This year, O’Neil Software celebrated its 30th anniversary and while doing so, the company worked with its Strategic Partners to bring hope, strength and joy to children with life-threatening medical conditions by supporting the Make-A-Wish Foundation®.

O’Neil’s Srategic Partner Conferences continue to transform a business and social group function into an unforgettable charity experience, whose positive effects linger long after the venue is over. The organizations selected to sponsor this year were the Make-A-Wish Foundation of America and Make-A-Wish Foundation International who's mission is to grant the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy.  The Make-A-Wish Foundation was founded in 1980 when a group of caring volunteers helped a young boy fulfill his dream of becoming a police officer. The Foundation is one of the world's leading children's charities. The Make-A-Wish Foundation of America serves children in the United States and Make-A-Wish International serves children in 40 countries outside the United States. With the help of generous donors and more than 30,000 volunteers, the Make-A-Wish Foundation has granted more than 250,000 wishes worldwide since its inception.

“Every 18 months, a top priority for us is hosting an event that not only will help our customers succeed in records management, but will also demonstrate a strong commitment to society and help those less fortunate,” notes Ian Thomas, Executive Vice President at O’Neil. He continues:  "Charitable donations and sponsorships are a direct reflection of an organization's values and perspectives. Over the last few years and despite tough economic times, O’Neil Conference attendees have always come through with heartfelt and noteworthy donations for children's based charities. This year, our attendees and strategic business partners displayed true generosity and set a new high, we would like to sincerely thank them all."

We are delighted to confirm that this year the O'Neil Software Strategic Partner Conference raised $26,000 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation (see the Sponsors tab for the reconciliation), but don't stop there.  You can visit wish.org for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of America and worldwish.org for Make-A-Wish Foundation International, to discover how you can share the power of a wish®.

Without the generosity of our sponsors and everyone who took part in the fund-raising events, we would not be able to make such a fabulous contribution to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.  I would like to thank everyone who donated so generously.  Here is how we raised $26,000 with your help:

At the Awards Dinner and Banquet, the 80's theme brought out many costumes and we were fortunate to be joined by three Don Johnsons, Freddy Mercury, Michael Jackson, Slash, several valley girls, punk rockers, heavy metal rockers, Bjorn Borg, Angus Young (AC/DC), Olivia Newton-John, Pimp Daddy, and many others...  The night was hosted by our very own Ian Thomas, Executive Vice President who lead proceedings and a song dressed as Cindi Lauper, following a dare to raise funds for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

We would like to thank representatives from Make-A-Wish for joining us and explaining the importance of this fabulous organization with some stories that were funny and uplifting, while never straying from the key goal of the foundation.

Finally, it wouldn't be the Strategic Partner Conference without an opportunity for us to thank some of our Strategic Partners.  This years awards were presented to the following companies and individuals for their outstanding achievements and support of our strategic relationships:

Our speakers all contribute to make the Strategic Partner Conference an exciting educational opprtunity.  We would like to thank each of our speakers for all their hardwork and for their true spirit of partnership by sharing their experiences.

Everyone know that The Record Center Challenge is the most fun networking opportunity in the industry.  This year was no exception as O'Neil celebrated 30 years of business.  Initially incorporated in 1981, this coincided with the launch of MTV and we thought it would be fun to see if our 80's generation could re-create some of the finer moments of the early MTV videos.

With seven teams competing, the winning team was voted by the judges as the Turquoise Team, with their interpreation of "Walk Like an Egyptian" from The Bangles.  Performed on the bridge over Pacific Coast Highway their flowing video (no cuts allowed) showed great creativity.

The remaining teams were judged by the conference attendees who selected the Purple Team, for their interpreatation of "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey.  This team took it to the streets, filming their video on Main Street, Huntington Beach with support from many passers-by.

You can watch the videos* and vote for your favorite at http://www.oneilsoft.com/user-forum/forum?id=40 

(* Please note that you will need a username and password to access the user forum)

The previous Strategic Partner Conferences have all been great fun, and we have lots of photographs and feedback to share with you. With six previous conferences, we need more space than this, so Click Here to go to the conference reviews page.