Title:
Conversation Interfaces: Taking Alexa to the Next Level
Session Summary:
We will cover what Conversational Interfaces are (such as Amazon Alexa), some common terminology, use cases, and some challenges surrounding these tools. This presentation will provide an overview, as well as ‘get into the weeds’ of this voice technology. There will also be an interactive story told to help describe how the technology can be used. The hope is for the audience to see how awesome this technology is, but recognize we are still in the very early stages of this growing social interface. Let’s learn some things tonight about #VoiceFirst.
Speaker:
Chuck Phelps is the owner and President of Phelps Inc., founded in 2019, whose mission is to be the preferred partner for customers and businesses looking to enable delivery of the best conversational experiences. Chuck has 17 years of Enterprise IT experience, along with 6 Certified and Published Amazon Alexa Skills. You can follow Chuck at his Twitter account @PhelpsIncDotNet and visit his website at https://phelpsinc.wordpress.com/.
Schedule:
5:00pm: Registration & Networking
6:00pm: Dinner, Family-style buffet
6:35pm: Chapter News and Announcements
7:00pm: Speaker Presentation by Chuck Phelps
8:05pm: Closing Comments, Add’l networking
Cost:
Members: $15
Guests: $25
Students: $10
Dinner includes:
Sliced Prime Rib of Beef and Roast Turkey
Real Mashed Potatoes, Traditional Stuffing and Gravy
Creamy Coleslaw, Garden Salad, Tropical Fruit Salad
New York Cheesecake, Southern Pecan Pie
Note: Tickets for this event can be bought through the Eventbrite page (newaitp.org) or in-person at the door.
Speaker: Speaker: TBD
Prices:
Members: $15
Guests: $25
Students: $10
Note: Tickets for this event can be bought through the Eventbrite page or in-person at the door.
Speaker: Tim Foor from New Horizons presenting “Working Together & Remotely with Microsoft Teams”
REGISTER on Eventbrite as a meeting link will be sent out shortly before the meeting to all that RSVP. Access to the session via Microsoft Teams is required. Phone-only connections will not be accepted.
Details:
Your organization’s success depends on collaboration. Today, with the sudden shift toward large-scale remote working, how do you maintain that collaborative environment among a geographically diverse workforce?
Microsoft Teams is exactly for that purpose, bringing the ability to have meetings, group conversations, video chat, file-sharing, co-authoring, SharePoint connection, and real-time access to Office 365 applications in a virtual environment. This engaging presentation will introduce you to the basics of Microsoft Teams that you will need for today and to keep doing business tomorrow.
Topics to be covered include:
- Getting Started with Microsoft Teams
- Creating and Using a Channel
- Posting and Managing Messages and Chat
- Setting Up and Running a Meeting
- Managing Team Members
- Intermediate Level Tips and Techniques
Speaker:
Tim Foor has been working in the corporate training environment for over 25 years. He has provided instruction on a wide range of applications both proprietary and commercially available. Tim is a Microsoft Certified Trainer, and is CompTIA Certified as well, currently teaching all Microsoft titles going back to 2003 and many other classes including CompTIA, Adobe products and Train the Trainer. He specializes in ITIL and Microsoft Project classes, which he is certified to teach. Tim has been teaching with New Horizons since early 2010 and has been recognized by New Horizons 4 times as a Global Top 10 Award recipient. Tim routinely achieves Top 10 in the World recognition by New Horizons based Metrics That Matter Monthly evaluation scores.
Schedule of Events:
3:00pm Welcome, NEW AITP updates, New Horizons intro
3:10pm Tim Foor, Senior Instructor, New Horizons of Wisconsin will lead presentation
3:45pm Q&A with Tim/Open Forum on remote meeting experiences
4:00pm Virtual Happy Hour – enjoy your favorite beverage and the conversations
Prices:
Members: FREE!
Guests: FREE!
Students: FREE!
NOTE: Securing your ticket through the Eventbrite page will ensure you are sent the event link to join the MS Teams presentation.
Session Summary:
We will cover what Conversational Interfaces are (such as Amazon Alexa), some common terminology, use cases, and some challenges surrounding these tools. This presentation will provide an overview, as well as ‘get into the weeds’ of this voice technology. There will also be an interactive story told to help describe how the technology can be used. The hope is for the audience to see how awesome this technology is, but recognize we are still in the very early stages of this growing social interface. Let’s learn some things tonight about #VoiceFirst.
Speaker:
Chuck Phelps is the owner and President of Phelps Inc., founded in 2019, whose mission is to be the preferred partner for customers and businesses looking to enable delivery of the best conversational experiences. Chuck has 17 years of Enterprise IT experience, along with 6 Certified and Published Amazon Alexa Skills. You can follow Chuck at his Twitter account @PhelpsIncDotNet and visit his website at https://phelpsinc.
Schedule of Events:
4:30pm: Chapter News and Intros
4:40pm: Chuck Phelps’ presentation and Q&A
5:25pm: Closing Comments
5:30pm: 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.
CLICK HERE to signup and register.
Session Summary:
Jeff Hayes presents “Agile Schmagile! Five Things To Do Now To Achieve Scrum’s Promised Results”
So you’ve ‘mastered agile’ and/or ‘mastered scrum’ and still no magic sauce at your company? This interactive seminar addresses several key findings about the effective use of agile in companies today, and provides ideas that can be implemented immediately in your own company. The focus is helping individuals and teams in various roles.
Speaker:
Jeff Hayes is an enterprise agile coach, trainer and speaker, who works alongside product teams and senior management alike to help bring about the greater value expected by organizations that adopt agile. Jeff has deep experience in delivering enterprise-scale software products, consulting for changes in culture, product, process and technology, primarily in the industries of finance, manufacturing and healthcare. He is PMI certified and holds certifications from Scrum.org, LeSS.works, Scrum Alliance, and the Project Management Institute. Jeff is a native Midwesterner who considers the Fox River Valley his true home after 17 years of residency, and thoroughly enjoys sailing, music, and travel (eight countries and counting!). Find Jeff online at aligntechsolutions.com/blog and at linkedin.com/in/jeffhayes.
Schedule of Events:
4:00pm: Chapter News and Intros
4:10pm: Jeff Hayes’ 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.
CLICK HERE to sign-up and register.
Session Summary:
Erin Draheim presents “Meet Girls Who Code!”
Girls Who Code is a national non-profit organization working to close the gender gap in technology. GWC programs educate, equip, and inspire girls with the computing skills they’ll need to pursue 21st century opportunities.
Hear from a GWC volunteer to learn about the Girls Who Code program, why this is an important program and the impact it has on the girls involved. You’ll hear directly from a few girls involved in the program and how GWC has impacted their lives.
Speaker:
Erin Draheim is a software developer with 20+ years’ experience in all aspects of software development. She discovered a passion for programming in high school and never looked back. With a degree in Computer Science, Erin has worked in a variety of industries, with a variety of technologies and teams of all sizes. She is currently a Senior Software Engineer with Skyline Technologies.
Erin’s passion for technology opened a world of opportunities for her, and she wants to make sure others have that same chance. She has been volunteering her time to bring a love of technology to other young people. As a founding member of WIT Wisconsin, Erin helped develop the Wit4Girls curriculum. When Hortonville High School was looking for an instructor for a new GWC club, Erin jumped right in to build that program. She also volunteers with Microsoft’s TEALS program and has been teaching AP Computer Science at the high school level for the last 4 years.
Schedule of Events:
4:00pm: Chapter News and Intros
4:10pm: Erin Draheim’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 Nov 17, so sign up early!
CLICK HERE to sign-up and register
About this Event
Gina Glover presents …
“From Conversations to Connections”
Business professionals in all fields and industries would agree that communication is a skill that is one of the most critical for both our personal and professional growth. Some form of this skill is likely listed as a dot under the heading “Essential Job Functions” on your job description. And yet, when there is a need to simply foster a good conversation – even when it’s with someone you disagree with (actually, especially then) – do you have the skills you need? And are you actively building on these skills? I would offer that this year, more than any other year, it has been brought to our attention that THIS is the priority for each and every one of us.
This session will focus on the five elements for a more effective conversation. It will provide techniques you can use in the office, at industry events, community gatherings, and even at your own dining tables. Attendees will walk away from this session with relevant, realistic, and relatable ideas they can use immediately for moving their conversations into true, meaningful, and ongoing connections.
Our Speaker:
Her business is aptly named Gina Connects LLC because connecting is at her very core. Gina Glover’s greatest gift is her ability to foster connections. She does this with people at companies and professional organizations across the Fox Valley and beyond.
Gina is a career coach, a speaker, and a workshop facilitator, and, most importantly, a connector. Some of you may already know Gina from the presentation “Navigating SHIFT Creek” which she shared with the NEW Chapter back in September 2019.
We encourage you to find and connect with her on your favorite social media platform – okay, not Snapchat or Tik Tok (she’s not on those!)
Let’s welcome Gina to share with us insights on how we can move From Conversations to Connections.
Schedule of Events:
3:30pm: Chapter News and Intros
3:40pm: Gina Glover’s presentation with Q&A
4:30pm: Closing Comments
4:35pm: Virtual Happy Hour
Prices:
FREE to all interested!
**SIGN UP REQUIRED on the chapter’s Eventbrite page to ensure Zoom meeting link can be sent to participants. Registration closes at 3:00pm on Jan 19, so sign up early!
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.