By Adriane Davis
IAUG Board of Directors
Telecommunications Manager, Stearns Weaver Miller PA
Every IT professional can benefit from attending Avaya ENGAGE 2023. Whether you’re brand new to the profession or you if you’ve been in the business for 20+ years, you’ll gain knowledge, meet, connect, and share with other professionals, creating a community of folks you can reach out to, and have an experience of a lifetime. I am definitely thrilled to see everyone I haven’t seen since the pandemic – it will be an in-person reunion for a lot of people!
I am eager to hear Avaya’s CEO Alan Maserak get everyone excited again about Avaya’s vision for the future. I want to learn about the evolution of Avaya’s product offerings, including the migration to cloud from on-premise solutions. My organization is currently evaluating UC/UCaaS systems and whether a cloud option is better than staying with our current on-premise system. So, I plan to attend sessions like “Getting a Look Under the Hood of Avaya’s Cloud Strategy,” and “Migrate from an On-premise Solution to a Cloud Solution Successfully,” to name just two of the great sessions in the lineup at this year’s conference!
Women in Technology
For me, one of the highlights of will be IAUG’s “Women in Technology” track. We have an amazing line-up of WIT sessions each day:
• Monday – Lunch and Learn Panel Discussion:
- Micro-aggressions -Subtle ways this happens in the workplace, with Scott Burns, IAUG Board and Julie Johnston, Avaya
- Validation Required – Being second guessed with Mackenzi Eisman, IAUG Board
- Anti-Ally Characters – Navigating relationships with Sonya Jackson, IAUG WIT Committee
- Promotion Pause – Generational gaps with Colleen Jamieson, IAUG Executive Director
• Tuesday – Keynote Presentation on The Future of Women & Tech
- “Who Runs the World?” with Dominque Broadway, speaker and founder of Finances Demystified and STEM2Hub Visitors, a non-profit organization providing a group of high school girls in our IAUG Mentorship Program to attend conference for the full day.
• Wednesday – Ted Talk Mini Sessions: Empowering Women for Success
- A Woman’s Life Dance – Balancing self-care, job, career, family, aspirations with Anna Crowley, Avaya HR
- Financial Series – Investing, building, salary negotiation, preparing for retirement with Dominique Broadway, keynote and founder of Finances Demystified
- Driving Your Career – Taking ownership, personal branding, goal setting with Zina Hassel, CEO and president of ZLH Enterprises Cons
Along with all of the educational offerings, we will have great prizes, giveaways, book signings, and many ways to connect and network with women from all over the globe!
Many key benefits
I was an IAUG member for more than five years before attending my first ENGAGE in 2020. It was an inspiring experience, and I remember saying to myself, “Why haven’t I attended this conference before?” I met so many wonderful people and gained so much knowledge about the Avaya products I was already using and also about offerings I had been considering to implement at my organization. Most importantly, I was able to connect and meet with an Avaya business partner who assisted us with upgrading to the newest Avaya Aura release.
Attending the conferences has also helped my professional growth by leaps and bounds. It has been so rewarding and empowering to meet other professionals who share the same experiences. It created a sense of community for me professionally. Attending the conference encouraged me to get more involved with IAUG, which brought about opportunities to learn, network and gain takeaways I have implemented at my organization.
I also love the female bonding through IAUG’s Women in Technology group. There’s something to be said for having a great group of women who you feel are there for you, to support, uplift, encourage and empower you through life and career. It’s just good for the soul to have a sisterhood! This great initiative is also a forum for which men can attend to gain insights about being champions, advocates, and allies for women in their organizations and personal lives.
Looking ahead to ENGAGE 2023, the planning committee did an excellent job at selecting sessions that are very relevant to attendees. From hands-on customer experience sessions, to very technical nitty-gritty sessions, and some future projective insights on technology as well with sessions that speak about AI integrations in the workplace, everything is covered
So, be sure to register for this great conference. After you attend just one time, I promise you won’t ever want to miss another Avaya ENGAGE!
