Forrester’s Security and Risk team will have a lot of analysts out once again for this year’s RSA Conference. After all these years (12 for me!) we have to balance our excitement to see old friends and colleagues with our cynicism that says it will be a week of empty buzzwords just slightly updated from those we heard last year.

We expect this to be mostly a fashion show – or what my old friend and colleague Rachel used to call the security industry’s debutante ball. We will hear far too many definitions for words like threat intelligence, platform, and integration; and we won’t hear the phrases case study examples, customer trust, or customer value nearly often enough.

But rather than dwell on our skepticism, here are a few things we’re excited about going into next week:

  • The Innovation Sandbox is always a highlight. Most of our team will come by to see the finalists on Monday, and you should look for our upcoming blog posts, tweets, and a report or two examining some of the vendors that have competed in this annual contest.
  • The expo dress code will be a whole lot classier. I’m personally glad to see RSA’s leadership with the new vendor dress code guidelines this year. (And kudos to our former colleague Chenxi Wang for her role in this change.) Hopefully that means everyone’s more focused on the substance of vendor messaging.
  • A few Forrester teammates will take the stage. Look for some great insight and wit from our own Tyler Shields (Practical Advice for Embracing RASP – A New Kind of Defense) and Rick Holland (Attribution Debate – Is It Worth It?, The Insider Threat in the Cloud: The Harsh Reality in Today's World, and Threat Intelligence is Like Three-Day Potty Training).
    • Edit: As if these weren't enough, Rick tells me he'll also be moderating a panel during the Innovation Sandbox!
  • There will be a lot of tweets. If you’re interested in what we’re seeing at the show – and more importantly what we think about it – several team members will be tweeting: Stephanie Balaouras (@sbalaouras), Andras Cser (@acser), Ed Ferrara (@eferrara), Nick Hayes (@nickhayes10), Rick Holland (@rickhholland), Christopher Sherman (@ChrisShermanFR), Heidi Shey (@heidishey), and Tyler Shields (@txs)
  • We will recap the event the following week. After the dust has settled and the glaze from our eyes has lifted, Ed Ferrara and Merritt Maxim will present a recap of the biggest news and our perspectives. Register now for the RSA Conference 2015 Recap: Forrester Research Perspectives Webinar on April 28, 2015.

Any highlights that I should add to this list? (Should I have mentioned that the later start should mean better weather than usual?) Anything else that you’re especially excited to see?