When we launched our inaugural Go Beyond user conference in Scottsdale, Arizona in 2019, we had no idea how much we’d have to pivot during our two subsequent annual Go Beyond conferences. To be honest, when we launched Go Beyond 2020 as a virtual event experience, we didn’t realize that we’d be looking to go virtual in 2021 as well, and yet here we are.
But 2021 was different. We knew we couldn’t just do what we did back in 2020 and tick the box. We also saw an opportunity to bring together both our customers and partners, who were historically attending two separate BeyondTrust conferences. Mindful of the reality of virtual event fatigue experienced by many, we took a step back and asked ourselves “What are the absolute most important things we want our user base and partner community to get out of this conference, and how do we make it fun and engaging?”
Enter Go Beyond: Game On!
As Matt Dircks, our fearless CEO, mentioned during conference kick off, we know our customers are continually faced with the challenge of combatting cyber threats while balancing productivity and customer satisfaction. During Go Beyond this year, we invited our attendees to step back from the tyranny of the urgent and re-think how you can be more successful in the important role that you play in your organization.
If you were unable to join us this year, here is a breakdown of some of the key sessions which are now available to view on-demand.
Day 1
Eric O'Neill, National Security Strategist at VMware Carbon Black, Bestselling Author, former FBI operative, and inspiration for the film, Breach, kicked off the event with an extremely compelling talk, Cybersecurity During the Pandemic. With COVID-19 creating a perfect storm for cyberattacks, Eric gave attendees a list of five key takeaways to help combat these threats as we move from different stages of the pandemic. Eric’s riveting session ranked as our #1 keynote session at Go Beyond!
In The Power of the Platform, Dan DeRosa (BeyondTrust Chief Product Officer) and Morey Haber (BeyondTrust CTO & CISO) discussed emerging challenges and how the BeyondTrust platform is evolving to meet those cthem.
In spirit of solving for new threats, we also announced our brand-new product, Cloud Privilege Broker. BeyondTrust’s Jonas Outlaw, Principal Product Manager, outlined how it can help organizations solve for multi-cloud challenges by centralizing visibility and management of entitlments.
Paula Januszkiewicz, cybersecurity expert and founder of CQURE Academy, also rolled out her four-part Cyber Challenge Series, where attendees could compete for a coveted gaming console of their choice.
Day 2
Best-selling author, TED speaker, and organizational psychologist, Adam Grant, started us on a high during Day 2 with some rather interesting thoughts on the power of re-thinking and un-attaching yourself from the ways you’ve always done things. BeyondTrust CEO Matt Dircks posed questions for Adam in three mini-segments and they discussed how you can get better at re-thinking in the very popular Think Again: The Power of Knowing What you Don’t Know session.
For those attendees wanting to get into the nitty gritty of our products, Day 2 also introduced our Product Deep Dive sessions, which are two-hour sessions designed to take a closer look at our individual products. We explored Password Safe, Remote Support, and Privilege Management for Unix & Linux (which included a special guest customer, PAMMY award-recipient, Chad Erbe from ServiceNow).
And for those wanting a different perspective on our products and how they work together, our Solutions Showcases demonstrated how stacking BeyondTrust solutions can solve common challenges faced by our customers.
Day 3
What virtual conference doesn’t have it’s share of technical difficulties? Day 3 proved that we aren’t immune to snafus when our keynote session had to be postponed to Friday due to connectivity issues. Did that stop us? Absolutely not!
We rolled on with our Deep Dive sessions for DevOps Secrets Safe, Privilege Management for Windows & Mac, and Privileged Remote Access (PRA). We were joined by two more PAMMY award recipients during the PRA session: Tarun Patel from Oxford Properties and Joshua Carpman at AirLiquide, who sat down to chat about how Privileged Remote Access helps their organizations secure their OT environments.
Day 4
With his internet troubles behind him, David Kwong, New York Times crossword puzzle designer and magician, kicked us off with an upbeat and totally interactive session called Wordplay! Attendees were invited to participate in solving a series of word puzzles and brain teasers that even the most puzzle-averse listeners could appreciate. This session was a fun and unique way to start the day and get those brain juices flowing!
Paula Januszkiewicz also joined us to close out the day with the Daily Challenge Awards and Q&A session. Not only did we have a couple lucky winners walk away with a new gaming console, but Paula was able to demonstrate how to crack the code on the previous day’s challenge, as well as answer the burning questions that others may have had throughout the week.
Beyond Go Beyond
With Go Beyond 2021 in the history books and two virtual events behind us, we can’t wait to start planning another memorable event for our customers and partners for 2021. We know things will never return to the normal we were once accustomed to and that’s why we plan on continually evolving this conference to meet the ever-changing desires of our BeyondTrust community.
If you missed any of Go Beyond, you can register to view all the content on-demand through the Replays section of the Go Beyond site. Simply register and start diving in—it’ll be available for viewing until July 31.
Kim Richard, Director of Customer Marketing
As Director of Customer Marketing at BeyondTrust, Kim is responsible for the strategy and execution of marketing campaigns to BeyondTrust’s army of more than 20,000 customers. Kim joined BeyondTrust (formerly Bomgar) in 2011, and has enjoyed working on a wide range of marketing programs and events during her tenure. She resides in Florida and enjoys traveling and brushing up on her culinary skills when she isn’t chasing after her two boys.
