Just finished the last regular sessions of the Windows Anywhere conference. Tomorrow are some post-conference workshops–including an advanced Tablet class I’m eager to check out.
So….what was Day 3 of the conference like?
I spent the whole day in the Biz track. It began with back-to-back sessions titled the “Customer and Partners Panel” which I moderated. For the first one hour session we had a panel with members from Intel (Mark), Motion (Doug Caldwell), xThink (Teresa Shu), Agilix (Mark Calkins) and Colligo (Barry Jinks CEO of Colligo) where we talked about reaching and listening to customers.
I sweated before this session. Could I keep the conversation going?
Fortunately, everyone on the panel did a great job fielding the questions and merging in their own messages. Next time though I need to add a bit more energy to bring in more audience participation. I realize I tend to be matter of fact about things and there’s nothing wrong with showing my passion for the Tablet.
The consistent message from the panel is that everyone is trying to expand their customer base and most everyone sees mobility as a key customer demand–not just the ink.
In the second session we flipped things around and invited the ISVs in the audience to get on stage to give short DEMO-like presentations of their products. During the demos people would toss in questions and comments about the various apps.
This was a last minute decision to go with this format and I’m glad we did. It was a bit disorganized, but at the same time it was a great opportunity for others to see what people are doing. In some respects it might have been a good idea to start with a whole series of Tablet demos on Day 1 so that everyone has a chance to see the range of products out there.
Actually, the impromptu nature of the session might have worked to everyone’s benefit. It kept things “natural.” There definitely weren’t overly practiced demos. For the press in the audience they got to see a wide variety of real Tablet apps–many for the first time–and for the ISVs watching they got a chance to debate various features and UI approaches.
In the afternoon Fritz Switzer from AbletFactory led a panel discussion on “Influencing Tablet PC Applications.” Fritz did a really good job. He jumped right into UI design issues for creating better Tablet experiences. Lots of ideas. Then the discussion turned to business aspects of being a Tablet PC ISV. There was a lot more, but unfortunately I was so engrossed in the conversation that I didn’t take any notes. 🙂 This session really could have been twice as long.
Next up was a repeat performance from Robert Scoble and the “Tablet OEM Panel.” There’s a ton of stuff to blog about here, but I’m beginning to drag so I’ll try posting in the morning before catching my flight. Time for some sleep.