COMMON today unveiled COMMON Directions, a new educational conference offering that will be introduced for the first time this fall in Dallas.

COMMON Directions will feature two days of i5/OS education as well as a wide range of other educational sessions and will include a small expo for solution providers to showcase the latest innovations in i5/OS-related technologies. The inaugural conference will take place Thursday, Sept. 25 and Friday, Sept. 26.

COMMON Directions was introduced to address the growing and varied needs of the COMMON membership, and the i5/OS community at large. As Randy Dufault, COMMON's president says, "2007 was a year of significant change for COMMON, and by most measures a very successful year of change. We made those changes because our members asked us, but by no means are we done. COMMON Directions is the next step in building up the educational programs that our members told us will fit well with their busy schedules." More information about COMMON Directions can be found at www.common.org/directions.

With the addition of COMMON Directions, the "COMMON...Customized" education model now offers a number of options for COMMON members and the i5/OS community:

·         COMMON Annual Meeting and Exposition-COMMON's five-day educational event that takes place every spring and offers more than 500 educational sessions, networking, and a large i5/OS-related solutions center.

·         COMMON Focus-COMMON's annual workshop conference event, featuring three days of intense, focused education and an expo area of tabletop exhibitors.

·         COMMON Directions-COMMON's newly unveiled two-day conference event, featuring a wide range of educational sessions and a small expo.

·         Seminars-One-day workshops that combine lecture and live demonstration on leading-edge topics, offered in a number of cities across North America. Many of the COMMON Seminars are offered in partnership with local user groups, helping serve their local membership.

·         Webcasts-One-hour long Webcasts on leading-edge topics and conducted by industry-leading experts, they provide focused education at no cost to COMMON members.

·         Webinars-Webinars are a series of live, Web-based seminars on leading-edge topics delivered over multiple weeks, that provide focused education at a minimal cost.

COMMON Focus 2008

This year's COMMON Focus 2008 workshop conference will take place from Sunday, Oct. 5, through Wednesday, Oct. 8 in San Francisco. The annual workshop will offer three days of intense, focused education, according to organizers. The smaller-sized event is designed to allow attendees more personal interaction with speakers and with each other than is available at larger expos. It will feature in-depth, all-day educational workshops offered both in lab- and lecture-style formats covering a wide range of topics. COMMON Focus 2008 will also feature a limited tabletop-style exhib area. More information about COMMON Focus can be found at www.common.org/focus.

About COMMON

COMMON is the world's largest user group of midrange IBM and IBM-compatible technology. The organization comprises more than 4,000 individual and corporate members. They represent more than 22,000 IT professionals involved with the IBM i5/OS, OS/400 and related solutions. For more information about COMMON, visit www.common.org.