February is an exciting month this year as there are two of my favorite conferences held back to back weeks—Wireless LAN Pros Conference in Phoenix, AZ and then Aruba Atmosphere in Nashville, TN. This year I have opted to present at the WLPC conference on the WLAN Engineer’s role in Digital Disruption and was invited to participate in the Tech Field Day live panel for Atmosphere. I have allocated a portion of my weekends in preparing for these events to ensure that I do my best and that the group benefits from the time that I have been allocated. Despite this being my third year doing these events, I am always amazed how much I learn from preparing to teach others. My goals for these two events for this year are the following:

We have a varied demographic at these events, so one of my goals is to explain the content in a simple way without “dumbing it down". I’ve found this to be a great source of my own personal learning as I need to ensure that I fully understand the topic first to do so without destroying what it is that I am trying to get across.

Everyone that attends these events comes from a different background and has their own life experiences that contribute to their value base and their viewpoints. I strive to share my perspective in my presentations and when I have the opportunity to field questions or discuss the content, learn from others perspectives.

My first presentations were the result of Keith Parsons challenging people to step up and share. There are guys who present on some amazing technical material and it can be intimidating, however real world experience is what these conferences are all about and sharing experiences either through a presentation, through the questions that get asked, or even social discussions at the bar are welcome.

I look forward to the discussions ahead and both sharing with and learning from the other attendees.