Recently Atlassian put out an announcement about their upcoming conference called the Atlassian Summit 2013. Unfortunately it is being hosted in San Francisco, CA, United States, so for us here at Crucial that is a big trip to get there. So I began to think on how I would weigh up if the trip would be worth it. Here are my top 10 points,

1. New Features – I love hearing about upcoming new features, and how they will help the team here at Crucial solve its problems. Often it is hard to really grasp quickly how a new feature or option can benefit you. However having someone explain it, show it too you and explain the value, then that can quickly bridge the grap from forgetting about it to implementing it.Further you have access to various Atlassian staff, gurus and so forth to answer any further questions you might have.
2. Product Knowledge – In my experience I have seen Confluence or JIRA implemented and used a particular way, not really benefiting from the full list of features on offer. Going to this summit would be a great opportunity to hear from other customers from all sorts of industries and listen to how they are implementing and using Atlassians products. I have no doubt an A4 page could be filled with ideas on how we could better use our Atlassian products.
   
3. Business Inspiration – For those running their own business’s, or looking to run their own business, listening to the co founders and CEO’s of Atlassian would be well worth your while. They’ve taken a local company in Sydney, Australia, and turned it into a well known giant in the industry. A tale worth hearing, as hearing other success stories is always a good motivational tool.
4. Product Training – Even if you’ve never used some of Atlassians products, or simply want to learn more about products you already use, any sort of user training straight from Atlassian themselves is a no brainer decision. A great opportunity to ask questions, get ideas. I personally find learning and coming up with ideas easier when in a room full of other like minded people. Email just doesn’t cut it when their are problems to be solved.  You can see the training available here, http://summit.atlassian.com/schedule
5. Networking – Through out the entire event whether you are listening to a key note, at training session, or listening to a panel, the opportunity to network can never be underestimated. Given some of the big names that will be attending, I think it will be an exciting place to be!
   
6. The Future – At Crucial Cloud Hosting,we are always trying to look to the future, to ensure we are on track to provide bigger and better services to our customers. It is always great to listen to other players in the I.T industry to see where they see the future of the industry going. Getting this point of view from other key players can help us come up with new strategies for the coming years. It’s okay to plan 12 months in advance, but you should always be thinking about the 5, 10 year marks!
7. Plugins and Addons – Like all summits and conferences there will be a floor run by sponsors whom are showing off their shiny products that boost and build on the existing Atlassian products. Always worth a look, possibly for new ideas, but also free stuff, like pens, mouse pads and the usual free marketing gear! 🙂
8. Track Sessions – Pick and choose from a large variety of educational sessions. These sessions are broken into the following tracks, Development Teams, Team Collaboration, Massive Teams, Inside Atlassian and The Ecosystem.
9. San Francisco – Though very far away from Sydney, San Francisco is a great city, so if you are considering attending the Atlassian Summit, I would suggest you give yourself a day or two to enjoy the city. There are great places to go like the wharf, Alcatraz, the Golden Gate bridge and much more!
10. Free Beer – Need I saw more, no better way to talk shop than with a beer in your hand. 🙂

If you are considering attending the conference please leave a comment and let me know what your one key reason for attending is?