10
Being itSMF USA’s first conference in many years without the partnership of HDI, I was wondering what to expect. The number of delegates was notably less than previous years; however, there were several hundred enthusiastic attendees, notable key sponsors in the expo hall and plentiful deep content across up to 9 concurrent sessions.
The plenary room was full for a couple of the drawcard keynotes. These included Gene Kim talking about the synergies of DevOps and service management. There was also an energised and engaging message from author Stacey Hanke. She challenged us all to “Be the Leader You Were Meant
to Be” not just once in a while but
consistently from Monday to Monday. As the opening keynote she provided a great kick off to 2 ½ days of learnings and shared experiences.
In addition to insightful American speakers, I was pleased to see several speakers from the UK plus Scandinavian countries. This gave the event a broader global thinking approach.
The themes consistently spoke to the future of service management through shift-left thinking, engagement with DevOps, and working through capability transformation plus cultural and technical disruption.
Fusion18 - St. Louis & Me
by Kathryn Howard
I was pleased to be able to attend and speak at itSMF USA’s Fusion conference held in St. Louis this year. I arrived a couple of days early to manage my jetlag and found many of my service management colleagues already engaged in pre-conference training sessions or enjoying some tourist activities in the glorious unseasonably warm October weather.