The two-day summit was packed with keynotes, workshops, presentations, seminars, networking and, yes, lots and lots of good food that probably added 1000 calories to the average attendee’s diet and couple of centimeters to their waistline!
The opening keynote address provided a volley of thunder, and featured great videos, drama, and (surprisingly) those short movies had some actors who are real Gartner employees. Ted Friedman was dressed in traditional Karate garb, and Kurt Schlegel gave the event a real punch, while Rita Sallam was, as always, at her best. But, the Chairman of the event, Bhavish Sood assured us at the end of the session that Gartner has no intention of getting into the movie business :)While at the Summit, I attended some great workshops, but I had to make some difficult choices because every track and session was relevant and intriguing. Since I couldn’t be in two places at the same time, I tried to make the choices that were most relevant to our team, our customers and our partners, and I chose the following sessions.
- Do We Still Need a Data Warehouse – Roxanne Edijali
- Navigating the Data Lake – Adam Ronthal
- Interactive Visualizations for Everyone – Rita Sallam
- Mobile BI – It’s Time to Innovate – Bhavish Sood
- Big Data Discovery – Rita Sallam
For me, the highlights of this two-day Summit were my one-on-one session with Kurt Schlegel and Rita Sallam, and my quick impromptu meeting with Bhavish Sood. There isn’t time to outline every aspect of my discussions, here. But, let’s just say that I am more than confident in our product strategy and strength after these meetings, and that these discussions will provide us with the confidence to continue doing what we are doing. So, ElegantJ BI customers and partners can look forward to working with us, and to enjoying the fruits of our labors and the benefits of one of the most innovative BI tools in the market.
Before I close, I would just like to say that it was a pleasure and an honor to meet with my peers and to discuss crucial business intelligence issues with CIOs who are doing some great work in the analytical space and helping their organizations to achieve better business results.
All in all, the Gartner Summit was a great experience, with thought-provoking sessions and speakers, great networking, invaluable learning opportunities, and…some great food and cocktails! I look forward to another rewarding experience at the 2016 Summit.
