Why Video? Because your time matters.
IT leaders are busy. Commuting to an in-person event takes time you may not have. IT Connections meets via video so you can participate fully from your desk, your home office, or wherever you are that day. No travel. No lost afternoon. Just the conversation. Video also means members across Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota can all be in the same room.
WHAT WE ARE BUILT ON
Three things that make IT Connections different
Most professional groups give you content. IT Connections gives you something harder to find.
Relationships
The connections you build inside IT Connections extend well beyond the monthly session. Members call each other, share contacts, and look out for one another in ways that a LinkedIn network cannot replicate. Real professional relationships built over time in a trusted setting.
Shared knowledge
The collective experience in a room of IT leaders is worth more than any conference or certification. When one member has been through a vendor evaluation, a team restructuring, or a budget conversation, that experience belongs to the whole group.
Community
IT leadership can be a lonely role. You are often the only person in your organization who fully understands both the technical landscape and the business pressure at the same time. IT Connections is the place where that changes.
WHAT TO EXPECT
How each session runs
Every monthly video session follows the same intentional format. The structure creates the conditions for real conversation.
Introductions
Wins and updates
Every session opens with members sharing what is going well. Celebrating progress matters and it sets the tone for the conversation that follows.
Group updates and opportunities
Announcements
Upcoming events, member news, and anything the group should know. This keeps the community connected between sessions.
Open Discussion
Members bring what is on their mind. One person raises a challenge and three others are facing the same thing. The conversation guides itself. This is the part of IT Connections that cannot happen in a webinar.
Where the real value lives
Deep dive with a guest or facilitated discussion
Planned Topic
Each session includes a planned topic relevant to the group. Recent topics have included vulnerability management, AI strategy and building credibility with business leadership.
WHO IT IS FOR
IT Connections is built for technology leaders
Membership is designed for IT managers, directors, and technology leaders across the Upper Midwest who are ready to invest in their professional community.
NEW IT LEADERS
You are newer to the role and figuring things out
The first year or two in an IT leadership role is the hardest. You are managing up, managing a team, and making decisions with incomplete information. IT Connections gives you a room full of people who have been exactly where you are.
EXPERIENCED IT LEADERS
You have been doing this a while and want a peer network
The higher you go, the fewer people there are who understand what you are dealing with. IT Connections gives experienced leaders a trusted group to think out loud with, without the hierarchy or politics of their own organization.
IT LEADERS IN TRANSITION
You just stepped into a new role or organization
New job, new company, new expectations. Having a peer group during a leadership transition accelerates everything. You get honest input from people with no stake in how you perform at your new organization.
NOT THE RIGHT FIT
IT Connections is not for everyone
IT Connections is not a networking happy hour or a vendor presentation. It is a working peer group that requires presence and participation. Members who get the most out of it show up and contribute, not just observe.
​One member had just completed a migration to a new phone system and collaboration platform. Four other members in the room were actively evaluating the same project. By the end of the session they had scheduled time together to go deeper. That conversation was never on the agenda. It happened because the right people were in the right room.
Membership
Join IT Connections
ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP
IT Connections
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12 monthly sessions via video
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Open discussions and planned topic each sesssion.
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Guest speakers and industry experts.
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Access to a regional network of IT leaders
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Peer accountability and professional development
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Community connection between sessions