Over the past year, the team behind Social Connections have been working hard to put the organisation onto a firm footing for the future.
As a thriving user group that had delivered 7 successful events between 2011-2014, and a growing leadership team featuring a number of IBM Champions from around the community, it was felt that it was time to cement the great work that had been done to get this far, and to build an organisation that would support and withstand the efforts of organising regular events across the world.
As part of this effort, I’ve been delighted to work with Wannes and Simon in particular, to transition the ownership of the events from my own company, Social 365, to a brand new entity (registered as a company in the UK). This company is solely responsible for planning and delivering the Social Connections events, and has been set up from day one with the right frameworks to enable it to manage the demands of worldwide events, including the complexities of tax and VAT across national boundaries, a team based in more than half a dozen countries, and that is capable of working with sponsors that range in size from independent ISVs to multinational corporations!
Back in November, we delivered Social Connections 9 in Stuttgart – the biggest and (from your feedback) the best event so far. This event was run by Soccnx Limited, and with the vast majority of the planning work done by others on the Social Connections team. Whilst I was incredibly happy to attend and to speak at the event, the plaudits for that event should go to the rest of the team – they did an incredible job!
So it is with this in mind, that I was ready to step away from the Social Connections effort at the end of 2015, and leave it in the very capable (and indeed, talented) hands of Wannes and Simon, and their brilliant team (Christoph, Doug, Femke, Jan, Lars, Maria and Martin).
I’m incredibly proud of what we have achieved with Social Connections, and can’t wait to see and hear from the team as they plan for the events in 2016 and beyond.