What happens in Vegas… won’t stay in Vegas…? SAP Champions Debut at SAP TechEd 2019

After we have introduced our latest addition to the SAP Community influencer Programs, 5 out of 24 „SAP Champions“ had their debut at SAP TechEd Las Vegas. Wrapped into a nice team shirt, and with a pocket full of enthusiasm they were well prepared to send out love to the SAP community at this event.

As I wrote in my blog post „It’s all about the people“ our SAP Community Champions are trusted advisors and respected influencers within the SAP Community.

But at such a big event as SAP TechEd it was obvious that not everyone is aware about the program – so it was very helpful that the SAP Champions were
a) identifiable – through their t-shirt
b) visible – via big photo banners and
c) approachable – at the unconferences/meetups in the Developer Garage/Community Lounge  as well as in SAP community talks or just on the show floor.

In other moments I had the feeling that some of them are real influencer celebrities with a solid fan base. It was kind of a battle and fun to see how many tweets we had from SAP TechEd Participants taking selfies and pics with the posters.

Personally, for me it was very nice to get to know this great group, sitting together brainstorming and exchanging ideas.

Our SAP Champions in Las Vegas were Susan Keohan, Phil Cooley, Fausto Motter, Marssel Vilaça, Michelle Crapo

If you are at SAP TechEd Barcelona you will have another chance to meet our SAP champions to get inspiration, to learn how to link with existing groups and to network with other community members, to hear how to plan and run local SAP Community events and to get information about SAP Community overall and possibilities to engage, contribute and learn from others.

Here are the 15 SAP Champions you might catch at SAP TechEd Barcelona:

Andreas Gautsch, Anne Johnson, Bärbel Winkler, Damir Majer, David Ruiz Badia, Florian Henninger, Jakob Flaman, Jens Gleichmann, Kinga Moska, Łukasz Pęgiel, Marssel Vilaça, Marina Pontjakova, Roland Knipp, Tudor Riscutia, Johann Fößleitner

Similar as in Las Vegas you are able to meet them in Barcelona at SAP Community Talks , unconference meetups, or around the Community Lounge. What’s going to happen in Barcelona is pretty well described in Craig’s blog „Barcelona here we come…“

But I don’t wanna leave you in the dark – you should leverage the hottest tipps and tricks shared by the SAP Champions Las Vegas troop:

What would you as a champion recommend to community members visiting TechEd Barcelona?

• „Download the SAP TechEd App and be aware about the exactly location of the rooms.“
• „Watch the cool SAP Community sessions“
• “If there isn’t a session you want, then create one via the community meetups.”
• „Go to Hands-on sessions preferable. They are awesome.“
• “Read the slide deck prior to going to a session. This is important when you sign up for hands-on. I went to one that wasn’t what I thought and had to leave after the lecture.”
• “Try to talk with the people sitting around you. They all have an interesting story.”
• “Don’t filter out the CT, you could miss an amazing session.”
• “Use comfortable shoes, drink water, spend time before the event to adjust the agenda and sessions that you want to be in, and, at last but not least, have fun”
• “In my own opinion SAP Teched is the time that for our community we should do our checkpoint, our restart button, find people, meet friends, planning new year and have fun.”
• “Use this time to find the Community Members to do a planning for next year, schedule a SAP Inside Track (SIT), planning collaborative activities online and off-line and spread the good messages. We are seen a big wave of innovations and good opportunities and surf this wave in team is much easier and productive than try to do this alone. We must sum the knowledge and competences to get this innovation opportunities.”
• „Have a Photo at the SAP studio“
• “Don’t forget to catch a photo with SAP Mentors and SAP Champions (… I did a lot in LV)”
• “Group new friends and go out for dinner. It is nice to be with new people. “
• “Smile – this is supposed to be fun.”
• “While waiting for planes on the way home write down a couple of things you want to remember.”
• When you get home, try to use one thing you learned from TechEd.
• Sleep is optional.

What? Not yet planned to come? It’s not too late to register.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Cheers, Kati

Resources:

• Find a list with all SAP Champions here
• Find the SAP Champions Community Page here
• Craig Cmehil coffee corner Podcast