Southwest Computer Conference- Part 1

By Bayle Emlein

The 20th annual, to be exact. Times have changed, the venue has changed several times. But the format was still an optional field trip, followed by special group sessions starting Friday afternoon, a keynote and dinner in the evening; Saturday workshops and an evening vendor expo, Sunday morning workshops. Lots of give-aways and a raffle. I'm the happy owner of a new iPad Mini.

This year the playdate for user groupies moved from San Diego to Pomona. While a few folks from San Diego seemed to have decided that it's too far to drive and too short to fly, a number of people from Los Angeles, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties discovered a new gem had moved into their front yard.

What are the facets of this gem? Keynotes by folks working in various aspects of tech. A presentation from a nearby (in Los Angeles terms, i.e., less than a day's drive) Microsoft store, mostly focusing on Windows 8. Since I was taking these notes on my new Win8 laptop, every tidbit was music to my ears. Keynotes came from local folks actually still going into the shop and meeting daily with customers. For example, at first glance s presentation from Al & Ed's Autosounds does not look like it's appropriate for the mature, sophisticated audience that we are; representative John Haynes focused on what's new in safety innovations.

In addition to keynotes, there were 25 workshops presented in 7 sessions. My some magic of scheduling, There was one topic I really wanted to attend each session and only one session for which I was conflicted between two topics. You know the normal conference scheduling, in which all the topics you want are presented at the same time and then there are hours of nothing of special interest? I know it only too well. I particularly enjoyed Rosemary Lloyd's Windows 8 presentation: she followed up the Microsoft Store keynote and went into operational detail. Also striking a note of personal interest for me was the discussion of smartphones, with real live put-your-hands-on-it phones, by Jim Glass and Cheryl Wester.  

Another facet of the gem was the location itself. Since I fly to either San Diego or Ontario, the airport routine is pretty similar. However, the Kellogg West Conference Center and Hotel at Cal Poly Pomona has a free shuttle service that got arranged when I made my reservation. The Kellogg Center is the practicum for the Hospitality Management program. Except for the supervisor, everyone seemed to be a student competing to be helpful and pleasant. The one person I identified as a supervisor was doing his best to demonstrate good hotelier skills. The only complaint I had about the food at the new site was the constant temptation to overeat. Oh, well. It's only for a weekend and it's for a good cause.

I'm already looking forward to next year's Southwest Computer Conference. It has developed the tradition of meeting for Fun in the Sun and Computers Too toward the end of June. If you're tempted, keep an eye on theswcc.org. Wondering if you're enough of a computer user groupie to come? f you've read this far you definitely are.