For the second year in a row, SHARE will host the SHARE ExecuForum, March 12-13, in conjunction with SHARE in Atlanta. This exclusive two-day leadership forum will welcome enterprise IT executives discussing some of today’s most pressing enterprise IT business issues. Where SHARE in Atlanta is technical and user-focused in nature, the SHARE ExecuForum will address issues that are top-of-mind to today’s IT business leaders. With a strong speaker line-up including leaders from IBM, Nationwide and UNICOM Global, to name a few and a host of valuable networking opportunities to connect with other leaders, this year’s ExecuForum is not to be missed. We sat down with Carolyn Dolezal, who attended our inaugural ExecuForum and will be joining us again this year in Atlanta, to discuss the value of this event.

What was the best speaker/topic addressed at last year’s ExecuForum?

I took away a lot of information from both the Big Data and the Social Business sessions. The sessions were thought provoking and distilled a lot of information into a clear framework.

What topic/session are you most looking forward to at this year’s ExecuForum?

I’ll be interested to partake in all of the discussions around leadership – Linda Ban and Corry Hong will both be addressing these issues, which are always top of mind for executives. Bob Reid’s session on “Addressing the Mainframe Skills Gap” is also a timely, very real issue many organizations are facing today.

Was there a specific solution or knowledge-base that you were able to take back from last year’s event and apply to your organization?

Sandy Carter’s Social Business briefing on how the buzz around social media should be looked at through the lens of social business. Her exposition and examples created excellent sound bites that I could use back in my organization for how we needed to think differently and approach issues through a social business lens.

What is the most valuable aspect of the ExecuForum experience?

I truly enjoyed the content, and that was a primary attractor for me, but it was enhanced by the fellow executives and directors in the forum. They were involved, engaged, in a learning mode, and therefore the discussions and idea sharing added quite a bit to the content itself.

Can you comment on the networking ExecuForum offers?

My experience was that the networking was easy. It was with a group of committed professionals who were at the session to learn and exchange ideas. The energy was high and participants were happy to “think out loud” about what they were hearing and had experienced.

Is there anything additional about ExecuForum that you think potential attendees might like to know?

The ExecuForum was big enough to sponsor and tackle some complex topics in-depth, yet we had the ability to break into smaller discussion areas and really dig in on topics and get to know each other. This intimate one-on-one connection is unique to an event of this caliber. It’s hugely valuable do discuss how peers may have addressed an issue that you’re facing. I’m looking forward to the discussions in Atlanta.

For more information on the SHARE ExecuForum visit www.Atlanta.SHARE.org/ExecuForum.

*Participants in the SHARE ExecuForum should be enterprise IT executives or an otherwise equivalent role. SHARE defines the equivalent role as the ‘third level IT manager within an organization’ (Group Manager, Senior Manager, Director, Senior Director or VP).