Tag Archives: Big Data

Going Big

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When it comes to booking big name speakers, Strata +Hadoop World scored what was probably the biggest win of the 2015 conference year. President Obama appeared via video to talk about the critical role open data should play in innovating government service to citizens.  The President also introduced DJ Patel, the new data scientist for the federal government. This appearance underlies that data is big (not just Big Data).

New positions are being created throughout government focused solely on data. The new Federal Chief Data Scientist and Chief Data Officer roles are being created in agencies across the government. The addition of data to c-suite roles shows that data is serious business.[Tweet "The addition of data to c-suite roles shows that data is serious business. #GovEventsBlog"]

According to the President and Patel, data science is a team sport - meaning that working together is key to utilizing all of the data that the government has opened to industry and the public.[Tweet "Data science is a team sport...Working together is key #GovEventsBlog"] We are being challenged by the administration to find ways to apply this data to everyday life. How can organizations and event professionals incorporate this call for collaboration into our everyday efforts? Perhaps we can look at adding a session or even just a talking point to all of our events or gatherings where attendees can brainstorm on what data exists that could be used to meet a challenge being faced within that community. This ad hoc collaboration around data could provide a unique experience for attendees and perhaps result in the next big (data) thing.

Predictions Check-in: Big Data

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In our predictions article, we highlighted Big Data as a hot topic for 2015. Looks like we were not the only ones pinpointing this topic as critical for the IT community. It has made a number of 2015 trends/predictions lists. One article though jumped out at us. An Information Week article looking at Big Data trends specifically called out the proliferation of education opportunities as a key trend in late 2014 and moving into 2015.[Tweet "Big Data education opportunities still a key trend"]

On our site alone we have 60+ upcoming events that are Big Data specific. As the Information Week article points out, many of these are offered by vendors looking to fill the void of big data expertise and academics. But it seems the lack of academic study of Big Data is being addressed in a number of online courses and degree programs.  Continue reading →

Event Trends For 2015

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It's that time of year to gaze into the crystal ball and talk about what we think will happen in the coming year. We're basing our event industry predictions on some of the trends we've seen in 2014. We think these trends will continue and grow in 2015.

  • Virtual events - with travel and training budgets remaining at low or even decreasing levels, the use of online training should continue to grow through at least 2016 when the change in administration may bring new budget priorities. What we would like to see is these events being developed not only for desktop viewing but also mobile viewing and interaction as more and more people are using mobile devices for the majority of their computing.

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Big Interest in Big Data

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A search of our event database for "Big Data" pulls up 68 upcoming events -- 36 in-person events, 32 webcasts and 426 past events. So what's the big deal about Big Data?

Big Data is really just a marketing phrase that means a collection of all of the data points that live within an organization's IT system. Email addresses, financial data, survey data, content, social media statistics all stored together are big....big data. It is clear everyone has big data, what organizations need to focus on (and what most of the events on GovEvents address) is how do you use it to make better decisions?

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