After almost two months of planning and preparations, on February the 26th we opened our doors to the first ever Dutch Liquidware partner training, here in Amsterdam. Joseph Ahn, our internal trainer flew in from Austin, Texas to provide four days, with an optional fifth of intensive training and certification around ProfileUnity, FlexApp, and Stratusphere UX.
Throughout the last couple of months, the interest in and around our portfolio (including PoC requests) has grown significantly – next to potential customers, we are in constant dialogue with partners and other interested parties. Not too long ago we also founded the LTI community program, or Liquidware Tech Insider in full, which, at least for now is filled with Dutch IT professionals exclusively. We value and appreciate the feedback that these type of groups can provide, and besides that, it’s always good fun to have a group of tech enthusiasts together, sharing a meal, a few drinks, thoughts, past experiences, and future plans
Quality before quantity
When we first started polling who might be interested in attending the training we had a couple of partners and individuals in mind. What happened next was what we silently had been hoping for but didn’t count on, per se.
First of all, everyone we approached accepted almost instantly. Next, whenever we brought up our planned training with other individuals and companies we were already talking to, they almost all replied with a big and instant yes. Great! Though, this also imposed a few challenges with regards to training space, food, drinks and so on. But hey, we at Liquidware don’t fear challenge, we embrace it, so on we went and took care of it all.
Because of the overwhelming interest, one thing we had to do was to split the pack into two separate groups. Group one trained on Monday (ProfileUnity and FlexApp) and Tuesday (Stratusphere UX), and group two trained on Wednesday (ProfileUnity and FlexApp) and Thursday (Stratusphere UX). This way we made sure that there was enough room for personal attention, questions, feedback, and discussions in general.
All this resulted in four days of solid training. From basic introductions to deeper dives, all sessions and modules were extremely interactive, as to be expected when dealing with a group of Dutch IT enthusiasts. We got a ton of (positive) feedback, questions and suggestions throughout the whole week – for that we’d like to thank all who attended.
Let’s get our hands on…
The balance between theory and hands-on labs was brilliant, a great job by our trainer Joseph Ahn who had personally handpicked the most popular topics of each product. Throughout most of the day, all students were constantly busy with installing, configuring and actually using the products, the way it should be, if you ask me.
“Wow, this is just too easy. A few clicks and I’m done. Even better, it works on both Windows 7 and Windows 10! Awesome” According to one of the attendees when we spend some (hands-on) time on FlexApp.
It also helps that we have a very snappy lab environment set up in the US where every user can have its own full-blown lab setup, which includes a ProfileUnity console machine, a FlexApp packaging machine, a Windows 7 and Windows 10 virtual machine and the option to install and configure a fully functional Stratusphere deployment, something we also learned and did during the training.
Oooeeehhss and aaahhhsss
I especially liked all the oooeeehhss and aaahhhsss, when we went over the FlexApp and ProfileDisk basics. It only took seconds for them to create their first FlexApp application layer – most had never done so before. After that, within minutes they were able to publish it to a virtual Windows 7 and Windows 10 machine, at the same time – no additional configuration needed whatsoever.
Stratusphere
As mentioned, during the second day of training (Tuesday and Thursday) we covered Stratusphere UX. Again, a day filled with hands-on exercises, good discussions, and solid feedback. For most, Stratusphere was completely new. Sure, we as Dutch IT professionals know a thing or two about User Environment Management, but when it comes to end-user monitoring, quantifying the actual user experience, drill-down troubleshooting methodologies, health-checks and detailed assessments, it is a different story.
Joseph started the day with a fresh installation of Stratusphere, and even though most hadn’t seen or heard of Stratusphere before, within 30 minutes everyone had a fully functional Stratusphere deployment in place. Pretty cool, right? After that we covered all major modules and features Stratusphere has to offer one by one – doing is learning!
All in all, we had a great time and learned a ton of new stuff. Each morning we started out with fresh coffee, tea, and cookies, while in between we enjoyed some very nice lunches, appelflappen and fruit – we had two very enthusiastic and fun groups, eager to learn.
Last but not least, we’d like to finish by thanking all of our partners and Liquidware enthusiasts for coming over and giving it your best. We could not have pulled it off without you!
But it doesn’t stop here! For one, we are already thinking about organizing follow-up deeper dive sessions, and of course a second introduction training, similar to this one. If you, as a company or individual would like to know more, please do not hesitate to give us a call, send an email or simply drop by for a cup of coffee, we are more than happy to welcome you. To be continued…
To give you an impression, have a look at some of the pics below (click to enlarge)
Foto credits go to Morteza Esteki – @Mortezae
