Latest / The DEX Show: A Show for IT Change Makers / Reality Bytes #54: EXPERIENCE 24 SPECIAL EPISODE (w/ Megan Brake)
Transcript
- 0:01Speaker 1: Welcome Item change Makers to the Deck show with Tim
- 0:05Speaker 1: Flower and Tom McGraw. Let's get into it.
- 0:09Speaker 2: Hello, change Makers, Welcome to Reality Bites.
- 0:12Speaker 3: Now.
- 0:13Speaker 4: I don't know if it.
- 0:13Speaker 2: Might normally be the show within a show within a show,
- 0:16Speaker 2: when you would expect the panel, the Reality Bites panel,
- 0:20Speaker 2: to be interviewing the next finger, but we've switched it
- 0:22Speaker 2: up today, and we've switched it up for an extremely
- 0:25Speaker 2: good reason because it is ladies and gentlemen, the most
- 0:28Speaker 2: wonderful time of the year, otherwise known in the digital
- 0:31Speaker 2: employee experience industry as experience time. Yes, Boston Experience is
- 0:37Speaker 2: almost upon us, and after that we have the London
- 0:41Speaker 2: event in November, and we wanted to mark these approaching
- 0:46Speaker 2: occasions by inviting somebody from our very own Reality Bites
- 0:51Speaker 2: panel onto the show. And she is Megan Break.
- 0:56Speaker 4: Many of you who.
- 0:56Speaker 2: Listen to the show will already know her. And if
- 1:00Speaker 2: you enjoy next thing for Leadership or any of us
- 1:04Speaker 2: sort of wonderful, wonderful things we try and push into
- 1:07Speaker 2: the industry and into the world to guide and inform
- 1:10Speaker 2: the conversation around DEX, you will be already appreciative. Whether
- 1:15Speaker 2: you knew it or not. Of Meghan's wonderful work. So Meghan,
- 1:18Speaker 2: welcome to the Welcome to the show. Welcome to the
- 1:20Speaker 2: other side of the show. You might say, how you doing?
- 1:22Speaker 3: Yeah, thanks Tom, trying not to be nervous that I'm
- 1:26Speaker 3: the one being rather than doing the interviewing different vibe.
- 1:32Speaker 2: Well, listeners will may well know you from a reality
- 1:35Speaker 2: by panel. But for anyone who doesn't know you, or
- 1:37Speaker 2: doesn't know you very well, maybe tell us a bit
- 1:39Speaker 2: about your role at the Next Think and more specifically
- 1:41Speaker 2: it experienced.
- 1:42Speaker 3: Sure. Sure, yeah, So I've been at Next Thing for
- 1:45Speaker 3: two and a half years now. I think started as
- 1:48Speaker 3: a I think as longer. I started January fourth, twenty
- 1:52Speaker 3: twenty two, so that's how long I've been in Next Think.
- 1:55Speaker 2: I don't know if this is good or bad, but
- 1:56Speaker 2: we'll get.
- 1:58Speaker 3: It's just because I've had.
- 2:00Speaker 4: Usually it's been an eternity we've worked on.
- 2:02Speaker 3: At all Right, all right, all right, So my role
- 2:09Speaker 3: is lead customer and content marketers. So, like you said, Tom,
- 2:13Speaker 3: if there's content that you've read from Next Think, I
- 2:15Speaker 3: probably edited it or something. But also this year I've
- 2:19Speaker 3: been lucky enough gifted with the task of spearheaded content
- 2:23Speaker 3: for the Experience events. So I've been tasked with recruiting
- 2:26Speaker 3: all of the speakers, helping put together the sessions for
- 2:29Speaker 3: both Boston and London, leading the charge on that, but
- 2:31Speaker 3: working of course with Tom and with other people to
- 2:33Speaker 3: make it all happen and come together. And it's been
- 2:36Speaker 3: one of the most challenging experiences I've had at next
- 2:38Speaker 3: Think for sure, and one of the most rewarding already. Like,
- 2:41Speaker 3: it's been incredibly fun. So I'm really excited to talk
- 2:44Speaker 3: about the events today.
- 2:45Speaker 2: Well said, Well said, Listen, we may have listeners out
- 2:49Speaker 2: there who still don't know what experience is.
- 2:52Speaker 4: I don't know how.
- 2:55Speaker 2: We have quite a number of listeners, So maybe just
- 2:59Speaker 2: the blame what it is, exactly, what its significance is
- 3:03Speaker 2: to the space, and you can flow the from that
- 3:05Speaker 2: and talk about the details around the event.
- 3:07Speaker 3: Also sure sure, yeah, So it's our annual conference. It's
- 3:13Speaker 3: the biggest event in dex I think if you want
- 3:15Speaker 3: to be in the deck space, I think this is
- 3:17Speaker 3: Experiences the conference where you can come and learn from
- 3:20Speaker 3: other people who are experts in digital play experience, who
- 3:23Speaker 3: are just getting started with digital employee experience, who've been
- 3:26Speaker 3: doing it for six years. I mean, it's where you
- 3:28Speaker 3: can really meet and talk about the big ideas and
- 3:32Speaker 3: the practical sort of how do we make it happen
- 3:34Speaker 3: in the workplace. I think it's also where you can
- 3:37Speaker 3: hear from Gartner and Forrester, the analysts who are talking
- 3:40Speaker 3: about decks. It's just it's really high energy, exciting conference
- 3:47Speaker 3: that happens where you can come together in network and
- 3:49Speaker 3: meet professionals who care about the same things that you
- 3:51Speaker 3: care about if you care about decks, and then also
- 3:55Speaker 3: if you're an next Think user or you want to
- 3:56Speaker 3: be an next Think user, it's where you can hear
- 3:58Speaker 3: about the latest developed it's in the product, the strategy,
- 4:01Speaker 3: where we're going in the next year, and really see
- 4:03Speaker 3: you know, demos for the product up close. So it's
- 4:06Speaker 3: the whole package. It's a really exciting event.
- 4:10Speaker 2: It is, indeed, And did you I was just digging
- 4:12Speaker 2: up my other questions the you, Meghan, while you started
- 4:14Speaker 2: answering that one. I didn't hear if you specified when
- 4:16Speaker 2: it is and where?
- 4:17Speaker 3: No, I didn't. So this year yeah, yeah, yeah, this
- 4:21Speaker 3: year there are two events. In the past, there have
- 4:23Speaker 3: been more, maybe we'll talk about that in a second.
- 4:25Speaker 3: But this year we brought it back just to two
- 4:28Speaker 3: really big, really exciting events. The first one is in
- 4:30Speaker 3: Boston on October fifteenth and sixteenth, so it's just a
- 4:34Speaker 3: couple of weeks away, and then after that in London
- 4:37Speaker 3: from October fifth and sixth November fifth and sixth. It
- 4:43Speaker 3: is what I meant to say, Yes, yes, worth a.
- 4:46Speaker 2: Month and look, this sounds like the most incredible conference
- 4:52Speaker 2: in the world. How much of tickets one hundred, two hundred,
- 4:55Speaker 2: five hundred pounds.
- 4:56Speaker 3: Yeah, actually it's two thousand dollars a person. No, it's free.
- 5:00Speaker 3: It's a free event. So if you want to come
- 5:02Speaker 3: and network with other people who care about decks, you
- 5:05Speaker 3: just gotta gotta get your butt to Boston or London.
- 5:08Speaker 2: Quite right, Quite right. And most people who listenership will
- 5:12Speaker 2: really know what experiences. Many will have visited an experience before.
- 5:16Speaker 2: But why should they come to twenty twenty fours events
- 5:19Speaker 2: and what's different about them?
- 5:21Speaker 1: Yeah?
- 5:22Speaker 3: Good question. Honestly I kind of want to say, like,
- 5:26Speaker 3: what isn't different this year? I feel like we've really
- 5:28Speaker 3: amped it up and changed it a lot. So in
- 5:30Speaker 3: the past, if you're familiar with the experienced events, there
- 5:32Speaker 3: was always four events or more. Even there was like
- 5:36Speaker 3: last year where it was Boston, London, I think, Munich
- 5:38Speaker 3: or Frankfurt and Paris, like we were really spread out.
- 5:41Speaker 3: This year, we've centered it into two and we've made
- 5:44Speaker 3: them bigger, bigger, better shows. So rather than just a
- 5:47Speaker 3: one day event, now it's two days. You can come,
- 5:49Speaker 3: you can take certifications on next thing products, you can
- 5:53Speaker 3: see the products, you can meet our product teams and
- 5:55Speaker 3: ask them questions, and then we've got two days worth obsessions.
- 5:59Speaker 3: Day is worth of leaders in the space, of innovators
- 6:03Speaker 3: in the space, sort of sharing their insights, both their
- 6:06Speaker 3: vision and also you know, real hands on the keyboard,
- 6:10Speaker 3: how are we making this vision of reality? And then
- 6:12Speaker 3: we've got a bunch of exciting guest speakers too Forrester
- 6:14Speaker 3: and Gartner, but also some futurists and some other kind
- 6:17Speaker 3: of notable public figures who are going to be taking
- 6:18Speaker 3: the stage. And I think it's just going to be
- 6:20Speaker 3: a really good show this year.
- 6:22Speaker 2: Anyone else who might we might mention in terms of
- 6:25Speaker 2: some of the world's leading digital workplaces, Yeah to the
- 6:29Speaker 2: main stage and breakouts, yeah oh yeah.
- 6:31Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 6:31Speaker 3: We've put together quite a lineup this year. I think
- 6:33Speaker 3: in both Boston and London. I'm hesitant since I'm the
- 6:37Speaker 3: one who's been talking about these customers. I feel like
- 6:38Speaker 3: I need to lust every single one of them or
- 6:40Speaker 3: else someone feel left out. I won't do that, but
- 6:44Speaker 3: I will say on the main stage in Boston you
- 6:46Speaker 3: can expect to hear from Visa, US Bank, Advanced micro Devices,
- 6:51Speaker 3: and Busyant, and then more exciting brands as well, speaking
- 6:55Speaker 3: in their breakouts, so in the smaller kind of more
- 6:57Speaker 3: practical sessions. And then in London we've got Siemens Accenture,
- 7:02Speaker 3: haleyon Vitality at Alstam on the main stage, so a
- 7:06Speaker 3: lot of real innovative workplaces, a lot of really cool talks,
- 7:09Speaker 3: Like I know what the content's going to be because
- 7:11Speaker 3: I've been working on it and it's I'm really excited
- 7:14Speaker 3: about it. I don't know that we've ever had anyone
- 7:16Speaker 3: take the stage and offer these kind of visions with
- 7:20Speaker 3: the same kind of like practical application. I think it's
- 7:22Speaker 3: really future facing this year, and I think it's really
- 7:25Speaker 3: exciting and well timed.
- 7:27Speaker 4: And Megan, I know a lot of those leaders. I
- 7:30Speaker 4: presented with some of them at other conferences. It's really
- 7:33Speaker 4: cool to have them and they're representing their company and
- 7:36Speaker 4: their particular industry on the stage. It seems like we
- 7:40Speaker 4: say it every year, but it's really been a big
- 7:43Speaker 4: year in dex Right, we had a lot of milestones.
- 7:46Speaker 4: How do you see those recent milestones, the developments in
- 7:49Speaker 4: our industry. How does that get reflected in the agendas
- 7:52Speaker 4: in the two cities.
- 7:53Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a good question. I mean we've, right, we
- 7:56Speaker 3: had the Magic Quadrant. Just recently we had the Forester wave. Like,
- 7:59Speaker 3: we've had this sort of upswell in recognition of decks, right,
- 8:03Speaker 3: And I think we're seeing that in the you know
- 8:06Speaker 3: who's paying attention to it. And I think that that's
- 8:11Speaker 3: reflected in the talks you're gonna hear on stage because
- 8:13Speaker 3: there are a lot of leaders, like people high up,
- 8:16Speaker 3: who are expressing a new way of thinking about running
- 8:21Speaker 3: a digital workplace. Right. It's we finally have the technology,
- 8:24Speaker 3: We finally have the capabilities to imagine a future where
- 8:27Speaker 3: we just rethink the strategy. Right, it's always been an issue,
- 8:30Speaker 3: comes up, somebody reports it, we fix it. What if
- 8:33Speaker 3: we have the technology now where we don't need to
- 8:35Speaker 3: do that anymore, Well, then what does it look like
- 8:37Speaker 3: going forward? That's the kind of conversations that are going
- 8:39Speaker 3: to be happening on stage. And I think another thing
- 8:42Speaker 3: that's going to be happening and that's reflected is that
- 8:45Speaker 3: sort of upswell and interest from business leadership in digital
- 8:49Speaker 3: employee experience. Right, it's becoming a c suite concern. It's
- 8:52Speaker 3: becoming a major sort of something that business leaders place
- 8:57Speaker 3: value in, and you're going to hear people on stage
- 8:59Speaker 3: talking about how they communicate that to the c suite,
- 9:02Speaker 3: how they make decks you know, a major concern for businesses,
- 9:05Speaker 3: and what sort of strategies they're using to make that
- 9:08Speaker 3: happen and to you know, make sure the decks meets
- 9:11Speaker 3: the needs of the c suite. So I think there's
- 9:13Speaker 3: going to be a lot of really interesting learning on
- 9:15Speaker 3: stage this year.
- 9:17Speaker 4: So that's one big reason to attend outside of the
- 9:21Speaker 4: official formal content that we produce, though it's also an
- 9:24Speaker 4: event to attend because of who else is attending. Right.
- 9:27Speaker 4: We alluded a little bit to that in terms of
- 9:30Speaker 4: networking for personal development, for networking for training. Why should
- 9:35Speaker 4: listeners consider to come, consider coming to experience outside of
- 9:39Speaker 4: the formal stuff.
- 9:40Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, I mean I think you've got your just
- 9:44Speaker 3: your networking right, there's breaks throughout the day. There's everyone
- 9:48Speaker 3: who is invested in decks who wants to push it forward,
- 9:51Speaker 3: or who just wants to know, like what practical use
- 9:54Speaker 3: cases for this strategy should I be thinking about whether
- 9:58Speaker 3: I'm year one and this or if I'm year five.
- 10:01Speaker 3: This is your chance to come and just meet people
- 10:03Speaker 3: on the ground and talk to them and ask these
- 10:06Speaker 3: questions and get to know what other businesses are doing.
- 10:09Speaker 3: And same thing the speakers, Yeah they're up on stage,
- 10:11Speaker 3: but then they're also just attending the event the rest
- 10:13Speaker 3: of the day, so you can totally just come up
- 10:15Speaker 3: and ask them questions as well. And you know, we've
- 10:17Speaker 3: got our Ask Product Anything sessions, you can see live
- 10:20Speaker 3: dembos of the next thing product. We've got certification courses,
- 10:23Speaker 3: groups you can attend. I mean, there's just so many
- 10:25Speaker 3: opportunities to meet other people who care about putting, you know,
- 10:30Speaker 3: the human in the center of it, and to learn
- 10:32Speaker 3: from each other. So I think historically for me, that's
- 10:35Speaker 3: been one of the coolest things about this event is
- 10:37Speaker 3: the learning that can happen.
- 10:39Speaker 4: And that's what I always get out of conferences that
- 10:41Speaker 4: I go to. It's great to see the branded official
- 10:45Speaker 4: content and learn, but I enjoy it more for connecting
- 10:50Speaker 4: with other people who are in my same position that
- 10:52Speaker 4: are trying to solve the same problems. It's interesting I
- 10:57Speaker 4: look back over the years. When I started in twenty
- 10:59Speaker 4: fifteen in the US, wasn't big enough to host a
- 11:02Speaker 4: conference in terms of customers. Twenty sixteen, it was called Analytics,
- 11:07Speaker 4: it wasn't called experience. I don't think that the analytics
- 11:11Speaker 4: brand really resonated with a lot of end user compute folks.
- 11:15Speaker 4: I think the first one we did, and you know what,
- 11:19Speaker 4: I don't even remember what city it was in, but
- 11:20Speaker 4: it felt more like a user group. Twenty seventeen I
- 11:22Speaker 4: think was the first official one we did in Chicago.
- 11:26Speaker 4: Then we did eighteen and nineteen in New York. Then
- 11:28Speaker 4: we went virtual over COVID. Each year has had a
- 11:31Speaker 4: different vibe, a different feel to it. It's grown each year.
- 11:35Speaker 4: I'm curious from your perspective over the last couple of years,
- 11:38Speaker 4: even in those two and a half years, it's changed.
- 11:41Speaker 4: What's it like for you to have been working on
- 11:43Speaker 4: these events and what are some of your standout memories
- 11:47Speaker 4: from the previous years.
- 11:49Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean the first year I attended was twenty
- 11:51Speaker 3: twenty two, which I think was the first year we
- 11:53Speaker 3: were back in person. So twenty and twenty one had
- 11:55Speaker 3: both been virtual. That's where it got its old name
- 11:58Speaker 3: Experience Everywhere, because it was in the virtual world, and
- 12:01Speaker 3: we sort of kept that name for the next couple
- 12:03Speaker 3: of years. So twenty twenty two, I attended the event
- 12:05Speaker 3: in New York and I helped work on some of
- 12:07Speaker 3: the content for it and for me coming into this industry,
- 12:11Speaker 3: like this is my first role in the IT space,
- 12:15Speaker 3: the first experience I attended, I mean, it's what we
- 12:18Speaker 3: were just talking about, But I was so struck by
- 12:21Speaker 3: how invested everyone in the audience was in what they
- 12:24Speaker 3: were learning and how interested, Like I was seeing people,
- 12:27Speaker 3: you know, hold their phones up to take pictures of
- 12:29Speaker 3: people's slides, and then you know, overhearing as I was
- 12:32Speaker 3: walking around the event, the conversation's happening between people that
- 12:36Speaker 3: just that networking and that opportunity to say, hey, how
- 12:40Speaker 3: have you been doing this, how have you been solving
- 12:41Speaker 3: this problem, or what use cases have you been kind
- 12:43Speaker 3: of exploring. I think is really was really interesting to me,
- 12:47Speaker 3: and it was the first time I really understood the
- 12:50Speaker 3: level of commitment for dex professionals, like the level that
- 12:53Speaker 3: people are invested. If you work in this space, you
- 12:55Speaker 3: really care about it. That was really that really hit
- 12:58Speaker 3: home for me. And then last year, I think we
- 13:00Speaker 3: really leveled up, at least in the Boston event. It
- 13:02Speaker 3: was such so much more of a show. I got
- 13:05Speaker 3: to work with Starbucks in their session last year, and
- 13:07Speaker 3: that was a lot of fun. Like Mike Morales is
- 13:09Speaker 3: just a fun guy to work with, and it was
- 13:10Speaker 3: fun to put that show on and to make things
- 13:13Speaker 3: you know so much bigger and better. And I think
- 13:15Speaker 3: that's what makes me so excited about this year is
- 13:16Speaker 3: I think we've leveled up yet again and are putting
- 13:20Speaker 3: on a bigger and better show. We're inviting more people.
- 13:22Speaker 3: I think the opportunities. We've paired back the agenda a
- 13:25Speaker 3: little bit to create more space for that networking and
- 13:28Speaker 3: that mutual learning, So there's going to be even more
- 13:30Speaker 3: opportunities and receptions and places for people to sort of
- 13:33Speaker 3: meet and get to know each other. I think it's
- 13:34Speaker 3: just I'm really excited for this year and to see
- 13:37Speaker 3: that growth kind of continue year over year.
- 13:39Speaker 4: And it's the first year that it's not all about
- 13:41Speaker 4: next week either, Right, We've got a vendor hall, we've
- 13:43Speaker 4: got sponsors, people can hear from other vendors in kind
- 13:46Speaker 4: of parallel spaces and talk with other vendors that they're
- 13:50Speaker 4: interested in. So there's lots of reasons to come, but fundamentally,
- 13:54Speaker 4: just kind of boil it down. Who should come to
- 13:56Speaker 4: Experience twenty twenty four and why.
- 13:59Speaker 3: I think anyone one who works in the digital employee
- 14:02Speaker 3: experience space, who works in an end user computing, Anyone
- 14:05Speaker 3: who is excited for the potential of all the new
- 14:08Speaker 3: technologies that have come out in the last year or two,
- 14:11Speaker 3: who was excited about the potential impact for that on
- 14:14Speaker 3: the way we work in the future of the workplace.
- 14:16Speaker 3: I think if you want to see the vision for
- 14:19Speaker 3: the future of work, if you want to meet the
- 14:21Speaker 3: innovators who are thinking differently and building a different workplace,
- 14:25Speaker 3: I think that you should come to Experience. I think
- 14:27Speaker 3: it's going to be the perfect bed for you.
- 14:30Speaker 2: Absolutely, and that's precisely why this year's Experience events go
- 14:34Speaker 2: under the term the theme New Dimensions in Dexy. Yes,
- 14:39Speaker 2: this is what we're discussing. That's what that's the thing
- 14:43Speaker 2: that knits everything of these experiences together. We're talking about
- 14:46Speaker 2: the expansion of decks as a practice, as an investment center,
- 14:52Speaker 2: as a commitment center, and as something that people are
- 14:55Speaker 2: increasingly aware of with both you know, in EU seeing
- 15:00Speaker 2: outside of it right as we've seen evidence by via
- 15:03Speaker 2: recent Magic Quadrant and Wave reports, which we've of course
- 15:07Speaker 2: discussed on this show. So thanks so much for coming on, Megan.
- 15:11Speaker 2: You're a wonderful evangelist for Experience and it was really
- 15:16Speaker 2: nice to have you on the other side, as you say,
- 15:18Speaker 2: of the discussion. And just to remind everybody, but they
- 15:24Speaker 2: if they want to come to Experience in Boston or London,
- 15:27Speaker 2: just go to the show notes, foll over links or
- 15:29Speaker 2: go to the Next Thing website. The tickets are absolutely free,
- 15:32Speaker 2: but they are also limited, and they are they are
- 15:36Speaker 2: I was going to say selling, but that's not quite
- 15:37Speaker 2: the right word. If it's absolutely free, they're flying out
- 15:41Speaker 2: via flying off the shelf anyway, and so do do
- 15:46Speaker 2: book now while you still can. And if you also
- 15:49Speaker 2: wanted to pick up a free copy of a Magic
- 15:52Speaker 2: Quadrant or a free copyer for Forrest to Wave, you
- 15:54Speaker 2: can find those in the show notes as well. So
- 15:56Speaker 2: our show notes are full of goodies everybody, not just
- 15:59Speaker 2: for shows. Themselves, but our show notes a gold minds
- 16:02Speaker 2: if you will, but I hope to see many of
- 16:05Speaker 2: you at Experience in Boston or London soon. Just remains
- 16:08Speaker 2: for us to thank you Megan for coming on as
- 16:11Speaker 2: a guest for the first time.
- 16:12Speaker 3: Thank you for having me.
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- 16:28Speaker 1: Learn more about how Next Thing can help me improve
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- 16:35Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening. Until next time.