and get specific questions answered directly from the Product Managers.
- It was fun!
Conferences are full of long hours and can be exhausting, but if you can find a few hours to relieve some stress – it makes a huge difference. Over the course of the event, attendees had the opportunity to enjoy some excellent food, attend an amazing gala dinner with world class entertainment, explore the beautiful island of Malta, or simply enjoy resort amenities.