Since joining Forward Networks, I have had the opportunity to present our platform in several different lights. When I presented at Security Field Day 10 in November, I always dreamed of being a delegate. I jumped that and went straight to the presenter, and this hit home for me, especially knowing what Tech Field Day is all about. Having the ability to show the platform off in a way that resonates with the people who watch me present while having the creative ability to show it how I want to show it is fantastic. I am not knocking other people’s presentations. Being up there, in front of the lights, you forget it’s an actual production and not run out of someone’s basement. I believe there is a particular light that products should be shown in, and I try my best to make whatever I present memorable. Security Field Day was a great experience, but little did I know what lurked in the background….
Say what?!?
Now it is December, one month later, and I am getting ready for Gartner IOCS, a few webinars I was doing, and most importantly, the time off I was taking for Christmas. I get added to an email that says, “Save the Date | Networking Field Day, Wednesday, February 28th, 2024.” I had to take a double take. Was this real, or was someone punking me? Sitting at home, I expected Ashton Kutcher to jump through my office door and scream, “Hey Mike, you are on Punk’d!“
Networking Field Day was very different from Security Field Day because it was remote. Matt and I squeezed into the Forward studio, presenting to a monitor; Networking Field Day was live and in-person. I walked into the room in the hotel where they were hosting it, and the first thing out of my mouth was, “Wow, it looks bigger on the web.” Everyone got a chuckle; I got mic’ed up and patiently waited for 8 AM PST to start.
Shaking off the nerves
I was nervous, not because of presenting, but because we had something planned that had to go off at a specific time in the presentation. I start with my usual opening line, “HI! My name is Mike Lossmann, and I am the Technical Product Marketing Manager at Forward Networks. Now I hear the groans; a marketing guy will come to talk to networking people. But, I am not your normal marketing guy; I bring 20 years of networking experience working for some of the world’s biggest companies in the world…”. This gets a few chuckles, and I can tell they want to pay more attention because it won’t be the typical marketing buzzword bingo.
People like a good gimmick, right?
We are approaching the time when our surprise should be happening, nothing. I am out of slides and praying for questions. I get one; great, maybe the call will come. Nope. I ask again if there are any other questions. This was for the two remote people, hoping one was talking on mute. After a long pause, I get one, and as he asks his follow-up question, the phone rings, cutting him off. Sorry, Aaron, but you saved the day. I do our gimmick and pass the baton off to one of our co-founders next in line. I did miss one very important thing I was supposed to do since I was so frazzled. Thankfully, we had some extra time at the end, and I got to do it then. If you are curious about the surprise, you can watch my video: Unlock Security and Reliability with a Forward Networks Digital Twin. Let me know what you think of the surprise. All I will give away at this point is:
If you had asked me this time last year, let’s not even go into the way way back machine; if I thought I would have presented at not one but two field day events, I would have said.
From wanting to be a delegate back in my enterprise days to now having the opportunity to be a presenter is awesome. I can’t wait to see what the next one I get to do will be like.
If you want to see all of Forward Networks field day presentations: Forward Networks | Tech Field Day. Let me know what you think! You can find all my socials onLinktree, or let me know what you think in the comments below.