Hard to believe that the Sitecore Symposium will take place in Chicago this year. Being a Chicago native (suburbs of Chicago) I am obviously pretty excited about this. Not only do I get to take the train to the Symposium I was blessed to be picked as a speaker. To top it off I get to meet some of my coworkers in person. With this blog I hope to give someone an idea of what it is like at the symposium mixed in with a little Chicago style.

Dress for the weather. It’s October in Chicago. There are days you can wear shorts, but the temperature goes up and down quite a bit. In the mornings it is cold, but by the afternoon it warms up.

Make sure you stop and visit every sponsor. Don’t forget to thank them. In Chicago we try to be polite whether we mean it or not.

No doubt the symposium has some great food. Being in Chicago you will find we have some of the best food. Especially our pizza and hot dogs (no ketchup is allowed on hot dogs, don’t even ask). Everyone else’s is inferior.

Take it all in. You are at the Sitecore Symposium in Chicago! Grab as many buttons as you can for your lanyard. Network, Network, Network. Find some new friends to check out the museums, get some shopping done at Michigan avenue and check out the bean.

Chicago is rich in history. From Al Capone to the great Chicago fire there is not shortage of cool, strange and mysterious history here. I suggest reading up on it. We also have had a lot of movies filmed here such as Batman (Christian Bale version) and Transformers. Let’s make history at they Symposium!

So there is my short take on all of this. I am proud of where I grew up and live if you can’t tell. This is the most excited I have been for something in a long time. If you see me at the Symposium and have any questions don’t hesitate to ask. When you get a chance also check out SitecoreGabes take on Chicago here.