Why should you attend GSX? Or any security focused conference for that matter

By Nikki Rutman

As written by our AIA Board Member Nikki Rutman, who attended the Global Security Exchange (GSX) in 2025. Nikki reflects on her experience at GSX and why private sector security conferences are so critical in your career, especially as more organizations embrace and evolve their intelligence missions. She also shares tips for how to make the most of these opportunities. Thank you, Nikki, for sharing your insights with our community.

So, what is this GSX I speak of? It is a multi-day event full of pre-conference workshops, an educational agenda (for ASIS certification credits), and a non-credit based agenda. It is also the primary conference for Chief Security Officers (CSOs), physical security managers/directors, and GSOC managers to shop for new physical security tools. There is a section for intelligence tools (I will come back to this) which attracts CSOs and GSOC managers alike. It is also a primary location where CSOs, Physical Security Directors, and GSOC managers will bump up against guard service and embedded analyst providers like Allied Universal, Securitas, Pinkerton, Crisis24, etc.

As a GSX first timer (and I was there for only 1 day), I can attest that it will overwhelm all of your senses. There are lights, sounds, movement, people, and smoke (yup, even smoke) everywhere!

You will walk miles around the venue, and at the end of the day you will be exhausted, but your day is not over: You. Must. Network!

Many of you just said, “NO WAY.”  I know some intelligence professionals lean to the introvert side of the house, and this sounds like a major drain of energy. It probably is, but you should go for the following reasons:

• Intelligence Tools: See what’s new and what is being added to the tools you may already have. This is a great way to get exposed to the latest and greatest in social media scraping, investigations, crime mapping, etc. Use it as a chance to figure out which tools you may want to trial or what might be up and coming for the future of intelligence.

• AI: In case you haven’t heard, there is a new shiny object called Artificial Intelligence or AI (am I trying too hard to be funny? Sorry, long day of travel!). Nearly every agenda item had an AI angle. AI can be an enabler for your work; there are some great AI Agents being built that can take the mundane templated work off your plate so you can do the real intelligence work. But even more important than that, these panels highlight where the risks might be and will get you thinking about ways to collect on it or mitigate it before your boss asks.

• The Boss: Your boss is probably a CSO or GSOC manager, and they like to look at the new shiny technology and spend lots of budget on buying the latest and greatest camera detection system or AI-enabled gadget. The problem with this is that they don’t always ask about the data it collects, or if that data is easy to access or use for you to incorporate into your intelligence process (such as to look for insider risks or detect external threats). Being there yourself will allow you to either ask those questions more directly (with your boss there) or you will be able to direct the boss to the tools you already researched and want them to see in person (remember to schedule appointments in advance – see next section).

Now if you are an extroverted intelligence analyst who is ready to take on the exhibition hall and knock out a bunch of lectures before playing drinking games at the networking event (I am not even kidding you – these things are wild!). I would make the following suggestions:

• Don’t: While there may be a pool on the rooftop bar for the drop-in happy hour hosted by a vendor, or a masquerade ball, or the opportunity to punt a few squishy footballs during the open bar/free band party hosted by a guard service (these are all true and happened) – this is still a professional event. It is hard enough to be an intelligence professional in the private sector, don’t hurt your reputation by being that kind of life of the party. The reputation you build does follow you. Go and have fun and make connections, personal connections will win the day.

• Do: Use the event as an opportunity to keep your connections alive. Relationships take care and feeding, especially when you are not in crisis. If you only talk to your connections during crisis, they may get the wrong impression.

• Do: Make a plan! The event is overwhelming and there are lots of sessions occurring at the same time. Use the show planner to schedule your time and make appointments with the people and vendors you do not want to miss. This will make your event more successful. Don’t be shy about reaching out!

• Do: Take advantage of the opportunity for career coaching, headshots, learning about what ASIS has to offer, etc. Make the event as much about the tools, tech, and talking as it is about your career development and growth.

• Don’t: Do not become a wallflower. Make new connections, put in a proposal to present, and ask the questions.

  
  

If you go to GSX next year (Atlanta) or plan to be in DC in November for OSAC, I3 Summit, Analyst Roundtable, etc. – don’t be stranger!

FBI AIA Members frequently attend industry events - if you have events you think we should be at, please comment here or message us!