A complete eco Team is at the WHD.global from 25 to 31 March in Europa-Park, in Rust. One of the team is Roland Broch, Head of Member Development, who has visited the event regularly since 2009. In this interview, he explains how the WorldHostingDays have changed, what highlights are in store for visitors this year, and who the “Lords of Uptime” are.
Roland, why do you think the WorldHostingDays should not be missed?
For one thing, the cloud festival, running from 25 to 31 March with more than 6,500 visitors, is the largest of its kind in the world – this year, eco members were able to participate not only with the traditional ticket offers, but also – for the first time – with attractive sponsorship upgrades.
For another thing, the creators of WorldHostingDays are able, year for year, to bring the most important CEOs from the cloud and hosting sector together in one location. Anyone who is underway in this business has ample opportunity during the WHD week to get in contact with all relevant people in the sector.
The WorldHostingDayshas been going since 2003. How do you think the event has changed in that time?
I personally have only actively participated since 2009, but I have been able to follow the continual expansion of the conference and the accompanying program since then.
The change from Phantasialand Brühl to Europa-Park Rust in 2011 gave the event the possibility to grow further. After the exhibition space was extended in 2014 around the Europa-Park Dome, this year a newly built trade fair hall is also being used.
The accompanying program has also been enriched year by year. Alongside the major evening events like the ConneXion Party, the Beer Fest, and the VIP Gala Dinner, there are now a large number of smaller talks and receptions, partly taking place in parallel and organized directly by the exhibitors. Here, sub-communities have developed, covering the multiple special-interest topics of the sector.
This year, for the first time, there was a three-day hackathon organized by 1&1 which started on Saturday. For the last couple of years, there has also been the opportunity to take part in WHD.Running, a thirty-minute morning run around Europa-Park.
Alongside the series of content-based presentations, I also see a great benefit in the networking opportunities and the chance to make contacts within the sector. The event organizers have also continuously expanded this offer, with the introduction of numerous Networking Areas.
What will be the highlights for you this year?
With more than 120 presentations, 200 exhibitors in the halls and an exceptionally extensive accompanying program, it is of course difficult to highlight specific program points.
Certainly, the CEO presentations from 1&1, SEDO, Open-Xchange, Acronis and ICANN will be worth seeing. Paul Mockapetris, the inventor of the DNS system and the email protocol SMTP, will also be on stage.
And, like in the last few years, there will also be fascinating Off-Topic Keynotes which look further than just the standard industry topics. Laura Dekker, who at the age of 16 made a solo ocean journey of 27,000km, will talk about her experiences as the youngest round-the-world sailor.
My personal highlight will surely be the performance of the Lords of Uptime, a band put together especially for the WHD.global, in which the CEOs of GoDaddy and OVH will be standing side by side with the VPs of Plesk and Dropsuite.
Where can you meet and experience eco during the event?
In 2017 eco is represented for the seventh time in a row with a booth in the hosting.FAIR, the exhibitor area at WHD.global. Both our German and our international members appreciate such opportunities to get into face-to-face discussions with the Association’s contact people.
From a content perspective, we have been able to continually increase our presence in the last few years. On Monday evening, the Universal Acceptance night.TALK is co-moderated and co-organized by eco.
On Tuesday, in conjunction with the political.ARENA, there are three political debates. On the political level, we were able to bring Astrid Oosenbrug, Member of the Dutch Parliament, Peter Schaar, former Data Protection Officer, and Jimmy Schulz, Entrepreneur and Member of the Federal Board of the FDP to the discussion rounds. The debates are moderated by eco Director Names & Numbers Thomas Rickert.
Alongside the stage and booth, the eco team is of course on location at the evening events and side-events, and is available to answer specialist questions regarding the hosting and cloud business.