Five sessions IT Pros can’t miss at Next ‘23 (and a bevy of hidden pop culture references)
Tom Nikl
Cloud Migration Team, Google Cloud
Warning: this blog post is laden with pop culture references. Be on the lookout.
Pop quiz, hotshot: you’re an IT Professional or Architect and you’re attending Google Cloud Next ‘23 but you’re not sure what the five coolest sessions are going to be? What do you do?
Well, good news: if you’ve been asking yourself that question, then you’re going to love this blog post. As one of the product marketing leads for Google Cloud infrastructure and migration, I’ve spent a lot of time working with presenters on their Next sessions, so I’ve got the inside track on some ‘can’t miss’ sessions.
But before we get into it, let me just add a few disclaimers. First, we have a session library of over 200 breakout sessions so coming up with this list was actually really, really hard and there are a number of colleagues (who shall remain nameless) who probably don’t like me much right now. And, two, this list is only for breakout sessions because there are a ton of keynotes and spotlights from our Google Cloud leaders that are also going to be amazing!
Ok, disclaimers out of the way, let’s move on to my list of the five sessions I am most excited about. Drumroll, please:
#1 - AI AI AI AI AI AI AI AI AI AI AI AI AI AI AI AI AI AI AI AI
Did someone say AI? Yes, of course they did! Everyone is saying AI! AI’s ears must be burning. But, seriously, AI is a super important topic right now. We’re going to have a ton of cool sessions on AI innovation during Next ‘23, but the one I am most excited about — on behalf of you, IT pros and architects – is “Build your organization’s future on Google AI and machine learning infrastructure.” This is the session where you’ll learn how you really can build tomorrow’s infrastructure today!#2 - Hadouken
The next session on my list is a combination of interesting, informative, and nostalgic. Did you know that legendary video game maker CAPCOM is running Street Fighter 6 on Google Cloud using Google Kubernetes Engine (among other things)? Seriously, did you know that? And did you know that we got Jumpei Nakajima, System Development Engineer and Street Fighter 6’s technical lead, to come speak to you about it at the event, as part of the “The future of modern enterprise applications with Google Kubernetes Engine” session? If that’s not a must watch, I’m not sure what is.#3 - Shameless plug alert
Look, I’ll level with you, my day job at Google Cloud is working on our esteemed cloud migration team. So as you can probably imagine, I have to pick a migration breakout session to plug, right? Of course. There are a ton of epic migration sessions to pick from, but one that stands out is “How Sabre migrated their apps and data centers to Google Cloud with speed and ease,” which will feature some awesome updates on our migration programs and portfolio. It’ll also feature migration guru (and author) Stephen Orban hosting a fireside chat with the CIO of Sabre, Joe DiFonzo. It’s going to be a great window into how you can plan and execute migrations with Google Cloud quickly, easily, and successfully.#4 - There's only two people I trust. One is me. The other is not you.
Trust is one of those weird things in life: hard to gain, easy to lose. And it’s a crucial part of any relationship between customers and their cloud providers. When a customer embarks on any journey in the cloud, they’ve got to be confident that their data (and secrets) will remain safe and secure. And this is all amplified by the neverending risk of hacks, attacks, espionage, and ransomware. The other weird thing about trust? You’ve got to start with the basics, which is why I am really excited for this aptly title session “Why you should trust Google Cloud,” which will feature Scott Howitt, Chief Digital Officer, and Mustapha Kebbeh, Chief Security Officer, of Ultimate Kronos Group (UKG), sharing how they built and maintain that trust with Google Cloud.
#5 - Money, money, money… must be funny
Money: the reason we’re all still working jobs instead of relaxing on a beach 24/7/365. And I am going to go out on a limb and assume that as an IT pro or architect, you probably have a budget at work, too? In a perfect world, you’d use that budget as effectively as possible. That’s why my fifth and final recommendation is the “Optimize your Google Cloud costs with proven data-driven approaches” breakout session. Managing your budget is top of mind for everyone, so learning how to use data to maximize your cloud investment is an absolute no-brainer!
Parting is such sweet sorrow
Well, folks, that wraps up my list of the top five breakout sessions I am most excited about. And, again, I made a lot of enemies picking these five so I hope that you’ll attend them, and many others! Seriously, we have an incredible lineup of breakout sessions for you!
And also, on one final note, I promise I didn’t realize I’d have so many pop culture references in this blog when I sat down to write it, but dang it, pop culture is so much fun! And, hey, if you recognized a pop culture reference then let’s do this: pop onto your favorite social media app, share this blog, and tell us your favorite reference. Deal?
Amazing. Thanks, ya’ll. Can’t wait to see you at Google Cloud Next ‘23, starting on August 29th.
