Written by Nate A.
Attending technical conferences are an excellent opportunity for an IT professional to break the rut of traditional instructor led training. Modern technical conferences offer a mix of instructor led training, vendor led sessions, and customer led sessions. In addition, most conferences offer some form of partner pavilion where an IT professional can be introduced to vendors and products that enhance the technologies presented at the conference. Moreover, technical conferences provide human networking opportunities with like-minded individuals often facing similar technology challenges. Whatever the technology, there’s an appropriate conference.
The following table lists the dates and targeted attendee base for some of the larger vendor conferences in the US. Customer focused conferences target the average IT professional. Partner focused events usually feature a mix of technical and sales / marketing sessions around how to position a product or technology.
| Conference Name | Dates | City | Focus (Customer/Partner) |
| Black Hat USA | July 30-August 4, 2016 | Las Vegas, Nevada | Customer |
| Cisco Live | July 10 – 14, 2016 | Las Vegas, Nevada | Customer |
| Citrix Synergy | May 24-26, 2016 | Las Vegas, Nevada | Customer |
| DEF CON | August 4-7, 2016 | Las Vegas, Nevada | Customer |
| Dell World | October 18 – 20 | Austin, TX | Customer |
| EMC World | May 2-5, 2016 | Las Vegas, Nevada | Customer |
| Microsoft Ignite | September 26–30, 2016 | Atlanta, GA | Customer |
| Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference | July 10-14, 2016 | Toronto | Partner |
| NetApp Insight | September 26-29 | Las Vegas, Nevada | Customer and Partner |
| Red Hat Summit | June 27–30, 2016 | San Francisco, CA | Customer |
| VMWORLD | August 28 – September 1, 2016 | Las Vegas, Nevada | Customer |