Sharecase 2013: A Great Success!

By Brian Auerbach and Courtney Anderson

School of Medicine Dean Sam Hawgood delivered the morning keynote at Sharecase, announcing the winners of the IT Innovation contest. Photo by Patrick Phelan

On Nov. 8, a near capacity crowd of 1,000 people filled the Mission Bay Conference Center (MBCC) for Sharecase 2013, the second annual UCSF forum for all things IT.

Participants poured into Robertson Auditorium to hear the morning keynote address by Dean of the School of Medicine and Vice Chancellor for Medical Affairs Sam Hawgood. Hawgood gave a thorough and interesting overview of the new Clinical Enterprise Strategic Plan being developed and executed by the School of Medicine and the Medical Center to enhance their common mission.

New UCSF CIO Joe Bengfort presented the IT component to that strategic plan to round off the morning session.

After the keynote, while teams of willing volunteers and Conference Center staff shuffled the large room for sessions, the attendees flowed through the main exposition hall and lobby, filled with over 50 booths. Various IT services, vendors, and those who support the IT mission, such as the Communicators Network, presented programmatic information, refrigerator magnets, and all kinds of very popular sweets to lure in visitors. It seemed to work.

Attendees were treated to an in-depth glimpse at various IT services on the showroom floor. Photo by Patrick Phelan

The remainder of the morning was filled with sessions and presentations covering Drupal and its applications for research, Cloud Computing at UCSF, Getting more out of mail@ucsf, and Using Chatter as a collaboration tool, and more — 13 sessions in all.

During the lunch hour, IT leadership took the main stage in Robertson Auditorium for IT Leadership in the Hot Seat. Hot topic questions including IT service support for the research enterprise and the vision for common systems and network solutions helped make this an interesting session.

The event theme of collaborate, educate, and innovate could be seen throughout the day as the conference center was filled with people connecting to network, engage, and exchange ideas. The ever popular IT Guru booth in the front of the MBCC lobby served the throngs with helpful tips and provide solutions for common and not-so-common IT dilemmas.

Afternoon keynote speaker Ron Conway, right, speaks with UCSF Chief Information Officer Joe Bengfort during the event. Photo by Patrick Phelan

A full afternoon of sessions led the event up to the second keynote, a talk by SV Angel Ron Conway. Conway’s anecdotal approach to venture capital success supported by instructive slides carried the day for the jam-packed audience. He even gave out his e-mail address for anyone with an idea. In addition to his enthusiasm for growing technology, Conway was enthusiastic about the important work being done at UCSF. A great time was had by all.

For photos from the event, check the website here: Sharecase 2013.