UCCS

On behalf of the SIGUCCS Board, welcome to Denver, and the 44th annual SIGUCCS conference. Thank you for 'choosing your adventure' by being a part of the content of what is certain to be an amazing event.

If this is your first SIGUCCS conference, welcome. The SIGUCCS community is an incredible resource for professional development, whether it is through online discussions, a digital library with thousands of articles on best practices, or opportunities such as the conference that blends topics ranging from technical discussions to career advancement.

Please join me in thanking the 2016 Conference Committee, as this conference is the culmination of more than 18 months of volunteer efforts. They have pulled together an exceptional program, including guest speakers from higher education, and from industry. This is also the first year for our fully integrated annual conference format, which is the result of years of evaluation and planning based on feedback from conference attendees and multiple conference committees.

2016 marks SIGUCCS' 53rd year, and the Board is in the third of our three-year term. We have continued the Mentorship Program and webinars as part of our focus on professional development. We have expanded our participation in social media, and have made more content available to the community through our online newsletter and YouTube channel. We are piloting a Slack site to provide another way for our community to work together on topics. We have increased vendor contributions to the conferences to keep costs under control and to help enhance the conference experience. We have restructured the conference to reduce costs of attendance and allow for a greater focus on content. Most importantly, we are financially sound; since 2013 conferences have operated with a slight surplus, which allows us to invest in making SIGUCCS services even more useful for the community.

As we bring 2016 to a close, there is much to look forward to. Be sure to mark October 1-4 on your calendars for next year's conference in Seattle, Washington. Please volunteer; the SIGUCCS conference is the sum of attendee contributions and the year-round efforts of many volunteers. As the nconference progresses look for people with ribbons and special badges that describe their role(s) in the organization. Please thank them for their contributions, and also ask them what they did. Chances are very good that you also can help future conferences in similar ways next year.