The HDI Membership Event in Orlando…

Having spent seven years at HDI as the Executive Director of Membership I will miss not being at the big event this year in Orlando at the Rosen Shingle Creek. I had the honor of working with Fiona Henderson the former Executive Director of Events to manage the conference program team of; John Custy, Phil Gerbyshak, Jeff Brooks, Mary Cruz, Katherine Lord, and Pete McGarahan. These members of the HDI membership are top notch professionals. I was the track Chair for the Maximize Team Performance track, and I wish I could be there to see it all come together. I am sure that all of the sessions that were chosen will be a great success at the event as they always have been.

It is a new day in membership with the introduction of Social Media platforms with the advent of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other tools. I am so glad I had the great sense to reach out to ServiceSphere guru Chris Dancy to create what is turning out to be an extremely popular pre-con; “Congratulations; Here is Your BS in Social Media.” Make sure to meet Chris at the event. He will be the one walking around interviewing and engaging attendees and vendors to post on tweet reel and twitter.

I convinced him to create a social media course for the conference, and it looks like the HDI community is embracing both Chris, and the concept. I knew the day I met Chris that he was exactly the type of person membership and community is built on. He was always willing to “drop off” as Ron Muns used to put it - when it came to helping his colleagues. He is now a Local Chapter Officer in Denver, and he is making a true difference in the ITSM community overall.

I am really excited for the members of HDI to experience the great program and pre-cons that are available at HDI 2010. Created by membership for the community it serves. That is the greatest reward any Membership Director could ask for.

HDI has a great Membership community!

Have a great time in Orlando!

Some People Just Get IT!

I love to learn, and my favorite way of learning is to share ideas and information with like minded individuals. Today I learned a boat load of great information and knowledge from a social media master, Chris Dancy of ServiceSphere. He is a humble man and will tell you he is learning all the time as well, but when you compare where he is in the social media space, he is light years ahead of many; especially me!! I wanted to thank him for his time and eye opening discussion around the many perspectives and current uses of social media. If you don’t know him you will find him in the twittershere under the ServiceShere moniker.

I have also been reviewing the nearly 200 applications for the Strategic Advisory Board for our Software Testing Professional (STP) Collaborative. I am always honored but never surprised by the willingness of people to get involved in their profession. There will only be a handful of people that will be chosen due to the logistics of managing such a group, but I will find a way to harness the passion of the people that want to offer their time to help others in the software testing community.

The beauty of membership is it is about people. And people are what it is all about. Today was a really good day in my world of people.

Thank you Chris and thanks to the 200 applicants that have offered their knowledge to help the STP community!