Can We Get Better ISC West 2017 Keynote Speakers?

JH
John Honovich
Feb 11, 2017
IPVM

ISC West has announced their keynote speakers. Getting back from the Barnes Buchanan Conference where ADT CEO Tim Whall spoke, it showed quite a contrast.

Here's ISC West 2017 keynoters:

The problem is neither organization is that important to the integrators and manufacturers that dominate ISC West and neither of these people is well known.

Not 'All Star'

As an example, if we did a post on either of these people, it would almost certainly be in the bottom 25% of readership, simply because most integrators and manufacturers will conclude that the FBI has little impact on their businesses and that while Intel makes chips in their computers, it does not make a material difference to their companies.

By contrast, ADT is a big player, and the biggest in the market that Barnes Buchanan covers (alarm monitoring). Hearing from the head guy at ADT is useful because lots of people compete with ADT and want to get a sense of how they operate / think. Here's a clip of ADT CEO's speaking:

I found him to be quite forthright and entertaining but even if he was terrible, it still would have been insightful and useful to know that about ADT's CEO.

Recommendations For ISC West

The metric should be companies and people who most impact the ISC West audience.

For example, 10 years ago, Cisco's CTO was the keynoter and that was great. It was highly relevant pick and it helped people learn more about Cisco's approach / process (which of course failed and could be seen in what he presented at the keynote).

Likewise, pick executives from today's big companies, e.g.:

  • Hikvision Chairman and Communist Party Secretary Chen Zognian talk about dominating the global market
  • Axis CEO Ray Mauritsson talk about the Canon acquisition, the move to solution sales, etc.
  • Genetec CEO Pierre Racz about kicking Hikvision out, etc.

Whether they do a good or bad job speaking, it would be an almost unprecedented look inside these big organizations.

So what do you think? Who would you like to see?

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UI
Undisclosed Integrator #1
Feb 13, 2017

I'm with you John, I am often disappointed by these headlining guest speakers.  I would rather hear from someone who is impacting the industry.  It's a learning experience at that point.  I would think cybersecurity folks would headline defcon type events imho.

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U
Undisclosed #2
Feb 13, 2017

Personally, I disagree completely, and I'm a little shocked at this angle from you, John.

With the immense focus on cyber security, the HIKVision controversy, the Dahua hack and Mirai botnet, etc -- there are few things that are more prevalent right now in the industry than cyber security. And, if we're all honest, it's an area of the industry that has not been covered AT ALL like it should be. 

This IS something that impacts the entire ISC West audience, whether they know it or not. And, while I can't speak to what they are or are not going to talk about, they don't have to be great or groundbreaking to say things that many ISC West attendees should absolutely be thinking about.

A CEO of a burglar alarm company is not really interesting to me. For one, the vast majority of CEO's are going to be entirely whitewashed in the things they can or will say -- you're rarely going to get much candor from them. They're going to talk about their view of industry topics without anything really useful or groundbreaking, and while it may be interesting just to hear from someone in that role, that's not interesting to me or many folks there.

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JH
John Honovich
Feb 13, 2017
IPVM

You can have many people speak at a conference. It's not like there is only room for one.

But a 'keynote', by definition, is supposed to appeal to a wide audience. And cybersecurity, whether you like it or not, does not appeal to a wide audience of ISC West attendees.

And you are misrepresenting my point about the 'CEO of a burglar alarm company' as I clearly suggested the executives of large video surveillance companies for ISC West (including one who has taken an aggressive stand on cybersecurity and another whose company is under frequent attack for cybersecurity issues).

I'd rather hear the CEO of Hikvision, Axis or Genetec talk about cybersecurity than a person at Intel.

Agree/disagree?

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U
Undisclosed #2
Feb 14, 2017

1.) If cybersecurity doesn't appeal to "a wide audience of ISC West attendees" and you're assuming that those attendees are largely end-users, then within the next 5 years, those ISC West attendees will be doing so from a different position. Failing to pay attention to cybersecurity will be the downfall of many end users and their jobs over the coming years. The same can be said for integrators -- at least those who aren't slamming their trunk when they go home at the end of it. 

2.) No, I don't give a rip about hearing what Hik, Axis, or Genetec have to say about cybersecurity, because most of them don't know their elbow from their...well, you know...about cybersecurity. An expert in a field can tailor his or her message to a specific audience for a specific purpose in a way that is useful, but hearing Hik, Axis, or Genetec blather about something that they think is relevant in the field in a carefully couched way so as to ensure they boost their brand as much as possible over the other guys is not something I consider useful. I can't recall the last time any of those guys said anything remotely relevant in the grand scheme of things. These guys, if people will actually listen, probably have something very interesting to tell us about the industry. And, for you integrators out there, these are the guys that your customers are going to be listening to. What is your response going to be when they ask you a question?

3.) I may be the only one that shares this opinion, and that's fine. But I have no desire to hear from "the industry" when it comes to cybersecurity issues because "the industry" largely doesn't have a damn clue about it. Hearing people who KNOW what they're talking about in the cybersecurity world is painful enough -- hearing someone who doesn't have the slightest clue about it but wants to pretend they do? That's straight torture.

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JH
John Honovich
Feb 14, 2017
IPVM

If cybersecurity doesn't appeal to "a wide audience of ISC West attendees" and you're assuming that those attendees are largely end-users

No, I am assuming correctly that those are largely manufacturers and integrators as I have repeatedly said above.

To quote myself from the OP:

The problem is neither organization is that important to the integrators and manufacturers that dominate ISC West and neither of these people is well known. [emphasis added]

Then you claim:

I can't recall the last time any of those guys said anything remotely relevant in the grand scheme of things.

How many times have you spoken with Hikvision's Chairman or Axis's CEO?

That is my point. Having an Axis or Hikvision RSM 'keynote' is a waste but having their CEO is a different story. Even if the CEO comes off as incompetent, you have learned something very important about that company's approach / leadership. 

You can certainly prefer to hear from Intel's cyber security strategist but match him against the CEO of any large manufacturer and the latter will get 5 to 10x times the attendance at ISC West.

U
Undisclosed #3
Nov 06, 2017
IPVMU Certified

I'd rather hear the CEO of Hikvision, Axis or Genetec talk about cybersecurity than a person at Intel.

Or bashis.

JH
John Honovich
Feb 13, 2017
IPVM

Here is another example:

I am sure he is a nice and smart person but purely from a know your audience standpoint, do SIA members (mostly manufacturers) really want to chat with this person? 

Again, using the Axis example, even competitors of Axis would surely more want to hear from Axis exec / CEO than Intel's cyber security strategist.

U
Undisclosed
Feb 20, 2017

Are you saying people go to the keynote address?  What do you get out of that?  Is that worth trade show time?  I've not often found the keynote worth the time.

 

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JH
John Honovich
Feb 20, 2017
IPVM

I've not often found the keynote worth the time.

That's certainly a function of the relevance of the keynote speaker?

The only one I remember is the Cisco CTO one in 2007 and had huge attendance. It's almost a decade ago but I am thinking 500 to 1,000 people easy. And that was because lots of people cared about what Cisco was planning to do.

DF
David Fogle, CSEIP
Nov 06, 2017

These speakers belong at a ASIS event. Which historically CLAIMS to be security focused, but rarely delivers content focused on anything other than security guard company related issues. Go to any of their events on a local basis and they have guest speakers that are Police Chiefs, or some other uniformed related person. Diversity would be a welcome change, but in over ten years I have seen no real change.

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U
Undisclosed
Nov 06, 2017

In some places that is changing.  ASIS local meetings are not necessarily all "guns, guards, and gates".  You need to look for the revolutionaries or the suits with ESRM stencilled on their iPad covers.

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U
Undisclosed #3
Nov 06, 2017
IPVMU Certified

The problem is neither organization is that important to the integrators and manufacturers that dominate ISC West and neither of these people is well known.

One out of two of those criteria met at ASIS 2018:

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UE
Undisclosed End User #5
Nov 06, 2017

Mission Accomplished UD3!! 

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UI
Undisclosed Integrator #4
Nov 06, 2017

For example, 10 years ago, Cisco's CTO was the keynoter and that was great. It was highly relevant pick and it helped people learn more about Cisco's approach / process(which of course failed and could be seen in what he presented at the keynote)

I need to see that keynote!  Anyone find a recording?

UE
Undisclosed End User #5
Nov 06, 2017

I find most CEO's inspiring at best.

I personally want to hear the talk from the FBI section chief and would check my email during the Intel guy's talk. To me, a perfect balance :)    

Spoiler Alert - At least one of the keynote speakers will tell you that China (and North Korea) is massively engaged in cyber espionage against the US. Hikvision will not be sponsoring that session.    

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