My Week at TechEX24: Kari Robertson From the University of California Office of the President

Robertson: First, I encourage anyone (especially those who are cloud-curious) to participate in the Cloud Technology track sessions. You’ll find the cloud community is a welcoming group of engineers and leaders thriving, innovating, and even laughing together, all while working towards our purpose to advance teaching, learning, and research.

AI has become a staple at IT conferences. For my AI fix, the Cloud Technology track offers a block of five sessions back-to-back on Wednesday, Dec. 11: Artificial Intelligence as a Service; Generative AI for All: An Open Source GenAI Platform for Your Campus Community; Bridging the Gap: Open-Source AI vs. SaaS Solutions – Architecting for Interoperability; Creating AI-Powered Chatbots and Research Concierge Services; and Building an AI Chatbot: Leveraging RAG for Enhanced Conversational Experiences.

Beyond AI, I’m always interested in sessions where institutions share real-world insights from their cloud journeys. 

I’m especially looking forward to sessions on data center-to-cloud migration challenges, cloud security, and my favorite topic — FinOps (cloud cost optimization). I’ve seen FinOps identify (and solve) countless engineering problems. It’s a new-ish way to look at IT value rarely done with on-premises data centers.

My must-attend list includes Rocking the Cloud Migration to AWS and Migrating Cloud-resistant Workloads on Tuesday, Dec. 10; Scaling the Cloud for Savings on Wednesday, Dec. 11; and Security in the Cloud, Everything from Default IoT Configs to Tooling, Monitoring, and Compliance on Thursday, Dec. 12.

Robertson: The Identity and Access Management (IAM) track has many sessions that are relatable to my day-to-day work. Some sessions that have caught my attention are Edge Innovations in Identity Security on Tuesday, Dec. 10, and Executive View on Identity Governance and Administration on Wednesday, Dec. 11.

Robertson: The Cloud Technology track is my primary focus for TechEX each year, and this year, I’m definitely interested in the sessions that connect cloud infrastructure and AI. 

AI’s power is undeniable, yet it brings substantial challenges to balancing data protection with innovation. I’m eager to learn how others in R&E are navigating these issues.

Robertson: I’m always ready for a good Game Night (7-10 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 11) with colleagues. Although conversations often drift toward work, playing games together creates a chance to connect outside formal conference sessions. 

Having lived in Boston for five years in the early 2000s, the city holds a special place in my heart. I’m looking forward to re-exploring Boston and catching up with old colleagues.

Robertson: Make the most of breaks between sessions and strike up conversations with other attendees. Whether it’s about the session you just attended or the one you’re heading to, you’ll have common interests. 

People come to Technology Exchange eager to learn about IT trends, network with each other, and find ways to enhance IT at their institutions. Attendees are passionate about sharing knowledge with one another, but someone has to start the conversation. Why not you?

Robertson: I use the Technology Exchange mobile app to manage my conference schedule. It allows me to filter sessions by track, clearly identify cross-track sessions, and see evening social activities all in one place. It makes planning straightforward and efficient.