A sense of Community

Monday, April 06, 2020 10:00 AM

A sense of Community

 

The old adage is that 'you never appreciate what you have until it's gone'.  In these days of lockdowns and social distancing, this has really hit home, with a lot more people coming to realise the importance a sense of community can bring.

Since our inception more than 10 years ago, WyldLynx has actively maintained a presence in the wider community.  This has taken the form of membership and attendance, speaking engagements, and even sponsorship of a number of professional groups and events that WyldLynx team members have been involved with over the years.

One of our long-term community involvement ventures has been our sponsorship and support of the 'Brisbane Microsoft 365 Users Group', a close knit community in our home base of Brisbane.

Chris Gecks, a Cloud Security Architect and Microsoft MVP, created the users group to 'share Microsoft 365 knowledge and best practice in an open and supportive environment, and to provide an opportunity to connect with others using the platform in and around Brisbane, including power users, administrators, developers, consultants and vendors', with anyone interested being invited along and encouraged to join.

Providing professional development through the sharing of Office 365 knowledge and experience with professionals in the area, sponsors such as Microsoft, Telstra Purple and WyldLynx came on board very quickly in support, providing the venue, refreshments and knowledge for this great cause - knowledge sharing.

Traditionally, the group has been meeting once a month at the Microsoft Brisbane offices, kindly donated by Microsoft, with attendees partaking in pizza and drinks between interesting and informative guest speakers.  As expected, this has now changed!

Building on the expertise that Chris, WyldLynx and the group have been sharing on the various aspects of the Office 365 platform, the users group has successfully made the transition to the virtual meeting, using the Microsoft Teams application to great effect.

With the group mostly made up of Office 365 professionals, the choice of Microsoft Teams was a 'no-brainer'.  Offering security and a multitude of other benefits, Teams also includes fantastic features for organising and conducting each meeting online.

After a smooth running of the first online-only meeting late last month, Teams will be the venue of choice for the foreseeable future.

If you would like to get involved with the Brisbane Microsoft 365 Users Group, visit 365community.org and register your interest today.  In these strange times, connecting with like-minded individuals and continuing your professional development, especially in the Microsoft 365 space, could be just what you need.

The next virtual meeting is planned for Wednesday, April 29th.  We hope to see you there!