At the forefront of observability, AI, and security: why Perform is a must-attend event through the eyes of our VP of Growth Marketing

This is a bonus episode of Real Talks, and it's all about Perform. Perform isn't just a conference held by Dynatrace in Las Vegas every year—it's where innovation in observability & security, customers' success, and community come to light. 

I sit down with Michelle Vaughan, VP of Growth Marketing, to unpack her impressions and takeaways from this year's flagship event. You'll hear some stories about the software you use daily powered by Dynatrace (and you likely don't know about it). 

With 2,000+ in-person attendees, 25,000+ virtual, 50+ customer stories, and groundbreaking insights in AI, security, and observability, there's plenty to dive into. Tune in to hear what made Perform an unforgettable experience, from inspiring customer stories to hands-on learning—and yes, even the legendary Dynatrace socks. 

Enjoying the episode? Leave us a comment on Spotify or YouTube, or rate it on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.  

Where to find us:     

• Connect with Sue Quackenbush on LinkedIn 
• Connect with Michelle Vaughan on LinkedIn  

Discover the opportunities at Dynatrace and take your career to the next level: careers.dynatrace.com

Transcript

Sue

Hi everyone, I am Sue Quackenbush, the Chief People Officer at Dynatrace. Today I'm bringing you a special bonus episode of Real Talks with our VP of Growth Marketing, Michelle Vaughan. We'll be diving into the highlights of Perform. Now, you might not know Perform, but Perform is the annual flagship conference organized by Dynatrace. Here are some of the stats from this year's edition. Over 2000 in-person attendees in Las Vegas. More than 25,000 virtual participants, 50 plus customers sharing their Dynatrace stories. So, without further ado let's jump into the conversation with Michelle.

Michelle

Thank you for having me, Sue, I'm so excited to talk with you about Perform and the impact on our customers.

Sue

Great. So Perform–over multiple days, lots and lots of energy, lots of customers and partners coming together to really learn about the latest and greatest about Dynatrace. Well, that's the most exciting part of perform this year.

Michelle

Oh my gosh, such a great event. And you are right. The energy was incredible. This was actually my first Perform. And the most exciting part for me was really to see our customers shine, and our customers shared their stories about how possibilities become reality. And I saw them and listened to them deliver on that promise. Through over 50 customer speakers from companies like Hilton, United Airlines, TD Bank, they were everywhere on every stage and stories were shared throughout the day. It was amazing.

Sue

So 50 customers speaking, which is incredible. What stood out for you from all of these different customers?

Michelle

It really offered something for everyone. So our customers led breakout sessions that ranged from intro to expert-level content, and attendees could join based on their current familiarity with Dynatrace. The variety of topics was endless. BP, for example, they discussed unlocking full stack observability for the AI era. Neki of Finserv platform in Colombia. They shared how they block hackers and detect fraud using our log analytics. There were 20 workshops and 13 hands-on trainings. Customers had a chance to focus on building new skills. We also had sold out executive exchange and partner events. and then also Sue, you connected with an incredible group of women during our Women in Tech panel. Um, and what I love and I really think is so valuable is we had customer speakers join us in Las Vegas from 11 different countries and dozens of industries. And this really gives our attendees the opportunity to gain insights from a wide variety of regional perspectives, industry perspectives, all aligned to their interests.

Sue

Now that's wonderful. And I, you know, having the experience to listen to a number of the keynotes, speeches, as well as attending the executive exchange and just learning from thought leaders and AI space and, um, and then in just in the tech space. And then I, like you mentioned being able to host a women's panel of really female tech trailblazers.

It was I mean, there was just so much and I agree, you said depending on where you were coming in, from what vantage point you were able to take something away. So can you share some of the customer highlights with us?

Michelle

I would love to. And just before we go there, I can't not mention the start. Yes, our leadership launched more pairs of socks into the crowd during mainstage sessions, and the attendees loved their socks. And it's been incredible to see socks posted all over social media in the days after the event.

Sue

Right. And the Dynatrace socks. So for those of you who don't know, Dynatrace has these really funky socks that come in different styles and, were able to have some fun with the crowd and shoot them out in the crowd. But we also had them at our swag store so people could walk away with really, really fun socks to wear which was so much fun. So customer highlights. I have to say, one of my favorite highlights was the customer Award winners. Every year at Dynatrace, we recognize customers who achieved tremendous success, and these awards go to innovative and dedicated experts who are making amazing things possible. Our winners this year were direct TV, Neki, LPL Financial, and Freedom Pay, and direct TV was our winner for the Digital Breakout Performer Award. And this goes to the customer who's delivering. The most value for their business in the shortest amount of time, another winner LPL financial. They are significantly reducing time spent on incident remediation, and that's resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual savings for their business in just the past year.

Sue

And then also Freedom Pay one. I learned a lot. I mean, I couldn't, you know, thinking. And I have to look every time I go to Starbucks or go to some other store and, and swipe my credit card, I'm looking to see if it's if it's done through Freedom Pay.

Michelle

Such a good call out. Freedom Pay one our Customer advocate of the year award. And this is really the award for the customer who does the most to help other customers. And the whole team at Freedom Pay has gone above and beyond to share their expertise. They also showed up at perform in a huge way with big energy. We had executive speakers from Freedom Pay and our executive exchange, our the software engineering lead talk to our. Our partners have fone above and beyond to share their expertise. They also showed up at Perform in a huge way with big energy. We had executive speakers from Freedom Pay and our Executive Exchange. Our software, the Software Engineering Lead talked to our engineer and developer audiences explaining how they use business events and Grail to optimize customer collaboration and the session you're referring to is their Head of Observability, joined us on Mainstage and shared the story about how for their business and their customers, milliseconds matter. So they have to do their payment processing in under 250 milliseconds I can't even imagine how short that is but for their customers to be successful that's a critical requirement and no one wants to stand around like you said and wait for coffee.

Sue

That was great. So being at Perform, lots of people, lots of energy, the buzz is great. So much, you know, just conversation about where technology is going, how Dynatrace supports our customers. What happens after the event? 

Michelle

Yeah, so our goal is really to give our customers an action plan that they can take back and implement immediately with their teams. And when you think about that in terms of what are the top, you know, three to five things that they can do to get the most out of their observability platform. So for example, we want them to walk away. And be able to go back to their teams and talk about how to effectively leverage AI insights or more preventative operations or ways to automate up to 80% of compliance tasks to make their business more resilient. And then also leveraging observability driven security for a complete and automated security package. The benefits of empowering developers with observability insights, those are those are, you know, some of the top things that they could take back and share with their teams today. And then I have to share that one of the coolest things is it's not just about us making sure our customers are successful. There's this real bond that our customers are forming with each other. And meeting up at the show, you know, year after year, it was very cool to hear customers talk about how they're looking to see their friend or their colleague at another customer of ours. And those connections are so powerful. I spoke to folks who've been meeting up at Perform for years now, and we want to foster more of that collaboration. So this year we also planned a couple of sessions where we were able to connect our customers that in financial services and transportation, introducing people with common needs and challenges and really building that sense of community with them and that will extend well beyond Perform. 

Sue

I love that and just the community, right? And you think about what we're all about from a Dynatrace employer and our Dynatravers worldwide who come together as a community to put on Perform that sense of connection, the relationships that are built. So critically important to really help foster the growth and innovation that we are looking to deliver to our customers. So love, I mean it's, it's almost a mirror of community within Dynatrace, community outside of Dynatrace, but it just all comes together. So, I really love that aspect. For customers who could not attend us at Perform, how can they get connected?

Michelle

Well, first they missed a great time and we hope to see them in person next year but to your point we also understand it's not possible for everyone to join us in person. Many of our session we offered at the event virtually, including mainstage innovation, stage, breakout session content, all of this amazing customer stories that we talked about. They are available on demand on our Perform website. And over the next several months we'll be hosting webinars, session replays, and we'll have customers join us for live discussion in Q&A. So we can still continue to foster that sense of community and customer to customer connection. And then we are bringing a condensed version of the content to in-person roadshows in major cities globally. We really want to keep the conversation going. 

Sue

So lots of ways to connect, lots of ways to continue to find out and learn about Dynatrace, and what we're doing for our customers. What was your favorite part of the event? 

Michelle

The thing that struck me the most about this event is it's about the human connections. And I love my job. I actually, I love my job. I think I have the best job in the world and I think what makes it the best job in the world is how Dynatrace comes together and cares passionately about customers, the human connection across the organization that we have with our customers, and our desire to make the impossible possible for our customers. So those are things that really get me fired up about this role, this opportunity and being part of the Dynatrace team.

Sue

Michelle, I think that's amazing. I'm so glad that you love your job. I am so passionate about the employee experience, you are so passionate about the customer experience and the building of community. And so I'm so happy you're with Dynatrace and I can't wait for next year's Perform. 

Michelle

Thank you. It was so great talking with you and I have to say I'm already looking forward to Perform in Las Vegas next year. 

Sue

Absolutely. Thank you all for joining me in reflecting on this year's–the energy, the outcomes, the socks. It was truly a marvelous experience. For those who couldn't make it, be sure to visit dynatrace.com for on demand content, our upcoming roadshows, and more from the world of software, observability and security. Stay tuned to Real Talks, our next episode coming already in April.