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The Help Ducks Institute (HDI) 2014 Conference: Have Fun And Save Some Ducks

I recently found out that the D in HDI was for Desk not for Ducks. So sadly the HDI Annual Conference and Exhibition (HDI14) isn’t the Help Ducks Institute annual conference.

It’s a shame because I was really excited about saving the world’s ducks (see here). But all is not lost…

As I was so upset about not doing the duck-saving I expected at HDI14, our CEO – Sarah Lahav – came up with a brilliant idea to mix IT service management (ITSM) with an even greater cause.

You can still help the ducks (and other animals)

Thanks to Sarah, now not only can you learn about ITSM best practices, meet amazing people, demo innovative products and all-in-all have a fabulous time at HDI14 in Orlando, now you can do a little bit extra too…

Now everyone knows that delegates go crazy to have their photos taken with me at industry events (I’m like the Justin Bieber of ITSM, but a little less annoying). And everyone knows that I love a good hug so I am always only too happy to oblige…

So why not spread the Joe love a little bit further?

You’d be quackers not to.

At HDI14, for every person who has his or her photo taken with me at our booth, SysAid we will donate $2 to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

Let me be clear here, this isn’t some vulgar, charity-exploiting initiative just to get your name and blood type for SysAid’s marketing lists. Nor is it an attempt to pull you to the booth so that we can sit you in front of a demo. We just thought that given that we’ve been tweeting, Facebooking and shouting about saving ducks for so long now, we really ought to do a little bit more than just talk about it.

Sadly there isn’t a charity dedicated to saving all the cute ducklings in the world, but there is a charity dedicated to the protection of endangered species. Quite simply we chose WWF because it helps a wide range of animals (and because it had a cool picture of a gorilla on the homepage – it reminds of someone but I’m not telling).

What do you need to do?

It’s easy:

  • Rock up to the SysAid booth at HDI14 (you can find us by listening to where all the good fun sounds are coming from)
  • Let a member of the team know that you’d like to have your photo taken with me – Joe the IT Guy (I’ll be the good looking one sat in the chair)
  • Have your photo taken with me! (Feel free to give me a cuddle too)

You can then run away with your personal details intact. Although I do recommend that you pick up a free bag with my face on it (filled with chocolate, water and other goodies) before you dash off.

Of course you’re welcome to stay and talk about ITSM best practices or take a demo – but YOU DON’T HAVE TO.

If you’d like a copy of your photograph with me then you will need to part with your email address. However if you don’t want to be added to our mailing list just let us know ­– we’re totally ok with this!

Our tool sells itself so we don’t have to!

Then what?

At the end of the event we’ll count up how many people had their photo taken with me (please note that this is by people, not by photograph, so 5 people in one photo equals 5 donations not 1) we’ll times that figure by $2 and donate the total amount in dollars to WWF. So, if:

  • 500 people have their photo taken with me? That’s $1000 dollars that we’ll donate to WWF.
  • 1000 people have their photo taken with me? That’s $2000 dollars that we’ll donate to WWF.
  • 2000 people have their photo taken with me? That’s $4000 dollars that we’ll donate to WWF!

Why are we doing this?

Well, why not? At every event we have a blast taking photographs at our booth so why not make it more than just a bit of fun?

We invite everyone to come and pose for the camera with me. Other corporate IT guys and ladies, consultants, vendors… whoever you, just say “cheese” and we’ll donate $2 to WWF as a thank you for joining in our fun.

I look forward to meeting you all!


Posted by Joe the IT Guy

Joe the IT Guy

Native New Yorker. Loves everything IT-related (and hugs). Passionate blogger and Twitter addict. Oh...and resident IT Guy at SysAid Technologies (almost forgot the day job!).