Transcript

RSA Advice · CYBR.Signal

0:00
SPEAKER_00: And hello, everybody.
0:01
SPEAKER_00: Happy Cyber Sunday.
0:02
SPEAKER_00: Hope you're doing well.
0:03
SPEAKER_00: So I'm going to say something very controversial.
0:06
SPEAKER_00: I am not going to the RSA conference next week or this week.
0:10
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I know.
0:11
SPEAKER_00: It's crazy.
0:12
SPEAKER_00: Uh there honestly is the first time I haven't been there in probably over 10 years, maybe 12.
0:18
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
0:19
SPEAKER_00: It's been a long time since I haven't been there.
0:20
SPEAKER_00: A little bittersweet.
0:22
SPEAKER_00: I'm kind of glad I'm not going because it's a crazy week and I won't be worn out.
0:26
SPEAKER_00: Um it's and the reasons, it's not what this is about, but the reasons are a mix of personal and professional.
0:33
SPEAKER_00: I'm just not as emphasizing the RSA conference as much these days.
0:36
SPEAKER_00: Honestly, if you know me, you know I run conferences, so I've got a lot tied up in those as well.
0:42
SPEAKER_00: Um, but what I do want to tell you or talk about is if this is, especially if this is the first time you've gone there um to the RSA conference or a large conference, um, outside of the personal, you know, taking care of yourself and um all of that, which obviously extremely important.
1:01
SPEAKER_00: Uh, there's been a lot of topics or like uh a really good article by Ginlegio, actually, uh, about um sobriety and alcohol and all of that stuff when it comes to, and which is, you know, a whole nother topic in and of itself, which is a very important topic.
1:16
SPEAKER_00: Um, but from a professional standpoint, there's kind of three things that I like to talk about when somebody goes to a conference, any conference, especially a large conference like this, that has just a really varied um set of vendors and sessions and all that.
1:34
SPEAKER_00: So one of the things I like to talk about first um is when you meet somebody, make sure if you can, within that day or the next day, especially if there's somebody you really want to follow up with and you think they can, you know, really help you with the career professionally, or you're just interested in them, whatever that is, follow up with them quickly.
1:57
SPEAKER_00: Just like you, they're meeting a lot of people, meeting a whole lot of people.
2:01
SPEAKER_00: So follow up with them quickly and remind them, if you can, of some of the points that you talked about.
2:09
SPEAKER_00: Just say, hey, this really interested me.
2:10
SPEAKER_00: Really appreciate the time you took uh to sit down with me and talk about this, even if it was two minutes, whatever it is, and just make sure you follow up.
2:20
SPEAKER_00: That's gonna kind of cement them or cement you in their brain.
2:23
SPEAKER_00: They're gonna be like, oh, okay, that that person's definitely interested uh in what I was talking about.
2:29
SPEAKER_00: I really want to have more conversations, so on and so forth.
2:33
SPEAKER_00: So that's one piece of advice.
2:36
SPEAKER_00: Kind of akin to that, is if you are able, when you go into a session, if you're able to talk to the speaker, which is not always possible because sometimes, especially if it's really good, they just get kind of mobbed.
2:50
SPEAKER_00: Um, but if you go into a session and you're talking to that speaker, you get to do that.
2:56
SPEAKER_00: Um, very similar, get their contact information if you can, and follow up with them, and then give them some feedback on what you heard and what you liked about their topic.
3:10
SPEAKER_00: Um, again, that cements you in their brain, makes them realize that you know you you've got some actual thoughts about this, whatever they went over, and and really try to from a professional standpoint, give them what you thought of it, because that that's just gonna make them think about you later on.
3:35
SPEAKER_00: And when you do follow up with them after that, they're much more likely to engage with you.
3:40
SPEAKER_00: Um, and professionally, that's just a best one of the best things to do.
3:45
SPEAKER_00: So, first piece of advice, follow up with whoever you just you meet.
3:48
SPEAKER_00: Second, if you get to talk to session um those presenters, follow up with them.
3:54
SPEAKER_00: I know those are very similar, but you know, two different types of people.
3:57
SPEAKER_00: And then third, and this one ultimately just ends up surprising me every time, and I don't know why, because it just seems so obvious.
4:06
SPEAKER_00: But when you're going into sessions, or when you're planning, let's say you're planning your agenda to what sessions you're gonna go into, don't go into those just, I mean, uh yes, if something really interests you, you want to go into it and just really get interested, you're just really interested in it, you want to see it, that's fine.
4:26
SPEAKER_00: But you really should go build your agenda based off of needs in your security program.
4:33
SPEAKER_00: That that's obvious on the that's really obvious on the vendor floor.
4:37
SPEAKER_00: Like you want to see cool stuff, but at the same time, you want to go talk to vendors like if you got this gap or that gap or that gap.
4:42
SPEAKER_00: But some people, a lot of people I see, don't plan their agenda out based on that same thing.
4:48
SPEAKER_00: They just go to whatever just seems interesting and that's it.
4:51
SPEAKER_00: They don't go through and look at their gap, the gaps in their um program and try to plan out their agenda that way.
5:00
SPEAKER_00: Make sure you do that.
5:02
SPEAKER_00: Take notes in those sessions and follow up with your colleagues on what you learn from that, but be specific to what problems you have in your security program if those things do exist, and they probably will in a conference at large.
5:18
SPEAKER_00: Um, so don't just don't just focus on your security program when you go see the on the showroom floor.
5:24
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of people that are practitioners that do those talks that are talking about stuff that affects you as well.
5:29
SPEAKER_00: Um, so plan that out as well.
5:31
SPEAKER_00: All right, that's it.
5:33
SPEAKER_00: Enjoy RSA if you're going, um, and have a good time.
5:37
SPEAKER_00: Be safe.
5:38
SPEAKER_00: Talk to you next time.