JNUC

JNUC 2022

Sitting in the airport with an hour to kill, thought I’d jot down my thoughts. First, I really enjoyed the conference. The Jamf folks did a solid job, San Diego was great, the hotel location was perfect, and having an event on a Naval Aviation museum? PLANE NERDGASM. Even as a non-Jamf user/admin, the sessions were varied enough that I had no trouble basically double-booking myself. Really good choice, even if I am slightly biased.

Speaker Thoughts

As a speaker, I’ve a couple of minor nits: the speaker room, “Green Room” was a bit sparse. It could use some sprucing up, more coffee (to be fair, there’s never enough coffee as far as I’m concerned, so don’t take that too seriously, I’m an E D G E C A S E when it comes to coffee consumption.) But a bit larger and a few more amenities would be appreciated, it’s good to have a place where one can quietly go over a presentation one last time.

On the flip side of that, the ability to see, almost in real time how many people attended vs. registered is really useful. I was blown away at the numbers my PowerShell session pulled, I honestly didn’t expect but about ten people to show up. That feature is really useful for speakers, so kudos to Jamf on that one. The pre-show prep covered literally months, but that allowed it all to be spaced out and unhurried, which is something I really liked. Whoever set that up did a fantastic job of making it really clear what I needed to do and when, and that prep was a massive help for me, so thank you all.

However, while I understand that 30 minute sessions need to be tight, the inability to have any live demos during a presentation was a killjoy and a half. I’d timed my session out with demos in mind, and without those, I went from a solid 20+ to an okay 15+ minute session. I’m good at vamping, but that’s a lot of time to tap-dance through. Being able to demo things, especially when talking about something like PowerShell or similar that a lot of the audience is unfamiliar with is critical. I hope that for 2023, Jamf adjusts their setup to allow for better demos.

Other than the demos issue, the overall presentation was fantastic. The speaker monitors were perfectly placed, so there was never a need to do the “turn head to see what you’re talking about” dance. Having the presentation display there so I could also see my notes was really useful, and greatly appreciated.

Overall as a speaker, I think other than the very minor nit of the speaker room, and the demos issue, Jamf did a great job here.

Attendee Thoughts

Knocked it out of the park. The location, as I said was amazing. Being able to run along the bay between the end of sessions and any after events was a really great way to unwind a bit, and the solid spacing between the end of sessions and after events was hugely appreciated. That’s something a lot of conferences overlook, and after two days of non-stop go from 7/8am to 11pm or later, one runs out of energy for the last day or so. Having that break kept that from happening, please don’t lose that.

The room setups were great, easy to see and hear from everywhere in the room, and the chairs were quite comfortable. Having a good bit of elbow room at the tables in the rooms was so nice, like just so nice. Having breakfast and lunch provided was nice, the quality of the food was aces. The overall conference had a hard WWDC vibe, but from the older days when you got actual decent food, not box lunches that make USAF flightline meals look luxurious. If you’re going to provide food, spend more than a buck a meal, and Jamf did this about perfectly. The plethora of coffee stations, again, I loved. Could have used more. And bigger cups. But that’s (literally) just me.

Finally, the attendees. First, to everyone (and there were a lot of you) who told me how much they enjoyed my session, thank you so much. I was kind of unsure how such a non-Jamf-specific session would be received at all, and given it was on PowerShell, I had braced myself to be mostly ignored. Instead, I had almost a packed room for the ‘live’ session, and twice that for the virtual and oh my goodness, than you all SO MUCH, it means a lot. That sense of community I’d been missing for the last few years was there in abundance, and it really, really felt good. Y’all are amazing and wonderful.

Fin…

my first-ever JNUC, I was genuinely impressed on every level. The few things that stood out as less-than amazing did so more because everything else was so good, and I think all of them are fixable without a huge amount of work or expense. I really enjoyed the experience as both a speaker and attendee, and am absolutely figuring out how I can work 2023.

Finally, dear Jamf folks, my loves, my sweets…if you’re looking to hold future JNUCs in places that aren’t Minneapolis, I understand Kansas City is a conveniently-located venue. Middle of the country, good-sized airport, lots of hotels, and for the big event, an absolutely amazing art museum that regularly hosts such things, or a just-as-amazing train station, and literally, the best chocolatier in the country if not the planet. Oh and a few solid hotels and convention centers. Just sayin’…;-P

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