Last week I attended my first JAMF Nation User Conference. For those that don’t know, JAMF is the premiere software vendor for Mac OS X and iOS management, and JNUC is its annual conference. As a Macadmin who has been using their Casper suite of apps for nearly five years, this was relevant to my interests.
I’ve been to several Mac conferences over the years: MacTech, MacIT, Macworld and WWDC, and now JNUC. All of them have their pros and cons, but I have to say, there was a lot to like about JNUC, and it’s definitely an experience I would recommend to interested Macadmins.
Sessions
Obviously the conference sessions themselves were the focus of the trip, and they were valuable. Since my colleagues and I are heavily dependent upon Casper for our workflow, there were many relevant sessions to attend. I learned about Casper Imaging, AutoCasperNBI, VPP codes, security, and more.
Having said that, rehashing conference sessions does not make for a compelling blog post. I leave it to you to check out the session summaries, and later videos, at the JNUC website.
It’s all about the objects baby. My colleague Chris dropping knowledge at #JNUC A photo posted by Dan Hoffman (@lastdanstanding) on
Location
One surprisingly great thing about JNUC is its location. The conference is held at the Guthrie Theater in downtown Minneapolis. It’s a very scenic building within the historic Mills District, where once upon a time much of American grain was processed into flour. It was certainly a unique venue for such a conference.
Minneapolis itself turned out to be a real winner of a city. I knew that it was the stomping grounds of The Replacements, but apart from that, I had very little in the way of expectations. Turns out the scenery, architecture, food, people, and culture of the city are all top notch.
There’s a strong bicycle culture, and a blossoming public transit system. Much of downtown and nearby seemed to be under construction, indicating a revitalization of the urban core after decades of nearby suburban growth. It also seems like a good sports town, with downtown arenas, and a new Metrodome under construction which is a sight to behold.
The downtown is criss-crossed with skyways, which are walkways above street level. Many office buildings are connected in multiple directions to other buildings. There are shops, offices, restaurants, hotels and more all interconnected in a city above the city. It’s really neat, but also a little disconcerting, because when you walk out on street level, the sidewalk traffic is far lighter than expected. Turns out everyone is up above you. I bet it’s a great way to get around town in the winter.
Minnesota is called “The Land of 10,000 Lakes” so there’s water everywhere, most notably the Mississippi River cutting through town. One day during our lunchtime break my colleagues and I took a walk on the Heritage Trail, which ran right by The Guthrie. We crossed two bridges, saw the old Pillsbury factory, now being gutted and turned into lofts, and enjoyed the autumn temperatures and colorful leaves.
Mighty Mississippi A photo posted by Dan Hoffman (@lastdanstanding) on
Food
We had several great meals, both high and low brow. On the “delicious garbage” end of the spectrum we indulged in more than one Jucy Lucy, along with bacon-stuffed tater tots and cheese curds. On the high end were cocktails at Marvel Bar, and dinners at The Bachelor Farmer and Butcher and the Boar.
Describing the food and drink experiences could be its own blog post, which I just don’t have time for, but suffice it say we ate very well. And a big shout out to the JNUC organizers as well for the high quality food at the conference. Lunches at the Guthrie were quite good, especially compared to similar events.
Speaking
In addition to attending, I unexpectedly wound up presenting at JNUC as well. I had long ago planned to go to the conference, but was surprised to get a request from one of the organizers in mid-September to present one of the sessions. Needless to say it was challenging to get ready for, and present, my You’ve Got a Friend in BYOD session, but it was a valuable experience. Some of the challenge was the lack of preparation time, some was drama in my personal life that distracted me, and a lot of it was just plain anxiety. In fact, I attribute the stressful preparation for the presentation as the primary reason I’ve been lax at posting to this blog for the past six weeks or so. Hopefully that will be remedied now that it’s done. And happily, the presentation seemed to be well-received. Apart from a few minor stumbles, I got through it successfully. It was recorded and will be put online, so I guess we’ll see soon enough.
Culture
The values of JAMF help make the JNUC as special as it is. Unlike any other vendor I can think of, JAMF fosters a unique sense of community amongst its employees and those of use who use the software. The cultural fit goes well beyond the daytime conference sessions, and into the nighttime activities, where JAMFs (the approved descriptor for a JAMF employee) and their customers know how to put back a drink or three and have a good time.
Next Year
Let’s cut right to it. The conference sessions will always be relevant, the city can’t lose its midsize, midwestern charm, and the people of JAMF, who are all strong, good looking, and above average, will forever be a joy to interact with. So how can JNUC be made better?
This year’s JNUC party was held at the legendary First Avenue Nightclub, where scenes from Purple Rain were shot. It was a great venue, with a rich musical history, and so obviously a band performed. They were adequate for sure, but next year we can do better. Next year we need to harness the power of Superchunk to kick out the JNUC jams. I mean, did you know that JAMF co-CEO Chip Pearson was in a punk band back in the 80’s? Surely he would approve of a rocking Superchunk set at his company’s party. And besides, the dude from Superchunk’s name is Mac for crying out loud. Pretty on the nose (er, On The Mouth?) don’t you think?
Thanks JAMF for a great conference and party. I hope to attend again next year, and you heard it here first; next year’s JNUC party headliners will be the long-lived-and-still-rocking-hard Superchunk. You folks better start working on those arrangements 🙂
Super stoked to be visiting the legendary @firstavenue club for #JNUC. Thanks for the sweet party @jamfsoftware! A photo posted by Dan Hoffman (@lastdanstanding) on