Every year, the IT Service Desk and Support Show (SITS) is Europe’s largest IT service management (ITSM) conference. It’s a free-to-attend event with a large exhibition area, free education sessions, and networking opportunities. If you’re not going, reading this blog might make you change your mind. If you are going, here are some tips for getting the most out of the day or days you attend. Please keep reading to find out more.
This article provides tips on how to make the most of the collective #ITSM exhibition knowledge at @SITS_UK #SITS24 #ITSM #ServiceDesk Click To TweetMaking the most of the collective ITSM exhibition knowledge at SITS
The SITS event has more exhibition stands than any other European ITSM event. If you want to see which ITSM-focused companies are attending, there’s an exhibition list here. Most of the popular ITSM tool vendors show their solutions, as well as companies focused on ITSM training and similar.
If your organization is looking to invest in a new ITSM tool, most of the ITSM tools you’re considering will likely be there. Plus, those that you might not know about yet. It’s a great opportunity to see the ITSM tools used by those who know how to use them. Plus, you can focus the demos on what matters most to your organization.
But don’t limit your time at the exhibition stands to seeing the technology in action. Some of the people on the stands will have worked with other customers on issues similar to the ones your organization is facing. It’s a great opportunity to receive some “free ITSM consultancy” while understanding how particular vendors and tools will work for your organization.
Even if your organization isn’t looking to change the ITSM tool, it’s still a great opportunity to see what is and isn’t available in other ITSM tools. Plus, by asking them questions, you’ll likely receive some free ITSM consultancy from the various exhibitors. So, don’t miss the opportunity to “pick the brains” of some of the most experienced ITSM tooling consultants around.
Making the most of the free education sessions
In addition to the giant exhibition hall, the SITS team also offers a free educational agenda that spans both event days. The 2024 SITS education session agenda can be viewed here.
These sessions are in the exhibition hall, so it’s at most a walk from one side of the hall to the other to benefit from them. Like any educational sessions at events, there are pros and cons to consider when looking to benefit from them.
In terms of the cons, because who doesn’t love free education, the sessions are usually oversubscribed and, because of the use of “listening headphones,” standing at the back of the room isn’t that great an experience given the noise level in the exhibition hall. So, it’s important to get to any of the sessions you really want to listen to early – there’ll likely be a queue forming. To do this, I recommend you study the SITS education session agenda before you arrive, mark the ones you don’t want to miss, and work the rest of your event around these sessions.
SITS has previously allowed attendees to get tickets for sessions upfront, but whether this will happen at the 2024 event is unknown – you can check on arrival or read the pre-event SITS emails to see what pre-booking options are available.
It’s also worth thinking about your session-selection strategy. Different people approach this in different ways. For example, do you want to listen to the “bigger name” speakers, no matter what they’re talking about (it will usually be important)? Or are you chasing particular topics, such as experience management? Either way, it’s worth looking at the SITS blog beforehand to sense-check your decisions and possibly identify an interesting session you’d previously overlooked. The SITS Insight blog already has event-related content; even more will be added as SITS 2024 approaches.
Remember – don’t forget to start queuing early for the sessions you don’t want to miss!
From free #ITSM content sessions to making the most of available networking opportunities, here's everything you need to know to make the most of your time at @SITS_UK. #ITSM #ServiceDesk #SITS24 Click To TweetMaking the most of the available networking opportunities
Demos, tick. Educational sessions, tick. But you can still do more to get maximum value from your visit to SITS – the event is a great networking opportunity. The exhibition hall (including the seated areas) and education sessions are opportunities to network with the people standing or sitting beside you. But there are at least three more opportunity types to network with like-minded peers:
- The community pre-SITS meal. This is arranged by ITSM.tools via the Back2ITSM FaceBook group. You can view the arrangements here. If you don’t use Facebook you can also see it on LinkedIn here. We’ll be there!
- The formal Day 1 networking event, organized by the SITS organizers at the end of the first day of exhibiting. There’s no need to arrange anything for this; you just need to be there.
- There are some workshop tables in the exhibition hall where you can sit with peers and a session facilitator to discuss a particular hot topic. Not only are these sessions informative, but you’re also introduced to peers with similar issues and opportunities.
- The SITS event attracts some of the most knowledgeable (local) people in the ITSM industry. So look out for them, or message them on social media to meet up. Barclay Rae has an exhibition stand, so he is easy to find.
We’ll be exhibiting at the SITS event for the first time. Please pop by to see us at stand 480. We won’t show you our ITSM tool unless you want us to. It would just be great to speak with ITSM professionals about their IT service delivery and support challenges and opportunities, and to help where we can. You can also learn more about us here.
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Michal Hayet
Michal joined that’s IT Technologies in 2017. She has over 19 years of experience in Information Technology. Before working at that’s IT Technologies, she served as ECI’s IT applications manager, principal application manager for Oracle, and IT CRM team manager at Motorola Israel. Michal has a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Social Sciences and an MBA, Specialization in Information Systems, from Bar-Ilan University.
