Let’s kick 2023 into gear!

GingerAnderson
edited January 2023 in Blog

Happy New Year, Anaplanners!

The Anaplan Community team would like to take a moment to say thank you for an incredible 2022. We look forward to bringing this Community more learning, professional growth, and opportunities for connections in 2023! We want to take a moment to share our reflections on the past year, and what’s to come in this new year. 

The core driver in everything we do is YOU! The enthusiasm, willingness to learn, and knowledge-sharing we see every day is inspiring. Check out what a few of our team members have to say about this past year and what’s coming up, and reach out to us if you have ideas! 

Chris Weiss, Sr. Director, Community Engagement & Development:

We had an INCREDIBLE 2022 thanks to the wisdom and generosity of our Community members. We had double the amount of community-generated content compared to last year, and another wildly successful global virtual event that had more than double the expert content as last year’s events.

We will of course continue and build upon the incredible foundation that already exists, and in 2023 I’m most excited to take our individual relationships with each of you to the next level. Expect to see more opportunities to connect in small-group settings with us and your peers. This will allow us to provide even more resources based on your specific needs, and connect you with more relevant experts to build your network and knowledge. Thank you for making this such an amazing ecosystem in which to build a career, I’ll see you in Community in 2023!

Eric Stieg, Senior Manager, Community Engagement:

Over the last 12 months, there has been a whirlwind of changes on the team! As many of you probably know, the team looks wildly different than just a year ago, and with that comes new ideas and opportunities! Collectively, the team has been hard at work building a new experience for you, which launched just a few days ago! I am not only looking forward to this new experience and layout but also working with all of you to continually iterate on the community experience and enhance the discoverability or “findability” of relevant content that helps you succeed in your role(s). Additionally, I’m looking forward to a more robust Idea Exchange in our new experience, which will see many significant enhancements, reporting, and provide you better insight into what’s taking place with the ideas you’re submitting!

Morgan Bowler-Brown, Community Program Manager:

I am so excited to enter the new year and introduce our new and updated Community platform! With the current technical advances in many areas, such as AI, we can automate processes, create more efficient workflows, and streamline community development. This will help us to make better decisions and create more value for our customers. To prove the point, the initial draft of this post was written using the OpenAI/GPT-3 playground — which has recently seen a surge in popularity due to its dramatic accessibility improvements and shows we're in a really exciting time for AI and collaborative creativity! I am also looking forward to the new year as it brings with it a chance to explore what ways we could possibly integrate new technology and features into our Community experience. For example, we could use AI to create exciting and (more often than not) accurate content, as well as automate a lot of the behind-the-scenes processes which will help us to make a better experience and create more value for you, our community members. Finally, I would like to wish everyone happy holidays and an exciting nerdy new year! I am looking forward to seeing what new and exciting features the Anaplan Community will bring to continue delivering a world-leading community in 2023.

Danielle Chapman, Senior Program Manager, Community Content:

This year I look forward to even more direct contributions from you all, made freely into Community discussion boards, articles, Idea Exchange, videos, and more. In 2023, please keep the momentum going! Post those questions, share those solutions, and give that feedback! Your input leads to insights, solutions, and inspiration for all. It is undeniable that your contributions are what makes Community such an invaluable resource (and meeting place) for the entire ecosystem.

Becky Leung, Principal Community Engagement Manager:

We are looking forward to creating more breadth and depth of experiences for community members to engage and showcase their expertise – whether challenges our users can participate in, creating more visibility for our users, or showcasing the amazing work you’ve carefully crafted through your Anaplan models — we are successful when you are successful! We will be rolling out enhancements to our Community User Advancement program including updated Community levels, badges, and new exciting ways to provide recognition to our active Community members.

Dennis Lemoine, Principal Community Experiences Program Manager:

2022 was another incredible year for Community events and experiences! 

  • We hosted two Spotlight Sessions, focused on the transition from Classic to UX as well as a casual conversation about the UX Persona Hub. Many thanks to my awesome Certified Master Anaplanner presenters and Anaplan’s Andy Martin for joining me.
  • In June, we were fortunate to be in-person in sunny San Jose for Anaplan Live! Attendees enjoyed numerous keynote and breakout sessions, plus the opportunity to engage peer-to-peer throughout the event. The Community team also hosted Customer Connect Networking Sessions, the Anaplan Community Kiosk, and an exclusive experience for our Certified Master Anaplanners. 
  • Lastly, we introduced our new event series in November — Anaplan Community Experience (ACE). With a focus on role-based professional development, ACE highlighted areas around advancement, culture, and education and we announced our inaugural ACE Award Winners! Over the two-day event, attendees had the opportunity to learn and network with our diverse and extremely knowledgeable community. Many thanks to everyone who made this new experience a success!

We’re always looking for new and exciting ways to connect, learn, and grow from one another and I can’t wait for what’s in store in 2023.

Sarah Roberts, Sr. Value & Insights Program Manager:

Wow, what a phenomenal year we’ve just had! I joined Anaplan in February 2022 after working in the platform for many years, and 2022 was nothing short of amazing. I know that for me, as a Certified Master Anaplanner who has relied on our Community for a long time, being able to now support such a critical and unique thing as our treasured Community from the inside is nothing short of a dream come true! 

Moving in to 2023, I look forward to gaining deeper insights into Community content, allowing for a more customized user experience and tailored content reflecting each of your individual roles and actual platform usage. I’m also incredibly excited to work directly with as many of you as possible to identify opportunities to drive future customized content. I can’t wait to discover new opportunities to drive content and engagement for all Community members, especially the voices we haven’t heard from yet. Cheers to a happy new year!

Mariam Azeez, Principal Engagement Manager, Customer Center of Excellence:

A big thank you to all our community members for a fantastic 2022. I had the opportunity to connect with and learn from many Center of Excellence (CoE) leaders through one-on-one sessions, peer-to-peer networking events, the Anaplan Community Experience event, and the CoE private forum. In 2023, I am most excited about building upon this success and further strengthening our individual connections with each member of the community.

Stacey Brooks, Principal Program Manager for the Certified Master Anaplanner Program:

2022 was an outstanding year and I couldn’t be more excited about what’s to come in 2023! Certified Master Anaplanners drove immense impact across the entire Anaplan ecosystem, had unique opportunities to participate in special connection opportunities, and had the opportunity to connect with each other directly! In 2023, I’m most excited about facilitating more of these connection opportunities, creating even more perks for CMAs, and most importantly, communicating the incredible impact Certified Master Anaplanners have on the entire Anaplan ecosystem! 

Sylvain Armand, User Groups Program Manager:

Celebrating my 4th year at Anaplan this year, I was happy to join the Community team mid-2022. This year, we are excited to relaunch our program for User Groups. All regions will shortly see a new start as we rework our approach. New on-site and remote User Group events will occur, especially for Americans and Asia Pacific, where Covid paused our initiatives. We are also looking for customers and partners to co-lead groups, share their experiences, co-run workshops to progress on the platform, help host our on-site events, and share ideas. Do not hesitate to reach out to your User Group Leader or to us at groups@anaplan.com!

As for me (Ginger Anderson, Senior Program Manager, Community Content):

I joined Anaplan in January 2022, and over the year spoke with hundreds of you about creating content for the Anaplan Community blog. The highlight of my year was being able to showcase the amazing work you do and your incredible thought leadership. It is so fun to be impressed multiple times a week, as your blogs would arrive in my inbox. In 2023, I want to share even more stories and knowledge! Please don’t hesitate to reach out; I look forward to continuing the relationships I’ve built this year and meeting even more Community members.

What are you looking forward to this year? Share with the Community — leave a comment!