As I fly back to America from the HP Discover show in Vienna this week, I have plenty of time to reflect on the years of participation by so many colleagues. Vivit has truly become an amazing organization which now has several interesting features. The organization has been around long enough now to see many of its member grow in their careers from initial technical administrators into specialists, management, architects and executives.

All the while, membership has not lost its technical edge with the individuals continuing to represent the "best and brightest” that we proclaim you are. However, just as interesting is the global nature and of the organization now. We are almost exactly split in our membership 50/50 between members in the Americas and with the rest of the world. Then it becomes even more interesting to look at the product representation of our membership – almost 50/50 between Operations products and Applications products.

Our membership has increased significantly and we have expanded into 53 Chapters spanning 19 countries, with 7 worldwide Special Interest Groups (SIGs) and 110 Chapter and SIG leaders. We are working on having the Vivit members once again provide Track Content and Chairs for HP Discover and collectively the group of all the members has reached new heights. I found the picture below that I snapped with my phone very ironic at the welcome reception so I thought I would share it here. Most importantly though, is participation. The ability to interact with our EMEA HP counterparts, HP Partners and most importantly Vivit members has been one of the most exciting events for the EMEA region in years, with over 7,000 participants in total! But actively participating in local chapter events, Special Interest Groups, Forums, Blogs, Training, Webinars, Road Shows, Presentations and everything else that Vivit offers is the key to the organization helping to grow the careers of you, its members.

Vivit is very proud of the membership, in particular due to the fact that we require active participation by all members within the past 12 month period in order to continue being counted as a member. While some organizations may have a large list of people that may have been involved or on the mailing list at one time, Vivit is a community of individuals who participate. I know that I am looking forward to attending the next event. Michael Collins, Vivit President.