It’s the Friday before the Dell Storage Forum in Boston. We’re finishing off some last minute details, but really now it is time to ship off to Boston and get this show on the road!
We know lots of people couldn’t make Boston. We’re missing our friends in Europe (although we’ll see you guys in November in Paris!). We have new friends in India, and this fall the Dell Storage Forum will be making a stop in Brazil. Being in the physical location cements ties, but it is possible to have a global community using social tools. This post is about how to enjoy the show using social media….whether you will be in Boston or even if you will be playing along at home. It got super-long, but it’s supposed to be a reference. Tweet me (@gminks) if I missed something, or if you have a question. We’ll get it added.
The basics
The social basics are the same for everyone. The hashtag for the event is #dellsf12. Please use it on Twitter, Flickr, your blog posts, anyplace you create content that you can tag.
- The official Twitter account is @DellSF, but you may want to watch @Dell_Storage…we may share some interesting things from that account as well. We have lists for attendees (are you on the list?) and the bloggers for the event.
- We’ll be posting to the Dell Storage Forum Facebook page as well. If you are at the show, feel free to post pictures to our wall!
- We’ll be post pictures and short videos to Flickr.
- We’ll be posting videos to the Dell Tech Center’s YouTube channel
- OF COURSE we’ll be blogging. Look for the DellSF12 tag on Direct to Dell, Inside Enterprise IT, the Dell Tech Center, and DellSolves. We’ll be writing a wrap-up post daily, and yes we’ll have the big fat wrap-up post after the event. If you write a post, shoot a tweet to @DellSF and we’ll get you on our wrap-ups
- We’ll be creating a Storify, this may be the best place to stay on top of the news coming out of Boston
- We’re hosting a post-Dell Storage Forum event: a storage Customer Advisory Panel. It will be livecast as well.
Playing from home
If you can’t with us in Boston, please join us online!
All of the keynotes are being livecast. Dell employees – this link should be available on campus! Here’s the schedule (all times EST):
- Channel Keynote – Monday 8:30 AM: Greg Davis and Cheryl
- Enterprise Keynote – Monday 4:30 PM: Brad Anderson
- Storage Keynote – Tuesday 8:30 AM: Darren Thomas, Storage executives
- Technology keynote – Wednesday 8:30 AM: Carter George
We will take questions from twitter to be answered during the keynotes, so don’t be shy y’all!
- Follow the tweetstream using desktop apps such as Tweetchat or Twazzup
- For Dell employees – we’ll be posting to Chatter so watch the #dellsf12 hashtag, or keep an eye on the Dell Storage group
At the conference
You will need to know all the basics if you are coming to Boston. You may also want to download the conference mobile app to your mobile device. It will give you info about sessions, help you connect to other attendees, and let you play a game (you’ll have a chance to win an XPS 13S laptop!).
The Fluid Lounge makes its return, and there is a section specifically for social media enthusiasts. Come say hi and meet the folks you’ve been talking to online IRL! We’re running the Tweet of the Day contest again. The social media teams who are attending will be watching the tweetstream for funny, smart, or clever tweets that are tagged with #DellSF12. If we pick yours, you’ll get an AMEX gift card (you have to be at the conference to win).
Here’s a schedule of the key conference social activities:
Sunday
- Channel partners – there is a social media training class being delivered Sunday that was designed to help you discover ways to use social media to build your business.
- The Channel Partner reception will be at Ned Devine’s Pub from 6-9
Monday
- We have two keynotes Monday – The Channel Partner keynote and the Enterprise Keynote. Please come, ask your questions via Twitter (our execs expect this, and want to answer your questions live).
- The Welcome Reception and Solutions expo will start at 5:30 on the BCEC Ballroom East.
- The Dell Storage Forum Tweetup will be from 9-11 at Boston Beer Garden
Tuesday
- The storage keynote is at 8:30 – tweet your questions!
- The evening celebration will be at Fenway Park!
Wednesday
- The technology keynote is at 8:30 – tweet your questions!
- Usually the last day of the conference, things start calming down. If you haven’t spoken to an engineer or a storage executive and you would like to, find one of the social team. We’ll help you make that connection.
You won’t want to miss the Hands-on-labs this year. To make it easier for you, some days the labs will be available as early as 7 AM. And there are some really good sessions planned. @Storagediva has her picks of the customer-led sessions here.
I think a crowd favorite is going to be the Speaking in Tech session – they are recording a podcast live and you can be in the audience! They will have our storage execs on the podcast, and they’ll asking about things announced at the conference. That session is at 3:10, don’t miss it!
With that – I think we’re ready. See y’all in Boston!