SAP TechEd 2024 - Behind the Scenes
In this personal blog I would like to give some insights behind the scenes of SAP TechEd 2024 and how my talk went.
Table of contents
In this blog you will find a few personal impressions of SAP TechEd 2024, how the event went for me and what I personally took away with me.
Invitation
At the end of July, REWE digital, or rather I, received a request asking whether we as a customer would be interested and have time to give a presentation at TechEd this year. Since the SAP colleagues' planning was already in full swing, the decision had to be made at short notice and so a number of levers were set in motion within the company. My colleagues were very hesitant about who would actually go to TechEd as a speaker, so I took over this part and took care of the preparation.
Preparation
The SAP TechEd team is very professional, so I was quickly given access to the speaker portal, initial documents on the process and coordination dates in order to plan the next steps. In addition to the actual planning, the content of the presentation now had to be created:
- What topic should be the focus?
- What use cases should be included in the presentation?
- What story line should I use to paint a current picture?
SAP's presentation wasn't that far along yet, so there were a few coordination meetings to make the picture clearer and set a focus. When I look back on the time, there were some stressful periods, but that's more because my own calendar is always full. Accordingly, I worked more or less on the presentation over the next while. Most of the effort goes into preparing the demos shown, even if in the end it is only a GIF with a length of 1:30 minutes.
After a few preparation sessions, the final version of my part was ready in mid-September, just before my vacation, and I was able to go on vacation with peace of mind.
SAP TechEd
SAP TechEd is getting closer and on Monday afternoon we headed to Heidelberg to prepare. There was actually supposed to be a trial session in the afternoon, but this was postponed to Tuesday morning. So we (SAP colleagues and I) went out for a relaxed meal in Walldorf and let the day come to a close.
Rehearsal
The next day the rehearsal started at 9:00 a.m. in the SAP AppHaus in Heidelberg. There were two areas in the AppHaus, the lounge area and registration, where I spent most of the day, and the studio in another building. The colleagues were already motivated and so we were taken over to the studio where the recordings were taking place. Since the first sessions were already running, we were at least able to do the technology check, test sit in the sofa studio, and the director gave us instructions on how the session would run and where we should look.
Waiting
At around 9:30 a.m. we were back in the lounge and I now had some time for the keynote which was currently running live. In between, you could take a look at the news feed on LinkedIn, where the first reactions and comments were already coming in from the SAP community.
The exciting part doesn't even take place in front of the camera, but behind the scenes in the lounge. Colleagues come back from their sessions and are happy about the successful recording. Colleagues who still have it ahead of them pace up and down nervously, some don't let it show. The scripts and slides are discussed again. But there is also time for a few nice conversations in between.
In the back there were a few workstations where the developer advocates retreated to prepare for the next sessions, do some work or create more great content for the social media accounts. In the front part you meet SAP colleagues who you may have seen before or already know from a user group event.
Lecture
Preparation for the session began at 4:30 p.m. sharp so that we could start on time at 6:00 p.m. As with film and television, the first thing we did was go to the make-up room, do my hair and powder my face so that I would look good on camera later. Then a short break and we were taken to the studio in the other building. There we are wired up with two devices each, a microphone for recording and headphones so that we can hear the director's instructions during the session. Then a quick look through the mask again in case you lost some powder on the way to the studio. Then the waiting for the start begins...
During the session I felt like I was on autopilot; what I had previously discussed 10-20 times was recalled and performed in the 45 minutes. Although at the end I was happier than at the rehearsal 5 days ago. If you would like to get an impression for yourself, you can find the session for streaming on the TechEd website.
Unfortunately, the Q&A session was a bit confusing as a lot of questions came into the studio and were displayed on the monitor. Depending on the voting, the questions were rearranged when read out and jumped to a new position on the screen. But we still managed this part well through teamwork.
Cooldown
After the presentation was over, we went back to the lounge, talked about the last hour and met other SAP colleagues for a chat and a few pictures. After dinner, it was time for me to drive back to Cologne.
Thank you
Last but not least, I would like to thank my SAP colleagues for the opportunity to give a presentation and for allowing me to contribute my company and myself. Thanks to my two lecture partners Alex (Dr. Alexander Rother) and André (André Borchert), as well as the hard-working people in the background who prepared the lecture, Iwona (Iwona Hahn) and Maria (Maria Kondratyeva). And of course to the many new SAP colleagues that I was able to get to know.
As a spectator at the virtual SAP TechEd, you will not have seen all the active helpers on site, the reception, the organization, the film crew and the kitchen. Without the coordination and support, the event would only have been half as good.
Conclusion
The virtual SAP TechEd 2024 is now over and I personally took away many exciting moments. Not only the presentations and content, but also the willingness and attention to detail in the background always make the event a special moment for a SAP employee. Otherwise, things are moving on and we'll see us this week at the DSAG annual congress in Leipzig.
