Note:
At the end of the meeting, we will hold a drawing for a copy of Johanna's book Manage It! Your Guide to Modern Pragmatic Project ManagementGeneral Member meetings feature an invited speaker, dinner and networking opportunities.
Board of Director (BoD) Meetings are where ICCA organization business is discussed.
| BoD Meetings | General Meetings |
| --- 2008 --- | |
| Jul 8 | Jul 22 |
| Jun 17 | Jun 24 |
| May 13 | May 27 |
| Apr 8 | Apr 22 |
| Mar 11 | Mar 25 |
| Feb 12 | Feb 26 |
| Jan 8 | Jan 22 |
| --- 2007 --- | |
| Dec 11 | |
| Nov 13 | Nov 15 |
| Oct 9 | Oct 23 |
| Sep 11 | Sep 19 |
| Aug 28 | |
| Jul 10 | |
| Jun 12 | Jun 26 |
| May 8 | May 22 |
| Apr 10 | Apr 24 |
| Mar 13 | Mar 27 |
| Feb 13 | |
| Jan 9 | Jan 23 |
Prior Meetings (2006 and older) | |
| July 22, 2008 |
Join us for an evening of informal conversation at the Dandelion Green restaurant in Burlington.
For this meeting: no admission, but pay your own way
Please send an email message to to let us know you plan to attend.
Note: Dandelion Green will not allow us to pay by credit card for the exact meal each individual orders. However, they will split the bill, equally, and allow each of us to use our credit card.
Drinks tab can be handled separately, but participants will need to agree on how to manage the payment by a single credit card or equal spit.
| June 24, 2008 |
What are you doing to grow your consulting business this year?
Come to this meeting to:
Curtis will lead participants in an exciting and informative discussion.
This is one meeting you can't afford to miss!
Note: This event was originally scheduled for April 2008.
Curtis Bingham, the President of the Predicting Consulting Group, helps companies dramatically increase customer acquisition, retention, and customer profitability. He's the author of the forthcoming book, The Key to Customer Strategy: The Rise of the Chief Customer Officer that describes how a consistent and unified customer strategy can grow revenue, profit, and loyalty. He's uncovered millions of dollars in hidden profits for companies across the board from large ones like Intuit, Microsoft, Standard & Poor's, Cardinal Health to smaller businesses.
A recognized authority and thought-leader on Chief Customer Officers (CCO), Curtis has published the annual Executive-Level Customer Champions Report covering companies such as Cisco, HP, Sun, Monster.com, and Disney that includes the roles, responsibilities, and best practices of CCOs around the world.
Curtis has worked with a variety of industries including enterprise software, telecom, semiconductor, marketing automation, publishing, corporate gift, and Internet advertising in addition to various non-profit organizations as well. He is a contributing editor for Sales & Marketing Excellence and a regular contributor to the Handbook of Business Strategy. Holding both an MBA from Lehigh University and a Master's in Computer Science from Brigham Young University, he has taught Demand Chain Management at Bentley College in Massachusetts, plus he is a member of the Institute of Management Consultants.
| May 27, 2008 |
Invited Speaker:
Maxine Gautier
of Out from Under Professional Organizing
Come to this presentation to find out how to avoid the most common breakdowns in office organization systems. Maxine will present ideas for paper flow management, filing systems, effective use of outsourcing, how to prevent your in-basket from getting buried, and other techniques for keeping your stress level down and your productivity level up.
She'll draw on extensive experience with clients to answer specific questions about your office organization challenges.
Maxine is the founder of Out From Under Professional Organizing, www.ofuorganizing.com. She is a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers, and the resident organizing "tipster" for a new mother's website produced by the Boston Globe. Her approach is pragmatic and irreverent; her clients are generally surprised at how quickly and pleasantly they achieve results.
| April 22, 2008 |
| March 25, 2008 |
Invited Speaker:
Johanna Rothman,
of Rothman Consulting Group, Inc.
You've made contact with a potential client. They need you—and you're perfect for them. But they have a bunch of problems, and they can't figure out how to effectively use you. What do you do?
One of the best tools in a consultant's toolbox is the assessment. You can't help the client change until you (and they) know where they are. But aren't all assessments long and expensive? Don't you need an army of consultants to do them right?
No and No. Any consultant can determine how to use effective assessments in his or her practice. All you need is to know how to bound your problems, so you can see how to sell the service to your clients.
You can learn where you're starting with no more than three simple questions. In this session, you'll learn how to design three questions that work for you to start an assessing conversation. We'll explore which questions work, which questions are traps, and how to stay out of trouble with questions. You'll learn to develop a framework for assessments for your business.
If you don't offer an assessment service as part of your consulting practice, you are missing a qualitative data gathering approach that clients find invaluable. In this session, Johanna will explain a framework for assessments, her initial questions. We'll work together to help you find your initial questions.
Note:
At the end of the meeting, we will hold a drawing for a copy of Johanna's book Manage It! Your Guide to Modern Pragmatic Project Management
Johanna Rothman helps managers identify, define, and solve their problems. She is the author of Manage It! Your Guide to Modern, Pragmatic Project Management, the coauthor (with Esther Derby) of Behind Closed Doors: Secrets of Great Management, and the author of Hiring the Best Knowledge Workers, Techies & Nerds: The Secrets and Science of Hiring Technical People. She has posted over 150 articles, as well as two blogs, on www.jrothman.com.
Description of talk and bio copyright 2008 by Johanna Rothman
| February 26, 2008 |
What's
a dispersed team? You'll find various definitions if you surf around a bit, but the main features of a dispersed team are what make them so difficult.
The people are dispersed geographically, they meet infrequently or never, and they come from different cultures (societal or organizational). These three factors
conspire to make what's usually easy, difficult — and what's usually difficult, impossible.
All of this happens because of the dramatically increased variety of situations we face when we work on a dispersed or global team.
If you sponsor, lead or participate in virtual teams, you'll find great value in this presentation. Come learn:
Attendees will learn to appreciate the true challenges of the dispersed environment. You'll learn how the economics of the dispersed environment differ from the economics of the face-to-face environment, and how the picture conveyed by the organizational cost management system distorts our view of these differences. Most important, you'll learn strategies and tactics for making the dispersed environment productive and effective.
Rick Brenner works with organizations that are developing complex products or services in markets so fast-moving that to succeed, their people need state-of-the art teamwork. The techniques he's developed and collected include some unusual twists. They're drawn from a variety of sources - solid practice, history, psychology, and his own experience and education. Using a mix of presentation, metaphor, humor and simulation, he guides his clients in applying these ideas and inventing new ones.
His focus is improving personal and organizational effectiveness. He has expertise in abnormal situations, such as technical emergencies, understaffed and highly fluid organizations, and high-pressure project situations.
Rick
is the author of the ebook 202
Tips for Managing Global Teams. It's a compact tip book written in a style designed explicitly for busy people
- a comprehensive set of ideas for making your global team sing!
Trained in electrical engineering and theoretical physics, Rick's a former software engineer and entrepreneur. He worked in the computer industry and in Defense systems for 15 years, as an engineer, an engineering manager and a project manager, at Symbolics, Inc. and at Draper Laboratory, both of Cambridge. Since 1993, he has taught a course in business modeling at the Harvard Extension School. He holds a Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering from MIT. He has been active in and held leadership positions in the New England Chapter of the National Speakers Assocation, the Boston SPIN and the Boston Section of the American Society for Quality. He is an active speaker, coach and consultant whose clients have included Navistar, the IRS, Wachovia, Intuit, Medtronic and Microsoft.
| January 22, 2008 |
As consultants, we consistently need to negotiate scope and fees, whether at the start of a project, during the engagement, or as the project is winding down.
Come learn strategies and take away ideas about how to manage your negotiations more effectively!
This talk will focus on negotiations of scope and fee, but the strategies and tactics can be applied to many other types of negotiations. Come and learn from an experienced negotiator.
Moshe Cohen is a trainer and mediator based in Cambridge, MA. Since founding The Negotiating Table in 1995, he has conducted hundreds of negotiations skills workshops for clients such as EMC, Reebok, Hasbro, and many other corporations, law firms, financial services companies, consulting firms, and more.
Mr. Cohen also teaches Negotiations and Leadership in the MBA program at Boston University and Cambridge College, and previously taught at Bentley College. In addition to corporate and university classes, he conducts public seminars on negotiation and conflict management and is a frequent guest speaker at business functions, conferences, and universities.
Mr. Cohen has published numerous articles on negotiation, mediation, conflict management, and leadership. As a mediator, Moshe Cohen specializes in business, employment, workplace and discrimination disputes and serves on a number of mediation panels locally and nationally. He has also served as a judge in the American Bar Association's negotiation competition held at Boston University Law School.
Moshe Cohen received his Bachelor's degree in Physics from Cornell, a Master in Electrical Engineering from McGill University, and a Master in Business Administration from the Boston University Graduate School of Management. Mr. Cohen's career includes over twelve years of engineering and project management experience prior to founding The Negotiating Table.
| November 15, 2007 |
Join us in Cambridge for this special "New Technology" meeting as Fernanda Viegas and Martin Wattenberg report on Wikipedia's evolution from a curiosity to a point of first reference for millions.
Their application of data visualization techniques to Wikipedia's historical archives uncovers a story in three acts: life, love, and bureaucracy.
Life refers to the impressive ability of Wikipedia to heal itself after vandalism and errors.
Love is reflected in the overwhelming scale of individual production and the passion shown by devoted editors.
Bureaucracy -- an unexpected aspect of a free-spirited community -- is becoming prevalent as the site scales, with emerging formalized processes and roles that help ensure quality.
Viegas
is known for her pioneering work on depicting chat histories and email.
Wattenberg's visualizations
of the stock market and baby names are considered internet classics.
The two became a team in 2003 when they decided to visualize Wikipedia, leading to the "history flow" project, discussed in this talk, that revealed the self-healing nature of the online encyclopedia. They are currently exploring the power of web-based visualization and the social forms of data analysis it enables.
NOTE: This meeting is being held jointly with the Greater Boston Chapter of the ACM and the IEEE Boston Computer Society. The meeting is being held at the regular meeting location of ACM/Boston. The meeting is free and no registration is required.
| October 23, 2007 |
Invited Speaker:
Diane Darling, Founder and CEO
of Effective Networking, Inc.
The fastest, most cost effective way to get anything done is to have others help you. The people in your network are key to your success and vice versa. In this interactive, informative and action-oriented session, you will learn tips and techniques that can be immediately implemented.
Early registrants received a free copy of Diane's book Networking For Career Success.
Diane Darling is an author, speaker, and entrepreneur. She founded Effective Networking, Inc. on the premise that everyone can learn to network; you just need to find your own style. Her two books, The Networking Survival Guide and Networking for Career Success, published by McGraw-Hill, have been translated into six languages. Diane has appeared on the NBC Nightly News, in The Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, and The Boston Globe.
Comments from past Effective Networking event participants:
"Diane does a great job providing very practical, usable advice that you can put into action as soon as you leave the room. It takes the mystery out of how to network successfully."
"You named my fears! So funny, but everything I was anxious about regarding networking you talked about and explained how to handle."
"I gained new strategies and an action plan for improving my effectiveness at all kinds of networking events."
"It's a must for anyone who networks for any reason."
| September 19, 2007 |
Download a PDF of Scott's Presentation here.
Come to our meeting at the SD Best Practices Conference & Expo to hear conference keynote speaker Scott Ambler present The Seven Deadly Sins of IT Consultants.
In his no-nonsense style, Scott describes typical mistakes that IT consultants make. The material is drawn from observations of other consultants throughout his career. Not content to just describe typical blunders, Scott provides advice on the best practices to avoid these issues. And, as we have come to expect, the questions and answers will be thought provoking, to say the least!
Scott is the Practice Leader Agile Development with the IBM Methods group. He lives in the Toronto area and focuses on software modeling, Unified Process, database, and agile software development. He is the author of more than a dozen books including Refactoring Databases, The Enterprise Unified Process, Managing Agile Projects, and The Elements of UML Style.
Scott is a thought leader in agile development techniques, a prolific writer, and an in-demand speaker. In his spare time, you're likely to find Scott pursuing his hobbies that include writing, cycling, karate, and Tai Chi.
| June 26, 2007 |
Herb will discuss how to create a strategy for complex selling situations involving many players. Successful sales strategies involve identifying the right people who can make a decision to hire you, understanding what motivates them to commit to you, and developing questioning and listening techniques that help you get at the real problems your client needs your help to solve. You will get some fresh ideas about how to craft an engagement letter, present it, and ask for the order.
Key aspects of client management including setting expectations, presenting and getting agreement on a work plan, and measuring desired outcomes will be included in the second part of this discussion.
Herbert Fox has over 35 years of experience in sales and marketing management at several successful companies, including Data General Corporation, IBM Corporation, and MultiTrack Sales Consulting of which he is the Founder and President. At MultiTrack, Herb has helped hundreds of sales people and sales managers achieve success.
In addition to this work, Herb also was on the board of the Society of Professional Consultants where he developed a comprehensive consultant training program. Currently, Herb serves on the boards of the Boston Classical Orchestra and the Salem State College Foundation and is a volunteer consultant with Executive Service Corps of New England, an organization committed to helping non-profit organizations accomplish their missions. Herb resides in Brookline, MA, where his primary interest is his grandchildren.
| May 22, 2007 |
Our world is becoming more and more web-centric by the day. The web has taken on a greater role in both our business and personal lives. The Internet is a disruptive technology that is forcing businesses to change their processes. History has proven time and again that those who fail to adopt the new technologies will struggle to survive.
One of the key business functions being impacted by the web is marketing and advertising. There is a fundamental shift in the way prospects find and evaluate your business. The new battleground for clients is on the web, and those winning the battle are those who are leveraging Search Engine Marketing to ensure prospects find their business via the search engines.
This will be a fun and fascinating evening. Join us and bring a friend!
Jeff has over 20 years of experience in web development, search engine marketing, CRM software and IT consulting. Over his career, he has managed development teams, lead product marketing efforts, performed technical sales, and project managed the delivery of many large IT software projects.
At Sagebridge, Jeff is responsible for leading the delivery of Search Engine Marketing services and web solutions. His responsibilities also include technical sales and web solution development. Jeff holds BS in Management from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
| April 24, 2007 |
In April we'll have a different kind of event. Several of our members and guests have agreed to bring their favorite gadgets and suggestions. You'll have a unique opportunity to learn what's available and how gadgets can help you and your business.
We'll cover handheld devices such as PDAs and smartphones. We'll discuss computer peripherals such as business card readers and label printers. We'll exchange ideas on software productivity tools from web browsers to office suites. And finally, we'll talk about websites that are useful and valuable to independent consultants.
Come to our April meeting where you'll see and hear about these gadgets. We invite you to bring your favorite gadget and share your experiences. We are including a "gadget roundtable" where anyone can offer an idea or suggestion. What works for you? What doesn't? Which gadget do you use most? Why?
Some of the gadgets and technologies we plan to include are:
If you want to "show and tell" your favorite gadget, we'd like you to send a message to info@icca-boston.org to let us know. We'll reserve a few minutes for you to speak and demonstrate. If you simply have an idea (or several) that you want to offer to the group, no advance notice is needed, just register for the meeting.
This will be a fun and fascinating evening. Join us and bring a friend!
| March 27, 2007 |
The subject of ownership is complex. A client hires you and pays you to deliver a software application, a document, spreadsheet or database. You deliver fabulous results that could apply to many companies in your marketplace. Now...
This is a legal minefield!
Join us as we explore the topic of ownership and reuse of software and related work products. We will address how an independent consultant can determine what he or she "owns", what the client "owns", and whether a work product can be reused.
You'll learn what types of provisions can be included in client agreements to protect yourself. We'll also discuss steps you can take to protect your intellectual property rights.
Don't miss this event. Know your rights! Armed with the right information, you can protect yourself while continuing to deliver high-value, client results.
Jonathan Lourie is a partner at Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge LLP. He is Co-Chair of its Life Sciences Practice Group and former chair of the Technology Group.
Rob Tosti also is a partner at Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge LLP. He is a member of its Intellectual Property practice and a registered patent attorney.
Mr. Lourie's practice focuses on life science, software, electronic media, and technology companies. He has represented clients worldwide in a range of matters including business formations, joint ventures, licenses, venture capital, collaborations, and acquisitions. Mr. Lourie is a frequent speaker on software, life science, and technology issues before trade groups, legal panels, and venture investment forums. He has been published in books and magazines on these topics. Mr. Lourie graduated, magna cum laude, from Syracuse University College of Law and has a Bachelor of Science in Psychobiology from McGill University.
Mr. Tosti focuses on intellectual property (IP) law, and handles patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secret matters including licensing. He is involved with obtaining patents, advising about the scope and validity of patents, and enforcing patent rights. His articles have appeared in various publications and have included such topics as business method patents, performing IP "due diligence" on a software company, and open source licenses. He graduated, cum laude, from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering, and he has a M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering also from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He received his law degree, cum laude, from Suffolk University Law School.
Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge is a U.S. based law firm with over 520 attorneys in nine offices in the U.S. and a representative office in London.
| January 23, 2007 |
This program will address specific sales challenges that you may be facing on a fairly consistent basis. It will not have any magic dust or silver bullets to fix all your sales challenges but will get you to think differently about how you go about moving the sales process forward.
Sales challenges often sound like:
Believe it or not, these issues can be addressed. There are simple ways to fix these problems. Scott will give you some really useful tactics and mindsets around these issues that you can use immediately. This will be an interactive workshop and fits of fun will ensue. You'll experience different thinking and will leave feeling more comfortable with the sales process. You'll be armed with some new ideas for your next interview with a prospective client.
As a principal at Next Level, Inc., Scott focuses on teaching companies a proven sales process that achieves measurable results.
Scott enjoys working with CEOs, Presidents and entrepreneurs on Behavior, Attitude and Technique, the building blocks for success in sales. Scott's first entrepreneurial venture was as President and Founder of a successful niche Interactive Media firm which he owned and operated for ten years prior to joining Next Level, Inc. He grew the company by 400% in two years after learning "How to Get to the Real Decision Maker" and "How to Close the Deal or Close the File." Scott understands the challenges small business owners face and over his many years in this business has helped the leaders of mid-sized companies address similar challenges on a larger scale. His experience in the trenches makes him an effective sales trainer, coach and advisor to other business owners.
Scott earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management from Bridgewater State College. A resident of Millbury, Massachusetts, he is a devoted husband and father of three children.
| October 24, 2006 |
There is a wealth of open source software readily available. Whether you develop in the Windows, Linux, Unix or OS/X environment, the options are many. Including the source code in your custom-built solutions is tempting. Why re-invent the wheel? Deliver more value to your clients for less cost.
Similarly, incorporating open source executables into your solutions can speed up the development time, improve quality and provide more functionality.
What's not to like?
Business, licensing and intellectual property issues create a minefield around open source. You must become familiar with the underlying constraints or risk exposing yourself and your clients to business restrictions and legal ramifications.
This panel discussion explores the benefits and risks of software development with open source. Learn to take full advantage of open source and deliver more value to your clients.
| Panelist | Daniel A. Batterman, Esq. |
Daniel Batterman is an attorney in Boston who practices in the technology law field. This practice area includes contract negotiation and drafting, intellectual property, licensing, compliance, business development, employment, subcontracting, litigation, and collection matters. Mr. Batterman's clients include early stage technology companies, software and web development companies, service providers, information technology and business consultants, and internet and e-commerce companies. Mr. Batterman received his undergraduate degree in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1989 and his Juris Doctor from the New England School of Law in Boston in 1995, where he was a member of the Law Review. In addition to giving numerous lectures at the Wharton School, Mr. Batterman has lectured to various industry and legal groups. Attorney Batterman can be reached at 617-259-1600 or at DBatterman@BattermanLaw.com. | |
| Panelist | Henry Hall, President of Wild Open Source Inc. |
Henry Hall is the President of Wild Open Source Inc., a consulting services firm specializing in assessing, developing and integrating Open Source technologies into businesses since 2001. With over 20 years of experience in engineering and management roles, Henry has led research and engineering organizations to complete projects on time and under budget. Henry's organizational experience ranges from leading groups at both Digital Equipment, Compaq, and startup companies as well as managing a quality group in a schedule driven product development organization. Henry's technical skills include a strong background in Security, initiating Digital's first commercial UNIX security development effort, developing improved automated testing methodologies, and post graduate experience with distributed operating systems (Locus). | |
| Panelist | Doug Johnson, Senior VP and Chief Financial Officer of Black Duck Software |
Doug brings more than 25 years of industry experience to Black Duck, including executive financial and operations roles at multiple software firms. Most recently, Doug was chief operating officer, and previously CFO, of software maker THINQ Learning Solutions. There, he directed all customer facing technical and delivery activities plus hosting operations. Previously, Doug was executive vice president of operations and finance at Softlock.com, Inc., a distributor of secure digital content on the Internet. There he obtained financing for this publicly traded company and managed the engineering and hosting operations for the company's eCommerce services. His background also includes executive management positions at Aztec Technology Partners, Discreet Logic and Fusion Systems Corporation. |
| September 12, 2006 |
Project retrospectives may be one of the best ways to improve your project results and build a healthy project community. You conduct a retrospective at the end of a milestone, iteration, or project, using the project as a live learning lab to improve your work and teamwork.
For projects large and small, retrospectives offer your organization significant benefits, helping you acquire and use collective wisdom, define best practices, avoid faulty decisions, and assess the chances for the success of future innovations. Insights gained from retrospectives help new project teams start successfully or, in the case of an interim retrospective, enable the project to improve in midcourse.
This presentation will address the essentials of effective retrospectives:
Ellen Gottesdiener is Principal Consultant and founder of EBG Consulting, Inc., www.ebgconsulting.com. Ellen has authored several books including Requirements by Collaboration: Workshops for Defining Needs, and Software Requirements Memory Jogger: A Pocket Guide to Help Software and Business Teams Develop and Manage Requirements and has written numerous articles. Since 1991, Ellen's consulting company has provided a broad range of services including consulting, mentoring, facilitation and training. Her clients include Ameritrade, Cisco Systems, Eli Lilly and Company, JP Morgan Chase, Mayo Clinic, Microsoft, Pitney Bowes, National Institute of Health, and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Prior to founding EBG, Ellen spent thirteen years as a manager, team leader, developer, and trainer with a major insurance and financial services organization.
She is a Certified Professional Facilitator (CPF) with extensive experience as a professional workshop facilitator with particular focus on smart starts to projects through facilitated workshops (e.g. project chartering, product visioning, project planning, and requirements development) and on project and process improvement.
Ellen is Advisor for the Software Development West and Best Practices, the World Congress for Business Analysts/Project World Conference and the Stickyminds web site. She is also an industry expert reviewer for the International Institute of Business Analysis Body of Knowledge. She presents at numerous industry conferences including Agile Development, Business Analyst World/Project World Summit, World Congress for Business Analysts/Project World, Software Development Best Practices, and the International Association of Facilitators.
Click here to download the presentation slides.
This special event was held at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston as part of the
SD Best Practices Conference & Expo.
| June 15, 2006 |
The Greater Boston Chapter of the ACM and ICCA-Boston will present a lecture about Online Communities in the context of health care.
Online communities provide a way for people to learn new things, find information, and connect with others who have similar interests. Online communities are supported by a variety of Internet technologies and are hosted by individuals, advocacy groups, trade organizations, and corporations.
These communities raise difficult design challenges because of the wide variability of members' expertise and needs. The importance of online communities is evidenced by the impact they have on people's lives and literacy and by their popularity, which is likely to increase due to increased infiltration and use of the Internet. This talk explores current trends in online communities and the significant issues in designing and evaluating systems that help members interact with other participants and experts in meaningful ways.
This presentation uses online health communities as an example of this rapidly emerging field. Join us for an exploration into the future of learning.
Lisa Neal teaches about new technologies for health communication. She is Editor-in-Chief of eLearn Magazine and a consultant who specializes in the creative use of collaborative technologies for learning. Lisa holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Harvard University. Lisa's web site is www.lisaneal.com .
NOTE: This meeting is a joint meeting with the Greater Boston Chapter of the ACM, and is being held at their regular meeting location. The meeting is free and no registration is required.
| June 12, 2006 |
For details about this event see: bostondotnet.org/Events/MegaMeeting/.
We've arranged for Mega Meeting registrants to receive a Free TechEd Exhibit Hall Pass for the day on Monday. Check out the Mega Meeting link above for details.
NOTE: This meeting is being held at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center during the TechEd conference. The meeting is free and open to all, though registration is required.
| May 23, 2006 |
Are you looking to generate new business opportunities or shorten the amount of time it takes to do business and get prospective clients to make decisions? We will talk about doing more business, more quickly, more often and with more money!!
Attendees will learn:
Chris Socha is a Vice President of TEM Associates, Inc., an award winning sales training and consulting company with offices in Connecticut and New York. Chris's career began in management, operating multiple businesses in the hospitality industry. After graduating from Framingham State College with a degree in Business Management and a minor in marketing, Chris continued to grow his business venture until he joined the TEM team.
Chris's interest and commitment are with his clients; working with salespeople, managers and business owners who have a common goal to increase their business through effective sales training. Chris's view that success in sales is a process involving hard work and continued refinement is shared by everyone at TEM Associates.
| April 26, 2006 |
The IEEE Consultants Network and ICCA-Boston will present a panel discussion consisting of 5 consultants who will share their experiences and tips on how best to consult.
Topics proposed for discussion include:
The session will be be an open discussion and questions are encouraged.
| Panelist | Larry G. Nelson Sr, President of Nelson Research |
Larry G. Nelson Sr is President of Nelson Research and has been in business since 1980. He specializes in embedded microprocessor design using the Microchip family of PIC microprocessors and is a Gold Level Master Consultant listed with Microchip. In his consulting practice he also does analog, digital, and power supply designs as well as custom training and design reviews. | |
| Panelist | Jim Ussailis |
Jim Ussailis is a microwave, RF, and antenna engineer. He specializes in the RF portion of wireless system design, RF power amplifier desing, and antenna design. He has a complete lab, with spectrum analysers, network analyser and sources to design & test circuits from just above audio frequencies to 21 GHz. Both in-house and outside facilities are used for antenna testing. His business, National Wireless, Inc., does small production runs (up to about 5 K pcs) of RF / wireless circuit boards. National Wireless also manufactures antennas. | |
| Panelist | Ronald Goodstein |
Ronald Goodstein has 20 years of experience in Designing and debugging Digital Hardware, He has extensive experience in many aspects of ASIC/FPGA development from 3K to 12 Million gates. Experience includes Specification Documentation, Digital Hardware design, Behavioral coding using Verilog, VHDL, C/C++, PLI simulation, Design verification, synthesis and test plan documentation, test vector generation and lab debug. Experience includes computer graphics, Data Communications switching, PCI bus, ATM, 10 gigabyte ethernet, SCSI, LAN. EDA tools included Modelsim, Cadence Verilog NC, Visual C++, UNIX, Linux. BSEE and MSCS. | |
| Panelist | Michael Stiefel, Principal of Reliable Software, Inc. |
Michael Stiefel, principal of Reliable Software, Inc., and a member of the ICCA, is a consultant on software architecture and development, and the alignment of information technology with business goals. His current work involves:
| |
| Panelist | Bob Flanagan |
Bob Flanagan has been consulting for 6 years for companies in the Boston area. Bob develops control software for machines, products, and instrumentation. His background is in the area of industrial controls, robotics, and machine automation. Cost: $7 for non-members, free for ICCA and IEEE Consultants Network members Preregistration is not needed. |
| March 28, 2006 |
Join us for a free-ranging discussion with Dan on topics including:
His latest creation is wikiCalc, a web authoring tool for pages that include data that is more than just unformatted prose. It combines some of the ease of authoring and multi-person editing of a wiki with the familiar visual formatting and data organizing metaphor of a spreadsheet. It can be easily set up to publish to basic web servers accessed by FTP.
Could this be the "next big thing" in software?
WikiCalc is being developed as an open-source application. Dan believes that companies that develop closed systems that don't take advantage of widespread "open format" content/application creating tools will be eventually wiped out by those that do.
Come meet Dan and brainstorm with him as we explore these topics and related ones that you feel affect your consulting practice.
Dan Bricklin is currently president of Software Garden, Inc., a small consulting firm and developer of software applications that he founded in 1985.
Mr. Bricklin is best known for codeveloping VisiCalc, the first electronic spreadsheet, while he was a student at the Harvard Business School. VisiCalc is widely credited for fueling the rapid growth of the personal computer industry.
Until early 2004, Mr. Bricklin served as CTO of Interland, Inc., after it acquired his previous company, Trellix Corporation, in 2003. Prior to founding Trellix in 1995, he served as president of Software Garden, Inc., where he developed a variety of software programs, including Dan Bricklin's Demo Program. Mr. Bricklin also cofounded Slate Corporation, a developer of application software for pen computers, as well as Software Arts, the developer of VisiCalc.
Mr. Bricklin is a founding trustee of the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council and has served on the boards of the Software Publishers Association and the Boston Computer Society. His blog is widely read by those in the industry.
| February 28, 2006 |
Clients demand ever higher levels of productivity, business value, and technology re-use from their software investments. To meet this demand, consultants need to understand how and why vendor technologies are evolving, the opportunities they offer and the pitfalls they include.
One major technology vendor is Microsoft. Join us in a panel discussion that will illuminate Microsoft's strategic direction, survey their major technologies, and explore, in response to your questions, specific issues. With this knowledge you'll be able to uncover new opportunities and leverage Microsoft technologies to provide greater value to your clients.
The session will cover:
Whether or not you currently use Microsoft technology in your practice, this discussion will provide powerful insights into the technology you encounter daily.
Attend this interactive session and learn how you can be more successful. Take away technical references you can use to explore topics of interest to your clients.
Our panelists have more than 60 years of collective software experience, most of it on Microsoft technology, and...they have lived to tell about it.
| Panelist | Ben Day, Principal of Benjamin Day Consulting |
Benjamin Day is an independent consultant specializing in the design and development of web and Windows database applications using Microsoft .NET technologies. With 9+ years of consulting experience, he has worked with clients such as Fidelity Investments, the Massachusetts Department of Revenue, Deloitte Consulting, and Ceridian Lifeworks. He can be contacted via www.benday.com. | |
| Panelist | Bob German, Technology Architect of Microsoft |
Bob is a Technology Architect at the Microsoft Technology Center in Waltham, MA. He has worked at the MTC and with Microsoft Consulting Services for the last ten years, mainly focusing on portals and web site development. Prior to joining Microsoft, Bob worked at local Unix and Minicomputer companies on network protocol stacks and network management product development. | |
| Panelist | Bob Goodearl, President of RGood Software, Inc. |
Bob is a software consultant with more than 28 years of experience in the industry as software architect, designer, and developer. While he is platform "agnostic," he has considerable experience with Microsoft technologies and has delivered numerous solutions to clients using .Net for web applications and Windows applications. | |
| Moderator | Norman Daoust, Past President of ICCA Greater Boston |
| January 24, 2006 |
Although industry transformation appears random and unpredictable, change typically conforms to a particular pattern. Even the best run firms appear to be at the mercy of innovators armed with disruptive innovations' simple, convenient, low priced approaches that start innocently at the market's fringes before exploding into the mainstream. Of course, what one firm considers a threat another considers a tremendous growth opportunity. And established companies that learn to harness the power of disruptive innovation can create powerful new growth businesses.
This presentation will provide an overview of the disruptive innovation model. It will give case studies of companies that have successfully grappled with the challenges of disruptive change and provide general principles about how to make sense of industry transformation.
Attendees will learn:
Who should attend? Anyone who is looking for new ways to understand how industries change. The talk will be of particular interest to managers seeking to create new growth businesses and consultants / analysts looking for new frameworks to help their clients navigate through disruptive change.
Scott Anthony is a partner at Innosight, an innovation consulting and training company founded by Harvard Business School Professor Clayton Christensen. Scott has worked with both Fortune 500 and start-up companies in industries such as media (print and broadcast), consumer products, transportation and logistics, health care, medical devices, software, petrochemicals and communications equipment. He has run training workshops and given speeches to both senior management teams and broad audiences.
Scott is the co-author (with Christensen) of Seeing What's Next: Using the Theories of Innovation to Predict Industry Change (Harvard Business School Publishing, 2004). He has published articles in The Wall Street Journal, Strategic Finance, Optimize and Research-Technology Management to name just a few. Scott also serves as the editor of Strategy & Innovation, a bimonthly newsletter published by Innosight.
Prior to joining Innosight, Scott was a Senior Researcher with Christensen, managing a group that worked to further Christensen`s research on innovation. Previously, he worked as a consultant for McKinsey & Co., a Strategic Planner for Aspen Technology and a Product Manager for WorldSpace Corporation. Scott received a BA in economics, summa cum laude, from Dartmouth College and an MBA with high distinction from Harvard Business School, where he was a Baker Scholar.
| Prior Meetings (2006 and older) |