The sun is rising over Frankfurt

[josh_bentley]

As I am writing this I know I’m planning to ask you to give me your attention. Sure you’ve seen me post on social media and talk about my job or company using words that may or may not resonate with you. Well today's post is different. This one is possibly the only time I NEED your eyes on me and my colleagues. 

See, I’ve been placed in a position of trust. I can’t list everyone here but most of them know who they are. They have worked with me to get me here throughout my entire career and made me a better version of who I am. A thank you would never be enough to express how I feel towards you...

The task before us is a challenging one but something I’m not nervous about.  I’ve been to speaking with some people to calm my nerves. I’ve gone over my notes in my own way. I’ve focused on me and what’s important for those who place their trust in me to perform. Because that’s what’s about to happen. I’m not about to execute a program or edit some lines of code. I’m not about to give a speech. 

I don't have to do any of this, I GET TO!  I get to  be one of a few amazingly lucky people who get to be themselves. We aren’t actors or news host. We are employees of SAP who are passionate about what we do. We get to share a ton of other people with you from our community and help you navigate a large online conference. 

So stating it a different way, SAP has put its trust in 12 people to be the face of our largest technical conference. SAP TechEd. It’s an annual thing. It’s a big deal for product announcements. But it’s also only the second time it’s been 100% virtual.  Guided by an amazing production team and crew too numerous to list, so you can be entertained and informed. I’m not gonna throw out product names and explain code that you can see talked about over the entire two days of online content. I’m just gonna say that this is something special. 

Getting to Germany. Sharing time with friends. Having conversations with trusted friends when it wasn’t going well. Having drinks to relax with my team when the preparation was almost done. Doing tons of stressful and fun things, all comes to an end soon.

The sun is rising over Frankfurt as I type this. Tomorrow, Wednesday November 17 at 5am, by the time the sun is rising again, I will already be live, on air, guiding our audience as one of the co-host of this amazing event. I’m doing about 9 hours of hosting responsibilities and I hope I don’t let any single one of you down. You deserve the best of this idiot with a blue beard and I can’t wait to make you proud!

I’m excited. 

I’m stressed. 

I’m honored. 

But mostly, and always, I’m gonna be myself and hope you enjoy your time with all of us on Channel 1, being ourselves at SAP TechEd 2021!

Let’s go:

orla.cullen

thomas.grassl

chuergo16

rui.nogueira

cecily.sorenson

kevin.muessig

karsten.hohage

juliane.krampe

l_stodal

mamikee

mynyna.chau

And josh.bentley…