Community Gets "In the Know"

thank you to all the WWITPRO community members, supporters, sponsors and players out there!

We had an overwhelming success at our WWITPRO in the Know event we held Wednesday October 17, 2007.

there were over 75 members of our community out to this fantastic event! I had such a good time (setting aside my Rick Claus-like technical difficulties) and presented Home Server to an enthusiastic group of people.

We had a special visit from two groups of women involved in IT courses at Conestoga College!

Peter and Don gave excellent presentations and of course - Ruth gave us some enlightening information as well! I had so much fun and met so many people! What a great time!

The executive committee has agreed that this needs to be a semi-annual event - so we'll be putting together another event in the very near future.

Community Means…Giving

I was having dinner with a friend not long ago and we were discussing our communities. I happened to mention that my family is considering a BIG move from our lovely City of Waterloo to a much larger, busier community just west of Toronto.

We were discussing community and how we enjoyed different aspects of the communities we grow up in, how things have changed from the 70's when no one locked their doors, kids could run and play outside without the fear of child predators, and neighbours watched out for neighbours. Those were the good old days, now we discussed the fears we have as parents, the growing crime rates (which really aren't growing – they are staying the same, it just seems like they are growing because there are more people living here so there is more crime…we accept that).

One area we started to discuss in great detail was the changes to the professional communities we have belonged to over the last ten to twelve years. I have been a member of the Society for Technical Communicators, The Computer Trainers Network, DigitalEve, various Women in Networking groups, and my most favourite and passionate is the IT PRO community of WWITPRO.

We admitted that one of the reasons we both started to look at professional organizations like the STC and CTN was to assist in networking. Networking is huge business (and I don't mean the COMPUTER NETWORKING!!!) but what I really wanted was not only a place to network and meet people, but a place that I could learn and grow professionally.

Many of the groups, I felt, were all focused on people looking for the ME ME ME – I'm not like that. Yes, I really want to get better at what I do and I really want to learn new things and have new experiences, but I don't want to be in a battle for attention at a community event, and I certainly don't expect people to pay me because I give them some tips on how to use Microsoft Office more effectively. Many of the networking events I'd been to in the past were all about getting things out for you and not helping other's achieve what they came for. I often left these meetings feeling deflated or frustrated and many times I felt I had wasted my time AND my money (if the event wasn't a free event).

That is why I felt so honoured when Ruth Morton, then of a fantastic consulting firm Agora Inc., now a Microsoft TechNet Canada Team Member, asked me if I was interested in being involved in a new IT focused professional group geared to educating and networking for IT Pros in our area! That was back at the end of 2005 and since then I have been an executive member and am not the president of the group, hoping to make my mark on the community by showing others in the area that it is A-OK to give your time, energy and knowledge to others without expectation.

In the long run, I believe I will learn the most from my participation with this group. I have so many ideas on helping to rebuild the good name that IT Pros beginning with Certifications. We've already created several Microsoft Server and Operating System study groups and have helped 7 of the participants to pass different Microsoft certification exams. I myself and working towards completing a couple of certifications – and knowing the value of certifications AND experience, I feel that offering a place to help an IT Pro or even a FUTURE IT Pro on their way to successfully completing an examination is one way to not only build our IT Pro community but make it strong.

So – what community means to me: building strong community members willing to give as well as receive!