by Kevin Keller, Steering Committee President

It’s been three weeks since the curtains closed on Citrix Synergy 2017, and we’ve had time to review our efforts. The unanimous conclusion is that Synergy 2017 was our best showing yet. I want to share some of the good news and thank the people who made it happen. 

Before we get to the numbers, let me first say the entire community was buzzing at Synergy 2017. More people are connecting, talking, Tweeting and networking. More people are volunteering and leading. More community leaders from the CTP and CTA programs, our local leadership and our rank-and-file presented and hosted discussions. More people attended the Pregame reception and visited the booth to catch up and help. There was more energy and more community.

Synergy 2017 started strong with a full CUGC Pregame Reception and Navigators Reception.  We picked up steam on Tuesday when Kirill and Tim put community in the day one Vision Keynote with successive shout outs to CUGC, CTPs and CTAs!  That’s a very welcome first.

We rolled through the week at the Community Hub in Synergy Park. We handed out thousands of 2017 t-shirts, stickers and minifig mugs. We shared the latest community news with more than a thousand attendees, gathered new members and volunteers, and made plans for new groups. Close by in Synergy Park, dozens of community members hosted Hot Topic Roundtables with freeform technical discussions.

When the dust settles, I expect our global membership will top the 17,000 mark thanks to people that joined at Synergy and a surge in online registrations driven by the Synergy buzz. We expect a record 30 plus local meetings in June recapping Synergy news. We have dozens of webinars and blogs in the pipeline, some with live Synergy presentations for the community and others with updated presentations. The content will keep flowing.

There are too many people to thank, but I’ll try. The Synergy Working Group, which held monthly meetings starting in 2016 to plan our Pregame, t-shirt design contest, booth and more. Our local leaders and each of our volunteers that staffed the Pregame and booth. The CTPs, CTAs, Citrix experts and rank-and-file members who presented at Synergy and are now bringing post-Synergy content to local meetings, blogs and webinars. My colleagues on the Steering Committee. The Citrix leadership and the Community Team. The HQ team that kept us organized and on task. And to the people I forgot, I’m sorry, and I thank you, too. 

Synergy 2017 was a big success. Many, many volunteers and staff share in the credit. Thank you.