Business justification to attend HP World

[Geoff Wild]

I've been think of attending HP World this year (would be first time).

However, my boss says I need to come up with a business justification.

What are the benefits, etc.

Please offer suggestions.

Thanks...Geoff

[Patrick Wallek]

Networking with your peers.

Networking with vendors.

Attending MANY MANY educational seminars offered.

Keeping up to date with the current trends of HP's and other vendors technology.

Having a good time. (Oops! That may not be good for your boss.)

When the seminar schedule comes out. Look through it, decide what you want to attend and show it to your boss. And mention to him how attending the various seminars will help you in your day-to-day job and potentially help with any upcoming projects.

It worked for me last year.....

[John Poff]

Geoff,

I have to agree with Patrick. The seminars alone are worth the trip. There are many people with incredible knowledge and experience giving those seminars. I would think about considering how much an hour or two of downtime on your production systems would cost your company. If you learn just one thing in a seminar that saves you from a future disaster, your trip could easily pay for itself many times over.

The chance to network with your peers is another good reason. It is nice to meet people who face some of the same challeges you do on a daily basis and hear how they deal with many of those same issues.

JP

[Bill Hassell]

A well-known CEO, after attending HP World for the first time, remarked about the breadth of truly technical seminars (virtually no product sales pitches) the wide range of products and cooperation between vendors at the show, and the level of volunteerism in producing the entire show. HP World is acknowledged by industry analysts as the most successful vendor-centric trade in the comnputer industry. Where other shows continue to slowdown or disappear completely, HP World continues to be a success for attendees.

Unlike other IT vendor shows, HP does not own or manage the show. Interex produces the show and Interex is an independent customer organization. So the show is for HP customers and produced by HP customers.

You will take home literally years of of research and experience in the form of seminars and roundtables. Everyone from newcomers to seasoned veterans will learn new techniques, processes and ideas that can be put to immediate use. You could spend 3 times as much money on formal training courses and not get as much a you will at HP World. It's a bargain.

[Steven E. Protter]

In 2002 I atteneded seminars for three days. It was easily the equivalent of several full training classes.

I learned the following:
1) How to use samba as a pdc server
2) Passed HP Certificaiton
3) Got the stomach flu
4) Learned about and how to use and configure Bastille
5) Helped HP with a bug in security_patch check
6) Got the heads up on Oracle 9i release 2
7) Got to attend a class given by Bill Hassell
8) etc

SEP

That justified it. #7 by itself justified it.

SEP

[Mark Grant]

I have never been but am hoping to go this year.

Consider how much you have learnt just by being active on this forum. How much more can you learn, and therefore contribute to the efficiency of your business, by speaking in person to likeminded people.

[Pete Randall]

Geoff,

Once you've been, you'll never want to miss it again!

There is no better platform for keeping abreast of the latest technological developments in the industry. Not only do you get to see the latest that HP and the other vendors have to offer, you have hundreds of seminar sessions available, offering real-life applications of these latest technologies. You get not only experts from HP sharing information that would cost you thousands of dollars to obtain through HP training, but you get actual users, guys from the trenches, telling you actual experiences of putting theory into practice.

And, by the way, you'll meet, and hopefully come to know, some really great people (like some of your fellow forum members - some of whom have already replied).

I'm so hooked on HPWorld that, when I got the feeling that our education and training budget might get slashed this year, I worked with the vendor that's selling me a new server this year to include HPWorld attendance in the price. I know of at least one vendor of memory products that advertises this promotion (buy so many GB of memory and we'll take you to HPWorld, all expenses paid). All I did was mention to my vendor that I thought I would be getting my memory through that other vendor. Now all I have to do is figure out what I'm going to do for 2005!!


Pete

[MarkSyder]

Well you've convinced me!

Is HP World coming to England? Is there an HP Land as well?

What are the rides like?

Mark Syder (like the drink but spelt different)

[Dave Hutton]

I went 3-4 years ago to the San Fran one. It was well worth my time. Tons of vendors and seminars. Just being able to see whats coming out was worth while.
Bring tons of business cards because you'll meet a lot of people.
Sales pitch wise it wasn't too bad. I do know a few weeks after I got back I was fielding phone calls for a little while. It wasn't too bad though.

I'll probably try to go to this one though.

Dave

[Bill Hassell]

Mark (and others), Interex provides many other events called Local and National User Groups. These groups put on smaller events each year and yes, England does have several events scheduled this year. You can see the schedule (or is that spelt shed-yuel?) at http://www.hp-interex.org/site/cms/contentChapterView.asp?chapter=40 and for everyone else, check out the Interex website, specifically: http://www.interex.com/users/index.html

[MarkSyder]

Thanks Bill, I'll have a look at that.

But I thought the American spelling was skedule :-)

Mark