With ASUG, some­thing remark­able is hap­pen­ing: SAP pro­fes­sion­als are find­ing their peo­ple, solv­ing real prob­lems togeth­er, and dis­cov­er­ing they have nev­er been alone. 

There’s a par­tic­u­lar kind of relief that comes from sit­ting in a room full of peo­ple who just get it. They know what it’s like to be mid-imple­men­ta­tion and sud­den­ly real­ize your data mod­el has a flaw. They’ve sur­vived go-live week­ends on three hours of sleep. They’ve stood in front of lead­er­ship while try­ing to trans­late tech­ni­cal com­plex­i­ty into busi­ness val­ue and won­dered, more than once, if any­one else out there was nav­i­gat­ing the exact same thing. 

They are. And ASUG Chap­ters are exact­ly where you’ll find them. 

Across North Amer­i­ca, 39 region­al ASUG Chap­ters bring togeth­er SAP pro­fes­sion­als for con­ver­sa­tions that can’t quite hap­pen on a web­cast, for con­nec­tions that don’t trans­late over a Zoom grid, and for the ener­gy that only comes from peo­ple gath­ered in the same room. 

“Com­mu­ni­ty in SAP has nev­er been more impor­tant, and mem­bers are excit­ed about the changes in con­tent and expe­ri­ences across chap­ter meet­ings.” — Nicole Kern, Chap­ter Oper­a­tions Coor­di­na­tor, ASUG 

Real Con­ver­sa­tions. Real Solu­tions. 

Chap­ter meet­ings are delib­er­ate­ly designed to have par­tic­i­pants exchange infor­ma­tion freely and open­ly. Pre­sen­ta­tions from SAP experts, part­ners, and cus­tomers anchor the agen­da, but it’s often the unscript­ed shar­ing from the com­mu­ni­ty that res­onates most. 

An exam­ple of this was what the ASUG Michi­gan Chap­ter pio­neered, a for­mat called ​“Bring It,” where atten­dees write down a cur­rent chal­lenge on a card as they check in. At the end of the day, a vol­un­teer pulls the cards and pos­es each chal­lenge to the room, and those who have faced some­thing sim­i­lar speak up. Solu­tions sur­face from unex­pect­ed places. Issues that felt iso­lat­ing only moments pri­or then evolve to have a dozen peo­ple work­ing on them. 

This active col­lab­o­ra­tion is the spir­it that defines ASUG Chap­ters’ crowd­sourced knowledge. 

Inclu­sion Is the Point 

One of the more sig­nif­i­cant aspects about ASUG Chap­ters is that they’re built for every­one — if your com­pa­ny holds ASUG mem­ber­ship, every per­son in your orga­ni­za­tion can attend. That means the ana­lyst run­ning reports, the project man­ag­er nav­i­gat­ing their first imple­men­ta­tion, and the devel­op­er who just joined the team last month. It’s inclu­sive and open to all. 

Vol­un­teer lead­ers, many of whom have been part of the ASUG com­mu­ni­ty for decades, pour gen­uine care into mak­ing these events wel­com­ing. The events them­selves take many forms: for­mal edu­ca­tion­al ses­sions, round­table dis­cus­sions, Code­Jam hands-on labs, and social events that mix the pro­fes­sion­al with fun, (like Top­golf, muse­um nights, and hock­ey games, to name a few) giv­ing mem­bers oppor­tu­ni­ties to flour­ish in their con­nec­tions in set­tings that offer inclu­sive and warm environments. 

The Peo­ple Who Make It All Pos­si­ble 

Behind every chap­ter meet­ing, there are vol­un­teers. They are, in every mean­ing­ful sense, the lifeblood of ASUG Chapters. 

Vol­un­teers don’t just show up to chap­ter meet­ings; they build them. ASUG Vol­un­teers are the voice of the com­mu­ni­ty and work direct­ly with chap­ters, shap­ing what gets dis­cussed, what gets cel­e­brat­ed, and what gets prioritized. 

Dur­ing the chap­ter meet­ings, vol­un­teers facil­i­tate open dis­cus­sions, lead pan­els, and share their own SAP expe­ri­ences. They cre­ate the con­di­tions that take atten­dees, as one ASUG leader put it, ​“from ret­i­cent to ener­gized.” They’re the rea­son a room full of strangers becomes a room full of col­lab­o­ra­tors, giv­ing space for every­one to have a voice. 

Beyond the meet­ing itself, chap­ter vol­un­teers serve as local offi­cers and ASUG Cham­pi­ons. They are set­ting annu­al strate­gic pri­or­i­ties, act­ing as the bridge between SAP users and experts, and help­ing shape the future direc­tion of the com­mu­ni­ty. They coor­di­nate logis­tics, man­age rela­tion­ships with host orga­ni­za­tions, and help secure the local spon­sors and part­ners that make events pos­si­ble. And per­haps most impor­tant­ly, they pri­or­i­tize net­work­ing because they know that gen­uine pro­fes­sion­al con­nec­tions are often the rea­son mem­bers keep com­ing back. 

This kind of sus­tained, self­less con­tri­bu­tion deserves to be rec­og­nized. At the 2026 SAP Sap­phire & ASUG Annu­al Con­fer­ence, ASUG held its Vol­un­teer Appre­ci­a­tion Break­fast, a ded­i­cat­ed gath­er­ing to hon­or the peo­ple whose behind-the-scenes work holds the whole com­mu­ni­ty togeth­er. Awards are shaped by nom­i­na­tions from fel­low ASUG mem­bers and from the ASUG staff who work along­side vol­un­teers through­out the year. 

This year’s Vol­un­teers of the Year were Cindy Seaburn of Duval Coun­ty Pub­lic Schools, Mar­tin Mysyk of SAP, Kara Beck of 33 North Group (ASUG Upstate New York Chap­ter), and Jen­nifer Dubler of SAP (ASUG Dal­las-Fort Worth Chap­ter). The ASUG Spir­it Award hon­ored Heather Davis of Collinwood Part­ners, Amy Her of Result­ing IT, and Seema Kessel­ring of SAP, vol­un­teers whose empa­thy and ener­gy set the tone for every­one around them. The Ris­ing Star Award rec­og­nized Bryce Light­ner of Wood­stream, Sud­hir Raya­pured­dy of Karcher North Amer­i­ca, and Paul Bar­ney of SAP, each already a trust­ed voice in their chap­ter communities. 

The Most Inno­v­a­tive Award went to Paul Kim­ball of iT2, Kim­ber­ly Sharp of EverBlue Part­ners LLC, and Peter Spielvo­gel of SAP Labs, vol­un­teers who brought bold, cre­ative think­ing to the work. And the LinkedIn Leg­end Award rec­og­nized Susan Stone of Dan­de­lion Expe­ri­ence, Mark Richard­son of Rich Ana­lyt­ics, and Kris­ten Schef­fler of SAP for using social media to recruit, ampli­fy, and keep ASUG grow­ing beyond the meet­ing room walls. 

Every one of these hon­orees embod­ies some­thing that makes ASUG Chap­ters worth attend­ing in the first place: the belief that the peo­ple around you are worth invest­ing in. If that res­onates with you, con­sid­er join­ing them. Explore upcom­ing vol­un­teer oppor­tu­ni­ties at the ASUG Vol­un­teer Ser­vices page, and help make the com­mu­ni­ty stronger for every­one who comes next. 

Some­one Here Has Been Where You Are 

In the best ver­sion of your SAP career, you have a com­mu­ni­ty: a place where you don’t have to fig­ure things out alone, where some­one who has already walked the path you’re on helps you find your answers, and where your chal­lenges are met with expe­ri­ence, not silence. 

ASUG Chap­ters exist for the moment when some­one across the table says, ​“We went through exact­ly that last year and here’s what worked.” They exist for the vol­un­teer who has been host­ing these events since 1998 because she gen­uine­ly believes the com­mu­ni­ty is worth it. They exist for the first-timer who walks in not know­ing a soul and walks out with three new con­tacts and two ideas they can’t wait to bring back to their team. 

They exist because SAP is not just soft­ware; it’s a shared world, and you deserve to know the peo­ple who live in it with you. 

“When you bring peo­ple togeth­er, they will work fear­less­ly to find the best pos­si­ble out­come.” — SAP Cus­tomer Evo­lu­tion Team 

Chap­ter atten­dance is a ben­e­fit of your ASUG mem­ber­ship with no extra cost. Find your local chap­ter on ASUG​.com to get noti­fied when the next event is com­ing to your area. Bring a col­league. Bring a ques­tion. Bring yourself. 

The com­mu­ni­ty is already there. It has been wait­ing for you. 

To find your local chap­ter and reg­is­ter for upcom­ing events, vis­it ASUG​.com and fol­low top­ics and chap­ters that mat­ter to you. Ques­tions? Reach out to communities@​asug.​com.