Pass It On: Your Best Advice for First-Time Pulse Attendees!

Tagging in some of our Pulse veterans! 👋

​@bradley ​@heather_hansen ​@mbuuck1 ​@atwhite ​@romihache ​@dayn.johnson ​@DannyPancratz ​@darkknight 

Make the most of these few short days – sit with someone you DON’T know!

It can be easy, especially if you’re at Pulse with your team, to just stay with the people you know. Try to make new connections – this community is amazing, and that’s one of the main purposes of Pulse. It’s a coming together of this great group. I count my fellow Gainsight admins as my extended coworker family – and friends – and I always look forward to getting back to Pulse.

My time in the Gamechanger community has brought me out of my shell, and Pulse definitely kickstarted it.

Definitely make time to just be there. If you only think of Pulse as the sessions you attend, you’ll miss a lot of it. Grab breakfast with others, join a roundtable, wander the expo hall—do the “optional” stuff, because that’s where you’ll meet people and deepen existing connections.

And to add to ​@dayn.johnson‘s comment: look out for others who also seem like they might not be sure what to do or who to talk to; being an includer is a huge help for people who might not be as naturally good at jumping in (that goes for non-first-timers too!). 

Be willing to be vulnerable with your work, the challenges you’re facing, and the questions you have! The more you can say “this is something I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around/that feels intimidating in my work/that I don’t know how to do”, whether that’s in a question for a session presenter or a roundtable conversation, the more you’ll actually be able to dig into those things and make progress.

Everyone at Pulse wants to empathize, commiserate, and help!

I would also say - don’t try and do too much. You don’t need to attend a session in every available timeslot. Like ​@atwhite said, there’s more to Pulse than just sessions. And if you missed one, it might be recorded - or maybe you know someone who went and you can compare notes!

100% -- the conversations you’ll have are worth their weight in gold.

I would agree with what others have said.  It can be a lot - especially if you are an introvert, so find yourself and quiet corner if you need it to decompress for a few minutes - or check out the puppies.  Puppies make everything better. 

These replies are AMAZING! 🎉

Thank you ​@dayn.johnson, ​@atwhite, ​@mbuuck1, ​@bradley, and ​@heather_hansen for sharing your wisdom with us, I’m sure some of our first-timers will find this advice super helpful (I certainly did!!!)

Oh and ​@heather_hansen, checking out the puppies is a super idea! Puppies always make everything better 😆

Echoing the puppies -- chances are I’m there at least once (or twice) during the conference. 

For admins/operations folks, make sure to drop by the dedicated space if you have some downtime. Not only is it a quiet place if an urgent work item comes up, but there’s almost always a few of us in here who would be happy to chat!

Be yourself, come with a purpose/goal and don’t be shy! Bring questions that need answering, ideas that need validating and those critical moments where we punch the sky and kick rocks that we have all experienced and fought through and share them.   

The best part of Pulse is connecting and knowing that you are not alone in this world of CS and data and AI and all that comes with it!