Every year, RSA Conference delivers hundreds of talks, webinars, and research reports. But what should you do with it all? According to Steve Winterfeld, Advisory CISO at Akamai, the answer is simple: turn insight into action.

It’s Not About What You Hear—It’s About What You Do

“If I’m reading or studying something and it doesn’t lead to a decision or action, it wasn’t a good use of my time,” Winterfeld says. For him, RSA is a tool for prioritization.

Start with your top five vendors—check if they’ve released research, new features, or best practice guidance. Are you leveraging those updates fully? If not, RSA gives you the perfect window to recalibrate.

Train Your Team for Free

Winterfeld points out that RSA’s talks and virtual content can serve as no-cost training for security teams. Pick a few sessions, share them internally, and organize a group discussion. “This is free training. Why wouldn’t we use it?”

Prepare for What’s Coming

Use insights from RSA to inform your threat modeling and red team exercises. Whether it’s understanding new DDoS patterns or experimenting with AI/LLM-related attack scenarios, conference content can fuel realistic war-gaming.

RSA isn’t just about being in the room—it’s about what you bring back. Strategy. Tactics. And better alignment between threat reality and team readiness.