Welcome to SHARE in 2021. We will soon be joining together for SHARE Virtual Summit 2021. The Conference Operations team, myself included, and the Program Council have prepared a slate of presentations, panel discussions, and various other opportunities to interact with partners and peers for updates on the latest developments. As always, we continue to be focused on our primary mission to offer opportunities for education, networking, and industry influence.

Technology Education is Primary

The virtual event next month will have a primary focus on technical education. You will have opportunity to hear about all of the latest products and enhancements from all of our vendor partners and peers. This will include the most recent product announcements that will be hot off the press right up until the time of the event.

Event Schedule

We’re approaching the March virtual summit with a modified schedule that we expect will help everyone to get maximum benefit from time spent. The event begins on March 2 and concludes on March 24. Live sessions that are part of the technical agenda will run from 10:00 a.m. through 4:00 p.m. Central Time (U.S.).

Technology Pods

One change to the schedule that attendees will notice this time around is that the various technology focus areas will be organized in “pods” of time over one or two days rather than being spread out over the entire length of the event. That will allow attendees to focus their attention on one or more technology pods. For example, if your primary focus is on z/OS (MVS) you can attend the days during which MVS pods are scheduled. If you also want to join in sessions related to Women in IT or Open Source and Zowe, you can participate in those pods on the appropriate days. Find an overview of the pods here. With full event registration, every attendee can participate in as many of the technology pods as they choose and will also have access to all of the recorded sessions.

Scheduling Notes

A couple of things to note about the schedule for this event:

• The U.S. Daylight Saving Time change occurs during the middle of the event, on March 14. Be sure that you verify the time for pods throughout the second half of the month.
• You are likely to find some creative use of the six-hour pod timeslots. For some topics, you may find short discussions and, for others, you may find longer seminars. When you review the daily schedule, pay close attention to how each pod is broken up.

User Experience and Networking

As with any SHARE event, you’ll find many opportunities to hear from other users during the virtual summit. Such events include, but are not limited to, experience panels, where you can either hear the experiences of others or join in on discussions with peers and developers.

There is so certainly more to tell you about the SHARE Winter 2021 Virtual Event, but I will leave some of the discovery to you as you explore the event website and review the technical agenda to plan your education experience. If you have any questions, please ask! Just email me, or the SHARE staff, to “share” any questions or feedback.

We look forward to seeing every one of you (virtually) at SHARE Virtual Summit 2021 in March!