JNUC 2015

I'd suggest keeping an eye on the mini events and signing up for the ones you want to go to.

I left it until I was there last year and missed out on some of them.

Bring a healthy liver!

We should do a JNUC "facebook" type post as we get closer to we can recognize people. It was my first time at JNUC last year and I didn't know who anyone was.

Have you attended any other conferences, that had a high population of Mac or iOS admins? It's casual and friendly. You can stick to yourself or you can network with people you've gotten answers from on JAMFNation or Slack. There is wide range of Mac/iOS knowledge - it not only the top dogs. :) A good taste of what to expect can be seen here with the community on JAMFNation, it just spills over into the real world.

The weather in MN in October is actually pretty pleasant, so even if you weren't used to the cold it wouldn't be an issue. :) In fact, you might bring too many warm clothes, so check the weather in Minneapolis online before finishing your packing.
There isn't much you need to bring other than a laptop or tablet, maybe a notepad and pen if you like taking notes old school style. A backpack to tote it all around in, though JAMF may be providing a small bag for stuff, not sure. Bring business cards or some other stuff you can give people with your info if you plan on doing a bit of networking. I forgot to bring anything like that last year and a few people asked me for one, which I didn't have. (didn't think anyone asked for those anymore!)

As @davidacland mentioned, do keep an eye out for a published events schedule from JAMF, probably late this coming month? Unless your interests are pretty defined or limited, you will likely have a hard time choosing which events to attend versus ones to miss. The good news is JAMF has been recording many of the major sessions lately so you will have access to recorded sessions sometime after JNUC, so it makes the decisions less stressful.

Cool. Thanks for all of the responses!

This will be my first conference for anything really. I'll make sure to bring some of that stuff. I don't have any business cards, but I know MACs love the contacts list.

I've been fishing around and read other discussions. I signed up for the Keynote on the first day. Are the sessions at 1pm all in one session or multiple ones during that time?

The sessions posted right now are a preliminary list, even more sessions are coming soon, and the 1PM time is just a place holder so you can ignore the actual times for now.

I was comfortable and a cliche Macadmin with just my hoodie and jeans. There's an inexpensive light rail from the airport that will get you downtown. I'm not sure if Uber has changed at the airport, it was $60 from airport to hotel but around town it was cheap. ($6 one way)

Traditionally, look at last year for example, The Guthrie Theater has three stages where talks happen; small, medium, and large. So there are three events going on at once with breaks in between. Use the breaks to network with other Macadmins. It's much better than racing from one room to another. Don't worry about the Wi-Fi working or not, you're here to learn and build relationships.

I should turn this into a blog post..

To bring: A small shoulder bag for your laptop and misc, plenty of business cards (you're here to network), a portable battery for your iPad or iPhone. Be sure to give yourself time to exercise or enjoy the pool at the hotel if you're the type, there's also a casual 5k you'll see on the Mini Events page. Normally I'd say take off your conference badge when out of the theater so you don't look like such a tourist but I almost wanted to keep mine on to find others to chat with at bars like Aloft.

Guthrie Theater is steps away from the Aloft Hotel, you can always find Macadmins there in the evening. They have a bar and lounge along with table games. Also close to the Guthrie is Grumpy's and Day Block Brewery which are also great places to get food and drink. There's a Monday night meetup at Grumpy's and Macbrained is having their meetup on Tuesday night at Day Block Brewery. Again, check out the mini events page for attendee driven activities, even make your own if you want!

For sessions, come with a purpose and you'll get the most ROI out of them. All session videos are posted later online. Pick the sessions that you think you'll react on as soon as you get home, or those you see yourself asking questions at. When asking questions, rank them in this way:

1. Important questions to help your understanding that you think others will benefit from hearing
2. Questions that'd be nice to ask, especially when there aren't many questions for the speaker
3. Questions that aren't really questions but you just want the microphone to make yourself sound smart

Please avoid number three.

When taking notes, write down the title of the talk so you can search Evernote/Google Drive easily along with the author's name so you can find them later on JAMF Nation, Twitter, or LinkedIn. Then simply write important bullet points under a "Key Insights" header, then at the end of the talk or in the evening, write an Action Items header. These are the things you'll implement, improve, or begin doing as a result of seeing this talk. This will help when you return to the office so you can remember everything and quickly build a to do list to get to work. Often you return and quickly go back to the daily grind, not implementing the awesome ideas and practices you've just learned. You'll also be able to send your manager an email showing everything you've learned so they can understand the ROI they've gained by you attending.

Most important, talk to people. We're all here for the same reasons, solving a lot of the same problems.

@adamcodega Thanks for your reply! This is a lot of information, but will go a long way. I'm planning on taking notes and trying to get everything out of it that I can. Once I get back home most of it will probably scramble up in my head or be lost. I'll look for the videos once they are posted to re-watch them and go over my notes.

Thanks for all of the responses! See you there!

Here's a map of handy stuff around the JNUC, including main hotel locations, airport in proximity to downtown Minneapolis, pubs and restaurants, shops of interest, etc.:

https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=zOOGEAaSMcMM.kSly9hPPtyYM&usp=sharing

Thanks @emilykausalik! This is pretty cool!

Last year was awesome!