Yesterday, exactly six months to the day that the country went into lockdown, SASIG passed the massive milestone of the 10,000th delegate to join us on our programme of daily webinars. I thank everyone involved – our speakers, our Supporters, our members and my long-suffering team – whose combined efforts and commitment have made this remarkable achievement possible. With a total of 138 webinars/workshops/networking sessions now under our belt, in effect we’ve done more than three years’ worth of SASIG activity in just six months. Our membership has increased from 4,000 to 5,000 in this period and it continues to rise daily. Our regular reach now extends way beyond “London”, with increasing numbers of delegates and speakers from the UK regions and around the globe. This crisis has forced SASIG to change its modus operandi and we won’t be going back to the old normal.

I cannot quite believe all that has happened since March at home, at work and in society in general. We all now live and work in a world that’s changed and still changing forever. As the months have passed, increasingly I’ve realised that the emotional and social support that our daily webinars provide is as equally important to our members as the actual content of the presentations themselves.

It looks, too, like we’re in for the long haul; after encouraging us only a short few weeks ago to return to our offices, the Government is telling us once again to stay at home. This can be of little surprise, given the sudden rise in Covid-19 cases, but it’s still a huge imposition and hugely frustrating given the little taste of freedom we’ve enjoyed recently. I’ve often quote John Cleese from the fabulous film Clockwise – “It’s not the despair, Laura. I can take the despair. It’s the hope I can’t stand.” I’m sure we can all now relate to this.

My team have been amazing, I’m in awe of what they’ve achieved. Our wonderful Supporters have been unwavering in their support, and have provided the invaluable expertise and knowledge for nearly half of our webinars (and all without a single salesy word!) – thank you, we couldn’t function without you. Speakers and panellists, too, have been generous to a fault with their time, knowledge and wisdom, I thank them all, what a superb band of troopers/troupers you have been. And our community, of course; the thousands of you who have attended the webinars and joined in so enthusiastically at the time and subsequently on our Linked In forum.

The response from you all to our work here at SASIG has been humbling. It has been a privilege to serve you. The astounding numbers of those of you who are joining us each day, and the many wonderful messages of thanks, support and encouragement we get back from you, keep us going. We’re full of new ideas and our energy is undiminished. All I ask in return is that you tell your friends about the webinars, I just want as many as possible to enjoy and benefit from the SASIG movement. Please help me with this.

These are miserable days, and I know many of us are struggling. The message from Jo and me to our community is simple – SASIG has been here from the start of this crisis, and we’ll be here for as long as you want and need us.

To comment on this blog, visit Martin’s LinkedIn article here…