#data16 Day 1

What better way to commemorate my first day at #data16 than sharing the highs, lows – what has met expectations and what I didn’t expect.

The community – Probably the one thing I couldn’t anticipate coming into #data16 was how the virtual community (mainly via Twitter) compared to reality.  Like internet dating, you never really know how things are going to be until you meet someone in real life.  Not that I am shocked, but everyone that I’ve met from the blogosphere/twitterverse has been even more amazing than I imagined.  From sitting next to an Iron Viz contestant and forming a friendship on the plane, to getting a ride to my hotel, to meeting up with friends in a crazy food truck alley, to someone shouting my name in the Expo Hall – it’s been a wave of positive energy.

One unexpected component was the local Phoenix community.  It’s been awesome to see familiar faces from Phoenix wandering around Austin soaking in every moment.  I wanted to come to Austin and feel surrounded by familiar and that is definitely something that’s been accomplished.

The venues – When I was 18, I redecorated my childhood bedroom to be more “adult.”  Part of the process was finding the perfect desk for my space.  I somehow stumbled onto an Ikea webpage (mind you, I grew up in a small-ish city in Indiana).  Not knowing too much, I convinced my mom to road trip to Chicago to go to Ikea and buy my perfect desk.  What I expected at the time was to walk into a normal size furniture store.  I couldn’t fathom or anticipate the sheer size the store turned out to be.  That’s been my experience in Austin so far.  Overwhelmingly massive in size with everything being on a grand unexpected scale.  Not bad, just unexpected.  The registration desk had 50+ smiling faces greeting me.

Logistics – I’m still early in the game, so I will have to elaborate after a full day of conference.  So far I’ve been extremely impressed.  I was intimidated by being south of campus.  How would I get around, would I be able to be “in it?”  This has been a non-issue.  Details on transportation have been very transparent and well organized.  There’s been food at every turn, plenty to sustain even the weirdest of diets.

The weather – This has been my only let down!  I can tell it has been rainy off and on, so it is super humid.  For someone used to the dry Arizona air, it’s a little different feeling the moisture in the air.  I’m sure my skin in thankful!  But, tonight I’m left running the A/C to compensate for the moisture.  A huge change from swimming in Phoenix on Sunday to heavy humidity on Monday.

First up for my very full day Tuesday is hopefully a meetup for Healthcare followed up by the morning keynote (I really need to eat some breakfast!).  After that – we’ll see.  I originally anticipated spending the majority of my time in Jedi hands-on sessions.  I love seeing how people solve data problems and figuring out things I can take back, tweak and tinker with.  After today, I’m wondering if I should reevaluate.  The one thing I won’t be able to recreate after this experience are the people, so anytime there’s a schedule clash – for me I am prioritizing networking above all else.

#data16 day one in the books!

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