Um Yes, hi, everyone. I'm really excited to have a conversation with a very special guest today. Um Just before I get into that, um I would like to talk to everyone about our executive council and what that is. So, just to let you know that every region that we have is guided by an executive council and this is made up of leaders chosen from the regional groups by members and the executive council includes the chair and the vice chair who bravely put themselves forward to help us lead the way. Um And they established the regional groups, priorities, initiatives and strategies. So that's just a little bit of a recap of what our executive council is all about. And so I'd like to bring Dan into the conversation, Dan, you are the chair of the CompTIA community for UK and Ireland. Welcome. Thank you. Thank you, Estelle thanks for having me and hi, everybody. Thanks for giving us your time. Excellent Dan. Can you tell us a little bit more about yourself? Besides wearing the hat of the chair. Tell us what else you do. Yeah, absolutely. Um So I am the director for it nation here in the world of Europe. Um So, conferences, user groups, peer groups. Um I was in MSP for 13 years. Uh I was an internal it for a couple of years before that, apologies to anyone that's ever used any technical system that I ever had a hand in doing anything with. Um Yeah, the uh the scars are there, I'm sure. Uh And yeah, so technology industry for all of my career um and proud to be here and very proud to be the chair of the community and we are so proud to have you. I mean, you bring a wealth of knowledge um and always come with such great insight and I would say to anyone if you have Dan at an event, stick him on at the end of the day, he does an amazing roundup of all the sessions. So sorry, Dan, I've just volunteered another role for you. Um But like just excellent picking up on key points and what people can pick up from the day. Um Also you do an amazing job of teeing things off as well, right? You, you get people into a really great mindset of how to come forward um and participate in community meetings. I always like in community meetings to joining the gym, right? Like you can't just like show up and think that you're gonna get results, you actually have to put the work in and then you can get and, and see, see excellent results. Um So we been talking about communities, tell us a little bit more about what you get excited about. Well, just, just on that note and the reason I, I really enjoy doing that and the reason I think it's really important um for, for like number one team people up from the right mindset and getting everyone's ready for the day. And then also kind of recapping going back through. It's all about value. That's the most important thing that we can have. Like, you know, time is the one thing that none of us have got enough of um money is probably a close second. But, you know, that's everyone's different on that one and the, but we're all time poor. You know, there's always demands on what we're doing. You wake up every day, you go to work uh or you or it's a weekend and you don't, hopefully. Um and you make decisions about where you're gonna invest that time. And when people come to, to one of our community meetings, they, they've chosen to give us the, the most valuable thing that they have and the thing they haven't gotten involved. Um Our job on the day as the team, as the executive council, as, as the wider community, cos we're all there for each other. Our, our job is to make sure that we all leave, making sure that everybody got the most value out of what they've done that day. And they think, do you know what I made the right decision? I invested the right way today and I've come out of this with the things that are gonna help me to move my life and my business forward. Um I've got those, you know, golden nuggets, those light bulb moments where, uh, and so that, that's what it is. So number one is just getting over in the right frame of mind. And, um, you know, we're not here just to, to survive 100 and 58 slides between like now and the close of play. Um, we're here to, to learn to share, to collaborate and then at the end of it because sometimes it's a bit like drinking from a fire hose when it comes to content and ideas and, and you kind of, you remember the last one, but you don't remember the three before that just, you know, what do we, let's remember some of the things that we did and let's remember some of the things that our members have shared with us today and our guest speakers have come in. And so, yeah, love it, love it. How you actually made and several great points. But the one that I just picked up on also is that, you know, this is our members in the industry and they they're giving back, they share so graciously, right? They, again, you're talking about time and um they talk about the challenges, their wins, they talking about opportunities in collaboration. It really is for me, the, you know, um the definition of community where people are better together. Um And they share the, the the pains, they share the experiences so that we can all progress and um feel like we've left the room just a little bit better than when we entered the room. Um So one word in there as well, we rewind a bit and there's one word of industry and I think that's worth picking on because I think it's something that we probably take for granted and don't talk about enough. And also that people might not know who are listening to this today. But of course, the community is an industry wide community, you know, the computer trade Industry Association, uh maybe something else that people have learned today and it, it's about. So, you know, trying to, uh people might be familiar with concepts of community, be that online, um be that at in person events, but try and then view what we do as, as almost like a level above, it's almost like a 30,000 ft view of what's there. So you could be in a room with people from managed service providers, from technology service providers who exist outside of the immediate bubble of sp our vice chair um within the the UK and Ireland. Sorry, the community UK and Ireland get it right. Is, uh, Hollie Whittles. Uh, Hollie has a, a business that helps people with data analytics and, um, amazing stuff around applications, things like that. It's incredible. Um, but isn't a managed services provider? You've gotta remember there are other service providers outside of that world. Um And so we're meeting with them, we're meeting with manufacturers of technology, uh, with distributors, with training providers, with people who own the, the centers that are teaching, people are coming up through the industry. So you're taking a really well rounded perspective that you might not get and you might not know. And that's where the learning comes from. You know, we've had members of the Executive council who quite frankly, I would never have met, were it not for CompTIA here and the community? Of course, I just would never have had the privilege of getting to know and understand what their perspective on, on topics and subjects might be. Um because the community brings everybody together from all over the industry, not just from some of the should we say? Probably more represented sections um or pillars that we see quite commonly out there. Um No harm in that, but it's about gaining those wider perspectives. Yeah, and we are quite an open and inclusive community. Um Anyone that's interested in the business of technology, we are more than happy because everyone has a story, a perspective or wants to learn, right? So we're there to, to guide and help and also to learn from others as well. Um So just going back to what gets you excited about the community, anything coming? Yeah, absolutely. So, um we are like eyes down and locked in for our meeting. Um and our Spotlight Awards in Birmingham on the 26th of June. Can't wait. Absolutely. Can't wait. So to translate for people that might be reading this and uh or listening to this and never been to a meeting before. What does all that mean? Um That means that during the morning and the afternoon, uh we will come together as a community for our, one of our uh annual uh uh we normally do two per year outside of our conference talk about that later um of community meetings. So we have a full agenda of sessions, uh multiple breakout tracks as well. So there's a choice for people. So there's the different, it's not all catered to one audience or one way of thinking or one role within a business, there's content for everybody um within a technology industry, business. So we have a day of learning together. Um We've also got some awesome guest speakers coming in as well. Some keynote speakers which I'm really looking forward to two um which are on my, on my hit list. Um And then we will take a short break while the comp to your team do their amazing work and turn things around. And then in the evening, we will come together um as a community to celebrate all the achievements of, of all the amazing people within the community at our Spotlight Awards in the evening. So Black Tie Glad Rags on. Um Yeah, let's come together and, and uh as I said, just celebrate, celebrate what people do and celebrate all the achievements that they've made. And I would say just one thing about, well, two things about the, the uh UK and Ireland Spotlight Awards is that it is not pay to play. Um This is open to all our members, anyone can participate, they can put themselves forward, um get that recognition for all the hard work that you're doing. Um And the other one also is that we have um always so proud of this, that we have international judges. So it's not anyone within, you know, the, the region. Um So everyone outside of that region, we have uh North America DACH Benelux ANZ ASEAN. They're all getting together to take a look at uh the, the entries and as unbiased as we can be. Um But yeah, just a really great experience because um we, we hear time and time again that people say that these awards mean so much to them because it genuinely is about, it genuinely is yes about what you put in. Um And, and the, and the work that you're doing and that you're making a positive impact. That's what we're all about in this community is like we work towards making a positive impact, whether you're an individual, a business. We want to make a positive impact on the industry and society um and move forward in that direction. So, um yeah, thank you for sharing that. I'm excited about it too. Um Shameless pictures to come afterwards, right? We'll be, you know, splashing um our, our lovely, you know, award winners and the fines and we'll put it all on social media. Um, and just before we close off and I know we want to keep this sort of a, quite a concise video, but before we do close this off, um, for people that don't know much about CompTIA, about the CompTIA community, any sort of lost parting words that you want to share with us. Yeah. There's always a thing when you hear about things like this that, oh, I've never been, I've never done it. Um, I bet it's a bit difficult to get involved with. I bet everyone knows each other and I won't know them. Yeah, exactly. And it's all gonna be, you know, I'm, I'm, well, maybe I wouldn't say not welcomed but you know what I mean? There's that thing in the back of your mind, isn't there that goes, oh, I don't want to be the person. Yeah, I don't want to be that new person. It, it, it just please park it come join us. Um You don't even have to join as a member to, to be able to take part in an event and see what we're all about. Um Simply go on like that. If you want to join us in Birmingham, just go online, we'll pop the video somewhere there link, you know, as the cool kids say, like subscribe, link in the comments. Um and we, and you can come join us and have a look at the agenda. find the sessions that are gonna be valuable for you, but get involved. That's what I would say. You know, people listening to this that haven't been join your industry trade body, you know, for the entire industry, not for a sector, not for a company. not for a particular brand or anything of those lines come and join the industry trade body where people come together to help to support to challenge every now and again in a respectful way. Um And, and to come together and share what works, what doesn't work and help each other to accelerate. Fantastic. Thank you so much Dan and I will see you in Birmingham. See you with Birmingham. Thanks, Estelle, thanks everybody.
