A really great tactic on television today is the “After” show, where the producers of a popular Reality or TV show create a new show based entirely around talking about a show that’s already been aired (think Talking Dead, or Watch Watch What Happens Live).
Frankly, it’s a genius way to get some extra mileage out of successful work that you’ve already done. And, at the tibbr blog, we’re not above using such a cheap, underhanded tactic to pad our posting stats, so here’s our official AFTER-TIBCO NOW wrap-up of all the stuff that happened at TIBCO NOW 2014 over the last three days (well, that I remember).
Welcome now to “TIBCO THEN.”
The venue.
The Marriott Marquis was a great place to hold this event — and not just because that’s where everyone was — because it was where everything happened, too. Coincidence? Probably. But regardless, the venue was more than adequate and, in fact, surprisingly huge inside. I’ve lived in the Bay Area for almost two decades and never knew this place had these kind of accommodations! Honestly, I’m not really sure why the Moscone Center gets all the attention — the Marquis is located closer to the really cool SF stuff (cough, Apple Store! cough).
The food.
Being held San Francisco, the issue of TIBCO NOW’s cuisine is probably inevitable. And frankly, it wasn’t bad at all. They had Quinoa salads, fruit, and vegetarian options, but I stuck with the meat sandwiches. I mean, it wasn’t French Laundry or anything (from what I hear, I can’t ever get reservations), but considering that about a million attendees were running around the Marquis, there never seemed to be a shortage of the stuff — the last thing you want after a long, informative session is to come out and find everybody attacking the only food table. That wasn’t the case here. No one had any problem getting to the food and drinks. Well done.
The bathrooms.
At events like this, the bathrooms are really important. Bad bathrooms can seriously damper the mood and comfort of a conference. Fortunately, the ones at the Marquis were top-notch. No complaints here — some really high-quality plumbing in that place. (Now you know.)
The sessions.
There were lots of celebrities, keynotes, talks, demos, book signings, and even a Bare Naked Ladies concert over at Fort Mason. Everybody I ran into seemed pretty excited about being there and everybody seemed really engaged. In fact, I didn’t see a single fight break out in any of the sessions I attended (I can’t speak for the after parties). And after three informative days of learning, I’d qualify the event as an unqualified success.
The memories.
Now that TIBCO NOW 2014 is over, I think what I’ll miss most is the deep, life-long friendships that I made in the hallways outside the rooms waiting for the next session to start. That, and all the free swag I got! No, I mean, the friendships. Yeeeeaaah…
The photos.
While live-blogging the event, I took a few hundred photos, but here are the only non-blurry ones I took of stuff other than presentation slides. Enjoy.
 Hall crowds almost never broke out into fisticuffs. |
 See? Plenty of food between sessions. |
 The crowd at the Bare Naked Ladies show. |
 Bare Naked Ladies from the crowd |
The TIBCO NOW Wrap-Up wrap-up.
In all, a really great time. If you missed this year’s TIBCO NOW conference, then you missed a lot. Sure, you can see a lot of the content on the TIBCO website, but it’s really not the same as being there in person. Make plans now to attend next year!
