Recently (August 2013), we welcomed Ribose as the newest CalConnect member, and our first member organization based in Asia. In our conversations with Ribose's leadership, we learned that Ribose had been aware of CalConnect for some time, but had previously assumed that CalConnect was just for the "really big players".
CalConnect does need the "really big players", however one might reasonably define them, for a number of reasons, but CalConnect cannot succeed, cannot meet its mission, with only the "really big players", the "really small players", or only the "really anything-else players".
As we note on our Why Join page,
We are a partnership between vendors of calendaring & scheduling systems and tools, and users of those tools. Our membership includes some of the world's largest software development organizations, as well as emergent vendors and startups, end user organizations, interested individuals, and research universities…
CalConnect's success, and ultimately the success of our vision of interoperable calendaring & scheduling depend on broad, engaged, diverse, and informed participation by those organizations developing calendaring and scheduling products, and those organizations which are using calendaring and scheduling products.
"Why Join" is, of course, a marketing piece to entice you to join or learn more about CalConnect, but the quoted paragraphs are a genuine representation of what CalConnect believes and stands for. We expressed a similar sentiment in a new membership fees/categories posting on the CalConnect blog in April,
Here is what we hope to accomplish with our new membership and interoperability event fees – increase diversity, geographic distribution, age, gender, and company size of our membership. This is essential to CalConnect and its mission.
Our membership includes some of the world's largest software development organizations, as well as emergent vendors and startups, end user organizations, interested individuals, and research universities. Although there is some overlap, each of these membership categories has a different perspective, has different requirements and needs, and each can make a different contribution as a CalConnect member.
CalConnect is as close to a true meritocracy as any organization I have ever been involved with. Anyone, irrespective of membership category or company affiliation, can become a CalConnect thought leader, technical leader, or organizational leader, based on merit – your participation, your contributions, and your collegiality.
CalConnect is anchored in these precepts:
- CalConnect is a membership driven organization – multidimensional diversity, and broad, engaged participation are the keys to sustainability and maximum impact.
- CalConnect needs to influence the world, and CalConnect needs to be influenced by the world, not just its membership.
- The future of calendaring and the future of CalConnect are intertwined – CalConnect helps shape the future of calendaring, and the future of calendaring will surely shape CalConnect.
So, Is CalConnect Right for You? Are you Right for CalConnect?
If you are trying to solve a problem, find a solution, build a product, help drive the standards, or simply get to know the people driving calendaring & scheduling today, CalConnect is right for you.
If you are a large software development organization, an emergent software vendor or startup, if you are end user organization, a college or university, a government organization or department for which scheduling/calendaring is critical to your workflow or product line, if you are a standards organization which needs calendaring /scheduling expertise, or if you are an individual interested in calendaring /scheduling products or standards, you are right for CalConnect.
Gary Schwartz
President
August 2013