Day in the Life of an Expert…at a Gartner Data and Analytics Conference – March 2nd, 2025
Today is Sunday so its “travel day”.
4.30am Woke up, unsurprisingly.? Even when I set an alarm, I often will wake up a little ahead of the alarm.? Not sure, but if I every fail to set an alarm, for when I need it, would I wake up ahead of the needed time anyway?? I am skittish and not willing to try this idea ??.? Went back to sleep.
5.45am Alarm woke me and jumped with enthusiastically to shower and dress.? Checked my Oura ring scores: Readiness 89, Sleep score 89, and resilience strong (even trending up slightly).? In case you wondered, I love my Oura and have been using it almost since launch.? It is a great tool to help inform behavior that leads to better rest, better recovery, and generally more health.?
6.31am Met my ride that will take me to the airport.
7.29am Arrived at the Atlanta airport.? While I didn’t get to finish that needed coffee at breakfast before I had to leave, I didn’t buy one at the airport.? Headed to the gate and started reading my Economist.
8.25am Boarded and lucky enough to get the last upgrade to first class.? At least it was a comfortable seat, with legroom.? And the coffee and biscuits were good.? Finished reading my Economists.? Marked several articles of importance, about technology, and demographics.??
Landed in Orlando.? Took a cab to the hotel.? The visitor right behind me in the cab line overheard me say, “Gaylord” and he hitched a ride.? Turns out he is a speaker at the conference – a CDO/CDAO for an end-user organization.? Had a great chat and exchanged ideas on the challenges with data (and analytics) governance.?
1.25pm Joined fellow analyst to listen to one of the final walk-throughs of the keynote.? Met up with several colleagues, several I have now known for 20+ years.? It is quite a thing to travel the world and re-connect with new friends and old every time.? Its even more fun to hang out with such special, friendly, intelligent people socially.? I hope I get to do that with our team dinner later in the week.
2.35pm Headed back to room to do some work, read a little.? Can’t check in until 3.45pm.
3pm Meditated for 5 minutes using my Muse 2.? As in past Conferences I will do this early in the morning after getting up.? Its fun to look at my brain waves as the Conference progresses.? While this is not at the same time, it’s interesting to see my “baseline” before work starts.? Here are the results:
Let’s see how this changes first thing tomorrow morning and each morning of the Conference.
4.20pm Headed down to get badge and then went to the Expert Briefing prep session we do at every event.? This is where the analysts and experts get the final briefing and prep before show-time.?
5.45pm With the briefing over, vendor sponsors for the event get a chance to catch up with the analysts and experts.? This is always fun.? Again, for me, as with my colleagues, I have known many vendors and the AR teams for 20 years.? In many cases I have known some vendors longer and better than some AR folks!? Its quite an experience.? But it is always good to rest, relax, meet a few new vendors, get a few new ideas, and compare notes with the wider community.?
6.20pm Headed to a quiet dinner with a couple of those colleagues I have known for years, Mark Beyer and Guido De Simoni.? Ehtisham was to join us, but he is knackered due to the jet leg.? Hope he gets a good night sleep, but you know the drill.? It will be ugly.? He will probably be feeling great in about 2 days!
7.55pm Finally sat down for dinner. Since its later than I thought, the idea of a nice burger has gone. Now its a nice Thai Salad.
9.20pm Quick call home to check on the family.? All quiet on the Western Front.? Off to bed.? Quick read of How Markets Fail by John Cassidy.