Our annual technology conference and showcase – Rock Solid Technology – has once again come and gone. Every year, and this was our 12th, I feel I walk away a little smarter than I was when I walked into the event.

This year was certainly no different.

With 15 vendors and a full slate of topics Rock Solid 2018 was one of the best. And here’s a few neat tidbits that I took away from that day …

1. One presenter was there, and not there, at the same time.

The Cisco presentation – delivered using the Room Kit Plus – was so seamless that it felt like no one even noticed the presenter was coming to them live from Nova Scotia! The set up that morning for the room took very little time (we know the Room Kit very well), and the audio and video experience was just like having someone there with us. It was amazing to see how engaged people were with the presenter on the screen, and how easy and effective the collaboration was.

2. Office365 is on fire! And Azure is building momentum daily.

The Microsoft break out session was fun, but pretty informative as well. Office365 is everywhere now. What has amazed me the most in the last year or so is how many different Microsoft solutions are falling under the 365 banner. We’re talking to clients about the tools you’d expect (Office, Exchange, SharePoint) and some that don’t immediately jump into your mind (Project, OneDrive, Visio). And Azure … there’s currently more than 45 Trillion storage objects hosted on the platform. 45 Trillion. That’s amazing.

3. Let’s talk about sitting disease.

Let’s talk about Sitting Disease. I sit way (way) too much. Maybe you’ve already thought about this, or maybe not, but I actually thought I wasn’t doing too bad. I try to stand when I’m on a call … I try to get up and go see someone in our office rather than email or chat … and my wearable even reminds me regularly to get up and move. But I’m still at high risk for “sitting disease”.  Run the calculator at www.juststand.org and see where you sit.

(Side note … I ordered a WorkFit standing desk for myself this week. Maybe my experience with it will be a future article on our site!)

4. Visual hacking is very much a thing.

There was a great conversation with the folks from HP this year. I love how they’re helping customers see every PC as a security decision for their business and employees. Tools like HP Sure Run, SureClick and SureView are helping users stay secure and private. The SureView conversation was really relevant … you really never know who might be looking over your shoulder at a local coffee shop or public work space (52% of sensitive information is leaked visually). Check out this video that takes a funny look at visual hacking.

5. Don’t boil the privacy ocean.

For the first time ever at Rock Solid we held a panel on security and privacy. The conversation was terrific, and one of the questions was around small business and how they should start looking at privacy. The response was pretty simple: “A small business doesn’t have to boil the ocean and improve privacy on all fronts at one time.  A great way to start is to conduct a Privacy Maturity Model Assessment, see where you can improve, set some goals, and work towards them.” A great recommendation and with new privacy legislation now in effect a definite topic for future conversation!