The past two days have been a whirlwind of networking receptions, interactive sessions, breakouts and demos. I’ve had the chance to meet so many of you, and I hope all of this nonstop activity has been energizing—and that you’ve had a great Summit.

I want to start today’s recap off by saying how proud I am to work for a company that plays an important role in the communities where we work and live. We saw that commitment in Simply Serve @Summit, as partners and sales joined together to take part in volunteer activities right here at Summit, assembling STEM kits for local schoolchildren. We also saw Citrix values reflected in yesterday’s keynote, when senior vice president and chief product officer PJ Hough welcomed Kelly Parisi to the stage. Kelly is vice president of marketing and communications for Girls Who Code, a national organization devoted to closing the gender gap—and the opportunity gap—in tech. It’s a great organization doing thoughtful work to change the image of what it looks like to be a coder. I encourage you to check them out. Citrix has partnered with Girls Who Code, sponsoring a summer immersion computer science program, and will match any donations made by Citrix employees. Partners can donate, too: visit www.girlswhocode.com\citrix.

Tech Talks Keynote

“Experience and security are not mutually exclusive,” PJ said, setting the tone for Monday afternoon’s Tech Talks Keynote. “We believe that the customer deserves a great experience and IT deserves to be able to deliver the technology in a secure environment.”

The pace of innovation in our product groups is so impressive, and seeing their hard work on stage was inspiring for both partners and sales teams. Through demos and use cases, attendees were introduced to a unified set of services on a single platform, wrapped with a perimeter, with Citrix at the center.

As we have so many times before, PJ welcomed Brad Anderson, Microsoft corporate vice president for Enterprise Client & Mobility, to discuss the deep integration and partnership between our two companies. The two talked about the parallels in the way we approach the marketplace and how we deliver on our experience to solve tough customer challenges together. “The cloud is not a destination,” he said. “It’s the beginning of a new journey.”

Next up to discuss that journey was vice president of product marketing Calvin Hsu, who knocked it out of the park using analogies—from TV to the central nervous system—to demonstrate how partners and sales will win with Citrix Workspace in 2018. “Citrix Workspace is the puppy the customer wants to take home,” Calvin explained. Attendees were excited by what they saw and—judging by their tweets—wished they could have said so much more.

The benefits of using all of our technology together as a unified solution rather than separate products that solve particular pain points is the Citrix story. From the reactions at Summit, it’s clear that you get it, that it’s a message you can share easily with your customers. You’ll be hearing much more about this in the weeks to come.

Hot sessions

The GEO partner breakouts were the big focus of the morning and attendees continued to flock to the Geek Speak @ Summit Theater sessions. Earlier today in TECH310: Demystifying SD-WAN for infrastructure architects, our own Rick Dehlinger shared what he learned building an ambitious community hybrid cloud lab. Also this morning, newly named chief security information officer Stan Black presented SELL313: How to get a meeting with a security executive—and what never to say. It was a great fireside chat about aiming sales conversations higher and weaving security into your conversations.

Beginning February 9, Citrix SalesIQ will be hosting on-demand sessions from Summit, so if you missed these or any of the hot breakouts below, you’ll have a chance to catch up:

  • TECH309: XenApp and XenDesktop tech update (January 2018 edition)
  • TECH104: Winning against VMware Workspace ONE with Citrix Workspace Service
  • SELL112: Understanding the Citrix Analytics story
  • SELL304: Position Citrix Workspace Service to net-new and upsell customers using Office 365

The Citrix Booth Experience

After yesterday’s amazing keynotes, I hope you had a chance to experience some of the technology for yourself at the Citrix Booth Experience. The demo pods, the immersive environments and the Solutions Demo Sandbox were designed to get you under the hood of the latest enhancements. They also showcased the shift to presenting customers with solutions, not just products, a message you heard in the keynotes and one we’ll be talking much more about. 

Partner innovation

I’m thrilled to announce the 2018 Citrix Innovation Award for Partners winner, selected by Citrix Summit 2018 attendees and independent IT experts, is Coretek Services, US. Watch their incredible story at www.citrix.com/innovation, and meet the two other finalists— AceIQ, Sweden and MOQdigital, Australia—who are using Citrix solutions to reimagine IT and create new ways of working. The program is open to all Citrix Solution Advisor, Service Provider and SI partner organizations. Remember, you can continue to submit your innovation stories throughout the year for the 2019 Innovation Award for Partners.

Next stop: Citrix Synergy

Hundreds of you had a chance to visit Camp Citrix Synergy in The Exchange, so you know that Summit is just the beginning of your deep dive into the new technologies driving digital transformation. Spending just three days with your customers at Citrix Synergy 2018 will deliver more pipeline, more opportunities, and more sales for 2018—a LOT more. Put Synergy 2018 on your calendar for May 8–10 in Anaheim, and learn more about our customer-first sales event at www.citrixsynergy.com.

Looking ahead: Partner Appreciation Party

I know you wouldn’t dream of missing your reward for the hard work of the last few days: soon after the Partner Closing Keynote, it will be time to make your way to Hall A as we Bring Back the 90s for the Partner Appreciation Party! We’ll be celebrating #CitrixPartnerLove in the company of friends and colleagues, and listening to pop, grunge and hip hop while we watch the break dancers, urban drummers, beat boxers and a hip hop skate crew. Remember to pick up your wristband at the Giveaway Desk near Registration. You’ll need it—along with your conference badge—to get into the party. Remember to post your favorite party pictures at #CitrixSummit!

Save the Date

And so another Summit comes to a close. Hard to believe it’s been just two short days—we learned a lot, networked a lot, and saw some exciting demos. You can keep the momentum going all year: we’ll be posting resources, including recorded sessions and speaker presentations, on Citrix SalesIQ beginning at the end of this month, so watch for those.

I wish I could share every good thing about Summit with you in these blogs, but the truth is, there is no substitute for being here on-site with your team and your global colleagues. Please be sure to add it to your planning for next year, and save the date for Citrix Summit 2019, January 7-8 in Orlando, Florida. I hope to see you there!

Relive the Citrix Summit 2018 Vision and Tech Keynotes today on Citrix SalesIQ!

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