It’s been far too long since I’ve spent time in this space. As I sat down to write this, I found myself examining the “why” of that first sentence and realized that my answer echoed so much of what I’m hearing from colleagues in our industry recently. The common thread seems to be that over the past six months, the volume and intensity of what’s on our plates every day has ratcheted up quite noticeably.
The good news here is that this is symptomatic of a positive change in business conditions and a prelude to companies’ starting to hire again. The bad news is that during this period, we’ve all had less time to engage in the professional development that we recognize as valuable to our employers, to our careers, and even to our sense of well-being.
And while all this has been happening, SHARE has not been sitting on the sidelines just watching.
To those of you here in Seattle, welcome! You’ll see changes in the conference that we hope will make it easier to find the content you need. You’ll also see that we’re continuing to refresh the program content to ensure that it’s relevant to the new IT challenges you’re facing every day.
For the first time ever, we’re extending the experience of the conference to those who may not be able to attend in person. SHARE Online from Seattle is four full days of live webcast, delivering a range of selected conference content directly to the desks of those who are unable to travel.
We’re also well underway with an initiative to offer more technical content online. This will launch our effort to extend the SHARE conference experience into a year-round opportunity for IT professionals to get proven knowledge from subject matter experts on demand. Watch this space in SHARENews Daily later this week for more on this initiative.
So now, let the conference week begin! I’m jazzed to hear the insights we’re going to get from our keynote speakers. I’m impressed with the technical program that our volunteer leadership has created. I’m grateful to our sponsors and exhibitors for their continuing engagement with SHARE. And I’m hopeful that each and every one of you — whether here in person or participating online — will have a personally and professionally rewarding experience over the next four days.