From conference chats to real community: My journey to becoming a Champion
I joined the Atlassian Champions program to build a local community, connect people, and grow my skills. The best advice I can give is: don’t do it alone—bring someone with you!
How it all began... 🔍
A few years ago, I was already working with Atlassian products when I got invited to present at a conference. Talking there with other presenters and attendees made me realize something: we all have the same kinds of challenges, and there wasn’t really a good space to share our solutions on regular basis and more often than an annual conference.
At that time, I didn’t even know about the Atlassian Community Champion program (it was called the Leaders program then). So what did we do? We improvised! We’d occasionally meet with people from one or two other companies we knew were using Atlassian tools. We shared our use cases, swapped solutions, but it was limited—just a small circle, no real way to reach others who might benefit.
It was half a year later when someone I knew, told me there was an actual program for this. I looked it up, applied, and that’s how I became a Champion.
Why I joined 🤝
My biggest motivation was simple: build a real local community in Estonia. I wanted to meet other people using Atlassian products, share our stories, and help each other out.
Honestly, I was also very happy Atlassian supports these events with things like food and drinks—because that makes it easier to bring people together in person! Even though it’s a volunteer role (you don’t get paid), the real value is the friendships and connections I’ve made.
I’ll also admit: the perks impressed me too. Who doesn’t love some Atlassian swag, free event tickets, and certification exams?
My proudest moment as a Champion 🏅
I’m really happy we now have a community where people keep coming back. Even when the event topic isn’t directly relevant to them, they still want to join to learn more about the Atlassian ecosystem—and, even better, to hear each other’s companies use-cases. That’s been the biggest win for me: seeing people join again and again for our ACE events, not just for the content, but for the relationships.
Surprising lessons and skills 🎤
Since joining, I’ve definitely improved at public speaking and event organization—even though there’s always more to learn! I’ve also really appreciated how the community has helped me learn about Atlassian products that are new or not yet in use at my company.
But one of the biggest surprises has been the global Champion network. It’s an awesome group of people from all over the world. Meeting fellow Champions at Atlassian events and having real discussions about our work and challenges has been incredibly rewarding.
My advice to my past self 💡
If I could tell myself anything before joining, it would be this:
It’s hard to do it alone next to your day job. Don’t do it alone—bring someone with you. Together is better.
With this, I want to thank @Elis Augasmägi for supporting me and welcome @Brita Moorus to our Champion team! 💙
Thanks for reading my journey! If anyone’s thinking about becoming a Champion, I highly recommend it. It’s more than a program—it’s a community in every sense.
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Kerli Suve
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