IR Connect is just a few weeks away – our first complimentary, virtual conference featuring an exciting agenda with valuable content for everyone.
While many things have changed about this year's conference, IR Connect is the result of a natural progression of IR conferences growing in ambition and impact over the years. So how did we get here?
Nearly 6 years ago, when I joined IR in 2015, we held a small event in the Americas region called IR Customer Council. About 25 to 30 people attended a one-and-a-half-day event and participated in high level meetings about IR strategy, capabilities of the technology, and customer feedback. The event helped us to connect with our customers in the Americas and provided a valuable feedback loop where customers could share their thoughts on our company vision and strategy. It was a great event and I saw the potential to develop the event to have greater impact in our community.
The next year we launched IR Summit – a more ambitious event in every way! It featured nearly 30 sessions across two full days, and in addition to what was offered in the Customer Council, it added a full suite of technical training for users to broaden their knowledge of IR’s solutions to get more out of our products and more effectively meet their business goals.
In 2017, Summit grew to three days and offered even more content. We moved to a larger venue to accommodate more attendees from all over the world, the awards program and gala dinner became one of the big highlights, and an accreditation program was implemented to recognize learnings.
Summit continued to develop and by 2019, we went global! In addition to the annual conference in Denver, we held inaugural events in London, Frankfurt and Sydney.
Over the last 4 years, nearly 1,000 customers from around the world have gathered to hear insights, share knowledge, and connect with IR leaders, employees and each other. We’ve learned so much along the way from the IR community and we are committed to continuing to deliver what they want and need from us.
2020 is the 5th anniversary of IR Summit. And with so much going on in the world right now, we believe the time is right for the next evolution – one that retains the core of what people love about this event, while bringing even more value to more people in our community.
IR Summit is now IR Connect
IR Connect is all new – redesigned, reconfigured, rebranded, relaunched! And it focuses on the importance of connection.
People rely on connections for so many of life’s interactions – whether that’s having a phone call with a loved one, buying groceries, booking a vacation, or collaborating with a globally dispersed team – connection between people is at the heart.
There are complex webs of interconnected systems working in the background to enable these interactions to happen. IR and Connect are focused on helping companies maintain and manage the most critical systems in their business, to keep connections open.
What’s Changing?
- More than Technical Training – As always, there will be a strong focus on technical training for new and advanced users alike. We’ve also implemented more diverse sessions, designed to deliver value and insight to people who are more focused on business outcomes. These sessions are ideal for executives, partners, and managers.
- More Guest Speakers – IR Connect is for IR customer executives, partners, Collaboration and Payment platform vendors, and industry thought leaders – and We’re bringing in more expert speakers to deliver valuable insight and stimulate your thinking. IR Connect will have something for everyone, from customers and partners, to vendors and industry thought leaders.
- Product Launches and Product Strategy Deep Dives – We will be announcing a number of exciting product launches at IR Connect. I don’t want to give anything away, but I encourage you to register to find out more!
- Improved Accreditation Program – We’re launching an enhanced accreditation program focused on increasing recognition and rigor, and expanding accreditation opportunities, from the types of accreditation available to the ways that these accreditations can be earned.
The final change is one we didn't anticipate. We had planned to build on our global roadshow last year and take IR Connect to several locations around the world. But with travel restrictions in place for the foreseeable future, we've adapted and are excited to offer IR Connect as a complimentary, virtual conference.
While we’d love to see you face-to-face, a benefit of this format is that more people will have the opportunity to connect, from anywhere in the world! We can’t wait for you to join us at IR Connect.
