My Conference For the Year: WordCamp 2016

While it's true that I no longer attend conferences in our industry, for the most part, it doesn't mean that I absolutely never attend a conference. While the rest of you might have been at GCC (Gulf Coast Conference), I was at a WordCamp 2016.

Adding Value
First of all, I just have to laugh a bit about the fact that the conference was $36 and they concern themselves with making everyone who attends feel that they got their full value out of it. The big, commerical conferences that cost $1,000 - 2,000 don't care about making sure everyone who attends gets value out of them and here's this inexpensive, volunteer-run (with a few sponsors) conference that is concerned about "added value." That's not just admirable but they're thoughtful about every aspect.

Some Topics
While WordCamp doesn't address specific product and industry issues I face, it does address just about everything else. Here is a smattering of the topics for which I either attended a session or just got some great information about at either a networking session or merely by bumping into someone in the hallway and asking them (and when I say I "bumped into" them, I don't mean that I hurt them or anything like that  ;-)   ):

• REST API (OAuth and otherwise) (This is a type of interface standard that we are seeing more of even in our laboratory informatics industry)
• Tools to Manage a Team at All Levels
• Branding
• Marketing Automation
• Security Issues and Strategies

Some of these topics do directly relate to LIMS, ELN and LES implementation, because I'm convinced I'm going to be working with REST APIs as interfaces in our industry, eventually. More and more of our software vendors are offering these. However, most of the topics are those that give me new perspective in my business and help me with my ongoing decisions.

Path Forward
Unfortunately, there were so many useful topics that I now made a list of tasks I want to accomplish based on what I learned (yes, I've created more work for myself and not chargeable work). Some of it has to do with reading suggested books and possibly rebranding, other tasks are more of the technical type such as recreating my web-site and reconfiguring my blog (for one, that C# program I've been building for marketing automation has GOT to go - there are plenty of good tools I can use with more and better features). Fortunately, I've prioritized the tasks AND started allocating time to them. As such, I feel confident that I can accomplish a lot before year-end, making me entirely ready for the 2017 first quarter rush of business (and we all hope, each year, that it will be a good year and that this "rush" will be the way the year begins for us).

Gloria Metrick
GeoMetrick Enterprises
http://www.GeoMetrick.com/