My First Software Industry Conference 2008

I attended my first Software Industry Conference this year and overall it was a great experience. I learned some good tips from the sessions I tended and from the people I met. I got to meet a number of people who, like me, are indie developers and or run small software companies. And I got to put faces on names of individuals from the ASP newsgroups and BoS forum. And of course I picked up a couple of new t-shirts too. Now if vendors exhibiting at conferences like SIC would hand out jeans and boxers I could have a new wardrobe each year.

The sessions covered a variety topics related to the business of selling software. There were sessions on distribution channels, alternative revenue models such as subscriptions and rentals, marketing, web site designs, the impact of social networks and more. I really liked the variety of topics covered. However, one thing I did not like was the lack of depth in many of the sessions.

Most of the sessions had multiple speakers providing different points of views on a topic. For example, the session on distribution channels had 3 speakers. The first speaker talked about breaking into the China marketplace. The second speaker talked about OEM distribution, and the final speaker talked about distribution through publishers and retail channels. With this particular topic the three speakers and the different points of view format worked well and was helpful and insightful. But the multi-speaker approach did not work for all sessions.

The session on web site analytics and metrics was one such session that I wish had been broken out into two separate sessions. The first speaker talked about monitoring your competitors, and the second speaker talked about tools and options for understanding what is happening with your own web site. What I would have liked to see was more in depth discussions and how tos on the two areas. For example, the talk about the tools and options for understanding what is happening with your own web site was good but it could have been even better if the speaker had time to drill into a sample web log using a tool of choice and explain in detail how to look for and understand the meaning of the data and how to uncover and find trends within the data.

It also felt as if each speaker was rushed to get through the information he or she wanted to share so that there would be enough time for the next speaker within the session.

Despite the lack of depth in many of the session talks, the Q&A; that typically followed was great. In many cases the Q&A; was more useful for me that the actual talk.

Another aspect of SIC that I really like is meeting a wide range of people who, like me, are producing and selling software products. Not only was it fun to share war stories and talk shop, I also learned a lot from the more seasoned veterans. For instance, Dan from TopoGrafix gave me some great feedback on my web site and suggested ways to improve my SEO with landing pages covering topics I had not thought of before. Not only did I learn a thing or two from others, but the conversations I had with various individuals gave me the kick in the ass I needed to re-motivated and come up with fresh, new ideas for growing my company and taking it to the next level.

So was the conference worth it? Absolutely. Granted my cost was low because the conference was held in the Boston metro area which is local for me and meant I didn’t not have to pay travel experiences (no airfare or hotel). But I do plan to return next year and I will be staying in the hotel so I can have more fun at the party-like receptions held each evening.

Posted in business. Tagged in conference, travel.

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