Looking Back at Last Week’s DevOps Enterprise Summit Virtual

Conferences—physical or virtual—have a certain ebb and flow. The exhilarating leadup; the inspiring first day; the mid-con slump where it feels like everything is coffee and early hours and a (not unpleasant) blur of new faces and information; the emotional closing remarks; and finally, the letdown as you say goodbye to all the new people you met and try to figure out how to carry that magical feeling back into the real world with you.

Inevitably, reality sets in, and you have to accept that things are back to normal. But, after the right conference, you may come back to the same office and the same coworkers and the same coffee maker, but you are forever changed by the people you met and the learnings you absorbed.

We hope that DevOps Enterprise Summit was like that for most people. It certainly was for us!

In addition to the usual ebb and flow, each conference has a unique feeling. Some are fast-paced and exciting; others are slow and contemplative. One thing is for sure: nothing quite feels like a DevOps Enterprise Summit. If you know, you know.

Our Virtual Summit last week was no exception. As we slowly readjust to our normal lives (a little bit different, a little bit changed), we want to look at some of the highlights of the event. (And we’d love to hear about yours in the comments or over on Twitter or LinkedIn.)

Our Slack channels were perhaps the most rewarding part of the Summit. You can’t quite duplicate the casual conversations that take place in a physical conference in a virtual space, but Slack comes pretty darn close. While pre-recorded talks ran on our feed, discussions blossomed on our Slack channels between speakers, attendees, and staff. Despite being spread across the country and across the world, we were all in the same “place.”

The speakers themselves, of course, were the show’s real stars. We got to revisit some talks from October’s DevOps Enterprise Summit Las Vegas, like André Martin’s “Right Fit, Wrong Fit – Why How You Work Matters More Than What You Value.”

Some speakers also were able to use the last month since Las Vegas to update their talks. Gene Kim and Dr. Steven Spear added to their talk “Organizational Coherence: Simplification and Slowification, Part 2” which featured footage from Las Vegas as well as updates just for Virtual.

And of course, DevOps Enterprise Summit Virtual had some wonderful, unique talks all its own, like “Let’s R.A.V.E. –– Measuring Software Value and Trust” from Shannon Lietz, “Why Does Capital One Test in Production?” from Bryan Pinos and Yar Savchenko, and “Equipping People for Success: Overcoming Constraints to Flow” from Dominica DeGrandis, just to name a few.

One special part of this Virtual Summit was being able to share some high points of the Las Vegas Summit with new people. None of us will ever forget “Transformed! A Musical DevOps Journey” with Forrest Brazeal, and it was a wonderful connecting experience between our physical and virtual events.

The best part? All of the Virtual talks and most of the Las Vegas talks are available right now in our Video Library, so even if you couldn’t be there (physically or virtually), you can still claim your share of the magic!

- About The Authors

Lucy Softich

Lucy is the Marketing & Social Media Coordinator at IT Revolution. She has a background in writing, marketing, and business.