As the final hours of 2023 are ticking by I am taking a few moments to take a breath and reflect on the year that has been. A year that has been full of events, travelling, growing and changes in professional life and getting to know more of myself in personal life.
I actually wasn’t sure I had enough content for this post, as I wasn’t sure that much happened during 2023, of course until I started to note it down. So here goes. This is my 2023 from my point of view:
2023
Community
I kicked off 2023 with the very first Cloud Technology Townhall Tallinn conference in Tallinn, Estonia. A conference closest to my heart in my own hometown Tallinn. Out of my own comfort zone, I decided to create a conference focusing on the whole Microsoft cloud offerings and it was an amazing event, if I may say so myself 😉 We had 275 attendees and speakers from 14 different countries, amazing sessions and a cozy dinner for speakers to wrap it all up. It was so nice that we decided to do it again in 2024!
CTTT23 really kicked off the conference season for me, as after that came Power Platform Bootcamp in Copenhagen, Iberian Technology Summit, the very first CollabDays Poland, the very first DynamicsMinds, Scottish Summit, Nordic Summit and quite some more 😁You can see from the picture below that it was quite a few 😁
Besides Dynamics 365 and Power Platform, I also tried out a whole new community, the Business Central one, by speaking at Days of Knowledge in Odense and Directions EMEA in Lyon. A whole other audience, but a great challenge 😉
In the summer, I also lived through my first MVP award renewal and could add the second ring to my MVP award on my shelf. Hopefully there will be many to come, but it is also ok if not. I am only doing this because I love the people, the topics and the difference
My community schedule in numbers:
- Speaking sessions: 17
- Conferences attended: 14
- Blogposts written: 8
- User group meetups hosted: 14
- Events organized: 2
- Fashion shows: 1
- Galas: 1
Work life
This year was huge in terms of my professional life. After working years as an in-house consultant and then trying the external consultant life a few years, I decided it was time for a whole new chapter. I finally decided to take the leap on going on my own as a freelancer offering my skills to companies with myself as my boss 😎 And that is how 502nm was born! (Curious about the name, let’s have a chat next time we meet 😉)
The scariest decision I have made in a long while, but as the first 4 months have gone by, I am loving it more by the moment. It was definitely the right decision for me and I am very happy that I created a great base for myself before taking the leap. I am mostly working with customers on the Dynamics 365 Customer Insights topics, but also adding more projects in my calendar involving the Power Platform and other Dynamics 365 products.
I always thought that my customers will mostly be in DK. Currently, I see interest from companies globally and for me that is a huge success criteria. If you are considering the same change, let me know! Maybe we can learn from each other 😉
Personal life
Besides all the changes in my professional life and quite some travelling throughout the year, I did also enjoy my time with my family and friends. Finally managed to finish my backyard and hopefully can manage to enjoy it more in 2024. My son turned 4 and me and my husband celebrated 5 years of marriage in August.
I visited some great restaurants throughout the year. My highest recommendations to: Syttende in Sønderborg, Domestic in Aarhus, Uformel in Copenhagen and Das Grace in Flensburg. I very much enjoy taking the time off with good food and wine, so if you have a recommendation, I am all ears!
Travelled A LOT 😁
Read books for myself and for personal growth. I ended the year with finishing the book: “Everyone you hate is going to die” by Daniel Sloss. A warm recommendation from me, I laughed at every chapter 😁
2024
Looking a bit into 2024, I can already see the calendar filling out. There are already 4 sessions confirmed in the first part of the year, CTTT24 kicking the year off again 01.02.-02.02 in Tallinn. But I have also given myself a goal to try and enjoy life more. Take some more time to discover different countries, learn more for myself and work less than I have in 2023. So, now it is out there, let’s see how it will go 😂
Summary
It has been a great year. A year of development, new beginnings and full of new connections and experiences and strengthening the ones I already had. Thank you to everyone that has helped me along the way, guided me when necessary and told me the cold hard truth when needed. Words can’t express how much that means to me to have people like that and I hope I manage to give a bit back as well.
I hope you all have an amazing end to 2023 and will come safely to 2024. Can’t wait to see you all and create amazing things in the new year. Until then, enjoy the time off!
Vivian