To help you get the most out of your conference experience, I'm sharing some tips based on my attendance in 2017-2019...
Note: These tips are based on my experiences to Knowledge pre-pandemic. Some things may have changed since then.
- Subscribe yourself to the Knowledge Community place/space in the community forums.
I found it useful to turn on email notifications for the space so I was emailed of every new post to the board. You will also get some junk/unrelated content by subscribing... so, use whatever method works best for you to follow this space, to not miss the important info and helpful tips that are posted (some of which, the ones I personally found useful, I will repeat below). - If you're part of the SNDevs slack community, join the #knowledge23 channel for information on Karaoke parties, cosplay contests (!) and so much more. Lots of official-unofficial happenings that are self-organized by members of the community.
- Follow the ServiceNow accounts on Social Media. As of this writing, LinkedIn seems to be the most popular place to be for ServiceNow conversations.
I link Twitter accounts here as it’s the platform I mostly use but look for the equivalent accounts on your social media platform of choice: @HelloKnowledge, @WeUseServiceNow, @NOWsupport + the dev advocates @ctomasi, @earliodookie, @poshprogrammer, @pranavbhagat06. Some of these accounts may post good-to-know information about the upcoming conference - or hype you up for it!
- Browse for the #Know23 and related (eg. #CreatorCon) tags on social media. Posts with these tags may
- reveal teaser information to get you excited,
- show posts by other attendees with which you can engage, and
- let you know about other good-to-know info that aren’t posted elsewhere.
- Sign up for sessions as soon as you can. In the past, the sessions have filled up real fast. If you follow the community forums closely and on social media, you’ll be one of the first to know when session selection is available.
But, also check back often as new sessions open up or more space in popular sessions are made available. - Walk the Expo hall, often. There are tons of activities and engagement opportunities on the Expo hall floor. It’s more than just the partner booths. Speaking of partners.. .partners may have new swag, restocked swag, or new prize giveaways. Games, panels, treats, and more - you never know what you’ll find on the Expo hall floor.
- Download the app. It contains lots of useful info, games, and push notifications of various announcements, some of which are useful.
- If you’re not happy with your session (whether it’s a breakout, a lab, a workshop, whatever), feel free to leave to find something that is a better use of your time. The app can help you find other sessions that are running at the same time.
Or, opt to... - Walk the Expo hall (see above)
- Participate in the multitude of other events like collecting your community bling.
- Attend the variety of other events. There will be drop-ins and socials organized by partners and even by various ServiceNow teams (example: your chance to provide feedback to the HI team). Look out for these, though they may not be announced until closer to conference dates.
- Participate in the CreatorCon challenges to win prizes. In K18 and K19, these challenge games were on the show floor and, I believe, you could walk up and sign up for the next round. I can’t recall if these were listed in the session selector.
K19 - BrewOps
K18 - Mission to Mars - Look out for special offerings like “office hours.”
I hesitate to share this because I want this to be an inside secret that only I’m privy to. The fewer people that know, the more chance there will be space for me at future Knowledge conferences. But in the interest of sharing and the good of all…
There have been offerings in past Knowledge conferences for something called “office hours” or something similar. They are typically a free hour-long, one-on-one, consultation which may cover some tiny portion of the services typically offered through Professional Services (which is costly! - as you may already know). You can get the hour free at Knowledge.
- Bring something to personalize your Knowledge backpack. Attendees typically get a backpack as part of your attendee swag pack. If you’re planning on using that backpack right away, bring something with which to personalize your backpack - a lanyard, a pin, some stickers, etc. It will make your bag stand out against all the others…
and, more importantly, your bag decoration may just help you connect with someone at the conference. - “Spend about half your time in sessions focused on helping you optimize the modules and processes tha...” <-- I found this post has some helpful advice.
- Bring a warm sweater/jacket. They kept the temperature really cold indoors, arctic cold. I remember having a light cardigan with me at a keynote and really, really wishing I had a warm jacket, instead.
- Wear comfortable shoes. There has been lots of post on this in the past. Use this as your excuse to go shoe shopping, if you want. Regardless, you’ll be doing a lot of walking. The conference is huge and getting from one session to another may be a bit of a hike.
TLDR / Basically,
Yes, there are TONS of stuff happening at Knowledge.
No, you can’t possibly do everything.
But, you can still have a great time and get valuable experience at Knowledge. A bit of preparation can go a long way. Don’t feel bad for missed opportunities. You’ll want to go back next year, anyways.
