Should I attend BBcon if I work exclusively in RENXT?

Liz Wright

Hi friends! Our school is new to Blackbaud, and I am the database admin for RENXT. It is the only program I use. I'm wondering how much RENXT-specific training will be offered at BBCON? Does anyone who has been in recent years have an idea of the scope of coverage, and is it worth it to buy the premium pass for the pre-conference workshops in my scenario?

JoAnn Strommen

@Liz Wright Welcome to the BB community forums and working with RE. Others may disagree but here's my 2 cents.
If you have a limited budget I would spend the funds on training vs. bbcon at this point in your RE journey. There are a lot of great sessions at bbcon but they are not really how-to trainings. It is more how things can be done, best practices, marketing by BB partner vendors, etc. There is value in both and if you are looking for training, I would say BB University is a better option. You can use RE NXT without attending bbcon but not without training, IMO.

A more detailed schedule of sessions will be coming at some point and that will give you more info about the conference.

Christine Robertson

@Liz Wright It really depends upon what you hope to get out of bbcon. I think the best parts of bbcon are often the networking, product update information and hearing how others have maximized their use of the tool. If your budget allows, bbcon can be a great resource, but if you are limited, I would agree with @JoAnn Strommen that I'd place priority on training. There are lots of options for training from Blackbaud as well as through third party companies such as NPact (I am biased here as that is a large part of my role at NPact!).

Liz Wright

@JoAnn Strommen @christinerobertson thank you both for your replies! Do either of you know of an itinerary of the sessions that will be offered? I guess I should re-phrase my initial question as, how much of the conference will be specifically RENXT-focused (training or otherwise)?

Joe Moretti

@Liz Wright As with wha tother says, if you are looking for training, skip BBcon, which is more of entertainment and sales pitches than anything else, although break out sessions can be good depending. Went once at the beginning of my career and that was the last time, just do not have interest in that kind of thing. Stick with the various trainings that Blackbaud offers if that is what you want. If you want a little vacation from work and it is located in a nice city you want to visit, by all means, go for it if you organization is paying for it.

Christine Robertson

@Liz Wright They have not finalized speakers yet, so it's hard to say. I have pending applications to speak and have not heard anything as of yet.

To your question - much of the conference is RE NXT focused. That is the product that generates the most attention mainly because it is the most widely used and it is the one changing rather rapidly at the moment.

Dariel Dixon

@Liz Wright I think going to bbcon is a great idea if things line up for you to go. It's a great opportunity to learn new techniques and grow your knowledge, but the professional networking and colleagues you meet are the biggest takeaways, like Christine stated. Trainings are more useful for learning specific things, but bbcon is great for introducing new concepts. There are a lot of vendors selling products, and it can be overwhelming at times. I know they are offering (selling) a Blackbaud University day, with the preconference pass but it is over $500 more than the regular conference rate. You will have to determine if those courses would be more beneficial in person over taking them online at other times. There is a benefit to having the instructors there to give one on one help.

Looking at your profile, it looks you might be pretty far away from this bbcon. If budget is a concern (LOL, when is budget not a concern), I would say maybe go virtually and make plans for new year potentially. I honestly think all RE admins should go at least once. @Joe Moretti mentioned that he went early in his career, and I think you should probably get the basics down before attending, because in my experience its better if you have a certain level of proficiency before arriving as it does get quite esoteric in the conference with the terminology and acronyms.

The conference is very expensive. However, there is no better place to get an understanding of the things you can do in RE than bbcon. @JoAnn Strommen is making a good point that training may be a better place to learn how to do some things, but bbcon will broaden your scope.

Liz Wright

@Dariel Dixon this is great advice, thank you so much!

Angela JohnstonGoch

@Liz Wright
I attended BBCon 2023 for the first time and as a new RENXT user (one year). I thought some of the break out sessions were very helpful! Mainly I was there to make connections with others that I could hopefully use when I returned back to my Org. If you have the budget and can go, I would recommend it. It was pretty cool to hear all the ways in which RENXT and other programs are used. It made me realize I was only scratching the surface for data management. I'm hoping to be at BBCon 2024 but we'll see if my department can swing the cost. Best of luck to you!

Miki Martin

@Liz Wright when I attended my first bbcon last year, I was going as the DBA of an all-girls high school and had been using NXT for three years. That was the only Blackbaud product the school used. I found it extremely helpful. Some of the breakouts are education-specific which is really helpful. Budget is definitely a strong consideration, though. I would definitely encourage as much training through BBU, which is what I started with. I did not do the preconference day; it was just way too much for the budget.