我对第20科技野战日活动发生于11月13日至15日。Stephen Foskett是Tech Field Day的创始人，回忆起早期的早期，以及社区如何从12人的房间里发展到数百万个视频流。抓住斯蒂芬Gestalt IT或跟随他at@sfoskett。
立即注册以查看11月15日星期五的＃TFD20 Aruba Livestream并了解如何使用自动化简化网络任务。
Jamie: The Tech Field Day events are run by Gestalt IT. What does the name ‘Gestalt IT’ mean?
Stephen:“ Gestalt It”这个名字出现在技术实地日活动之前。我从事企业和存储咨询已经15或20年了。我也参与了行业出版。但是我只是在看存储，您只能看一件事就无法理解它。
There’s a similar concept in psychology. If you go to the doctor and say, ‘My arm hurts,” the doctor might give you an aspirin. But if you ask, ‘Why does my arm hurt?” it’s related to your whole person. Maybe you had a heart attack. You need to take a holistic, big picture look at things.
Jamie:您是如何提出技术实地日活动的想法的？
Stephen:I started reaching out to people like me, but who had other perspectives. I was interested in a diversity of people.Greg Ferro是网络专家。Rich Brambleywas the virtualization guy. We were going for a collaborative, discussion format.
At the same time, companies were getting the clue that people doing blogs and podcasts were worth talking to. EMC, VMware and HP got onboard early, as well as some startups. We were at an HP Storage event in Colorado Springs in 2009, and a bunch of us started talking about an event that would be two or three days. As we started putting ideas together, I said, I can do this.
I started calling people in the industry who might be interested – people at companies, bloggers, podcasters and speakers. I needed event logistics too. I contactedClaire Chaplais,who is an event manager, to find out what it costs and how to get hotel rooms, book dinners and get transportation. Claire and I still work together today.
We announced the event literally four days after coming up the idea. The first Tech Field Day event was held five weeks later. I didn’t understand what it would take!
The first Tech Field Day event was held in November 2009. Delegates (L-R): Greg Knieriemen, John Obeto, Carlo Costanzo, Rod Haywood, Rick Vanover, Stephen Foskett, Nigel Poulton, Bas Raayman, Ed Saipetch, Simon Seagrave, Chris Evans, Devang Panchigar, Greg Ferro, John Hickson, Robin Harris and Rich Brambley.
杰米：从早期的技术实地日活动中，您最喜欢的记忆是什么？
Stephen:我最喜欢的记忆是聚会，那是计算机历史博物馆。行业中的每个人都来了。我们有一个非常酷的Babbage引擎演示。
The funniest part was that I missed the whole first day of the Tech Field Day event. I had paid for the event on my credit card, and I spent the first day standing in VMware’s parking lot talking to American Express so they wouldn’t bounce that night’s hotel bill. It was pretty hilarious. I had charged the card to the max, and paid it off, and charged more expenses. I had the money to pay, but at the time Amex wouldn't allow you to pay off the bill and charge more in the same month. But it all worked out in the end.
Jamie: Do you miss anything about the “old school” Tech Field Day events?
Stephen:I miss a lot of the people who have moved on in their careers. Of the original 15 people, only three or four are still independent technical influencers. Almost all of the companies are gone. Of the original sponsors, only VMware and Symantec still exist in their original form.
Jamie: What’s the best part about how Tech Field Day events have evolved over time?
Stephen:我的想法改变了。这是一个事件时re bloggers could learn about companies. We had a video crew, but I didn’t livestream or even post the vides. Only a few presentations were online.
随着时间的流逝，我们意识到演示文稿对外界非常有价值，这是一个很大的受众。我们的房间里有12个人，但是我们在YouTube上有26200个订户and millions of views. On average, 5,000 people watch a two-hour presentation.
Even though I created Tech Field Day events for the people in the room, it’s really for the people outside the room.
Jamie: How have vendors’ approach to Tech Field Day events changed over time?
Stephen:公司现在对技术实地日活动的处理方式有所不同。曾经是“我如何让我像我这样的代表”，现在是“我想要什么视频？”这真的很酷。
We tell the companies, it’s not about the delegates, it’s about the technology discussion. Don’t focus on what these 12 people want to hear, focus on what you’re doing that’s cool that you want the world to hear. The video content has really changed the perspective.
Jamie:How do you find new delegates?
Stephen:We’re constantly bringing in new delegates. At every event, one third of the delegates are new.
Bringing on new delegates is the most important, time-consuming work we do. We go to industry events, like Atmosphere, Cisco Live, VMworld and NetApp Insight to meet new people. I met someone at a conference two weeks ago who is an awesome technical guy and would be a perfect delegate.
我们认识人。我读了数千个博客。当人们发布时，我会发表评论并分享。我正在尝试建立一个社区。使我们与活动区分开的是我们的社区。任何人都可以一起举办活动。
我一直在寻找代表的多样性。我们制定了一项战略计划，以支持女性的技术努力。我们希望人们看着代表，并看到一系列反映自己的代表。
杰米：科技实地日活动的价值是什么？
Stephen:It’s the community aspect. We are supportive of everyone. We encourage people to come out of their shell and participate. We have 250 active delegates and 400 in our overall pool of delegates. We have a private Slack group where delegates can meet each other, share ideas, get tips, review each other’s work and get together.
立即注册以查看11月15日（星期五）的＃TFD20 Aruba Livestream，并学习如何使用自动化简化网络任务。
