As the new president of IDUG, I want to treat my first president’s letter as an opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Billy and I am honored to be the president of IDUG for the next 12 months. For those of you that have always wondered, the IDUG North American conference is when the annual changing of the guards take place. This June, Mirna Kos passed along the president’s role to me during the IDUG North American conference in Charlotte.
I would like to thank Mirna for all of her contributions to IDUG, especially for the countless hours she put in during the transition to the new association management company. Making changes to a 30-year-old legacy is challenging, to say the least, and Mirna was able to successfully steer IDUG through the change.
In addition to the quality education, IDUG always offers plenty of networking opportunities. It was good to see so many familiar faces in Charlotte last month. IDUG continues to attract quite a few first-time attendees. In fact, over 30% of the conference attendees were attending an IDUG conference for the first time.
With the North American conference behind us, we are looking forward to the other upcoming events this year. IDUG in Australia will be in a new format and will be held two cities. Be sure to check out the conference pages for IDUG Australia in Canberra and Melbourne in September, and make your plans to attend one of these fantastic events.
In 2018, the IDUG events in Brazil were a huge success. Due to popular demand, this year we will be holding two events, one in Mexico City and one in Sao Paulo. The agendas will be released soon, so stay tuned for the full speaker lineup.
IDUG is a volunteer-run organization and we are always looking for volunteers to help us out. No matter how large or small a time commitment, your help is always welcome and appreciated. If you are interested in volunteering, check out our current call for volunteers.
IDUG 2020 will be held in Dallas, and the Loyalty discount is available for only a short period of time, so if you know you are going to attend IDUG in North America next year, be sure to seize this opportunity! Register today.
I’m excited for the year ahead, and I look forward to continuing the IDUG tradition of community and education. Please feel free to drop me a line with any questions or suggestions. I can be reached at billy.sundarrajan@idug.org
Cheers!