Exploring Think AU 2018

Last Friday I attended Think AU, along with GC ADL members Jared Hayward, Chris Hockings and Alan Place. Lucky for me, I was recently invited to be David La Rose's (A/NZ Managing Director) mentee, which came along with the invitation to Think. This meant that while Jared, Chris and Alan were busy manning booths, speaking to customers and running presentations, I had the fun job of chatting to people and seeing all that Think had to offer.

The conference activities didn't start until midday. For me, this meant that I had the whole morning to get the jump on information from IBMers running the exhibits. It was the perfect opportunity to hear about some of the new ways IBM technology is being used. Watson featured in everything from robots (the Watson TJBot Maker Kit), to advanced chat platforms that can do things like enabling online shopping from Facebook Messenger conversations. I spoke to IBMers from Quantum Research, and did my very best to try to understand how Quantum computers work (if anyone wants to explain it to me again, that would be okay. Maybe the 100th time will make more sense). There were also booths for Red Bull Racing, Blockchain, Mercedes Benz and more.  

Of course, we also had a Security exhibit. It featured front and centre as customers entered the hall, and was chock-full of interactive demos, puzzles and security scenarios. We even had the X-Force Command Center VR Experience set up, where visitors could test their ability to react to cyber-attack in an immersive, interactive demo. Jared was in charge of the Security Intelligence & Insights portion, and showed a number of customers and business partners the capabilities of QRadar and QRadar Advisor with Watson. He also ran the OpRed Escape Challenge and talked about the VR Experience. There were also many other IBMers showcasing Identity & Access, Endpoint & Mobile Security, Resiliency & Response and Risk, Compliance & Fraud Management. Of all the booths, I thought Security was the most engaging and it would be great to see some of these interactive exhibits set up in the lab. 

The keynote was an impressive production, and the feedback I heard afterwards was all along the lines of "it made me feel really proud to be an IBMer". We heard from Harriet Green (IBM Asia Pacific CEO), Chris Hadfield (first Canadian astronaut to walk in space), a number of IBMers who are making a real change in the world (including my favourite, John Cohn) and saw David La Rose host a panel featuring some of the industry's biggest and best. The think tanks, newsroom interviews and idea sharing sessions following the keynote were all fantastic, and I only wish that there had been more time to attend them all. 

For me, one of the best parts of Think was the networking. I got to meet many A/NZ customers using QRadar and spoke to them about how they're using the product, which is especially valuable knowledge to include in the development cycle. I also got to put a face to a name of many IBMers that I wouldn't have the opportunity to meet otherwise. Above all, Think was fantastic for the learning. Not only are there new applications of AI, Blockchain, Security and Quantum, but these are all starting to blend together to create products that are safer and smarter than they've ever been. As we're already seeing, the potential for these technologies to make a real difference is huge and it's very exciting to be part of.