Past Meetings
Past 2006 meetings.Tuesday, January 10, 2006 meetingSpeaker: Brian Mehl Company: The Brain Mill Topic: Open Source SugarCRM Software Discussion and demo of SugarCRM Open Source Software. One of the few open source projects to gain the attention of venture capital investors. The demo will show the ease of installation, setup, and use of the software. Brian Mehl is the president of The Brain Mill providing computer and software consulting to a wide range of small to medium size businesses. =================== Past 2005 meetings.December Holiday party for members only.No regular meeting in December. Details to be announced. Tuesday, November 8, 2005 meeting Speaker: Scott Granneman Topic: Competing Interests: Intellectual Property in the Age of the Internet Throughout its history, copyright has been based around a delicate balance between creators, publishers, and consumers. In the past decade, due to changes in the law and technology, this balance is shifting to strongly favor publishers at the expense of consumers and even the creators themselves. What are those changes? How has the balance gotten so skewed ... and is it going to get worse? And what can we - as consumers and technologists - do about it? Scott Granneman is an author, educator, and consultant. Scott's book on the Firefox web browser, written for O'Reilly Media and titled "Don't Click on the Blue E!: Switching to Firefox", was published in April 2005. His second book, "Hacking Knoppix", about the Knoppix Live CD Linux operating system, should be out this winter, and he is presently at work on "Linux Phrasebook", a guide to the often arcane world of the Linux command line. In addition, he is a monthly columnist for SecurityFocus, with op/ed pieces that focus on general topics of security, and for Linux Magazine, in a column focusing on new and interesting Linux software, and he blogs professionally on The Open Source Weblog. He is currently an Adjunct Professor at Washington University in St. Louis and at Webster University, where he teaches a variety of courses about technology and the Internet. As a partner in WebSanity, Scott works with small- and medium-sized businesses and non-profits to create and host their web sites. In particular, as the lead architect of the WebSanity Content Management System (CMS), he envisions, designs, and helps develop the CMS used by all of the company's clients. Tuesday, October 11, 2005 meeting Speaker: Veronica Buitron Topic: GeneXus Multi-platform software development tool demo GeneXus is a powerful, multi-platform software design and development tool that enables truly incremental development of business critical applications. GeneXus generates 100% of the application based on your user requirements, providing programming-free, automatic maintenance of your application’s database and application programs. GeneXus supports the leading execution platforms and languages, and the most popular DBMS. Come see how GeneXus can make your software development job easier. Tuesday, September 13, 2005 meeting Speaker: Matt Skipton Company: Novell Topic: Novell Linux Small Business Solutions Come and learn about the latest linux solutions for small business customers. You'll hear about how small businesses can capitalize on the value of Linux with Novell Linux Small Business Suite! It delivers flexibility, reliability, security and manageability in a high-performance solution that is customized*and priced*to meet the needs of small businesses. Small businesses benefit from a dependable solution without worrying about the underlying technology, so they can focus on what matters most*running the business. Novell Linux Small Business Suite is a secure, reliable, complete out-of-the-box suite specifically designed for small businesses. It is the only end-to-end, server-to-desktop, Linux solution for the small business. You'll also hear about Novell Security Manager. Novell Security Manager provides organizations with multiple defenses in one integrated, Linux-based application that is able to quickly respond to new threats with automated updates. This cuts the costs and loss of productivity associated with such threats. A Web-based, common management platform provides a single installation, interface and reporting tool that minimizes the cost and effort to deploy and manage the software. Matt Skipton is a Network and Systems Management Specialist for Novell. He focuses on the Linux product set and also the more traditional Novell products. Matt has been with Novell since March of this year. Prior to Novell Matt was the Director of Technology for Mary Institute Country Day school in Ladue. Before MICDS, Matt was an independent consultant with TritonDigital in St. Louis. Tuesday, August 9, 2005 meeting Speaker: CCSL Members Company: CCSL Topic: Today's Technology for Fun and Profit A roundtable discussion about technology used for business and personal productivity. As individual consultants we have each found ways to make the technology work for us but since the technology sector is big there are many ways to solve the same problem, some better than others. This meeting will provide a positive and productive forum to discuss these different solutions. A couple topics covered will be screencasting, Client data tracking, (your topics added here). Bring your laptop and topics you would like to discuss. Tuesday, July 12, 2005 meeting Speaker: Majeed Mogharreban Company: Sonic Post Topic: New Email Services for Businesses Email is a necessity for every business. However, email has become a huge resource drain on smaller businesses if not properly managed. Sonic Post, a sister company of Access US, is dedicated to helping today's small and medium sized businesses tackle the problems they encounter with email. Sonic Post Product Manager Majeed Mogharreban will discuss the problems with business email, including spam, viruses, server insecurity, archiving requirements, and maintenance costs. He will present some simple ways to combat these problems and introduce Sonic Post as an innovative email solution. Majeed will explain how Sonic Post can prevent each of the discussed problems and make business email more secure, reliable, and efficient, while at the same time reducing costs. Tuesday, June 14, 2005 meeting Speaker: Brian Button Company: Agile Solutions Group Topic: Extreme Programming / Agile Methods Agile Methods are about delivering business value early and often in the face of uncertain requirements. Brian will craft his talk in an agile manner by gathering questions from the audience, having them prioritize what they want to hear, and delivering his answers based on those priorities. At the conclusion of the talk, the audience will have heard the most important information about Agility, and also have seen a real, live agile project in action. Brian Button, Principal Consultant at Agile Solutions Group, is St. Louis's leading expert on Agile Methods, including Extreme Programming. His passion is introducing the Agile Methods to area companies through training, mentoring, articles, and speaking at user groups. He can be reached at bbutton@agilesolutionsgroup.com. Tuesday, May 10, 2005 meeting Speaker: Kevin Schulte Company: Impact Business Developers Topic: Penetrating a New Account / Customer Mr. Schulte will discuss strategies and techniques to get to decision makers and influencers within a new prospect or customer to optimize revenue potential. Mr. Schulte is a 20 year technology sales and marketing expert. Having begun his career in engineering and systems design with Sprint in the early 80's, he migrated to sales & marketing in the 90's with such firms as Illuminet/Verisign, Amdocs and Boston Communications. He founded a technology sales and marketing consulting firm, Impact Business Developers (formerly MarkeTech), in the late 90's. Mr. Schulte is currently Chairman of the firm and is the Center Director for the Jefferson Smurfit Center for Entrepreneurial Studies with Saint Louis University John Cook School of Business. He has an engineering degree from University of Missouri at Rolla and an MBA from Webster University. Tuesday, April 12, 2005 meeting Speaker: Mark Russell Company: Premier Knowledge Solutions Topic: Certified Ethical Hacker Mark will discuss what is a Certified Ethical Hacker and why one would want to be one. Ethical Hacking and Countermeasures focuses on hacking techniques and technology from a defensive perspective. As a certified ethical hacker, you are more than a security auditor or a vulnerability tester or a penetration tester alone. You are exposed to security checklists that will help you audit the organization's information assets, tools which will check for vulnerabilities that can be exploited and above all a methodology to assess the security posture of your organization by doing a penetration test against it. In short, the knowledge you will acquire has practical value to make your work place a more secure and efficient one. Tuesday, March 8, 2005 meeting Speaker: Various Members Topic: Google Adwords for Marketing and other cool internet things The group will discuss the use of Google-Adwords to promote his business. If others have some input it will be welcomed. The meeting will be very informal so if you have other topics to discuss please let me know and I will schedule you. Tuesday, February 8, 2005 meeting Speaker: Lyn Lawshe, CPA Topic: Small Businness Accounting -- Benefits from a CPA and new things with the IRS Lyn Lawshe has more that 25 years experience in accounting and taxation and has been a CPA for twelve years. As a CPA she worked for two of the top twenty CPA firms in the St. Louis Area where she specialized in accounting and taxation for small businesses. Ms. Lawshe opened her own CPA office in May of 1997 where she is committed to filling the accounting needs of her small business and self employed professional clients by providing a range of quality services that directly impact their success, including accounting, tax preparation, tax advisory, small business financial consulting, budget planning, and QuickBooks implementation and setup. A testament to Lyn’s professional commitment and personal service, her practice has grown to 150 clients for individual tax returns, and 30 active businesses. In addition, Ms. Lawshe is active in several organizations and the community. She is currently the Secretary/Treasurer for the Kirkwood Lunch Chapter of Business Network International, she in on the Interim Financial Advisory Board for Kirkwood Public Library and is an active member of the Kirkwood Area Chamber of Commerce. Lyn is also a Certified QuickBooks Professional Advisor. Tuesday, January 11, 2005 meeting Speaker: Jeanet Schroepfer, Strategic Consultant with JCS Topic: The P's of Marketing: There's more than 4 to consider An introductory overview of the multiple aspects (the P’s) of business. A simple formula of what to consider when running and marketing your business. This presentation covers much more than the 4 P’s of Marketing we’ve all learned through school and brings to light the many other P’s that people in business must consider. Jeanet Schroepfer, currently President and Strategic Consultant for JCS, has extensive experience in Internet strategic planning, marketing and branding, business strategic planning, team management, and tactical execution of traditional marketing and Internet-based initiatives (e-business) designed to increase revenues and reduce operational expenses. Prior to JCS, Jeanet has worked for companies such as Maritz, Inc., BusinessHive, Iclast and American Express Incentive Services. In fact, during the time she was Director of Marketing and Web Business Development for American Express she managed over 14 Websites and Internet initiatives, internal employees and teams, and close to 20 agencies and vendors. Her ability to strategically bring marketing, branding and Website initiatives to reality has been of benefit to her clients over the past four years at JCS. Visit www.jeanetconsulting.com for more information on capabilities, experience and testimonials. =================== Past 2004 meetings.Tuesday, November 9, 2004 meetingSpeaker: Samie Allam, Senior Web Server Sales Specialist; IBM Corporation Topic: Virtualization on Unix & Linux for Mid-Range & Desk-Top Computing Virtualization was limited to the Main-Frame environment. New Technologies have now brought Virtualization down to Mid-Range and Desk-Top Computing. Aided with Autonomical self-healing features, this facilitates System Administration and System Management, bringing in the lowest possible system down time. Other topics of discussions will include Micro Partitioning, Virtual I/O's and SMT. Samie Allam has been with IBM for over 23 years. He has worked with IBM in Asia, Far East, Europe and Africa and has been in St. Louis for thee years. He brings a unique blend of rich and varied Consultancy, Sales and Marketing experience in the field of Business Automation. He is a CCSL member from last 2 years. He is married to a Dermatologist and has two college going sons. Tuesday, October 12, 2004 meeting Speaker: Marcel Brown, Marcel Brown Technologies Topic: Revisiting the Mac OS, 20 years later It's been 20 years since the Macintosh revolutionized the computer industry. After many ups and downs, the Mac OS is stronger than ever, melding the strength of UNIX with the traditional ease-of-use the Mac is famous for. Still, many IT pros are not familiar with the Mac OS and may still hold inaccurate or outdated notions about the world's 2nd most popular operating system. Come get a little more familiar the Mac OS - including integrating the Mac OS with Windows and why the Mac OS is still the premier digital media platform. Marcel Brown is an independent technology consultant with over 10 years of experience. Having worked with countless small companies and individuals in addition to large organizations such as Washington University and Anheuser-Busch, Marcel has a wide range of technical and business knowledge. Rare in the industry, Marcel combines expert knowledge of both Windows and Macintosh-based computing along with UNIX skills to be fluent in nearly every computing environment. Tuesday, September 14, 2004 meeting Speaker: Jason Pattie, PCXperience Topic: Asterisk: the Open Source PBX Jason will discuss: setup and installation, configuration (particularly VoIP), ways to use Asterisk, available telephony technologies, cross-platform integration and operation (specifically Windows and Linux software-based phones). Jason has been with with Xperience, Inc. for the past 5 years where he has worked on a handful of Open Source projects, some for pay, some for fun. Tuesday, August 10, 2004 meeting Speaker: Dave Gambion, e-Backups Topic: Off-Site Data Protection via the Internet Dave Gambino, President of e-Backups, will help us understand that computer disaster preparations is not about the backup, its all about the recovery! Dave's firm, e-Backups, can help users of one or a hundred computers to eliminate cumbersome manual processes and automate the backup procedure over the Internet, provide for CD and DVD archiving, retrieve files on demand, and provide for off-site storage. Remote backup services offer a very efficient approach to an old problem of planning for disasters and how to recover your most critical data. Dave will explain why disaster recovery is approached from the wrong angle, as being a "backup" exercise, when really we need to worry about the day after - when we need to handle our clients and deliver as though nothing had happened. Dave will also explain some of the more technical details of the technology used with his product. Tuesday, July 13, 2004 meeting Speaker: Angela Haas, Web Innovations & Technology Services Topic: Reuse and Recycle - Putting it Back We recycle/refurbish donated systems from local/national organizations and companies by fixing or replacing what may be broken and putting it back into the community for educational use. This keeps the used equipment out of the landfills, and provides those in need with the technology to accomplish their educational/career goals. We also offer training in many areas for students of all ages and capabilities for internships and resume experiences and the chance to teach their skills to other students with hands-on experiences. WITS is a non-profit 501 ( c ) 3 organization dedicated to underserved populations and nonprofits. Tuesday, June 8, 2004 meeting Speaker: Mark Bunn, 7 Security Topic: Security Call 314-440-6657 Tuesday, May 11, 2004 meeting Speaker: Courtney Mosser -- AXA Advisors, LLC Topic: Advancing the Entrepreneurial Vision She will be speaking on a variety of financial topics relevant to independent consultants and small business owners, such as "Advancing the Entrepreneurial Vision" and "Risk Management and Individual Business Planning". Tuesday, April 13, 2004 meeting Speaker: Patrick Graves -- CatchFire! Marketing Topic: How to Successfully Market IT Services Patrick Graves is the founder of CatchFire! Marketing, a firm dedicated to assisting individuals and businesses who are frustrated by the results of their sales and marketing efforts. Patrick brings forth a compelling combination of information technology, marketing and sales experience, and relates well to technology professionals who see themselves not as salespeople, but as solution providers who need to market their services to gain the opportunity to utilize their expertise to benefit their clients. Tuesday, March 9, 2004 meeting Speaker: Mr. Bill Sears -- Novell, Technical Sales Topic: Novell's Mission Statement Novell has a long history supporting cross-platform environments, and with the recent acquisitions of Ximian, the creator of the Outlook replacement Evolution, and SUSE, a major vendor of Linux, Novell has committed to supporting the Linux community. We will present Novell's strengths in supporting and integrating these cross-platform environments, and provide information on the value we expect to bring to the Linux community. The acquisition of SUSE will add a significant amount of combined value the solutions we can bring to the Enterprise marketplace, and we will focus on Novell's products and technologies available for the Enterprise today. February 10, 2004 meeting Speaker: Mr. Brian Mehl, President The Brain Mill, Inc. 314-454-0348 Topic: Using Remote Desktop Sharing software to support your clients -- Even behind a firewall As computers become more graphically oriented, directing the client over the phone can sometimes be challenging for both the consultant and client therefore the best most effective computer support often requires seeing the clients desktop. Current applications such as PC Anywhere, Remote Admin and GotoMyPC provide effective solutions to specific clients; however each require a license(s) and/or a monthly fee. These solutions do not provide effective solutions for computer consultants that need limited support for a variety of clients. Learn how to make an installable copy of VNC that will work on several different operating systems and overcome problems with Desktop Sharing and firewalls. The installable copy of VNC can then be used effectively to provide a large population of clients effective support at a minimal cost. Brian Mehl is the President of The Brain Mill, Inc. providing general computer support and specialized computer software for the small to medium size businesses. January 2004 meeting Speaker: Mr. William B. Zimmerly Interactive Internet Database Solutions (IIDBS) Topic: Zimmerly Knowledge Bases A demonstration of knowledge engineering using ZKBs ("Zimmerly Knowledge Bases"). There is a concept in KE ("Knowledge Engineering") known as the "Knowledge Pyramid" and it goes like this... Knowledge <-- Top Information <-- Middle Data <-- Bottom Data becomes Information as it is processed, categorized, analyzed, filtered, and summarized. Information becomes Knowledge as it is placed into a context to make informed actions. ZKBs are the simplest way possible to represent knowledge for both humans and machines. A rather bold claim that requires bold proof. Come to the demonstration and judge for yourself! Bio: William B. Zimmerly Knowledge Engineer 27+ Years in the Computer Industry Company: Interactive Internet Database Solutions (IIDBS) =================== Past 2003 meetings.November 11, 2003Topic: UCE/SPAM Issues and Solutions Everyone knows about SPAM, but dealing with it is NOT a simple matter. Learn about the technical issues with handling SPAM, government actions/inactions, Bayesian filter technologies, and the various techniques and tools available for dealing with the problem. Marcel is a technology professional with over 8 years of experience in the field, as well as a lifetime of working with technology of all types working with countless small companies and individuals in addition to large organizations. Rare in the industry, his background includes expert knowledge of both Windows and Macintosh-based computing along with UNIX skills to be fluent in nearly every computing environment. October 14, 2003 Wikis, Kwikis, sharing information without all the hassles of web development - options for professionals, fanatics, and clients. Sept.9, 2003 Aug. 12, 2003 July 8, 2003 Jim is a seasoned programmer/web developer specializing in VB, C#, & XML Applications, and is also on the board of the St. Louis Web Developers XML SIG. June 10, 2003 Topic: Selling with an Attitude: The Fish Story. May 13, 2003 Sempact, Inc.
Alka-Seltzer time? Relax, we may have some answers at the meeing. Fred Firestone is president of Sempact, Inc., a St. Louis-based sales training company working with companies and organizations on how to continuously add more value to their products and services so that more business is warranted and how to get more business without using aggressive, high-pressure sales tactics. This is the NoHardSellTM Systyem. For the past fifteen years, Sempact has refined its system to provide clients with a logical integrity-based process that yields significant results. Clients include DuPont, Hewlett-Packard, Laclede Gas, 3M, AT&T and the U.S. Postal Service. Sempact, Inc. is an authorized licensee of the Sandler Sales Institute.
Tuesday, April 8,2003 Topic: Contracting for Goods & Service Tuesday, March 11th, 2003Speaker: Brian Mehl,The Brain Mill Topic: Estimating Quickly, Easily and Onsite with a PDA Many businesses need to do an on-site visit in order to produce an estimate. 'Estimate It' is an application built for those types of businesses, allowing users to create an estimate on-site using pre-existing or free-keyed items with a PDA. An estimate can then be printed on-site for the customers approval and the estimate sync'd back to the PC for use with Quickbooks Pro or other accounting software. Discussion will also cover some topics with PDA Development. Mr. Mehl is president of The Brain Mill, a computer consulting and specialized software development company offerring competitive and competent tech support and software development with the client in mind. Feb. 11, 2003Speaker: Jason A. Pattie, JT Moree, pcXperience Topic: Serving your clients without Windows There are many reasons to consider discarding the traditional Microsoft server platform - this presentation will how excellent alternatives for File & Print Sharing, Email/Workgroup Collaboration, and other traditional server functions. Mr. Pattie and Mr. Moree are with pcXperience, a CCSL Corporate Member that integrates Open Source (Linux) with windows to improve infrastructure and provide the highest quality, lowest cost solutions to businesses and individuals. Xperience, Inc. is a corporation based in St. Louis, MO since 1998. Jan. 14, 2003 Speaker: Mr. Bruce Waxman Waxman & Associates Topic: Managing a Consulting Business in Today's Economy The presentation will cover the ins and outs of managing a technology business in today's down economy - what helps, what to avoid! Mr. Waxman is the principal of Waxman & Associates, an organization that specializes in managing small businesses. ===================Past 2002 meetings.Nov. 12, 2002Topic: Selling in Technology Markets Donna Spence, Rubicon Institute Prospecting, converting proposals and other issues related to technical sales. Oct. 8, 2002Speaker: Mr. Carl Harris Easy Chair Marketing & Advertising Strategies Former Publisher PC Journal Topic: Secrets of Marketing a Small Business The presentation will cover the basic fundaments of marketing lightly and offer some tips and tricks that small business owners can apply, with a focus on technology and consulting.Mr. Harris is the previous owner of the St. Louis Computer User, has been in the marketing an advertising business in St. Louis for over 30 years, as a advertising sales representative, publisher, and owner, and has helped thousands of businesses market and promote their companies. Sept. 10, 2002 Topic: SOHO Office Roundtable FocusTime & Billing/Bob Scott Technologies/Marcel Brown Communications/Cheryl Hammond Contest: Bring a picture of your office, and let everyone match the office to the person! June 11, 2002Speaker: Mike Myers Falcon Technologies, Inc. Topic: Wireless Networking Update,featuring technologies from: 3Com, Cicso, Proxim/Western Multiplex May 14, 2002
April 2002 Speakers: Mr. Nick Lamia, Mr. Dave Powers Company: Edward D. Jones Topic: "Tax Changes that Matter To Small Business Owners & What's Next For Stocks?"
Feb. 2002 Meeting Jan. 2002 Meeting. Past 2001 meetings.Oct. 2001 Meeting Asynchrony.com is an Internet company that empowers software developers from around the world to collaborate freely, create software together and share in the profits from the programs they create. This collaboration occurs via the Internet on the Asynchrony.com Web site (http://www.asynchrony.com). The idea is simple yet powerful. Asynchrony.com provides a virtual environment for developers all over the globe to find each other, create projects and collaborate. Then, Asynchrony.com markets the resulting software and returns the lion's share of the revenues (up to 90 percent) back to the development team that created the software. This concept is a new foray into the world of software development, an industry that International Data Group projects will reach $222 billion in annual revenues by 2002. Sept. 2001 Meeting. August 2001 Meeting. View the slide show (Power Point Presentation). July 2001 meeting. Speaker: Dr. Gene Spilker, Chiropractic physician Topic: "Ergonomics in the Office Setting" - OSHA and Musculoskeletal Discorders (MSD) - Why office employees get hurt - Typical office obstacles - How to prevent occurrences - Tips when you suffer from MSD's January 2001 meeting -featured eframe Technology Solutions with new ideas on maintaining the corporate computer installation. =================== Past 2000 Meetings.The October meeting was held on October 10, 2000. Speaker was Bob Greene, Vice President of Operations for Midwest Software Test Lab, who spoke on the current issues and technologies in software testing, client relations and future trends. The September meeting was held on September 12, 2000. Speaker was Jeff Barczewski, president and founder of SnowFlight Corporation, who spoke on the wireless internet and the freedom to access the internet/intranet anywhere and anytime. Other meetings - not summarized here. ===================Past 1999 MeetingsThe November meeting convened at 6:32PM, November 11, 1999 with eighteen
people present, including three guests. There was a review of the year's
accomplishments of the organization. Membership is up 20%, participation in
ITEC, redesign of the website and successes of the hotline referrals were
mentioned. Preliminary plans for ITEC 2000 were discussed, along with a
possible CCSL recurring column in Computer User.
The October meeting convened at 6:30PM, October 12, 1999 with seventeen
people present, including two guests. There were two member
mini-presentations. One from Lowell Amos of Abelian Technology Group
(www.abelian-tech.com) and one from Sam Black of Sam Black Consulting (www.samblack.com).
The September meeting convened at 6:30PM, September 14, 1999 with
nineteen-two people present, including four guests. This meeting was our
first with member mini-presentations. Fawad Khan of ICNS, Inc. gave a member
mini-presentation about his company and their new product,
http://www.theonlineoffice.net (free) and http://www.theonlineoffice.com.
The August meeting convened at 6:30PM, August 10, 1999 with thirty-two
people present. This meeting was our first with member mini-presentations.
Carol Holthouse, President of Information Technology Training Solutions
spoke about the services that her company can provide. These include Project
Management Workshops for Technical Professionals, Needs Analysis and User
Support Design and Custom Training Development and Delivery. She can be
reached at cbholthous@aol.com. The July meeting was convened at 6:20PM with
thirty people in attendance. New members and guests were welcomed. The ITEC exposure
continues to bring new people. During the summer, attendance is usually down, but we had a
record turn out. The June meeting was convened at 6:30PM with
eighteen members and several guests present. The meeting was in a restaurant in the
Breckenridge Hotel at Clayton and Lindbergh. This was due to a power failure from a storm
at Schneithorst's . Our thanks to them for making the last minute arrangements for the
meeting facility and directing attendees to the temporary meeting site. There was a
general discussion of CCSL's participation in ITEC. Everyone agreed that it was a valuable
exposure for CCSL both from a new member perspective and establish CCSL as a resource for
the business community. The May meeting was convened at 6:00PM with twenty-one members and two guests present. Plans for CCSL's participation in ITEC at America'sCenter on May 19th and 20th were finalized. CCSL will have a booth to solicit new members and inform the public of the resources available through CCSL. In addition, several members will be conducting presentations in meeting room #121. More information regarding ITEC is available at http://www.itec.asmcorp.com/. The featured speaker was Diana Trickey, Senior Technology Specialist, from Microsoft. She demonstrated Office 2000 new features and enhancements, emphasizing the web technology to improve collaboration efforts between workgroups. In addition, she gave an overview and update of Windows 2000. This was a very good program with good visuals and a knowledgeable speaker. The April, 1999 meeting convened at 6:30PM on Tuesday, April 13. There were twenty-one attendees. There was a roundtable discussion regarding CCSL's participation at ITEC on May 19-20, 1999. CCSL will have a booth with members present during show hours. There will be a computer to display our web site, along with brochures about CCSL and a white board listing the types of skills available from CCSL members. In addition to the booth, some members will be make presentations and participate in panel discussions. Look for more information as plans become finalized in the next 2-3 weeks. The featured speaker was Dave Mueth, Senior Account Manager, from Novell. He gave a review of BrainShare '99. BrainShare is Novell's big annual conference attended by Network Administrators, Developers and CIOs. He went over new and upgraded Novell products. Dave is a good speaker, not too salesy, not too technical, just right to trigger ideas to help clients. The March meeting was on March 9, 1999. The February meeting was on February 9, 1999 with 18 members present. New officers were confirmed. They are President, Jim Lewis; Vice-President, Richard Losciale; Secretary, Dan King and Treasurer, Lee Lammert. It was announced that CCSL would have an ad in the St. Louis Business Journal. Copies of the St. Louis Business Journal were available for distribution. There was a suggestion that a joint-meeting between CCSL and Institute of Management Consultants (IMC) be held. Their web site is http://www.inverizon.com/stlimc/stlabout.htm. There was a discussion about CCSL having a booth at ITEC in May. If interested in manning a both, please contact Jim Lewis. Richard Losciale volunteered to produce a tri-fold brochure for CCSL. The speaker for the program was Bernard Gerdelman, an attorney with Paule, Camazine & Blumenthal, P. C. He spoke about the differences between copyright, trademark and patents. He pointed out some of the difficulties the courts have in applying copyright laws to software. Mr. Gerdelman, a former ICCA member, joined CCSL. He was a good speaker, very knowledgeable about copyright and licensing as it applies to software. He is sure to be an asset to CCSL. Click here for his online article. The January meeting was on Tuesday, January 12. Officer elections were held. Per our charter, officers can serve for a maximum of two years. There was a discussion of transfer of responsibilities and the direction of CCSL for 1999. Past 1998 MeetingsIn lieu of a December meeting, there was a holiday gathering at Schneithorst's. With thinking games, funny prizes and congenial company, a fine time was had by all. The November meeting was on Tuesday, November 10. The speaker was Matt Llewellyn, president of Parallel Marketing. Matt specializes in revenue generation consulting and sales coaching. His topic was Value/Price Selling. Matt spoke about the need to understand your customer’s perception of value versus your perception, especially as technical people often underestimate the value of their knowledge. He also talked about the importance of perceptions when making initial contact, while facts are more important after the sale. Further discussion with the group covered price negotiation, market differentiation and the Price/Quality relationship. The January meeting will include elections of 1999 officers: president, vice president, treasurer, and secretary. The current president, vice president, and treasurer have each served the maximum 2 consecutive terms and cannot run for re-election. The comments included that CCSL should not lose its momentum and can benefit from new ideas from new officers. Nominations for officers are due to Susan Pope by January 5 (a week before the election). Wahid Tanner has volunteered to be CCSL’s webmaster for 1999. Frank Grimes reported on the recent RCGA Technology Gateway Information Technology Network committee meeting, which he attended as CCSL’s representative. Jim Lewis reported on RCGA Technology Gateway directions. A quarterly newsletter for all RCGA members is planned and a website is under development. Gordon Shaw will send out CCSL’s 1999 membership bills in December. The October meeting was on Tuesday, October 13th. Introductions of the attendees were given. There were 28 people in attendance. The speaker was Peter Love who is an attorney with Goffstein, Rakas. He gave a summary of business forms covering the types of business, liability, formality, management and taxes. Also he covered the minimum terms for contracts. Attendees had many business legal questions which were answered by our guest. Members were encouraged to run for CCSL office in the January 1999 elections. The September meeting was on Tuesday, September 8th. Our speaker was John Alden, Vice President of Sales for Primary network. His topic for the evening was the "State of the Internet". He discussed backbone technologies of the Internet, web site development & hosting, security as well as consumer access to the Internet. It was reported that the members of the CCSL have voted to join the RCGA’s Technology Gateway. Gordon Shaw recommmended that the organization begin thinking about possible candidates for officers of the RCGA. Although there was a significant Cardinals vs. Cubs game that night, attendance was good, with four new members joining. Many of us heard Mark McGwire hitting home run number 62 on the radio on the way home. The August meeting was Tuesday, August 11. The speaker for the evening had cancelled so the topic of Accounting Issues for Computer Consultants became a group discussion. Handouts were distributed describing the differences between Employees and Independent Contractors. This handout pointed out the pros and cons of being a direct employee of a company versus an independed contractor in regards to taxes, accounting concerns, laws governing wages and benefits as well as insurance and other benefits. This handout sparked discussion among the group were members told of their own personal experiences and much advice was offered. Other topics that were included in this discussion were contracts with clients, copyright issues and business liability. We are seeking a speaker for the month of September. It seems that there is a high interest in having a lawyer speak to our organization about liability and contracts. Comments were made about business referrals that have been obtained through the web page, hot lines and advertising. All three means of advertisement seem to be paying off in regards to getting leads for our members. The July meeting was Tuesday, July 14. The speaker was Katie Gamel from the RCGA on the new Technology Gateway organization. TG is modeled after similar alliances in Kansas City, Seattle, and Pittsburgh, with additional input from CEO’s of the Fast 50 technology companies. TG is broken down into 6 committees, each with subcommittees. TG has about 100 members. A company or organization must join RCGA first, then pay additional dues to join TG. TG is hosting a Virtual Job Fair on its web site. A discussion ensued about how CCSL can participate in TG. If CCSL decides to join TG, whoever attends TG meetings will represent CCSL and not their own company. Those at the meeting were especially interested in the Information Technology Networking committee. Joining TG as the organization is developing would be an opportunity to influence its direction. It was suggested that 1 or 2 CCSL members could be appointed TG liaisons and they could post TG meeting notes on the CCSL Forum on our web site. There was a general consensus that TG could be a good source of members for CCSL as well as referrals. More info on TG is at http://www.stlrcga.org/technology/gateway. The June meeting was Tuesday, June 9. The business meeting started promptly at 6:30PM. We welcomed five new members. Under 'old business', CCSL will join the RCGA and the CCSL hotline will be listed in the next Yellow Pages. All attendees participated in a group discussion of ways to better market their consulting practice. Many ideas were presented such as free consultations, certifications, joining organizations, networking at events, attending seminars, giving your company a particular image to clients, and better ways to gain potential clients and referrals. These were just a few of the ideas discussed. Also business cards and brochures were passed around the meeting to give attendees ideas for marketing materials. The May meeting was Tuesday, May 12, 5:30PM. Speakers - Greg Keller and Thomas Alexander from Renaissance Financial spoke to the group concerning retirement and investment options for small businesses and self employed individuals. Greg stated that now was an excellent time to invest in the market and that there were many options currently available. Some options discussed were IRA, Roth IRA and 401k plans. New topics for future meetings was discussed and members gave several different opinions. Members expressed an interest in talking about eCommerce and vendors in WAN integration or Frame Relay, ISDN, ADSL providers. The April meeting was Tuesday, April 14th, 5:30PM. This was a CCSL business meeting to discuss status of committee projects. A new CCSL logo was adopted. Several new members joined the association. The March meeting was Tuesday, March 10th, with Bob Gaiswinkler from Microsoft speaking on "Microsoft Channels and Certification Programs". The February meeting was February 10th, 6:00 PM, and the speaker was Dave Mueth from Novell, who made an excellent presentation on both the State of the Art at Novell and their certification programs. The January meeting was January 13th. The agenda was: Elections for 1998 CCSL Board
Past 1997 MeetingsThere was no December meeting, however the CCSL Holiday Party was December 9 - be sure to check with someone that was there about the 'contest'! The November meeting was November 11, 6:00pm, and the topic was "Insurance Issues for Computer Consultants". A hearty roundtable included comments from our guest speaker, as well as a number of CCSL members with supporting information. The October meeting was Tuesday, October 14, 6:00pm. The Speaker, Kathleen Paul, Source Services, talked about the local market having a greater demand for technical people than there are people to fill all the openings. She had copies of the latest Source Services Salary Survey, discussed how the survey is conducted, and the local market in more detail. In her opinion, certification only helps those with real work experience. Areas with a lot of openings for consultants include Oracle, SQL, PowerBuilder, Unix, COBOL, HTML, Java, C++, and VB. More information is available at Source Services' Web site: www.sourceslm.com The September was September 9, 6:00pm at Schneithorst's. The topic was a discussion of past events that have influenced consulting - four attendees actually remembered to bring a news article or clipping for the discussion! In addition, some of the guests (prospective members) had some interesting comments about the marketplace, which produced the topic for the October meeting. The August meeting was Tuesday, August 12, 6:00 PM at Schneithorst's, and the topic was a discussion of current events in Consulting - the cupie doll prize (figuratively speaking) went to Doris Goldman for her suggestion about the Holiday Party (you will have to ask someone that was there about it!). The July meeting was Tuesday, July 8, 6:00pm, at Schneithorst's (Lindbergh and Clayton), and the topic was "Ethics in Consulting". The location at Schneithorst's worked very well, with our own private room so it was quiet enough for us to easily hear discussion. The June CCSL meeting was June 10th, 6:00 PM, at Marciano's in Westport, and the Topic was "Marketing your Consulting Practice". The format was a round-table, with input from members as to what works and what does not. |
