The planning begins

I spent the first two days of November working with the VISUAL Focus executive committee developing the agenda and breakout sessions for the VISUAL user conference organized and hosted by Visual South, Synergy Resources and BizTech. The conference will be held October 21-24, 2018 at Disney's Coronado Springs Resort in Orlando, FL.

I really enjoy the planning sessions we have. We lock ourselves in a room for two days and at the beginning of day one we promise ourselves we will have an agenda completed at the end of day two; no exceptions. In addition, we challenge ourselves to build on and improve the experience for the attendees. (Customer feedback from the surveys plays an important role here.) We've always set the bar high and in each meeting we raise the bar. We can do that because the room is filled with people who are creative and passionate about VISUAL.

I'm happy to report we got the job done. I'd like to share with you some of the ideas we came up with:

• If you go to the maximum number of breakout sessions one could attend, you will go to 15 sessions. Six on Monday, six on Tuesday, three on Wednesday. There will be at least 120 sessions offered; 31 of them will be new for 2018.
• Last year we tried workshops for the first time, and we all felt there was room for improvement. We are bringing them back with changes based on attendee feedback and our observations. Here are some of the changes:
• Every workshop participant will receive a USB thumb drive with everything you need for the workshop. This will eliminate connectivity and version issues that caused some challenges at the last conference.
• Whatever you build in the workshop will be on your thumb drive to keep.
• The sessions will be in a room specifically set up for the workshops.
• The workshops will not be held on Sunday. Rather, they will be running concurrently with the breakout sessions and will be the length of two breakout sessions.

VISUAL Focus is the premier conference for VISUAL users and 2018 will continue that tradition. You should plan on going because when you spend three days focusing on VISUAL, talking to other users, and working with experts on what VISUAL can do for you, problems get solved.

Registration will open late this year or early next year, and there will be no price increase from 2017! Mark your calendars for October 21-24, 2018; you'll be glad you did. If you have any questions, let me know.