Peer Perspective - Why Attend Knowledge?

[Dan Bruhn]

With Knowledge17 fast approaching many people ask why they should attend Knowledge?   We believe you will learn how to deliver business services faster with 400+ sessions customized for you—and 80% of breakouts delivered by your peers. This is the most efficient and fastest way to get practical advice, in‑depth training, and access to 13,000+ community experts driving the future of shared services and digital transformation.

Being big fans of peer-to-peer collaboration we thought it would be great to hear your perspective on "Why Attend Knowledge".   Feel free to answer one or all the questions by commenting on this blog.   To kick-start this we've gotten some of our MVPs to provide their perspectives and I'll be updating this blog regularly with their insights.  

1.   How many Knowledge events have you attended?

2.   What has been your favorite thing about attending Knowledge in the past?

3.   Why would you encourage others to attend Knowledge?

4.   What are you most excited about for Knowledge17?

5.   What is one of the most pressing questions/issues you see in service management today?

6.   What one thing do you want to learn at Knowledge17?

7.   If you could choose a band to perform at Knowledge who would it be?

MVP Brian Dailey's Perspective:

1.   How many Knowledge events have you attended?

Knowledge17 will be my fourth in a row.   I went to Knowledge14 as a prospective customer and got my first hands-on experience there in the labs.   Loved it, and never looked back.

2.   What has been your favorite thing about attending Knowledge in the past?

I love the breadth of exposure to topics.   The wiki (and now docs) is GREAT for self-training, but only if you know what to look for.   For me, the labs are where it's at… getting exposure to new ideas, and sometimes a little nudge over that first hump of the learning curve with something new.   Then later, I can push through on my own using the documentation and some experimentation.

3.   Why would you encourage others to attend Knowledge?

Again… for exposure to new ideas on what is possible and ways to use the platform, this is the broadest and most cost-effective training experience you can get.   Compared to taking a regular training course, this is a steal.

Obviously, it's not as in-depth as the regular training, but a great way to get started on a self-training binge for a wide range of focused topics.   For perspective, I've had one Admin training course, and three Knowledge events... and had never done any web-based programming previously.

4.   What are you most excited about for Knowledge17?

Labs, Labs, Labs… I'm looking forward to exploiting the newer capabilities. Service Portal and Angular, Automated Testing Framework, etc.

Also, I love to see what exciting stuff may be coming down the pipeline. I remember previewing features before (such as Speech-to-Text-to-Ticket using VoIP integration) that can really make you start looking ahead.   And interesting focus groups are a definite possibility, getting to see some neat stuff that not everyone gets to hear about yet.

5.   What is one of the most pressing questions/issues you see in service management today?

Selling the vision for a singular system of engagement.   I can feel the potential and possibilities because really, I don't see anything that can't be done using the platform.   The freedom to create, manipulate, and extend leads me to believe that the limitations you run into will most likely be external to the platform and often, human-derived.   Convincing the upper echelons to put both feet in the boat is where I find the greatest challenge.

6.   What one thing do you want to learn at Knowledge17?

I would like to attain a level of mastery with AngularJS and the Service Portal application.   I am fairly satisfied with my logic and data skills, so UX is where I've committed to pushing myself right now.   I've been doing the self-training bit with Service Portal, and it simply blows the doors off of CMS/Jelly.

7.   If you could choose a band to perform at Knowledge who would it be?

Wow… this may be dating myself a bit, but I never got to see my favorite band live.   And to see them now would take more conflict-resolution than a platform upgrade, but I'd nominate Van Halen (with Sammy or DLR, take your pick… just not that other guy)