commoneuropecongress2026

An introduction to techniques and exercises to help you look after, develop and use your voice effectively for public speaking. This practical overview offers advice and tips for handling nervousness, correct breathing, tone, creating vocal variation etc. to actively engage with your audience .

An in-depth practical session to develop and build vocal delivery and confidence for public speaking. Following the content from part 1, this session allows you to practice the exercises and techniques using speeches and texts in a group environment and receive feedback on your 'performance'.

As organizations across Europe continue to rely on IBM Power for mission-critical workloads, a growing skills gap is making it harder to maintain, modernize, and expand these environments. This roundtable will bring together practitioners, partners, and industry experts to discuss the current state of IBM Power talent across Europe, the root causes of the shortage, and the real operational risks it creates for enterprises.

* User groups exist to educate, connect, advocate, and modernize the IBM i community.
* Joining one accelerates your learning, expands your network, and increases your
strategic influence.
* Creating one fills a critical gap, builds local capability, and positions you as a leader in
the ecosystem.
This session is targeted at non-member and members of user groups. Ranga will expand
each of these 3 major parts of the presentation by giving key criteria of each of these
traits.
Creating a user group is essential for the European geographies where IBM Power (IBM
i, AIX and Linux) user groups do not exist or are phasing out. Fostered by European user
group mentors from other geographies will help to expand the IBM i community.
Taking leadership will show the attendees how to foster a user group community
helping to enhance their own and their members’ careers and improving the platform in
fine. This will also help them to join the Common Europe Advisory Council and obtain
recognition as IBM Champion.
Comments
IBM i user ecosystem direly needs expansion to sustain this all powerful, fully integrated,
best platform for small and medium enterprises. As Common Europe, we need to
enhance the community and Ranga with his very long experience will continue bringing
his yet another small stone to this magnificent edifice.

Thinking about that next move?  Want to be a manager or team lead, but not sure if it's for you?  Come hear about my career journey and what I have learned since taking that step.  You'll understand what you'll need in your toolbox to make that step, what it may be like for you in your organisation and discover if you've got what it takes to lead people or if you'd just prefer to stay technical.

In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, technical expertise alone is no longer sufficient for success. Professionals must complement their hard skills with strong interpersonal and adaptive capabilities to thrive in client engagements and leadership roles. This session, From AI to EQ: 10 Ways to Elevate Your Professional Skills, explores practical strategies to elevate your effectiveness as an IT professional or technology leader. We will cover ten essential techniques, including active listening, empathy, positive facilitation, whiteboarding, AI literacy, delivering compelling presentations, conducting peer reviews, preparing executive briefings, understanding leadership styles, and practicing emotional intelligence. Attendees will gain actionable insights and tools to communicate with clarity, foster collaboration, leverage AI responsibly, and lead with confidence. Whether you are engaging clients, presenting to executives, or guiding teams, these skills will help you make a lasting impact.

After decades in the IBM i community, and through hundreds of conversations with developers, leaders, innovators, and business owners, clear patterns have emerged.
Not just about technology, but about the people, purpose, and what truly sustains this platform across generations.
With real stories, hear a unique perspective on the human side of IBM i, and what it takes to carry it forward.