Calendar

Session Summary:

Mark Swiderski will lead a discussion on “Reduce meeting time! Understanding 3 Facilitation Skill Principles and a Meeting Purpose Statement”

Overview and Learning Objectives

Quick, think about the worst meeting that you have ever been a part of. What does it look like? Common problems are; no meeting purpose, no one in charge, too many in charge, lots of talk but no decisions, and nothing written down. Another hour of my life I will never get back. Stop it! For most people, improving facilitation skills leads to a 5-20% productivity increase.

If you are attending these types of “no value/low value” meetings, use these principles to make things better, or consider not going. If you are leading these types of meetings, it’s time for a change. This discussion will give you a new perspective on meeting efficiency and productivity. It starts with the meeting preparation and a good purpose statement. We will help you to understand what a good purpose statement achieves and why all meetings need to be driven by the purpose statement. Paraphrasing Patrick Henry, “give us productivity or kill the meeting”!

Learning Objectives:

1. To be able to discuss the three core facilitation skill principles

2. To be able to demonstrate how to write a meeting purpose statement

3. To be able to discuss personal areas for growth and improvement in facilitation skills

Speaker:

Mark Swiderski is the founder of Praxilient.  His company assists organizations from $10m to $77B improve their speed to market, streamline operations, gain measured improvements, reduce risk, and gain clear aligned organizational performance by improving operations and project performance.

 Mark has 35+ years business experience, with 25+ years of helping companies achieve their goals through the skills of people, improved methods, and helps individuals grow their capabilities at all levels.  He is a global expert, author, and lecturer in the deployment of improved project management and operations performance.  Mark is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP).   He received his M.B.A. from DePaul University.

 Mark has worked for a wide variety of industries and functional areas from banking, utilities, manufacturing, and healthcare to professional sports.  He has participated or led teams that delivered more than $2B in project scope.  His organization has trained, coached, or developed more than 10,000 people from Functional Teams to Chief Executive Officers across the globe.

Schedule of Events:

4:00pm: Chapter News and Intros
4:10pm: Mark Swiderski’s presentation with Q&A
5:00pm: Closing Comments
5:05pm: Virtual Happy Hour

Cost:
Free to all interested!

**SIGN UP REQUIRED on chapter’s Eventbrite page to ensure Zoom meeting link can be sent to participant. Registration closes at 3:30pm on Feb 16, so sign up early!

CLICK HERE to sign-up and register

Everything you need to know to get started with Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

Session Summary:

Want to learn more about Robotic Process Automation (RPA)?  Want to make your customers happy faster and with more accuracy?  How about being able to get to those tasks you just don’t have time for today?  RPA can help free you from the mundane work that ties you down, it will improve accuracy, consistency, and get the work done with or without user intervention!

During this session we will explore Robotic Process Automation (RPA), explaining what it is, when to use it, types of RPA software, benefits, and strategy for implementation.   At a high level, RPA is a software that can automate anything that a person does on a computer (keyboard and mouse clicks), as long as any decision that needs to be made in the process are programmable.  It works best with repetitive processes such as data entry, financial processes, application processes, etc.  It can even work across applications!

Meet our Speaker:

Angie Dahl has been in the IT profession for 26 years, working in all aspects of IT from second level support to infrastructure to continuous improvement for IT, to an IT business systems analyst.  Her passion lies in servicing her customers through automation and continuous improvement.  Angie was a continuous improvement analyst for about 5 years prior to starting to work on RPA implementations for the last 3 years.

Angie has experience as an IT business systems analyst for all functions and business units in both implementing and supporting RPA.  She has built up the processes, governance, and support for RPA in two different companies, one using Blue Prism and Automation Anywhere, the other using UiPath.

Angie leads a UiPath RPA user group for the Fox Valley and would welcome you to join the conversation.  The user group is very informal and hosts topics of interest for the user group.  Members of the group are part of a team at their company that supports UiPath from an implementation and governance perspective.  We meet virtually on a quarterly basis.  If you are interested in joining the group or presenting to the group, please contact Angie at angie.dahl@Plexus.com.

Schedule of Events:

4:00pm: Chapter News and Intros
4:10pm: Angie Dahl’s presentation with Q&A
5:00pm: Closing Comments
5:05pm: Virtual Happy Hour

Cost:
Free to all interested!

**SIGN UP REQUIRED on chapter’s Eventbrite page to ensure Zoom meeting link can be sent to participant. Registration will close at 3:30pm on March 16.  CLICK HERE to sign-up and register.

Session Summary:

The presentation will focus on an overview of DevOps and the benefits that it can provide. Lewis will review a traditional app deployment with Ops and Development, and how they look within a DevOps environment. Discussion points will include elimination of siloes, determining how to secure management buy-in, development of automation to improve application deployments, release process and IAC as well. The goal of this session will be to create an uptick in DevOps practices, and hopefully open up a few more conversations within different enterprises in our community.

Meet our Speaker:

Lewis Prior is a DevOps Engineer for Thrivent Financial focusing on Release Orchestration, CICD Pipelines, and Automation with a variety of tools. Lewis is a UWO alum, and spends his free time as a Throws Coach at St. Norbert College.

Schedule of Events:

4:00pm: Chapter News and Intros
4:10pm: Lewis Prior’s presentation with Q&A
5:00pm: Closing Comments
5:05pm: Virtual Happy Hour

 Cost:
Free to all interested!

**SIGN UP REQUIRED on chapter’s Eventbrite page to ensure Zoom meeting link can be sent to participant. Registration will close at 3:15pm sharp on April 20.  CLICK HERE to sign-up and register.

Session Summary:

A confidence continuum exists and we are all on it. In order to understand our confidence tendencies, it is important to take an honest self-evaluation. This will increase self-awareness.

Self-awareness is critical in leadership and is the first step in working through your confidence challenges. Self-assessments are safe pathways for you to take an honest look in the mirror. When it comes to confidence issues, labels are dangerous. Calling someone arrogant or insecure is a sure way to shut down a conversation. After thousands of coaching sessions around confidence challenges, I discovered all of the participants fell into one of six profiles. These profiles represent our confidence tendencies and help us understand how to best interact with others.

The 6 Confidence Profiles are Peace Keeper, Friend Maker, Inquisitor, Negotiator, Driver and Convincer. There is no right or wrong profile, as leadership is about progress not perfection. One of the greatest myths regarding confidence issues is that people are in a fixed state. People believe that some individuals are over confident and others are under confident in all areas of life. Some people fit in this category, but this is the exception, not the rule. We all have a bias toward over or under confidence, but this is not a fixed state; it is a tendency.

Whatever your profile, you will learn the ability to connect to the other profiles and elevate your level of influence. The Confidence Profiles were created to be used as a starting point for your career development, not the ending point.  Each of the profiles has a set of characteristics. You have a primary Confidence Profile at work that guides the way you view communication, conflict and change. It is essential to understand the aspects of your profile before understanding the profile of others.

Meet our Speaker:

Ben Fauske is invested in serving leaders so that great teams thrive. He is a confidence researcher and discovered a pattern followed by world-class influencers. This pattern has allowed him to help thousands of leaders find their own confidence transformations.

Ben is a Certified Professional Behavioral Analyst and is sought after for executive coaching, workshops and keynotes. He released his book Authentic Confidence: The Secret to Loving Your Work and Leading an Unstoppable Career in May of 2020.

Schedule of Events:

4:00pm: Chapter News and Intros
4:10pm: Ben Fauske’s presentation with Q&A
5:00pm: Closing Comments
5:05pm: Virtual Happy Hour

Cost:
FREE to all interested!  CLICK HERE to sign-up and register.

**SIGN UP REQUIRED on chapter’s Eventbrite page to ensure Zoom meeting and Confidence Profile Assessment links can be sent to participant.

Once registered you will receive an email to complete your Confidence Profile Assessment.  Complete assessment ASAP to ensure your results can be processed and returned to you prior to Ben’s presentation.

Please Note: Registrations on or after May 16 may not receive personal assessment results before the presentation.

Session Summary:

“What place does DevOps have in Operationalizing AI?”

Given the acceleration of AI adoption in the business world, how does an organization prevent AI lifecycles from resembling the wild west?  Now that you’ve invested in emerging technology, DevOps can play a critical role in implementing trustworthy AI.  Join us as we discuss techniques to operationalize AI for your organization to support scalable solutions and ensure solid governance.

Speaker:

Brian Haydin is a Solutions Architect with more than 20 years of experience helping clients build software and products to move their businesses forward.

As a longtime consultant, Brian brings deep experience across many industry settings to his work with Concurrency clients.  He leads complex projects that facilitate digital transformation and innovation, making use of Azure cloud technologies and a wide range of coding languages and tools.  Brian is an active member of several professional user groups and is a frequent speaker on innovative technologies, including topics such as building serverless systems and the Internet of Things (IoT).

Location:

Liberty Hall, 800 Eisenhower Dr, Kimberly WI 54136

Schedule of Events:

5:00pm: Doors open, Social Hour, Registration
6:00pm: Dinner
6:30pm: Chapter News
6:45pm: Brian Haydin’s presentation with Q&A
7:45pm: Closing Comments

Cost (includes dinner!):
Member $15
Guest $25
Student $10

Dinner will include: Beef Tenderloin – Medallions, Vegetarian Lasagna, Parsley Buttered Baby Red Potatoes, Stuffing and Gravy, Seasonal Vegetable, Garden Pasta, Broccoli-Cauliflower, Hawaiian Tropical Fresh Fruit, Key Lime Pie , ‘Peanut Butter Cup’ Cheesecake

**In the event that our in-person meeting must be changed to a virtual experience, we will do our best to provide the presentation via Zoom.  Those who register early will be notified promptly of any change, provided the Zoom meeting link, and refunded fees paid during registration.

CLICK HERE to sign-up and register on our Eventbrite page.

How to Attract, Recruit and Retain the Best Cybersecurity Talent for Your Business

Session Summary:

Businesses are in a constant state of competition. For cybersecurity talent, this means that hiring managers must be proactive in their recruitment and retention practices to stay ahead of the curve. There is an ever-growing demand for cybersecurity professionals, but the supply has yet to catch up. With cyberattacks on the rise and over 500,000 open cybersecurity positions nationwide, it’s more important than ever to have skilled individuals on your team who will help you protect your company, your customers, and your employees from hacks and breaches. Heather will share with you some strategies to attract, recruit, and retain top cybersecurity talent for your organization.

Meet our Speaker:

Heather Monthie, PhD, has always known that she wanted to work with and for people. She started her career in education as a flight instructor teaching adults how to fly and as an elementary school computer teacher teaching kids digital literacy and computer science. She quickly moved into adult education teaching in Information Technology, Information Security, and Software Engineering fields. Passionate about cybersecurity education, Heather became a full professor of IT & Cybersecurity in 2019.

Heather has also published the book, “Beginner’s Guide to Developing a High School Cybersecurity Program”. Heather currently serves on the Board of Directors for the AZ Cyber Initiative, a non-profit dedicated to high school cybersecurity education. Heather has also served on AZ Governor Ducey’s Arizona Cyber Team as a higher education representative, served as co-chair of the collegiate working group of the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE), and served on the Executive Council of CompTIA AITP. As part of her work in higher education, Heather was the recipient of the Gen Cyber grant to provide training to high school teachers on cybersecurity. In addition, she worked with Code.org to help train Arizona high school teachers in computer science. She also blogs and podcasts at www.HeatherMonthie.com Heather has earned a Ph.D. in Information Technology, a Master’s in Teaching, and a Bachelor’s in Computer Science.

She is certified in Drone Security Operations and is a Certified Cybersecurity Systems Architect. She is also an FAA Certificated Flight Instructor, Commercial Pilot with an Instrument rating, Advanced Ground Instructor, and Part 107 Unmanned Aircraft Pilot. She currently works at a Fortune 100 organization in cybersecurity and also consults on cybersecurity workforce development.

Schedule of Events:

4:00pm: Chapter News and Intros
4:10pm: Heather Monthie’s presentation with Q&A
5:00pm: Closing Comments
5:05pm: Virtual Happy Hour

Cost:
FREE to all interested!  CLICK HERE to sign-up and register.

**SIGN UP REQUIRED on chapter’s Eventbrite page to ensure Zoom meeting link can be sent to participant.

REVEALING THE HIDDEN INFLUENCES OF IT LEADERSHIP

Session Summary:

“How do I make work more enjoyable and influence others around me with limited or zero authority in my role?”

For most people, work sucks. And the data proves it: according to Gallup and Deloitte, only 15% of employees worldwide feel engaged in their jobs. Whether you’re in the 85% group of people who are either bored or miserable, or you’re one of the few lucky “weirdos” who enjoy coming to work on Mondays, there is an obvious need for all of us to explore what it takes to be both successful AND satisfied in the workplace. Join us as we share ideas on how to navigate tough situations and difficult coworkers so we can turn those rare “best” days at work into everyday work life.

BONUS FOR THOSE WHO ATTEND (REGISTER?): Receive a complimentary leadership assessment that is customized to show you an approach to interactions in the workplace that will empower you to meet the demands of any situation. This includes an optional 30-minute debrief of your results so you can start having more fun at work by creating better outcomes immediately! APPROXIMATE VALUE: $200

Speaker

Jonny Richard is an ICF-certified executive coach who believes work should be both satisfying and meaningful. For him, meaningful work includes cold brew coffee and engaging conversations on the way to helping his clients get better outcomes. Jonny especially enjoys partnering with professionals who want to increase their influence in the workplace without feeling like they have to know all of the answers.

Prior to becoming an executive coach, Jonny’s experience as a software developer, IT sales consultant, and financial advisor taught him that success requires more than intelligence and logic, the ability to increase situational awareness and develop emotional agility are equally valuable (if not more so).

When he’s not working on his business, Cause & Effect, you’ll most likely find him watching the Badgers, Bucks, and Packers with his beautiful wife, Michelle, and their “Fortnite Expert”, 11-year-old son, Axel.

Schedule of Events:

5:00pm: Doors open, Social Hour, Registration
6:00pm: Dinner
6:30pm: Chapter News
6:45pm: Jonny Richard’s presentation with Q&A
7:45pm: Closing Comments

Cost (includes dinner!):
Member $15
Guest $25
Student $10

Dinner will include: Beef Tenderloin – Medallions, Vegetarian Lasagna, Parsley Buttered Baby Red Potatoes, Stuffing and Gravy, Seasonal Vegetable, Garden Pasta, Broccoli-Cauliflower, Hawaiian Tropical Fresh Fruit, Key Lime Pie , ‘Peanut Butter Cup’ Cheesecake

**In the event that our in-person meeting must be changed to a virtual experience, we will do our best to provide the presentation via Zoom.  Those who register early will be notified promptly of any change, provided the Zoom meeting link, and refunded fees paid during registration.

CLICK HERE to sign-up and register on our Eventbrite page.