Breakout sessions, after-parties: Google I/O not a regular developer gig

By Sreeraman Thiagarajan

If the gleaming sun, joyous people and fun rituals are key ingredients of a carnival, then Google I/O 2018 has plenty of them. The three-day festival, hours away from kicking off at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California, has an army of people - comprising Google's staff and event team - working to ensure that the five-thousand plus developers attending in person are welcomed and ushered-in with a smile.

Braving the icy breeze and standing in serpentine queues from 6:30 AM to pick up the lanyard and badge when the counter opens at 7am on the preceding day of the event, is a ritual followed by hyper enthusiastic attendees from around the world.


Those who pick up the badge earlier on qualify for a ringside view of the conference as Google's keynote team led by CEO Sundar Pichai perform one act at a time, aided by a presentation slide to tell the world what Google has been up to.

Google's swag kit is a real saviour. (Image: Sreeraman Thiagarajan)

The weather in the Bay Area is a tricky affair, with rapidly-changing wind speeds and fog. For Kevin Pelgrims, an attendee who tweeted about how he regretted leaving behind his sunglasses, he got more than just a pair of shades as a part of the swag kit when Google's CEO Sundar Pichai replied with a emoji.


Sunil Rao, Partner at Lightspeed India Partners, has a straightforward expectation from the conference, to stay in the know, as I/O is where veils are lifted for many new products and platforms.

"Attending I/O is for me to learn about recent developments at Google and how I can transfer the knowledge to my portfolio of start-ups to create an advantage for them," he says.

While there are many guesses on what one can expect from Google I/O 2018, I'm excited for voice-based products such as Actions on Google, and, perhaps an announcement of new Google Home device with a display screen to show videos along with the voice. But for most developers, the interest to attend ranges from meeting Google engineers during office hours, interacting with other developers, having skills similar and different from one another, and of course for networking and making new connections in the Silicon Valley.

Maryam Arshad, Manager of Google Business Group - Peshawar, a community powered by Google and run by volunteering individuals, Google I/O is all about networking while learning about technology by interacting with Googlers and an international diaspora of developers with like mindedness. Though her first visit to I/O, a gleeful Maryam says "I/O is amazing! It shows how Google merges technology with design and diverse fields like medicine".

With two keynotes delivered by the senior-most members of Google, and with hundreds of breakout sessions and office hours clubbed with rock themed after hours' party; Google I/O can't be confined to a single definition. It is what you make of it.

Sreeraman Thiagarajan is co-founder of Agrahyah Technologies and listed at Google Developers Expert for Marketing. He tweets at @sreeraman