Latest / Identity at the Center / #235 - Identity Week America 2023: Molly Taylor & Jonny Drape-Comyn of Identity Week America

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#235 - Identity Week America 2023: Molly Taylor & Jonny Drape-Comyn of Identity Week America · Identity at the Center

• 0:05
  This is identity at the center. If it has anything to do with I
• 0:11
  Am, this is the go to podcast now your hosts Jim McDonald and
• 0:17
  Jeff Steadman. Welcome to the Identity Center
• 0:23
  podcast. I'm Jeff.
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  I'm here at Identity Week America flying solo as my
• 0:27
  partner in crime gym is in the West Coast at the Octane
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  Conference. We've been partnered up with the
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  Identity Week America folks for a while now and I thought it
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  would be only fair to let's hear from them and I have some
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  ulterior motives here as we're going to get into those
• 0:41
  questions in a little bit. But I want to welcome to the
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  show for the first time, Molly Taylor.
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  Cheesy conference producer for Identity Week America and Asia.
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  Welcome, Molly. Hello, thank you for having.
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  Me. And we've also got Johnny Drake
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  common. He's the sales and exhibition
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  manager for Identity Week America.
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  Welcome to the show, Johnny. Thank you, Jeff.
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  So First off, off the bat, we were talking before we hit
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  record and you know, just to pull things the curtains down is
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  you guys didn't know you were going to be on the show until
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  maybe an hour ago. I'm thinking roughly kind about
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  that was like, hey, what do you guys think about, you know,
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  sitting down and recording something?
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  Because my thought process here is not a lot of people really
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  understand what goes into putting on a conference like
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  this. A lot of people who listen to
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  the show, myself included, attend conferences.
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  And we're sort of the consumer of the of the hard work that you
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  guys do. And I thought it'd be
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  interesting to kind of talk about what goes into creating a
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  conference like this. I asked you before we hit
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  record, do you guys consider yourselves identity people?
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  And I thought it was really funny.
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  You guys both said no. Molly, though, this is your 6th.
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  Is that like the number six identity conference?
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  I think you might be and you just don't know it yet.
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  I think I'm on. I'm on the journey, yeah.
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  I I think I I see myself as a conference person, but I
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  definitely have loved kind of launching myself into the
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  identity space. And now I think as you say, I
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  might be an identity person, I'm loving it.
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  I was previously a startup manager and now I'm working
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  production. So I've had a really nice
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  overview of kind of both the end users and the vendors in the
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  ecosystem. We something I absolutely love
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  about these events is that we have this startup village.
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  So you really get to see innovations as they are.
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  Being created, which is incredible.
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  And yeah so so I'm I'm kind of I'm.
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  I'm very immersed in it now. Yes.
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  And have met some brilliant people and from the conference
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  I'm I'm producing our American and Asian edition.
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  So it's I'm loving it. That's great.
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  So, Johnny, do you consider yourself on any person?
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  You're like, straight up? Nope.
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  Straight up, no, I'm not an identity person.
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  I am. An events person, I spent the
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  past five years working in events.
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  I worked for the parent company in Singapore for the past four
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  years, doing events across eight or nine different industries in
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  total. So identity and biometrics is
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  now maybe like 9 or 10. So I'm just fully immersed in in
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  events since I've only been working in on Identity Week for
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  nine months now. So.
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  I think in order to think of myself as any sort of identity
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  person, I would. I'm gonna need a couple of more
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  years. We we bring the identity people
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  together. Ultimately, we are the
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  facilitators, I think. But yeah, I'm being persuaded.
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  I'm coming, I'm coming. Going to like.
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  It, yeah. So Johnny, you've worked across
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  several different industries and conferences.
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  Sounds like Is there something different about identity?
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  Or are we pretty much the same as like other conference types?
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  Are there any compares or contrasts that you can think of?
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  The one main differentiator that I found with Identity compared
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  to every other event industry that I've worked in is we have
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  at least in our company and we have very obvious business
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  models where vendors come and they meet end users and and
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  that's a very successful way of putting on an event is to bring
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  those two parties together whereas.
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  In Identity, everybody wants to meet everyone.
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  Vendors are partnering with with other vendors, there's system
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  integrators, there's the government is is obviously a big
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  part of the ecosystem as well. And and actually it's more of a
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  a very large get together where everybody knows everybody,
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  almost all sides of the party and whereas in other industries
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  it's working very hard to bring vendors in front of end users.
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  Yeah, I I think I'm just adding to that.
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  There's something about about identity.
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  I have only worked in identity. I'm sounding more and more like
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  an identity person. But but I think what is amazing
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  is, is how it reaches every end of.
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  So I mean we're so not limited in in terms of profile of of the
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  kind of person who who comes it. It really does reach every I
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  mean it reaches health from healthcare to government and.
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  Everything in between, you know, finance, all the kind of
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  verticals. And I think that's really,
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  really special because from an organizer's point of view, and
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  it just means that you get to meet a really wide range of
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  people, which is is is super cool.
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  So and great podcasts. So tell us about Identity Week.
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  Who is this conference for? So Identity Week has been going
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  on for. A very long time, but it has
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  kind of evolved. So it started off as as kind of
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  revolving more around the physical documents and secure
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  credentials area of things which we secure document world and has
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  evolved to kind of incorporate everything that we now associate
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  with with modern identity, digital identity, biometrics and
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  and and you know everything. I don't need to tell you
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  everything else. So we've who I I guess I guess
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  that's that kind of says it. So we now it's it's really
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  anyone who sells an identity product and or who is innovating
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  and creating identity, identity technology and anyone who's
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  using it that is really and so that's a huge amount of people
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  right that is. All of us, we are all consumers
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  of identity technology and and I I'd say that to the conferences
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  is is aimed at. Historically this has been
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  focused on government I think but I don't I says I this is my
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  first time being in this conference and so far so good,
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  have a great time making a lot of connections and things like
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  that. Is that still the focus or do
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  you see this expanding out because identity does touch so
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  many different, you know, industries and so forth?
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  I think at its core it was definitely a government, a
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  government focused event just purely based on its, its subject
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  and also its, its location. But that was its core and now it
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  is so much broader than that. We have kind of a huge, a huge
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  range of of attendees and you know, financial services,
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  healthcare, telcos. Yeah.
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  And the event is growing and for example this morning we had, we
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  had the same amount of attendees signed up, came this morning in
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  the first hour than the whole of the event last year.
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  And as it grows, the government portion grows, but all of the
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  other portions grow as well. And actually now when we when we
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  go away afterwards and we look at our statistics and things
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  like that. We're really just trying to
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  bring the whole ecosystem together.
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  And so if you if you are thinking about attending
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  Identity America because you'd like to meet government, then
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  this is the place to be. But if you're also wanting to
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  attend Identity America to meet with other partners, meet with
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  other industries from the likes that the money said of banking
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  and finance and healthcare, then it's now also very much becoming
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  the place to be as well and. I think that's that's a good way
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  of phrasing it is just in terms of bringing the whole ecosystem
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  together, absolutely. And I think it's unique in that
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  sense. I think we are super lucky to be
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  to be able to bring all of those.
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  So I mean it's very rare to be able to get as much government
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  as we can get because of this location whilst also being able
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  to to bring the whole, the whole industry together.
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  So we're very, very proud of that for sure.
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  Can we talk a little bit about what goes into a conference like
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  this? Because like I said, I'm a
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  consumer typically of this and I'm sure there's a lot of work
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  that happens behind the scenes to make this happen.
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  When did planning for this conference start?
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  So. Planning.
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  I'll put it into perspective. Planning for 2024 has started
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  for this conference. So it's already underway for
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  next year, so over a year of planning.
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  Yeah, so. And we're already negotiating
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  with sets and people for 2025 as well.
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  It's, it's it's, yeah. So it's a long process and I
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  think it's a long process from the production point of view
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  because of how much. How how closely we need to
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  follow the industry as well over the so so much can change in a
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  year and I think that the earlier you you start with that
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  the kind of the the better the better grasp you have on on how
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  the how it's evolving over over the year and what we need to
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  make sure we incorporate that has changed since the the
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  previous edition of of of the conference.
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  So I think that that's super important and and and.
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  Also, just because it takes a lot of work, it's it's, you
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  know, we're over 3000 attendees, over over 300 sponsors,
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  exhibitors, startups, over 250 speakers.
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  It's a lot of people and it requires a lot of time.
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  So yeah. Yeah.
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  And I don't think, I don't think many people sometimes realize
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  all of the different areas that go into perhaps putting together
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  a conference before I worked in this industry.
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  You turn up, you meet a few people, have snacks, go home,
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  everything's happy. Your boss asks you how many
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  meetings you got and that's that.
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  And and actually there's of course you see the with Molly's
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  role in production in mind, which is in sales.
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  There is also a whole team, a whole team of operations,
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  there's a whole team of networking.
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  There's a whole team of marketing, There's a whole team
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  of VIPs and startups, There's a whole team of media.
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  There's senior management as well.
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  We also have a whole team of temporary staff that we use too.
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  So there's so many different, so many different cogs moving at
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  the same time. And although there are some COGS
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  that are very much. External.
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  Being a salesperson, I'm about to say the word client facing,
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  but there are many, many more behind the scenes that are, I
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  would say, far more important than what we do that nobody
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  really sees. So we're in Washington, DC, so
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  we have to talk politics. What are your thoughts on the
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  government shutdown? No, I'm just kidding.
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  Are there politics when it comes to putting on a conference like
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  this? Meaning you know there's.
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  One vendor and another vendor and maybe partners and things
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  like that, far as like physical location of booths, things like
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  that. How much does that come into
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  play when sort of establishing and setting up, you know, where
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  people will be based out of? Yeah, it it comes into play.
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  Those those decisions though primarily go down to go down to
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  the exhibitors themselves. But of course, some exhibitors
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  want to be next to their partners, and some partners
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  don't want to be. Next to perhaps certain
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  departments or other companies and then some people want to be
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  right next to each other because they love the, they love the
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  competitiveness and who's going to build the bigger booth or
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  particularly in lots of industries, we know that lots of
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  people have worked at one company, are now at another
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  company and they're actually facing their former partners.
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  So there is lots of things like that.
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  I guess it's partly my job to. To to know about all of those
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  things. But I leave that, leave that to
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  the identity people to to argue about, yeah.
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  We do our due diligence for sure.
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  What's next for Identity Week? Well as Johnny said even the
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  attending you know we we hit the the attending numbers for the
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  full conference it just this morning.
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  So it is truly just just getting bigger and bigger we are.
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  I think I think a huge part kind of component relating to the
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  growth of the of the conference is those new companies that that
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  that that join our startup village and then grow and kind
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  of we that that they're with us for that journey which I I just
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  think it's amazing. I've seen it from from the, you
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  know from one year to another they start as a startup and and
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  then they're in exhibitor and so and it's and that's and that's
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  amazing. I think that is something really
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  unique about the conference that we kind of are nurturing those
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  companies into into the the growth and and I think I think I
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  think that's that's a big part of it.
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  I think you know just just the attendees like we say we we
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  we're broadening so much. So it's it's a matter of having
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  more attendees, having a wider range of of profiles within
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  those attendee numbers and. I mean we've got so many
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  speakers and so many stages. There is there is so much
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  content and and I think that is that is the other thing we start
• 14:53
  at the beginning of the year. We start with like a certain
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  number of sessions and then you know whilst researching we are
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  constantly finding more topics to incorporate into the agenda
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  for the following year and and and understanding what needs to
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  be added and what where the appetite is for discussion.
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  And I think content wise, but that that is that is how it's
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  growing for sure. So in each area it's growing,
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  which is, which is amazing to see really.
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  Yeah. And there will be in terms of
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  things to come, there will be new initiatives that come
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  relating to attendees and things like that and our identity
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  portal too, but also hasn't been mentioned.
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  We have a new venue next year. So it is Walter E Washington
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  Convention Center. We're actually moving downstairs
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  into hall seat, which sounds super boring, but due to popular
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  demand there. Is more space down?
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  There, there is more space today.
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  At times I was even struggling to walk down the gangway, which
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  of course is great for attendees when it's very busy and exhibits
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  us. But due to popular demand, we
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  are moving downstairs next year into a brand new, a brand new
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  hall so. It's very.
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  Super excited for Maybe that's for us rather than others.
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  I should also say we're launching a new initiative which
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  I'm really excited about called Transformative Women Within the
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  Identity Ecosystem. So that is launching our Asia
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  event in three weeks in Singapore November 6th till 7th
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  till 8th. I am wrong.
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  And that is a kind of what is the word I'm thinking of.
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  It's a platform for women within the industry to kind of share
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  ideas. And we're setting up a
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  newsletter. They'll have a stand at the
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  conference. It will be a kind of place for
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  dialogue and discussion about inclusivity.
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  About also also just achievements and celebrating the
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  women within the identity space. We already have the amazing
• 17:08
  women in identity as a partner for the for the event and they
• 17:12
  will they will certainly be involved.
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  So we're really, really excited about that and and and kind of
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  you know it's it's a really cool part of our inclusivity is a
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  very very cool part of our event.
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  And yeah, this initiative is something that the team is, is
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  really looking forward to launching in Asia.
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  So I, I I'm actually a member of Women in Identity which sounds
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  kind of weird to speak a guy but certainly an advocate.
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  We've had, we had case apart on a while back when she was
• 17:42
  executive director that I think she's moved on to Kantara since
• 17:45
  then, but certainly a you know group that we definitely support
• 17:48
  so. If there's something we can do
• 17:49
  on the podcast to help get the word out, let me know.
• 17:52
  Open invite. I know you guys are both super
• 17:54
  busy so I'm not going to take up any more time, especially this
• 17:56
  kind of being last minute, at least from your perspective.
• 17:58
  I planned it but I didn't tell you guys about it.
• 18:01
  I was in the UK earlier this year for vacations, I was in
• 18:05
  London and I had a great time. The one thing that people had
• 18:08
  always told me, though, was, oh, the food is going to be not
• 18:11
  good. And I had the opposite
• 18:13
  experience. All the food and drinks that we
• 18:15
  had were fantastic. So I went there to watch the
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  Chicago Cubs play the Saint Louis Cardinals in London
• 18:21
  Stadium, see American baseball in London.
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  It was it was fantastic. Great experience, all that good
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  stuff. What, when you hear me say UK
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  food is not good, or at least that's the the word on the
• 18:34
  street, how close to blows are we going to come?
• 18:38
  Do I need to, like, put my Shields up?
• 18:40
  Do you guys agree with it? Where do you guys feel like
• 18:43
  that? So we're going to let Johnny the
• 18:45
  food, the food expert take this one.
• 18:47
  But what I will say is that I I think that British food itself
• 18:51
  has very little, very little character.
• 18:54
  But I think I grew up in London. It's a melting pot.
• 18:59
  It's it's brilliant. It's it's super diverse and
• 19:02
  amazing, which means that. We have loads of loads of
• 19:07
  different amazing food not produced by us.
• 19:10
  It's not produced by us. Well, it's definitely not to
• 19:15
  credit Brits for, but that's what I would say, Johnny, I'm
• 19:19
  going to. No pressure, Johnny.
• 19:21
  Why tell me about UK food? I think British cuisine gets a
• 19:26
  bad Rep and it depends. I think that one of the having
• 19:31
  moved from maybe the. Best foodie country in the world
• 19:35
  of Singapore into London very recently.
• 19:41
  London and England gets a bad Rep for British cuisine.
• 19:45
  And if we're talking about British cuisine and we think
• 19:47
  about bangers and mash and. Sticky toffee pudding and sounds
• 19:52
  great, actually, but lots of things that people don't
• 19:54
  necessarily love. I think most people mostly like
• 19:57
  fish and chips, right? Or something like that.
• 19:58
  But the beauty of particularly London, the beauty of places
• 20:02
  like London is that you. It is so cosmopolitan, it's so
• 20:08
  diverse and you may not find the best British food in London, but
• 20:14
  you will find incredible Italian food, Japanese food.
• 20:20
  Indian food pretty much every pretty much everything.
• 20:24
  And because of the the huge amounts of of immigration that
• 20:27
  we have into into into those cities, the best thing, the best
• 20:33
  thing about it is really the the food that that we have in those
• 20:36
  cities. And you you make, you will
• 20:38
  probably find the best Italian food in in Italy and you'll
• 20:41
  probably find the best Japanese food in Japan.
• 20:44
  But you'll find the second best Japanese food in London and the
• 20:47
  second best Italian food in London.
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  And I will. I will go to my grave defending
• 20:57
  any food, food in London because it's fantastic.
• 21:00
  And also as well, yes, England, the UK gets a bad reputation for
• 21:06
  food. But if you head out into the
• 21:08
  country, or you head to Scotland, or you go to Wales, or
• 21:12
  if you you cross the water and go to island, which is not the
• 21:15
  UK. But if you go there you will
• 21:18
  find amazing local foods, local produce, just like I'm sure you
• 21:23
  do everywhere else in the world, local veg, local meat.
• 21:26
  And it's bloody brilliant. I've never felt like such a
• 21:32
  traitor. I feel incredibly unpatriotic
• 21:34
  now, but yeah. Well, I appreciate you guys
• 21:37
  taking some time here. I know you guys want to get back
• 21:40
  to the show and and help make sure the things are.
• 21:43
  Running run around like heads. Exactly.
• 21:46
  So we'll go ahead and wrap it up there.
• 21:47
  We'll have a link in our show notes to both you guys LinkedIn
• 21:49
  profiles. That way people have questions
• 21:51
  or comments or whatever they can reach out to you, as well as a
• 21:54
  link to the Identity Week, Identity Week website because
• 21:57
  there are several conferences that fall underneath that
• 21:59
  branner. You can find us on the web.
• 22:00
  We're at IDAC podcast.com, Twitter, IDAC Podcast.
• 22:04
  Mastodon at IDAC Podcast at infosec dot exchange.
• 22:09
  Check out our LinkedIn page, our YouTube channel, all that good
• 22:11
  stuff. Thank you so much for being part
• 22:13
  of this. Thank you for the invite.
• 22:15
  This has been a great experience and hopefully we'll do this
• 22:17
  again next year. Thank you so much, Chef.
• 22:20
  Thanks for having us. All right.
• 22:21
  We'll talk with everyone the next one.
• 22:23
  You've been listening to identity at the center.
• 22:27
  We hope you've enjoyed the show. Make sure to like, rate and
• 22:31
  review and we'll be back soon. But in the meantime, hit the
• 22:35
  website at identity@thecenter.com and find
• 22:39
  us on Twitter at IDAC Podcast. See you next time on identity at
• 22:46
  the center.