I am still working on my notes but one of my biggest take-aways was from "The Age of Information Governance and the Era of Big Data" an Industry Intelligence Session on from 915-1015 Tuesday morning Oct 29th. The presenter David Gould was talking about IG and data analytics. My takeaway was that if we can't afford and aren't going to buy applications to analyze the 60% of big data with marginal value, what if any point is there in keeping it and the cost of maintaining it? I had the seed of what needed to be said but sessions like that help me strengthen and solidify my argument.

We are extremely busy right now so it's slow going through my notes but I am sure I will get more out of it. I found Patrick Cunningham's "Practical  Information Governance - A Heretic's Perspective" very intriguing and John Isaza's "21st Century Best Practices for Information Governance" very helpful.

It's also helpful the person I report to has realistic expectations of conferences. He believes that if I come back with one or two good kernels of insight/information then it was worth the expense.  Those one or two kernels of the past several years from the ARMA conference are now found in our policies and procedures and in the presentations I gave rolling them out. Examples would be email, backup tapes, and retention policies.

Going against the grain a little but the things I found the most negative all had to do with the venue. Once I made it to the sessions or the Expo Floor, it was beneficial. There was another huge conference going on simultaneously and when they moved it was like an ocean of people flowing in the common areas. It was a big venue with lots of walking. It was a 3 block walk through the Venetian and back just for a bottle of water. I was already nursing a foot injury but by the end of the conference, I observed many attendees were walking like their next step might be their last.

I get the feeling that the ARMA conference isn't that big anymore and these big venues make it look like some little kid trying to wear a 5XL t-shirt. I think the opening and closing sessions focus and formats need work and I said the same on my evaluation. The opening session was an improvement over Chicago but the Tech Spotlight panel needs work. I was amazed at how many lights I could see from smartphones (I was sitting in back) during the Tech Spotlight. Few if any attendees were paying attention. Personally, I can't recall a single thing from the panel discussion.

One of the worst things I dealt with during conference was the provided meals. I'll give a free hamburger a huge amount of latitude but that was worst one I have ever eaten along with the small stale brownie(you got the brownie or chips but not both). I thought the people who chose the chicken tenders and Marconi had made a better choice. They thought differently I found out later. There was no other food available unless you hiked through the Venetian and back (you were bound to get lost in those shop areas since they are designed to do that in the hope that you will spend money or gamble).

I was ravenous by the end of that first day. Afterwards, my conference bag was loaded with fruit bars and bottles of water for the rest of the conference. The closing session meal was interesting as well. It was a lot of service and pomp but in the end it was just a chicken salad. Skipping all the banquet attendants and handing out box lunches would have been better. I was also harshly scolded by one of the banquet attendants for not putting my conference bag under my chair instead of beside the chair at my near empty table. Apparently, the future of humanity rested on me putting my bag under my chair in an approved manner. I think when it comes to provided meals, you either do it right or not at all.

On the bright side of the venue discussion, there is already a buzz about San Diego. I am excited about the location and so are many others.

Rob Seibolt, CRM
Supervisor-Records Management
816-360-5480
Ext 1266(Internal)

http://www.mriglobal.org




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