Find your Summit 2019 Buddy!

[#1]

Can you believe there's less than one month until Summit 2019? It's time to start planning your agendas, not to mention packing ...

In the meantime, introduce yourselves on this thread so that you can connect with like-minded Community members in Las Vegas. Find a buddy to go to sessions with, or ask them to take notes on the ones you can't attend. 

Topics to cover in your intro: Where you're from, what you do, what you're excited to take away from Summit, which Las Vegas restaurants or shows you're excited to check out, etc.! 

[Jack Brickey]

Hello to all fellow Community Summit-ers! I can't wait for the event and look forward with reconnecting with all of you and finally meeting many of your F2F (@Meg Holbrook :-))!

I currently live in Austin, Tx which is great as I often visit the Community Atlassian team here and they are AWESOME!

I oversee R&D and IT activities for my company Fortress Solutions and Fortress UAV. It is a great company and great folks many that I have worked w/ at previous companies.

The things I'm looking forward to most at Summit:

1. reconnecting w/ friends I have made thru the Community,
2. getting the latest product details from Atlassian and see where they are heading
3. chatting with a few vendors about their product updates and plans
4. oh, and BASH should be fun too! ;-)

[Meg Holbrook]

Hey everyone! I'm super excited to be participating in Summit this year. Last year I didn't know anyone, traveled with my boss who was not very invested in the experience, and generally was kind of a deer in the headlights. THIS YEAR - I know a bunch of Atlassians and Champions, am traveling solo, and am ready to throw myself full-tilt into the experience. 

I live in Sacramento, CA - just two hours outside of San Francisco - so I've traveled to Atlassian offices and events regionally. 

I'm the Business Applications department head for a nationwide mortgage lender. I oversee all the toys and tools that keep our business running and the people who keep the hamsters alive. 

I'm really excited to connect with friends I've made in the community this year (*waves at @Jack Brickey ), participate in community workshops, have snacks (it's the best part of Summit, can we all agree on this?), and party like a rockstar. I didn't get to participate in Bash last year, so I can't possibly miss out when it's my first time in Vegas. 

[John D Patton]

Ditto for me! - 

Looking forward to Summit this year. The last few years I had other teammates with me but this year I am solo. I submitted a talk this year but it was not very developed and would love to talk to anyone who could help me get it "Atlassian" ready. Mostly I am trying to move Agile up one notch to the "C-level" and have been trying to define a set of practices that Atlassian tools and Slack would be perfect for. 

Staying in Mandalay Bay will be arriving Sunday night and leaving Friday morning

If there are any sites to see or great places to eat that people can recommend - please post that as well! As I remember at Summit I find myself looking for real food :-)

[Scott Theus]

I can't wait for Summit! I'm traveling solo as well, and I fully expect to be overwhelmed for at least a day. My goals for the week are to learn more about setting up dashboards and reporting and leading change in an organization I'm working with a VP to set up a new PMO in IT, and I am doing everything I can to make Atlassian a part of it. So...that means moving from Cloud to Data Center, establishing solid methodologies, making sure the issues are tracked, and a whole slew of other changes. 

I have my pre-Summit work planned out: Certification Workshop and ACP-100 exam on Monday and the Dashboards and Reporting class on Tuesday. Any suggestions for sessions during the week would be appreciated, this is my first Summit and I'm not sure what to expect. 

I'm staying at the Luxor if anyone else staying there would like to walk over to the venue with me; safety in numbers and all that...

[Meg Holbrook]

@Scott Theus - I'm staying at Mandalay, but I'll shoot you my email address soon so we can meet up and say hi. I'm sure I'll see you at the community events.

[Jodi LeBlanc]

What a great post! Wishing I could be there, will be thinking of you all! :) @Meg Holbrook please take lots of photos with the disposable cameras to capture all the moments :)

[Mikael Sandberg]

Hi y'all, I am looking forward to the Summit too, the year an a half wait is almost over! This will be my 5th Summit and like previous years I will be traveling solo.

Work at FUJIFILM SonoSite (we develop point-of-care ultrasound systems, not cameras) as SME for our Atlassian tools and trying to help out with other ones that I have used before.

Mostly looking forward to network with both new and old friends, see what direction Atlassian is headed, and of course BASH!

[Kat Warner]

I'm a long time fan of Atlassian products and will soon reach the milestone of working for an Atlassian Solution Partner for one year. What better way to celebrate than travelling from New Zealand to the Summit to help represent [TechTime Initiative Group|http://techtime.co.nz/display/TECHTIME/Home]'s [Marketplace Apps|https://marketplace.atlassian.com/search?query=techtime] at booth 302!

I have a varied role as a Project Delivery Coordinator which includes account management, project management, Scrum master, and office management tasks. I am also an Atlassian Authorised Instructor - and have taught 3 classes since December.

I'm looking forward to meeting people I have interacted with on the Community, chatting to App customers, and collecting lots of swag to share with the team back home.

I don't have any plans for activities outside the Summit except relaxing at the off-strip hotel pool and checking out a mall.

[Kat Warner]

And I am of course planning my travel using Trello

[Teodora V _Fun Inc_]

I'm so overwhelmed by Summit preparations for our company, that I have no time to get into my state of excitement. This will be my first time in Vegas, so I guess I'll find it there. :)

We'll be arriving on Saturday afternoon, have one day for jet lagging and like @John Patton [1010data] said - any food recommendations are very welcome. I have no idea what and where to eat while I'm on my diet restrictions (Oh please, summit gods, help me this year, I gained 2 kilos after the Euro Summit). 

I'm staying at Luxor @Scott Theus with my team, so the invitation for a beer is up and running.

Have you guys seen the Bash theme - well, hello 80s! I'm grabbing my retro hair straightener so if you see a cloud of hair coming it's probably me (if you need fluffy summit buddy...).

[George de los Santos]

Hopefully there will be quality video available for those who can not make it! 

[Kat Warner]

@Teodora V _Fun Inc_ - there is a theme at Bash? I might have to re-think my packing.

[Max Foerster - K15t]

Hey there,

I'm feeling like @Teodora V _Fun Inc_ there are a lot of things to take care of before summit at the moment. Especially if you want to have nice swag for all the great people visiting our booth. 😁 We will be quite a few people in Las Vegas this year from our company (first time Las Vegas and the first time in the USA at all for me!). Definitely looking forward to seeing friends from Atlassian again we work with and get to know new people. By the way, we're also staying at Luxor. So this could be a bigger meetup! ;)

I already arrive on Friday afternoon, have to prepare some things and won't be able to join the community day again this summit as we will be delivering the ACP-100 and ACP-300 prep courses on Monday and Tuesday. :( So maybe I see a some of you, like @Scott Theus in class!

I don't have any plans yet for the days during Summit as it will be exhausting with all the events already taking place but I'm open for recommendations as well.

[Jennifer_Weser]

Hello!!

I'm such a newbie! This is my first trip to Vegas, my first Atlassian Summit and my first time being on a plane for more than 3 hours, I find that quite daunting. 

I am in Palm Beach Florida and Co-Lead the PB AUG. I am learning so much working with Fabian Lopez and he, myself and about 15 others are coming to Summit from DSSINC. I am a Project Manager/ScrumMaster and I get the pleasure of overseeing the development of our Atlassian suite. I work with some pretty amazing developers and they are all coming with us!

I love life and spontaneity, so that is my plan for Summit, to learn lots of cool stuff, meet awesome people that turn into lasting friendships and embrace whatever comes my way!

I arrive late on Sunday with some of our team and the rest arrive on Monday. We are all staying at Mandalay Bay and are super excited to meet some new friends.

[Teodora V _Fun Inc_]

@Kat Warner I saved the screenshot, so here you go! My life goal at this point will be to find a heart shaped glasses and don't forget the red lipstick :)

I'll be there just for the Summit and I already hear the lack of sleep whispering around. I can't wait to meet you all!

[Jakob_Rodstrom]

Oh oh! Ever since the rumour started in 2017 about 2019 was to be in Vegas I have been really exited about this one. 

Went to Summit 12-13-14-15-16-17euro but took a break 2018 to build up for this one. 

Been working in multiple roles over the years at Etraveli (#4 largest Online Flights Travel Agency globally) and with Atlassian products since 2009. Since 2015 in the role as Director IT Development with an IT department of about 120 building new travel tools and features within airline ticket transactions. 

Passionate about the magic with the area tooling, process and culture - how to mix these up in a good way. Atlassian-fan 4-ever and AUG leader in Gothenburg Sweden since 2012.  

Really looking forward to this! 

Staying at Mandalay - arriving Monday. 

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Looking forward to seeing old friends and new!

For those who haven't met me, I'm English and work for Adaptavist, based out of London (I live miles away though and only go to London to physically see people a couple of times a month).

I'll be mooching around Vegas for a couple of days before.  My other half has always wanted to go to Vegas, so when we got the announcement, her response was "You're not going without me".  I have to take her back to the airport on Saturday and then move to the Mandalay on Sunday!

It's less than a fortnight before I fly and we still have no idea what we'd like to see in Vegas, so I'm watching and skimming this thread for ideas!

See you all there!

[John D Patton]

There are definitely enough people in this thread to start a mini event :-) anyone have a slack instance we could all join? 

[Teodora V _Fun Inc_]

+1 from me! :) 

My colleagues are ready for a Sunday pool party, so I guess we can organize one Community meetup on those inflatable pink flamingos which we all see on Google Images when searching for summer photos.

[Scott Theus]

@Teodora V _Fun Inc_ I'm always up for a pool party...I fly in on Sunday, though so count me as a "maybe" depending on when I get in.

[Teodora V _Fun Inc_]

@Scott Theus yesss! :) I can't wait for the Summit app launch - I'll keep you all posted even if you don't want to...

[Darryl St_ Pierre]

Newb to Summit here too, and relative newb to Confluence and Jira administration. First time to Vegas too, so trifecta I guess.

Looking forward to training Monday and Tuesday, and lots of breakouts during the week.

@Scott Theus , also at the Luxor arriving Sunday.

[Daniel Alonso]

Third time on Summit, now representing DNFCS Inc, Gold Solution Partner. I hope you all can stop by our booth.

Also my first time in Las Vegas, so looking forward to meet now people and seeing old friends! See you there!

[JP _AC Bielefeld Leader_]

Hi AUGgies & CCs from all over the world,

for me, heading to my first US Summit, after being in Barcelona twice, it's another six days of work. I'm taking some days off hiking thru the South West, before heading to Las Vegas to meet my fellow AUG leaders F2F.

I work as a software engineer at a carparts wholesaler in the North Western part of Germany & if not just developing software I'm the Atlassian guru in our company, administering Confluence, Jira, Bitbucket & all the other application interfaces pushing or pulling data in and out of the Atlassian tools. I'm very lucky to have an IT-loving CEO sponsoring my trip to US Summit. He cares a lot about networking, learning & adapting best practices, while also giving back to community.

I fell in love with the Atlassian some 5 years ago & took the lead of a vacant AUG in Germany after Summit 2017. I've been to Las Vegas a few times & even stayed @ Mandalay Bay before. Nice pool... ;-) Restaurants were pretty good at Mandalay some years ago, I remember a tasting dinner at Aureole, the wine cellar is amazing!

If you want to see a show think about Ka of Cirque du Soleil, showing in MGM Grand, just about 10 minutes away from Mandalay Bay. Shopping is great in Las Vegas, one might want to check out the Fashion Mall (not only fashion there...) down the Strip at Wynn & Encore. I arrive Sunday, 7th late afternoon / evening and I'm staying in an Airbnb right behind the Bellagio. If anyone is not attending Dev Day or training on Monday, your welcome to join me to do some hiking at Red Rock Canyon and/or Valley of Fire State Park. I've got a rental car at hand ;-)

My expectations for Summit:

• Meet my AUG buddies
• Make new friends from community & partners
• Give Atlassian some ideas about what server/datacenter customers are fighting with
• Discuss interesting use cases solved with Jira & Confluence
• Learn more stuff about some apps (Insight, ScriptRunner, nFeed / Elements Connect,...)
• Listen to some keynotes of these Austraaaalian guys....
• Catch some ideas to make my team smarter

Can't wait to meet you all...

[Dzmitry Hryb _Deviniti_]

Hi everyone! I'm in charge of marketing Deviniti's Atlassian Apps, so we might recognise each other online, as I publish a lot of stuff here on the Community and also make webinars and workshops all about Jira Software and Jira Service Desk. Will be very pleased to see old friends and meet some new :)

My first Summit was last September in Barcelona, and this was an unforgettable experience. This time it promises to be even better, as it's going to be my first ever trip to the US, and we arrive a couple of days before the event and leaving a couple of days after. Finally some time to do sightseeing and have fun around with my teammates!

We're staying at Luxor and exhibiting at booth 712 as a Silver Sponsor. Will also spend some time at a couple of Partner meetings and side events, and if it comes to me personally, I have a ticket for the Blue Man Group show on Monday which I've been absolutely crazy about since I wrote my MA diploma about them :)

If a spare minute happens, you'll be able to find me either in the hotel pool or in the pool hall next to it (if someone wants to gamble, I'm ready for some decent cue action!)

See you all guys, have safe flights!