Connect 2019 was a huge success! We had a great week of helping our customers learn new ways to move their operation forward, gathering feedback on what we can be doing better, and celebrating how T2 and our customers have been Better Together for the past 25 years. If you missed out this year, or just want to reflect on your time in Tucson, we’ve summarized the highlights of the week.
Full-Day Training
We started Connect off with three full-day training sessions on Monday: Introduction to Crystal Reports, Flex Administrator Workshop, and Luke Pay Station Workshop. Many of our attendees not in a full-day session arrived and checked-in as well, and were able to join us for our Welcome Reception that evening.
Opening Session
We started our first full-day with a fantastic Opening Session. After a wonderful performance by a local dance troupe, our CEO, Adam Blake, shared a brief “State of T2” update, highlighting T2’s successes in the past year. We also recognized our Community Champions, who are our top contributors on the T2 Customer Community. This year’s Community Champions were:
| MVP
Josh Rahn, University of North Dakota
All-Stars Gabe Mendez, Arizona State University Mairtin Mersch, Illinois Institute of Technology Sabih Rehman, George Mason University |
Pros
Steve Veloff, University of Denver Cynthia Jimenez, City of Houston Chris Lechner, UCLA Debbie Longazo, University of California Riverside Sam Provost, Harvard University Zheng-Guang Wang, Oklahoma State University |
Lastly, our founders, Mike Simmons and Steve Howard, joined us to reflect on the 25 years that have passed since they started T2.
Product Roadmap
Following the Opening Session was our Product Roadmap. This session started with our T2 Customer Awards, which recognize T2 customers and staff for contributions to the T2 community. This year’s winners were:
T2 Trailblazer Award
Arizona State University
T2 Catalyst Award
Texas A&M University
T2 Impact Award
City of Bozeman and City of Houston
T2 Hero Award
Kostas Vastakis, Texpark, and Ian Stude, Portland State University
T2 Customer Experience Award
LaDonna Sloan, Sr. Training Consultant, T2 Systems
Then Scot DeLancey, SVP, Strategy & Product, and Michael Hamilton, Sr. Director, Product Management, took the stage to walk through our Product Roadmap. Scot explained T2’s process for developing our strategy and determining our roadmap, after which Michael introduced our latest solutions – including live demos of our Mobile Enforcement App and new Residential Permitting functionality – and interviewed several customers about what these solutions will bring to their operation. Lastly, Scot wrapped things up by previewing what T2 has coming in 2020 and 2021. Scot and Michael brought a ton of energy to the stage and had the audience engaged from start to finish!
Training and Networking
Following the Opening Session and Product Roadmap, we had a jam-packed three days of training. Sessions were offered covering everything parking and T2, including Flex, Pay Stations, PARCS, Analytics, Permits, License Plate Recognition, and more. On Wednesday, Michael Hamilton and Scot DeLancey gave presentations in our general session space on LPR and Curbside Management, and our session on our Mobile Enforcement App’s integration with Genetec was standing room only.
We also had lots of great conversations in our booth, where we were able to demo our latest hardware and software, including Logan PARCS equipment, Luke II and Luke Cosmo pay stations, and several new software solutions for self-service mobility, pay station configuration, remote cashiering, and occupancy, plus our Mobile Enforcement App and T2 Analytics NXT.
Keynote Session
Our Keynote Speaker Ben Nemtin gave an incredible presentation about the importance of setting big goals and dreams in our life, sharing them with others, and pursuing them. Ben and three friends started the Buried Life movement, where they try to knock off items on their bucket list while helping others achieve their own. Tying into our theme of “Better Together”, Ben emphasized that when we help each other, we can achieve the impossible.
Customer Appreciation Party
Our customers enjoyed a trip back in time to 1994 at our Customer Appreciation Party, where they celebrated 25 years of T2. Many of our customers came dressed in their favorite 90s attire and enjoyed video games and music from throughout the decade.
Giving Back
Philanthropy is an annual tradition at Connect, and this year we supported Make-a-Wish Arizona. We want to thank everyone that donated in-person or online, and we’re excited to announce that we raised over $2100, which T2 will match! Your generosity will help a child with a critical illness achieve one of their bucket list items.
Thank you to everyone that made Connect 2019 a great week, and hope to see all our customers in Chicago next year!