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2012 Gartner PCC

Heading out of the 2012 Gartner Portals, Content, and Collaboration conference in Orlando in about an hour. Over-all, a good experience as this was my first Analyst-led conference.

Had face time (actual, not the Apple variant) with several leading analysts in my space, including Nikos Drakos, Susan Landry, Jeffrey Mann, Carol Rozwell, and Tom Austin; which proved collectively useful in some unexpected ways.

Some sessions were good, especially The Social Workplace: Rethinking Communication and Collaboration in the Age of Social Networks. Others, however were simply too rudimentary. This seems to be the common trend with conferences that cater to both customers and vendors alike; the majority of sessions cater to the neophyte customer who knows very little about the space.

It would be helpful if conferences had multiple tracks; "I'm New", "I'm Buying", "I'm Selling", and "I Want the Bleeding Edge". They should also include dedicated events that encourage vendor & customer interaction other than the showroom (which is the province of sales).

Regardless, I found the PCC to be useful and informative. I was able to validate some business assumptions and delve into some corner topics with analysts for which there is very little public information on the web. I also learned a lot about the way Gartner works as a company, and have a much better idea on how to leverage their services going forward.

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