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, practitioners, and customers 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—not just technical practitioners, nor just the people who have been doing this for 20 years. 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, follow it on ASUG.com, and 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.