Our Wheeling Chapter members are highly motivated individuals that have a passion for their community to make it a better place for our IT professional colleagues and to provide service to those in need.  Our members are highly motivated . . . → Read More: Message from the President April 2012]]> Welcome to the Greater Wheeling Chapter of the Association of Information Technology Professionals of Wheeling, WV!

 Our Wheeling Chapter members are highly motivated individuals that have a passion for their community to make it a better place for our IT professional colleagues and to provide service to those in need.  Our members are highly motivated and engaged at their companies and organizations to provide excellent information technology service.  The Chapter uses it’s monthly meetings to tap this enthusiasm to bring unique information technology speakers and events to the Upper Ohio Valley region.  Our members have career affiliations with faith-based institutions, global legal operations, regional health care operations, county government information technology operations, high education operations, world-class resort management energy company technology, social media experts, technology entrepreneurs, SMB experts and agencies dedicated to the region’s senior population base.   All that being said, diversity is the key to our long-running success as an AITP Chapter.  

 We have been in business since 1965. That record does not happen by accident!

 If you are an AITP member, thank you for your service. If you are visiting our web site and currently not a member of AITP, I encourage you to attend one of our meetings to see how you can better serve your own career through face-to-face networking and ultimately the larger community your organization serves.

 Thank you for visiting our web site.  Please let us hear from you!

 James Clark – Greater Wheeling Chapter President

We tried to do things a little different this year and I think everything has worked out well. Our membership is holding steady, the . . . → Read More: Message from the President]]> With the end of 2011 rapidly approaching, I wanted to take a moment to thank everybody who has made my year as President of the Greater Wheeling Chapter AITP so enjoyable.

We tried to do things a little different this year and I think everything has worked out well. Our membership is holding steady, the Chapter officers for next year will do a great job and I can see some great things happening for the Chapter in the future.

The President for next year, Jim Clark, is eager and I am sure he has some exciting programs lined up for the year. Bruce Koegler decided to stay at VP for a year but he is always ready to step up when the President is absent. With Bill Fairbanks as Secretary and Joe Bland as Treasurer, it looks like our Chapter is in good hands for years to come.

The Directors are an asset that any Chapter would be proud to have. The Past Presidents are always available for advice and it was nice to have them recognized this year in April.

I do have to say that this year was much more enjoyable than my first term as President in 2006. I think that I am more relaxed and knowledgeable, which has certainly made for an easier year.

So in what may be my last posting as President this year, I want to wish everybody a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

 Now, let’s put aside all of the ‘great job’, nice event’, . . . → Read More: SQL Saturday #80 Event Evaluations]]> Because of a screw up glitch on my part, event evaluations were not handed out until after lunch. Even with that, we received evaluations from well over half of the attendees. We appreciate everybody taking time to fill out the forms and making comments.

 Now, let’s put aside all of the ‘great job’, nice event’, ‘coming next year’, ‘great speakers’ comments and work on the comments that need to addressed.

 We had comments last year and again this year concerning a speaker who had to cancel on a very short notice. We had to rush with literally 20 minutes notice to fill the gap in the schedule. This year, Craig Purnell was nice enough to fill in the time slot and did a great job. I am sure this is something that other organizers of SQL Saturdays face and I know of no way to make someone happy who is looking forward to a speaker who is a no show for whatever reason, other than to say DEAL WITH IT!

 I am sure that you are no different than me. We have had those Homer Simpson moments when we slap our forehead and exclaim “DOH”!. One comment that hit me like that stated that it would be a lot more convenient if there was a break room on the same floor as the sessions. DOH!!! West Virginia Northern Community College provided us with the main room on the ground floor and 5 classrooms on the third floor. How easy would it have been to have an ice chest and snacks in one of those rooms? Also, this would be a great place to hang out for a few minutes and network. This WILL be addressed next year.

 We had a comment that the stairs were too hard to climb. I am not sure what happened but the elevators were clearly marked at either end of the hallways.

 This next item is easy enough to address. Not everybody liked the burritos for lunch. I am sure that we can just ask at the kickoff meeting if anybody has any issues with the lunch menu. I am not sure why we did not ask during the morning kick off but we can do this next year. This will fix any dislikes or dietary problems.

 One person commented that there were not enough tracks (to choose from, I guess). For the amount of people that attended, I think that 3 tracks are enough but we will discuss this at our debriefing.

 Probably the most consistent negative comment we had concerned the advertising for the event. This is something that we need to sit down and spend some serious time on. The local press seems somewhat reluctant to publish anything that we send.

 We were proactive in our cleanup chores during the day and we were able to vacate the building shortly after the door prizes were handed out. We certainly tried to do everything to leave a good impression for the people at WVNCC. They are a pleasure to work with and we hope to they allow us to use their facilities again for SQL Saturday Wheeling 2012.

Our attendance was 85, which is a very respectable increase from last year.   

I can’t say enough about the site. West Virginia Northern Communnity College is a fantastic place to hold . . . → Read More: SQL Saturday #80 Wrap Up]]> As I am wrapping up some details from yesterday, I wanted to do a quick post about our second SQL Saturday Wheeling.

Our attendance was 85, which is a very respectable increase from last year.   

I can’t say enough about the site. West Virginia Northern Communnity College is a fantastic place to hold an event such as this and the staff was a joy to work with.

John Sterrett gave the kickoff speech and promptly at 9:00 the horses were off and running. We decided to take an idea from the June 18th IT CON in Akron and had attendees fill out a speaker evaluation form at the end of each session in return for a raffle ticket for the end of the day door prizes. This worked extremely well and I would recommend it to anyone .

One speaker was unexpectedly not being able to attend and we ran out of pop and water at the very end of the event. Other than that there were no glitches.

We have received some very constructive and postive comments from the event evaluation forms and we will certainly try to implement some of the ideas next year.   

The day flew by and before we knew it, we were at the after party, finally able to relax.

I do want to say thanks to all of the volunteers! It is easy to put an event like this together knowing that you have people who are redy to take on any task to make things run smoothly.

As I am writing this post, we are in early July and the year is half over. We have had some great meetings so far! The joint meeting with the Pittsburgh Chapter was a success and we are looking forward to something special next year.

The regular meeting this month will feature . . . → Read More: Message from John]]> Good morning all!

As I am writing this post, we are in early July and the year is half over. We have had some great meetings so far! The joint meeting with the Pittsburgh Chapter was a success and we are looking forward to something special next year.

The regular meeting this month will feature Jack Cera of the JB Green Team. We have worked closely with this group on their electronic recycling efforts and it will be a pleasure to hear Jack speak.

SQL Saturday #80 Wheeling will be here in just a few days. Over 95 people are registered so far. Some great speakers are scheduled as we look forward to another fantastic event.

Programs for the rest of the year are scheduled but some details have not been listed yet. We are going to try to do something different for the year end December meeting so check back as we get closer to that date.

After the school year starts, I am going to try to attend another meeting at the Wheeling Park ‘s AITP Student Club. Chuck Hill has done a great job with the club and I look forward to meeting again with the group.

Even though it seems like summer has just begun, we are looking towards the end of the year and into 2012 with plans for the Chapter. We have committed to host the Region 18 ITcon sometime during the year and I am looking forward to that event.

I will be updating this blog as the year progresses and am looking forward to the rest of the year.

John

July 23rd will be the second SQL Saturday event that the Greater Wheeling Chapter has been involved in. Last year was a great event and this year is shaping up to be even better. John Sterrett has done a fantastic job of scheduling speakers. Three tracks are being offered. Details can be found at . . . → Read More: SQL Saturday #80 Wheeling]]>

July 23rd will be the second SQL Saturday event that the Greater Wheeling Chapter has been involved in. Last year was a great event and this year is shaping up to be even better. John Sterrett has done a fantastic job of scheduling speakers. Three tracks are being offered. Details can be found at the SQL Saturday #80 Wheeling home page. 

Everything is ready to go! West Virginia Northern Community College is a great place to hold an event such as this. Shirts have been ordered and should be delivered in a few days. This year for lunch we are trying something a little different but I am sure everyone will enjoy the food. Refreshments will be available throughout the day. The location for the after party has been reserved and details will be published in a few days.

 Looking forward to another great SQL Saturday!

Bruce Koegler gave a technical education talk on 2 utility programs: CCleaner and Defraggler. Both . . . → Read More: May 11 Meeting Recap]]> What a great presentation last night by Justin Seibert and Russell Dunkin! Some fantastic tips on blogging were given by both gentleman. We greatly appreciate Justin and Russell taking time out of their busy schedules to speak before our group.

Bruce Koegler gave a technical education talk on 2 utility programs: CCleaner and Defraggler. Both of these programs are available as a free download on cnet.com. Many thanks Bruce!

As always, we had a very fine meal served by the Wheeling Park staff.

Next month our meeting will be held on June 20 in Washington, PA at the Cambria Suites on Racetrack Road. See the June meeting page for details.

It was great having the Wheeling Park High School students at our March meeting. They gave a very interesting presentation. It is easy to see . . . → Read More: Message from the President]]> It has been slightly more than a month since I updated the Chapter blog page and there is a lot of great events coming up that I want to cover.

It was great having the Wheeling Park High School students at our March meeting. They gave a very interesting presentation. It is easy to see that the students are working in an environment that fosters learning. The teachers, Mr. Charles Hill and Mr. Mike Schehl have done a great job getting the AITP Student Club up and running. This is the only High School Club that we are aware of and we are very proud of that fact.

The upcoming April meeting is Past President’s night. Joe Krehlik took off with this idea and has done a great job Thanks Joe! I appreciate all of your hard work. It sounds like we are going to have over 30 attendees. I am looking forward to seeing everybody.

Our May meeting will feature Justin Siebert and Russell Dunkin, who will present a panel discussion on blogging. Being a fairly new blogger, I am hoping to pick up some good tips for my website. Justin has presented to our Chapter on numerous occasions and we are looking forward to what he and Russell have to say.

Also in May will be the Region 18 IT Con, the one day conference in Akron, Ohio. This event is being held on May 7 at the Holiday Inn – Akron West and is offering 3 tracts. The price is just $10 per tract. The website for the event can be seen at http://www.aitp-region18.org/ITCon/index.html.

The June meeting will be our fourth joint meeting with the Pittsburgh Chapter. Everything is shaping up to another great venture for both Chapters. We are meeting again in Washington, PA at the Cambria Suites on Racetrack Road. See the details on the Chapter website. We have two speakers for the event who will talk about Cloud Computing.

Coming up quickly is our second SQL Saturday on July 23rd. PASS has set up our website at http://www.sqlsaturday.com/80/eventhome.aspx and registration is open for attendees, volunteers and speakers. The event is being held at the West Virginia Northern Community College. This venue worked out great last year and we are very appreciative to be working with them again.

The meetings for the rest of the year are going to be very interesting and informative. There are going to be regular technical education sessions. I hope to see you all at the meetings!