{"id":10534,"date":"2023-11-12T21:39:25","date_gmt":"2023-11-12T21:39:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/?p=10534"},"modified":"2023-11-12T21:42:32","modified_gmt":"2023-11-12T21:42:32","slug":"weeknotes-246-the-man-in-seat-61","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/2023\/11\/12\/weeknotes-246-the-man-in-seat-61\/","title":{"rendered":"Weeknotes #246 \u2014 The man in seat 61"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Waiting

Waiting for a keynote session to begin<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

Most of my week was spent at the Gartner IT Symposium\/Xpo in Barcelona<\/a>. This is a gigantic gathering of 6,500 Chief Information Officers and other IT executives along with 1,500 Gartner analysts and staff. I\u2019d previously been to a couple of Gartner conferences that were focused on Programme and Portfolio Management, so I knew roughly what to expect. What I hadn\u2019t anticipated was the sheer size and scale of this event.<\/p>\n

But first, I had to get there.<\/p>\n

Working for a global organisation, I\u2019m very conscious of my carbon footprint, particularly due to stories of \u2018extreme\u2019 weather events hitting the news almost every week. Flying short-haul from London to Barcelona seemed like an easy but excessive thing to do, particularly when seat61.com informed me that I could make the trip by rail in a single day<\/a>. Almost two decades ago, at another employer, I had tried to suggest that I take the train for a business trip to Zurich; I was laughed out of the room. I\u2019m glad that times have changed. As soon as I knew I\u2019d be going to the conference, I booked my train tickets through our corporate travel agent in order to secure a good fare. Sunday morning was an early start; I soon found myself on a near-deserted Berkhamsted station waiting for the train into London. The train rolled in on time, but to a completely different platform to the one scheduled. I found myself hitting my maximum heart rate as I picked up my suitcase and ran down and up the flights of stairs to get to the train before it departed.<\/p>\n

The process to get on board the Eurostar<\/a> was straightforward, and very familiar to anyone who has been through airport security. Bags had to be x-rayed and bodies scanned. Both the British and French immigration staff are located in the station, so you pass through both checks in quick succession.<\/p>\n

I had an economy ticket for the Eurostar journey to Paris. The seats were comfortable but I found myself trying not to bash my feet into those of the person sitting opposite me.<\/p>\n

\"The

The seats soon filled up and we found ourselves travelling at an impressive 300km\/h.<\/p><\/div>\n

Upon arrival at Gare du Nord<\/a> I had to make my way through the Paris Metro to get to Gare de Lyon<\/a> for the next major leg of the journey. A single Metro journey was cheap at less than \u00a32, but obtaining a ticket was filled with frustration. The ticket touch screen terminals work fine, as long as you know exactly<\/em> what buttons to press. Any doubt, or use of the \u2018go back\u2019 button, resulted in the screen freezing up for a minute or two. I was worried that the people behind me would start getting shirty but they seemed to know this is just how things are.<\/p>\n

At Gare de Lyon I armed myself with a sandwich for the journey and navigated myself to the platform where my TGV train sat waiting. As this leg was going to be six and a half hours, I had booked a first class seat for a little more comfort. I smiled when I found myself in seat 61 and now know why the famous website<\/a> has that name \u2014 it\u2019s the best single seat in the carriage, with only a luggage space for company and easy access to both the toilet and buffet car.<\/p>\n

\"A

A bit dusty and dated, but with everything I needed for the journey.<\/p><\/div>\n

The train travels like a rocket from Paris down to the south coast of France. I couldn\u2019t believe my eyes when I looked out of the window to find the Alps on the horizon so soon after we had departed. Once we hit Valence<\/a>, the journey slowed as the train made its way around the south coast and down into north-east Spain, stopping at places such as N\u00eemes<\/a>, Montpellier<\/a> and Girona<\/a> before finally pulling into Barcelona.<\/p>\n

On advice from my contacts at Gartner, I had booked a hotel adjacent to where the conference was to be held. This was some distance from the station so I had to grab a taxi there. By the time I reached the hotel and unpacked my things it was around 10pm and I was exhausted, but happy that I\u2019d saved around 80% of the carbon emissions versus flying there.<\/p>\n

The conference itself was incredible. Lots of my tech-focused friends don\u2019t think very highly of Gartner due to the cost of accessing the services and questions around the objectivity of their research. However, they absolutely know how to run an event. Over the next four days there was an incredible number of keynotes, presentations, workshops, roundtables and networking opportunities. And catering \u2014 a seemingly non-stop conveyor of things to eat and drink appeared throughout each day. Early on Monday and Tuesday I had managed to get out for a 10km run so I felt free to indulge in all<\/em> of the things.<\/p>\n

\"Breakfast

Breakfast smoothie bowls, cakes, cookies and three types of churros. Who could resist?<\/p><\/div>\n

\"The

The joy of an early morning run…<\/p><\/div>\n

\"...is

…is that you get to see the sunrise<\/p><\/div>\n

As well as the Symposium there was a giant hall which hosted the IT Xpo, where Enterprise technology vendors lured IT executives into conversations through various free items, ranging from pens and notepads to gigantic bars of Tony\u2019s Chocolonely<\/a>. I could resist the pens but not the chocolate. Free things would be exchanged for a scan of the QR code on your lanyard so that the exhibitor could add you to their marketing database and send you email.<\/p>\n

\"The

The IT Xpo hall<\/p><\/div>\n

On Tuesday someone came knocking on the doors of the hotel rooms that were adjacent to the conference, dropping off a Gartner bag filled with leaflets from some of the vendors. Included in the box was half<\/em> of a set of knockoff Apple AirPod headphones, the idea being that you would have to visit the vendor\u2019s stand to pick up the other half. I suspect that many people didn\u2019t go. What a waste. The \u2018climate neutral transport\u2019 badge on the back of the box felt deeply ironic.<\/p>\n

\"Half

Half a set of headphones.<\/p><\/div>\n

Of the sessions themselves, as you would expect, Artificial Intelligence was everywhere<\/em>. So much so that some of the presenters would drop jokey warnings into the start of their sessions to say that there would be minimal AI content for the next 30 minutes. The first keynote session of the week was AI-focused and offered some interesting insights, such as how \u201cethical decisions often disguise themselves as IT decisions\u201d and that all<\/em> companies should look to have their own principles for the use and adoption of AI.<\/p>\n

There were many more sessions throughout the week than it is possible to attend. Many ran at the same time, forcing you to choose which one to go to. By the end of the week I had learned to opt for sessions on topics that I know the least about. My favourite was one called The Neurodiversity Advantage: Create a Win-Win for Neurodiverse Talent and Your Organisation<\/a><\/em> presented by Rob O\u2019Donohue<\/a> who told me that:<\/p>\n