This year marks the second virtual Claris Engage, a conference formerly known as DevCon, and widely attended by FileMaker developers, near and far. This year the conference is set to continue virtually throughout the year. I’ve attended many of the events already and below is a short recap of what we’ve seen so far, and what we have to look forward to in the future. 

Engage Beyond officially started on August 25th with a packed kickoff from Claris CEO, Brad Freitag, and six other people from Claris representing engineering to community relations. The event covered a wide variety of topics, including some exciting platform announcements, which include upcoming enhanced user experiences and new backends, giving us a taste of what is to come. There were also announcements about new Partner programs and an overview of what’s been going on in the Claris community, as well as Claris’ commitment to inclusion and diversity. You can read more about the kickoff, or watch it below.

This event was followed by a thoughtful dive into FileMaker Server for Linux, given by Wim DeCorte. 

Since the kickoff, several other events have been held, including a Claris Executive Q&A, which was a candid and informal Q&A featuring Brad Freitag, Claris CEO, and Peter Nelson, VP of engineering. The Claris community raved over this format and appreciated the authenticity and opportunity to hear directly from Claris executives. Other events included a workshop on Idea to Custom App, and a community panel on Developer resources in the Claris Community to help you get started. The developer resources panel was followed by a live networking event which allowed attendees to break up into small groups and visit, a nice opportunity for face to face time in the virtual age of conferences!

There was a special Claris Partner only presentation, where Claris communicated its current progress and future intentions to grow the visibility of Partners, pair customers with Claris Partners, and improve visibility of known issues and priorities within the platform. An emphasis was placed on Claris’ deep roots in education, and how the release of Claris Connect for Apple School Manager and the new Claris Smart Pack will continue to create opportunities for growth in the education arena. The Low Code Accelerator Program was also emphasized, giving Black entrepreneurs opportunities to learn Claris FileMaker as well as gain support in business growth and mentorship.

Claris is rethinking the virtual conference this year by providing ongoing events that are expected to go on through next year. They are also taking into great consideration the views and needs of all of us in the community, and are trying to balance the conference with presentations from Claris along with presentations from the community. Claris Engage Beyond events are free and open to all. You can also catch all recorded events at the Claris YouTube channel.

I’m grateful to be serving on the Claris Engage Beyond Advisory Committee, and have had the opportunity to participate in the planning of the conference and represent the community. If you have an idea of something you’d like to see at the conference, or better yet, something you’d like to present, please reach out to me or submit a proposal.