Maximo User Group meetings continue to be held in person. Travel restrictions and changes in employment continue to impact all in-person meetings. But if you are going to go, there are several things to consider.  

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The two major groups are the vendors and the attendees. Some of the vendors will be sponsors and have booths, and others will be intermingled with the attendees. The sponsors help keep the cost down in most cases, and are there to meet with the attendees.  

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Is every meeting a sales call? That is up to you. Full disclosure, as I work for Naviam, I represent a vendor and often a conference sponsor. But I write to you now with my responsibility as President of the Board of Directors for the Go Maximo organization, with the goal of helping attendees maximize the opportunities before you at a given conference on Maximo, and potentially anything else.  

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Generally, when you get to a sponsor’s booth, you will likely get an experienced salesperson, knowledgeable about their product/service and how it may apply to your situation. Almost always, you will also have access to an experienced consultant with knowledge on different industry applications and implementation scenarios, potentially including yours. These consultants can cost you $250 - $500 U.S. PER HOUR, or more, but you have access to them for the price of your registration and potentially travel cost, and there they are awaiting your questions.  

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Limited topics? Not really. Last week, our speakers and sponsors covered Maximo version 7, 8, and 9 (current), and there were enough whiskers and grey hair to dig back into earlier versions if needed. The Go Maximo meetings are focused on the Core product as well as Oil & Gas and Health and Safety add-ons, but the sponsors go even deeper, including additional add-on products, multiple mobile solutions, Artificial Intelligence, and more.

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Content is still king, and that was demonstrated by mostly crowded breakout sessions on the very first day. The experts who delivered that content for the most part are sticking around to answer questions throughout the conference. That’s two free consulting opportunities – at the end of the session, and subsequently (same or next day) during a meet-up to discuss your most burning issue.  

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At the sponsor booth, there is another opportunity for free consulting. I personally referred attendees to consultants for Mobile, Maximo Inventory Optimization, and Integration in just the first day. There was a question during the session on the user interface – the design principal from IBM for the user interface was in the room and identified to the entire audience, and he welcomed it.  

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Yes, that is correct. The user interface owner from IBM was at the conference, along with the global head of product and engineering, and all made presentations. Additionally, the Lead architect for O&G, several senior team members who are training other IBMers on doing the MAS upgrades, the new product manager on Asset Investment Planning (AIP), and several IBM Champions with expertise in core Maximo, add-ons, REST API, Punchout, and a great deal more. This level of expertise is very often at these conferences, and you should take advantage of them being there.  

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How do you even know who will be there? The conference website and often a conference app will present the agendas weeks ahead of each conference. IBM TechXchange 2025, for example, will take place in October 2025, but the session catalog details should be online by July 24. That means the topic, subject matter, and the bio for the sessions and speakers will all be ready for review, almost 3 months before the event. There will likely be a sneak peek even earlier, so stay tuned to my LinkedIn and I will post when it is available.  

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Let’s talk a little about the conference apps as well, which typically have a few features you can use like:

• Sponsor bios on the company – focus areas, expertise
• Sponsor bios on the people that will be in their booth – qualifications and roles
• Key items the sponsors want you to know as they relate to the conference
• Speakers and other attendees who may be in your industry/region that you may wish to reach out to

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Generally, the apps are available with your registration, and for those who can’t download them to their devices, the content is typically available on the event's website. In addition to the conference website, the organizer’s website will often have presentations (and even some recordings) of previous conferences that are often downloadable for free, even if you did not attend the conference, so check that too.

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Don’t count the salespeople out either. They are often solutions specialists trained to listen and you will often find that several are more technically trained in the product/service you are interested in, so don’t let this resource go unutilized.  

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