Disclaimer: I recently attended Storage Field Day 10.  My flights, accommodation and other expenses were paid for by Tech Field Day. There is no requirement for me to blog about any of the content presented and I am not compensated in any way for my time at the event.  Some materials presented were discussed under NDA and don’t form part of my blog posts, but could influence future discussions.

Here are my notes on gifts, etc, that I received as a delegate at Storage Field Day 10. I’d like to point out that I’m not trying to play companies off against each other. I don’t have feelings one way or another about receiving gifts at these events (although I generally prefer small things I can fit in my suitcase). Rather, I’m just trying to make it clear what I received during this event to ensure that we’re all on the same page as far as what I’m being influenced by. Some presenters didn’t provide any gifts as part of their session – which is totally fine. I’m going to do this in chronological order, as that was the easiest way for me to take notes during the week. While every delegate’s situation is different, I’d also like to clarify that I took 5 days of training / work time to be at this event (thanks to my employer for being on board).

Saturday

I paid for my taxi to BNE airport. I had a burger at Benny Burger in SYD airport. It was quite good. I flew Qantas economy class to SFO. The flights were paid for by Tech Field Day. Plane food was consumed on the flight. It was a generally good experience.

Tuesday

When I arrived at the hotel I was given a bag of snacks by Tom. The iced coffee and granola bars came in handy. We had dinner at Il Fornaio at the Westin Hotel. I had some antipasti, pizza fradiavola and 2 Hefeweizen beers (not sure of the brewery).

Wednesday

We had breakfast in the hotel. I had bacon, eggs, sausage, fruit and coffee. We also did the Yankee Gift Swap at that time and I scored a very nice stovetop Italian espresso coffee maker (thanks Enrico!). We also had lunch at the hotel, it was something Italian. Cloudian gave each delegate a green pen, bottle opener, 1GB USB stick, and a few Cloudian stickers. We had dinner at Gordon Biersch in San Jose. I had some sliders (hamburgers for small people) and about 5 Golden Export beers.

Thursday

Pure Storage gave each delegate a Tile, a pen, some mints, and an 8GB USB stick. Datera gave each delegate a Datera-branded “vortex 16oz double wall 18/8 stainless steel copper vacuum insulated thermal pilsner” (a cup) with our twitter handles on them. Tintri provided us with a Tintri / Nike golf polo shirt, a notepad, a pen, an 8GB USB stick, and a 2600mAh USB charger. We then had happy hour at Tintri. I had a Pt. Bonita Pilsner beer and a couple of fistfuls of prawns. For dinner we went to Taplands. I had a turkey sandwich and 2 Fieldwork Brewing Company Pilsners.

Friday

We had breakfast on Friday at Nimble Storage. I had some bacon, sausage and eggs for breakfast with an orange juice. I don’t know why my US comrades struggle so much with the concept of tomato sauce (ketchup) with bacon. But there you go. Nimble gave us each a custom baseball jersey with our name on the back and the Nimble logo. They also gave us each a white lab coat with the Nimble logo on it. My daughters love the coat. Hedvig provided us with a Hedvig sticker and a Hedvig-branded Rogue bluetooth speaker. We had lunch at Hedvig, which was a sandwich, some water, and a really delicious choc-chip cookie. Exablox gave each of us an Exablox-branded aluminium water bottle. We then had happy hour at Exablox. I had two Anchor Brewing Liberty Ale beers (“tastes like freedom”) and some really nice cheese. To finish off we had dinner at Mexicali in Santa Clara. I had a prawn burrito. I didn’t eat anything on the flight home.

Conclusion

I’d like to extend my thanks once again to the Tech Field Day organisers and the companies presenting at the event. I had a super enjoyable and educational time. Here’s a photo.