Once a year, Claris puts on a party for all of us FileMaker geeks. It’s called Claris Engage, and folks from all over the world gather in one place to nerd out about FileMaker. I got to meet people from Australia, France, Japan and Rhode Island. It’s a great time to see people from the community that you typically only interact with online, and hear about all the new things that Claris is up to. You can read the conference highlights from Claris here.
Of course, since it’s a tech conference, much of what was discussed is under NDA - I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you. Still, there are a few things I can mention. The big buzz throughout the whole conference was, of course, a thing that starts with A and ends with I. Yes, indeed, Claris is investing heavily in AI - and honestly, some of the things we saw look pretty amazing. While many of the presentations focused on new product features that Claris will be debuting soon, there were also some sessions that described what you could do NOW with AI in FileMaker. I saw a fascinating presentation where, with just a block of raw text describing a piece of artwork, FileMaker was able to parse out and fill in a series of data fields like artist’s name, date of birth, materials used, etc. I saw another solution that used AI to copy edit catalog descriptions and check them for specific legal issues. And this is just the beginning…!
The other big buzz at Engage was Claris Studio. Claris has a new licensing model - if you have an active FileMaker license (making annual payments or have paid in advance), Claris Studio and Claris Connect now come along with it. Claris Studio allows developers to easily spin up external websites that connect to your FileMaker solutions, and Claris Connect provides the ability to connect to a wide variety of services like Slack or Twilio or SurveyMonkey. The updates to Claris Studio that are launching this summer will equip users with more robust capabilities. I would encourage folks to take another look at both Claris Studio and Claris Connect, since both platforms are now essentially free with some usage limits, to use along with your FileMaker license, to prepare for the exciting new features. Be sure to keep an eye on our blog as more new tools come out!
Apart from the headlines and the listed events, my favorite takeaway from Engage year after year is the inspiration. We get to see how people are using FileMaker for their clients, and everyone does things in slightly different ways. This developer uses JSON in a way I never thought of before. This other presenter uses the API in a slightly different way. My favorite moments in the sessions are always when the presenters open up the script editor and actually code in front of us. You learn a lot by watching other folks do their work, not only in the techniques but also in how they deliver value to their clients. I always end up with one or two new ideas for my clients - things that we can put into their FileMaker solutions that will make their lives easier.
As is normal with these sorts of things, there was an Expo Showcase: a place for a variety of vendors to set up booths and provide information to attendees about new tools and resources for developers and customers alike. And get lots of FileMaker swag. Speaking of, along with the Expo, Engage had a new featured attraction this year: a FileMaker Museum. Claris put out a call a while ago for FileMaker artifacts - t-shirts, videos, books, CD-Roms - anything physical associated with FileMaker. All of this was put on display in a big conference room just off of the Expo. They had a timeline of the various iterations of FileMaker, along with the year and the location of that year's FileMaker conference. It was super fun to see, and chat with different people there about the conferences they had gone to and the version of FileMaker they started with.
The inspiration for the FileMaker museum came from the fact that this year is the 40th anniversary of the FileMaker product line. 40 years of delivering solutions to customers, 40 years of innovation, and for Claris, 40 years of profitability. In terms of technology companies, these are all accomplishments that are incredibly rare. What you might not know is - The Support Group has been a FileMaker partner for all of those 40 years. We were one of the first three partners, and the only one of those three still in business today. We wrote the first training series, wrote two of the earliest books on FileMaker, and spoke at the first FM developer’s conference and many thereafter. It was the beginning of an amazing partnership, and we look forward to the next 40 years!