Interview with Jan-Martin Löwendahl, Chair of the Gartner IT Symposium/XpoTM
Jan-Martin Löwendahl: ‘The IT Symposium/XpoTM will provide the tools needed for insight, inspiration, and action’ GARTNER IS LOOKING AHEAD TO GARTNER EMEA’S GARTNER IT SYMPOSIUM/XPOTM FROM 8 TO 11 NOVEMBER 2021, UNDER THE THEME OF REACH BEYOND. CIOS AND OTHER IT DECISION-MAKERS WILL GET THE TOOLS THEY NEED TO MAKE THE MOST OF THE MOMENTUM GENERATED BY THE CORONA IRUS ANDEMIC IT HAS RO EN THROUGHOUT THE ANDEMIC UST HOW CRITICAL IT IS FOR COM ANIES TO CARRY ON O ERATING DURING A DISRU TION SAYS GARTNER S AN-MARTIN L WENDAHL NOW WE WANT TO RO IDE GUIDANCE THAT ENABLES CIOS TO TAKE THE LEAD BUILDING A DIGITAL BUSINESS STRATEGY FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE BASED ON INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY.’ By: Martijn regting
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an-Martin wendahl’s day job is Research Vice resident at Gartner, but he has also been Chair of Gartner’s IT Symposium poTM in EMEA since . In this second role, wendahl serves as a liaison o cer between Gartner and the event organizer responsible for the content of the schedule and the presentations. His first year was a jump straight into the deep end – to put it mildly – all thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. ‘It was the first time Gartner went fully digital for such a big event. We had so many more attendees, and that’s the advantage of a virtual event. The disadvantage is that the interaction between speakers and visitors, and among visitors themselves was rather limited. This year, we had long hoped to have a hybrid event. But we recently decided to keep our landmark IT event completely virtual this year; we’re now focusing on how best to do this, based what we learned from organizing it in .’ STEEP LEARNING CURVE The pandemic and resulting virtual event in created a steep learning curve in what works best digitally to provide CIOs with advice, information, and food for thought, says wendahl. ‘We’re not quite there when it comes to the best formats for presentations. Half-hour breakout sessions are actually still too long, for example. But we are learning to be more modular in how
12 | Executive-People - 31 - Gartner Special
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we structure the event. Some subjects take up more time or call for more interactivity than others. And at lunchtime, you don’t have to offer that many digital modules, because people tend to want to have a quiet lunch to themselves.’ A second crucial lesson is about how interactive the sessions should be. This year, Gartner is committed to providing its analysts with many more opportunities to vary the interaction with virtual visitors at their own discretion and to enable more peer-to-peer interaction. Visitors – whether virtual or physical – also want to be able to talk to each other about what they’re ge ng out of a session. ‘Unfortunately, there’s no way to completely replicate a physical location. In Barcelona, we had an array of possibilities for all kinds of meeting rooms and plenary sessions. You’d think the possibilities with a digital event are endless, but there are technical limitations when it comes to managing the pla orm and quality.’ And that’s a shame, thinks wendahl, because the Gartner IT Symposium poTM is also meant to help people really connect with one another. ‘We’ve had half a million virtual meetings with clients over the past year, so scalability is no problem. But meeting in person is often more productive, because you’re together in the
Executive-People - 31 - Gartner Special
06-10-21 08:03
