Speaking Engagements

So, I am settling in for a night of bed-time reading for the night. Wednesday is the night where Michael usually has another commitment to attend to and after wrapping up early from a meeting of the Mitcham Hills Community Housing Association I thought it prudent to look through my weekly foot-high pile of mail and scoop out the larger items that cross my desk, or, in this case, bed side.

So what do I read of an evening? Lots! Tonight though I have 'Australasian Journal of Gifted Education', 'Company Director' and 'inBusiness SA' magazine which includes my fourth copy of the Marketing Week 2008 conference guide. Combine the conference guide with my reminder from AMI this afternoon and I should probably get off my tail and register for a few sessions. (I'll flag those later).

Coming off a week at the SAGE-AU conference I am really tired but quietly excited for the industry. The conversations held during the event were motivating as I could see IT professionals passionate about making a difference to their workplace and their organisation's clients. It is a rare thing to behold and it was great to see.

I was also happy with the way my presentations came together, especially in light that two only came with a couple of weeks notice. It is always a good things when you get questions at the end that relate directly to your presentation - it means they were listening after all! Of course, I would expect this to be the case but IT professionals can be a tough crowd when it comes to feedback either verbal or non-verbal so relevant and thought-out questions are always a good sign.

So, time to settle into that reading...

It's all happening for MIB Business Solutions this year at the SAGE-AU's 16th Annual Australian System Administrators Conference. It was requested that I present on three different topics. One is already done and I have two to go. Tomorrow I will be presenting on:

• Introduction to Business Analysis Tools
• SWOT then what? Hitting the Sand Hills of Marketing Hard & Fast

Earlier today I presented on 'Strategic Human Resource Management' with the employee perspective in mind. Unsurprisingly, no matter what industry you go to the need of employees for information to develop their careers is in constant demand. The information technology sector is no different.

I geared my presentation about human resource management approaches to help attendees in identifying businesses which may be a match for what they are looking for as well as giving some ideas for questions to ask when at interviews. In amongst the questions asked by so many people afterwards it has also become clear that there is a need for employees to be equipped with approaches to help them gain better outcomes with their current employer as well as preparation for answering non-technical questions in an interview setting.

Food for thought for future presentations I expect.

I had thought about putting in a talk proposal for linux.conf.au 2008 but shyed away as the cut off was before I found out about my proposals for OSDC. However, as fate would have it, I am sprawled on the couch, 5 days overdue with Baby Bennett the 3rd, surfing blogs, to find that Rusty mentioned that there was a 'last chance' for submissions as the submission portal has not yet been closed.

So, why not put in a proposal - it's not as if I am going to do anything else considered 'productive' today?!?

So, my presentation proposal is in and is entitled: "Why do I care? The foreign language of 'freedom'."