By Conor Heslin, Nicole Sigrist, and Rohit Chavda
Now that the dust has settled and the jet lag has worn off, the time is right to take stock of cybersecurity’s very own Coachella: The RSA Conference. This monumental security conference, attended by tens of thousands in San Francisco over 3 chaotic days, is the biggest cybersecurity trade show in the world. Three members of the Eskenzi team attended this year for the very first time, and in this blog post we’ll share with you our three key takeaways, as newbies to the show.
1: An unheard of scale
The first thing which strikes you about RSA is the scale. Having attended comparatively large trade shows such as Infosecurity Europe, Black Hat Europe and the International Cyber Expo in the UK, I thought I knew what to expect: This couldn’t have been more wrong. The venue was three, if not four times as big as the largest security show in the UK. This meant much more opportunities for us as PR people to find out about the big trends of 2023, but also provided the vendors with a challenge: How do you stand out from the crowd in a show this big?
The answers to this varied massively, from celebrity endorsements to free booze, but one thing was consistent about an ability to stand out: It was going to cost you. As a newcomer, the amount of money spent by vendors on attracting people to their booths was a startling indication of just how big this show is for our industry. – Conor Heslin, Account Director
2. PR collaboration in demand
The theme for this year’s RSA Conference was ‘Stronger Together’ which may have seemed odd to some because the cybersecurity industry has not always acted in such a manner. However, there is a change in the air and the cybersecurity community is certainly striving to enable collaboration across the board due to the opportunities this presents.
From a PR/new business perspective, in attending RSA for the very first time, it was clear when walking the floor that many cybersecurity vendors were seeking to collaborate to expand their PR services. Naturally, this was music to our ears and we came away from the show with a healthy list of leads. Yet, what was most refreshing when speaking with vendors was they understood the value of having PR representation in their target markets, whether that be in the US, UK or mainland Europe. Inevitably, the first question asked is “who else do you represent? To which we reply by pointing at the many names we work with that were present across the three halls. In total, we had 34 current and past clients exhibiting which helped make the conversations flow. In terms of new business, RSA was the perfect melting point of established names and startups who were all receptive to having conversations about PR and events. I’m sure Eskenzi PR will be collaborating with many of them over the coming months… – Rohit Chavda, Account Director
3. An opportunity for knowledge sharing
Every so often, Eskenzi PR hosts marketing intelligence swapping sessions. During these sessions, we gather our clients’ marketing and PR representatives on a call to work through common challenges, share ideas, offer feedback and inspire one another as we navigate the ever-changing media landscape.
During conferences such as RSA, however, these meetings become an in-person affair. Historically, they would remain within our own client circle but this year, we decided to go big. Collaborating with Pulse Conferences and Operatix, we invited 50 CMOS and marketing leads from across the cybersecurity industry to one of San Francisco’s finest Chinese restaurants, Fang Restaurant, for an afternoon of insightful discussion. In a funny sort of way, we brought to life RSA’s ‘Stronger Together’ theme.
It was my first time attending one of our in-person marketing intelligence swapping sessions, let alone one with three times the turnout; and what a lunch it was! There’s no denying the food was delicious, but having a seat in a room full of highly experienced marketers at the top of their game and an ear to their wisdom was something else. We considered everything from the future role of artificial intelligence and advice for running successful events, to managing shrinking budgets and the changing face of PR. More importantly, we got to do it all face-to-face. Let’s just say, I didn’t walk away from RSA with only one key takeaway… – Nicole Sigrist, Account Manager
