DigiMarCon California – The #1 Digital Marketing, Media and Advertising Conference & Exhibition in California.

Get ready to be inspired and informed at DigiMarCon California, the premier annual conference and exhibition for digital marketing, media, advertising and business professionals in California, returning April 3-4, 2025 to the Loews Hollywood Hotel in Los Angeles, California. Experience two action-packed days including keynotes, master classes and panels from experts and thought leaders with cutting-edge strategies and numerous networking opportunities. Also check out the next generation of technology & innovation; Internet, Mobile, AdTech, MarTech & SaaS Technology. Attend in-person or online to access the next wave of digital innovation, including insights in AI and ChatGPT, marketing automation, content creation, growth hacking, social media marketing, SEO, and more.

Highlights:

 •   Top Industry Keynotes: Hear from visionary speakers who push the boundaries of digital marketing.
 •   Networking Opportunities: Connect with thought leaders, reunite with your peers, and expand your professional network.
 •   Emerging Trends: Discover strategies and latest technologies to move your business to the next level.
 •   Hands-On Learning: Master classes, case studies, and strategy sessions to equip you with practical solutions for immediate impact.

This year’s edition will feature topics such as:

 •   Artificial Intelligence, ChatGPT, and Marketing Automation
 •   Content Marketing, Email Marketing, Social Media Marketing, and Influencer Marketing
 •   Conversion Rate Optimization, Mobile Marketing, and Video Marketing
 •   Data Science, Big Data, Programmatic Advertising and Predictive Analytics
 •   UI / UX Design, User Experience, Omnichannel Marketing, and much more!

Challenge traditional ideas, gain actionable insights, and discover how to thrive and succeed as a marketer in a rapidly evolving digital world. See why people keep coming back year after year to this must-attend event for any marketer wanting to stay ahead!

Register and secure your seat today at https://digimarconcalifornia.com.

Join us for an informal event where the true agenda is up to you! The camp leader (Chris E. Avis - IT Evangelist/Microsoft) will lead off with a brief intro to the camp then open the floor up for discussion topics. We will then work through those topics until the end of the session (or until we just get tired of talking!).

This will be very interactive and works best with participation from everyone. We look forward to having you join us for this new informal event.

"Real World Agile: Going All-in with Agile at Performance Health Technology

Speaker: Chad Casady

Abstract: In 2009, PH Tech went "all-in" and began the adoption of agile methodologies throughout the software development process. In this session, you'll take a multi-year journey with a growing small business and experience the transition from the blissful ignorance of cowboy-coding through the misery and despair of a sinking, dysfunctional organization, and on to the satisfaction and exhilaration that comes with a high-functioning agile team. This session describes both the pain and the fulfillment that comes with developing software in a small business, before, during, and after agile.

Bio: Chad Casady is the Director of Information Technology at Performance Health Technology, aka PH Tech. His responsibilities include all aspects of technological infrastructure and software development, including three technology departments; Information Systems, Business Intelligence, and Software Engineering. When he’s not talking about healthcare or technology, he’s expounding the life-giving qualities of bacon and BBQ. Buy him a beer and he’ll give you the recipe for the greatest chicken wing rub he’s ever stolen.

At Tech Ed 2012, the biggest change over the previous years had to do with ALM and agile development – it seemed like one out of every four classes dealt with Agile in one way or another. What is all the fuss about – and how can our team use the best tools to keep developers and BA’s humming and business owners happy?

In this talk Dave will explore his team's two-year long experience with Agile development at Columbia Sportswear Company, including experiences with TFS and other tools.

Along the way we’ll cover:

• The Software Development Hierarchy of Needs (from a great post by Scott Hanselman)

• Our experiences with MVC, TDD, and Azure

• Why the Spanish Armada didn’t work and Apollo 13 did – the Cone of Death

• The dirty little secret behind scrum – hint, it’s not a magic bullet

• Jealousy as a proactive emotion

• Save the poker for Vegas

• Managing priorities across software development teams in one list

Speaker: Dave Harrison is the Development Manager and .Net Lead Developer at Columbia Sportswear. He has 7 years of Windows and Internet/Web applications development experience. Dave is a certified Scrum Master and agile enthusiast (www.rogueagile.com)

Application Delivery at PGE currently uses both waterfall and iterative work management methodologies. PGE’s IT uses these to support six internal lines of business with their project and production support needs. PGE started the agile journey in 2009 in aid of a large scale multi-project initiative to roll-out network read meters for our customers. Over the subsequent three and half years, that experience was extended into where PGE’s IT delivery is today. Scaling to the enterprise required the synthesis of many different viewpoints, overcoming the deficiencies of agile training as applied in larger circumstances, and fabricating new processes and tools to enhance and manage the value of delivery. During this talk Mark will share highlights of what was valuable, what was a struggle, what he would do the same if starting over, and what he would do differently.

Bio: Mark Menger is a passionate leader in the adoption of Scrum at Portland General Electric, believing strongly in the underpinning concepts of servant leadership and self-organization. He led four Scrum teams and the enterprise architecture function of PGE’s multi-million dollar Automated Metering Infrastructure initiative. As the supervisor of Application Delivery Services, he is currently scaling PGE’s adoption of Agile software delivery to 14 teams across six business client functions. This effort includes business client relationship development, and improvements in quality assurance and engineering practices. When he’s not rooting for the Timbers, the remainder of his attention is focused on Sailflow reports for the Columbia and Willamette rivers.

Diana Larsen (co-author of "Agile Retrospectives" "Liftoff" and"Virtuosity") will lead participants in a personal retrospective by helping each person ask the question, "How am I doing? Exploring my personal best," and find answers in a hands-on, highly interactive session. Everyone will reflect on how they developed their craft in 2012, then set aspirations for the coming year. Join us to develop an individualized plan for your professional development in 2013.

This month we will have an open discussion about Agile at Nike as well as across the "Westside" of Portland, and gather future topics for discussion and presentation during 2013. We look forward to your feedback in helping shape the community for 2013.

The use of mobile technology is transforming the delivery of healthcare in the US and abroad. Join this diverse panel of m-health experts who will share trends they are observing in major healthcare markets ranging from Asia, to North America and Europe.

Discussion Topics Will Include: •Results of recent ethnographic and other market studies and impact on clinicians and coordinated care •Unique challenges and opportunities presented by mobile technologies •A sneak peak at the clinical environment of the future on a mobile device •Emerging trends

Panelists: •Rick Cnossen, Director, Worldwide Health Information Technology, Intel - Rick leads all of Intel's m-health initiatives •Cameron Ough, Director of Consumer Health IT Innovation, Cigna •Patrick Hennessy, Director Business Development West, Wavefront - a Canadian Center of Excellence focusing in mobile innovation

Event Details: When: Tuesday, January 29, 2013 Time: 7:30 - 9:00 AM Where: Multnomah Athletic Club, Portland OR Cost: $25 Members, $45 Non-Members Register: TAO 503-228-5452

Series Sponsor: Comcast Business Class

Event Sponsor International Trade Canada

Agile Architecture and doing "just enough" while maintaining a forward looking view within an Agile Delivery Model.

Format: Panel discussion and Q&A

Agile Portfolio Management – From Vision to Backlog

The enterprise is going to invest in a new product or service: it’s on the strategic plan, senior management is energized and the funding has been promised…

But what happens next? How do you get from vision to value? How do you drill down from a high level mission statement or market opportunity to the right user stories and how do you manage resource allocation with competing projects?

The goal of this session is to explore this critical transition and it’s implication for portfolio management.

We are pleased to welcome three panelists to help us answer these questions.

Panel Members:

Jamie Swails, Manager Network Data Operations, Portland General Electric

Pat Pesetti, Sr. Director Engineering, Tripwire

Adam Light, Management Consultant, SoTech Advisors

Meeting will start at 7:45 AM until 8:55

To join the online meeting (Now from mobile devices!)

1. Go to https://nike.webex.com/nike/j.php?ED=226516297&UID=1600919732&RT=MiM0
2. Enter your name and email address.
3. Enter the meeting password: (This meeting does not require a password.)
4. Click "Join Now".

To view in other time zones or languages, please click the link: https://nike.webex.com/nike/j.php?ED=226516297&UID=1600919732&ORT=MiM0

To join the teleconference only

Call-in toll-free number: 1-877.874.1777 (US) Call-in number: 1-720.239.5053 (US) Show global numbers: https://www.tcconline.com/offSite/OffSiteController.jpf?cc=5035328650 Conference Code: 503 532 8650

As developers, we've created heuristics that help us build robust systems and employed test-driven development (TDD) to improve code design and counter instability. Yet object-oriented development principles and TDD have failed to gain traction in the database world. That’s because database development involves an additional driving force—the data.

Max Guernsey shows how to treat databases as objects with classes of their own—rather than as containers of objects—and how to drive database designs from tests. He illustrates a way to give these database classes the ability to upgrade old data without introducing undue risk. Max also shares how to apply good object-oriented design principles to database classes and how to enforce semantic connections between databases and clients. Max demonstrates how it all works together, ensuring that your production databases work exactly the same as test databases, minimizing the risk of design changes, and enabling client applications to more easily keep up with database changes.

Come for pizza & networking from 6:30pm. The program starts at 7:00 pm.

Speaker Bio Max Guernsey is currently a Managing Member at Hexagon Software LLC. He has 15 years of experience as a professional software developer. For nearly half that time, he has been blogging, writing, and delivering lectures on the topic of agile and test-driven database development. For much of Max’s professional career, he has been a consultant, advising a variety of software companies in many different industries using multiple programming and database technologies. In most of these engagements, he spent months or even years helping teams implement cutting-edge techniques such as test-driven development, object-oriented design, acceptance-test-driven development, and agile planning.

Max has always been a “hands-on” consultant, working with teams for long periods of time to help them build both software and skills. This series of diverse, yet deep, engagements helped him gain a unique understanding of the database-related testing and design problems that impede most agile teams. Since 2005, he has been thinking, writing, blogging, lecturing, and creating developer-facing software dedicated to resolving these issues.

Max posts regularly on his Twitter account (@MaxGuernseyIII) and his blog (maxg3prog.blogspot.com).

Agile Portfolio Management – From the Lean Startup Perspective

We will discuss, in an open forum, ways of identifying critical information such as product vision, possible risks, technology solutions, and key project metrics, in a way that utilizes the minimum amount of time in the predevelopment period of the project.

A focus will be placed on practical group exercises and research techniques for gaining the critical information needed to start a project and build the initial backlog.

What do a 17th century painter’s workshop, an international photographic cooperative, and an early 20th century design house have in common with a modern software development team? On the surface it may not seem like much, but bringing a group of makers together to work presents special challenges and opportunities, regardless of field.

In this session we’ll explore what worked, and didn’t, for several groups of historical makers. We’ll draw parallels with agile software development teams, and discuss coaching strategies around the examples provided.

Nathaniel Cadwell has over thirteen years of strategic consulting experience in software development, Agile enablement, and change management, helping organizations achieve dramatic improvement in the efficiency of their software delivery. In his current role, Nathaniel is an Agile Coach working closely with software development teams. He has presented, or co-presented, sessions on Agile coaching, Agile portfolio management, and facilitation skills at multiple venues in the United States and abroad.

Details and Pizza:

This event is free. It begins at 6:30 pm with pizza, sponsored by PNSQC (Many thanks to both Puppet Labs and PNSQC for supporting agile in Portland).

The program starts at 7:00 pm.

After the program you're invited to join us for a no-host gathering at a nearby brewpub for further discussion.

This month will be an open discussion with fellow practitioners from within Nike and across the West Side of Portland. During the session we will also discuss topics for the upcoming quarter and identify folks within the community that are willing to "own" the topics as part of the community. All are welcome to attend and we look forward to the discussion.

Teleconference information

Call-in toll-free number: 1-877.874.1777 (US) Call-in number: 1-720.239.5053 (US) Show global numbers: https://www.tcconline.com/offSite/OffSiteController.jpf?cc=5035328650 Conference Code: 503 532 8650

This is your chance to influence upcoming topics and speaker selection.

Product Owners as catalyst for Agile Teams

Topic: Coaching and Empowering Product Owners Format: Facilitated discussion by Chet Amborn Location: Nolan Ryan 1 Air Huarache Date: 6/11/13 Time: 7:45am to 9:00am

Overview:
The performance and empowerment of the product owner is often the most important factor in a successful Agile project. Chet Amborn, Agile Coach, has identified 5 key areas where Product Owners need help from their ScrumMaster in making decisions that will make or break a project. Too often, ScrumMasters overly focused on low level issues with the development/implementation team while the truly significant issues involving Product Owner decisions are ignored.

Teleconference information: Call-in toll-free number: 1-877.874.1777 (US) Call-in number: 1-720.239.5053 (US) Show global numbers: https://www.tcconline.com/offSite/OffSiteController.jpf?cc=5035328650 Conference Code: 503 532 8650

Test-First Mentality (BDD and TDD) , Testing Automation and Continuous Integration

The art of tailoring/integrating Agile into an Organization - Dave Harrison will be joining us to demonstrate how you can adopt Agile techniques in a way that fit in YOUR company's structure!

Instilling good habits isn't easy: Just ask anyone trying to give up a bad one. It's more challenging trying to change the habits of 100,000. Matt will discuss efforts at Intel to accelerate adoption of better technical capabilities, and the impediments faced by teams in adopting new skills under pressure.

Bio:

Matt Plavcan is a Technical Practices Coach with the Intel's Emergent Systems and Coaching team. He has worked at Intel for sixteen years, and has been writing code for three decades. His previous jobs include hardware validation for the Pentium 4 and Core microprocessors and teaching Intel architecture at the University of Illinois. Matt is the founder of the Code Dojo and Retreat program at Intel, which uses dedicated practice to hone professional programming skills.

This coming Tuesday the west side Agile PDX group will be holding a round-table on the PMI Agile Certified Practitioner certification recently emerged from the Project Management Institute—the famous purveyors of the PMP certification.

Topics include: What’s the upside and downside of the creation of this new certification? Did we need one? How does it differ from the famous Scrum series (CSM, CSPO, CSP, CSD, CSC, and CST) of which the Certified Scrum Master (CSM) has become a market differentiator for many organizations and individuals in the Portland metro area—and around the world? Will it be an improvement over PMI’s Project Management Professional (PMP) certification? What kind of content does it actually cover? Do we want one for our very own—or not?

Topic:

Scrum Must Die: Many teams over the last decade have moved to Agile Scrum development, but many have missed the key point of doing the adoption-Scrum and it's rituals are merely training-wheels for building a lasting Agile culture. In this topic, Ray Arell talks about how long-term dependency on Scrum can hinder the potential creativity and profitability of teams. Then he will look at successful patterns of how to use the framework to develop core skills and methods that, once the time-box is removed, will enable teams to deliver value daily. Finally, he will contrast the key challenges for teams stuck in the transition as well as key methods for moving forward.

Bio:

Ray Arell is Director of Intel Emergent Systems and Coaching. He is currently a transformative leader in the adoption of agile, Lean, and complex system methods inside Intel, and his group is currently coaching a community of practice of over ten thousand people that are moving to a continuous value delivery culture. Prior to this role, he spent several decades as both an engineer and engineering manager of teams focused on CPU, chipset, graphics, wireless, and software development. He is the coauthor of Change-Based Test Management: Improving the Software Validation Process and is a popular speaker at events worldwide.

The Tech Academy (formerly known as Prosper IT Academy) is having a Grand Opening celebration. We are opening an office in the heart of downtown Portland. The Tech Academy trains software developers through coding boot camps. Come to our grand opening - there will be an open bar and refreshments. If you are interested in the program now, please call 503-935-2409 or email [email protected].

Announcing the re-launch of AgilePDX Westside! It’s a new year... what do you want to accomplish? Bring your Agile New Years Resolutions for the coming year to the January session, and we will determine what topics to target for the coming year.

We are starting the new year in a NEW LOCATION. Intel has generously offered meeting space for this year…please note the new location at Intel - Hawthorne Farms. We will be in the Building 3 Auditorium.

Are you ready for a new fast-paced format idea? We are bringing in 5 speakers with fantastic stories around the use of Agile in non-traditional projects. Each speaker will offer a fast-paced 5 minute presentation, with another 3-5 minutes allocated for questions.

Please join us for a rousing round of lightning talks on the following topics:

Agile stories from the underground (sewers, that is) - Mark Liebe
Process Design using the 'Agile Periodic Table' Approach – Megan Miller
Applying Agile Mgt Concepts to a Complex, Multi-year, High Stakes Scientific Research Project – Alicia Lanier
Family Activity Planning Wall - Sarah Francaviglia
The Agile Attorney – John Grant III

We'll begin at 7:45 with "The Buzz". Bring your recent links, books, or other tibits to share and txt them to the facilitator. We will present them on screen and collect to send to the AgilePDX mailer.

Agile Terms from A to Z

What do Yaks, Rubber Duckies and Bike Sheds have to do with Agile?

Come update your Agile Terminology with an interactive conversation around the language we use every day in our Agile travels.

For those starting out, this is a great opportunity to learn both the common and less-than-common terms. Agile experts, this is a chance to contribute your best ideas and refine the common vocabulary.

Scaled Agile - Too Big to Fail?

Join us for a format introduced last month at the Intel Agile & Lean Conference: Lean Coffee++

Participants will actively brainstorm and prioritize the agenda and become part of the conversation. Up-votes will continue the discussion, while down-votes mean move on to the next sub-topic.

To guide the conversation we'll seed the topic, and also seed the audience with expert contributors. This is the ++ portion of our take on the LeanCoffee(tm) format.

Seed Topic: Scaled Agile - Too Big to Fail?

Seed questions: Why do large organizations embrace SAFe? Is it possible to 'get off' the release train? How to scale the human factor.

he changing business environment, and rapid company growth force companies to change, add and upgrade their technology. Rolling out new technology puts additional demands on the organization and its employees that aren't always anticipated during the project planning stages. Employees that you thought would like the new technology are now suddenly barriers and some might even be vocal detractors. How do you keep the implementation on track and gain employee buy in of the new technology to ensure it is adopted successfully?

Join our panel of IT & HR executives to learn how this key partnership can help your company and your people achieve successful change and transformation.

Discussion Topics Include:

• Changing the perception of IT implementation
• Key planning lessons for preparing your teams for significant change and transformation
• How to develop an employee readiness plan to keep your employees informed, engaged and prepared to embrace something new
• Leveraging employee champions and addressing the detractors or even ones that are actively trying to derail the adoption
• Best practices in managing the outcomes of significant change: shifts in culture, transforming jobs and changes in staffing, and declines in employee satisfaction and engagement levels
• Laying the proper groundwork to establish policies managers can enforce

Panel:

First Tech Federal Credit Union - How the HR and IT Departments at First Tech Federal Credit Union worked together to implement several new system integrations effectively. - Monique Little, Chief People Officer, First Tech Federal Credit Union Mike Upton, Chief Technology and Digital Officer, First Tech Federal Credit Union

HR Technology Consulting / Pacific Natural Foods -- How utilizing a 3rd party consultant can add support and value. - Kathy Galaway, Principal, HR Technology Consulting - Kathy Murray, Vice President of Human Resources, Pacific Natural Foods

Multnomah County -- Will share tips, tricks and valuable tools they use to manage change within their organization. - Becca Beck, Applications Manager for the Heath Department (MCHD) and the Department of County Human Services (DCHS) Portfolios, Multnomah County, Department of County Assets

• Jane Williams, PMP, Manager for Technology, Learning Development Projects, Multnomah County, Department of County Management

Moderator: Ken Wiley, Wiley and Associates LLC

How Agile is Agile Enough?

Join us for a format introduced at the Intel Agile & Lean Conference: Lean Coffee++

Participants will actively brainstorm and prioritize the agenda and become part of the conversation. Up-votes will continue the discussion, while down-votes mean move on to the next sub-topic.

To guide the conversation we'll seed the topic, and also seed the audience with expert contributors. This is the ++ portion of our take on the LeanCoffee(tm) format.

Seed Topic: How Agile is Agile Enough?

Seed questions: Do large organizations need to accept the same definition of agility as small ones? Is it possible to accept some known impediments and still be considered 'agile'? How do we measure when we have become 'agile enough'?

A monthly gathering for Portland area tech junkies. More specifically, those focused on data, emerging technology, and general IT topics. Industry vets, IT pros, nerds, geeks, tech philosoraptors, whatever.... Whether 5 or 50 this is an awesome opportunity to get together and talk shop, learn from peers, or just have some beers and a good time.

No management, No selling, No recruiting, No problems. Talking to people about your product(s) or career networking is fine but people "leeching" on the attendance isn't cool so don't do it. Industry folks with expense cards typically cover festivities but this isn't a "sponsored" event and we don't intend to turn BwE into "powerpoint parties". Venue will be dynamic alternating between locations and if group size demands we'll book a location to support.

If you're new to the group or haven't been out in a while we're a pretty dynamic crowd and always have a lot of fun.

The 7 Deadly Sins of Business Transformation

MOHAN NAIR. Senior Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer, Cambia Health Solutions

In today’s rapidly evolving marketplace, we are seeing the signs of another era of disruptive transformation, i.e., The Internet of Things, A.I., Big Data, Blockchain and Internet Security. When markets transform, companies caught unprepared are left behind. But those who recognize that change is in the air, who are prepared for market shifts, not only prevail but can soar to new competitive heights.

In this talk, Mohan will focus on the “seven deadly sins” that one must avoid in business in order to survive and thrive during market fluctuations. He will offer a way to view transformation and guide you on how to anticipate, understand and ride the waves.

Highlights include: • Examining the new principles of transformation in business • Understanding the value of purpose in organizations • Learn about Market Momentum and how to identify it • Learn how to focus on Value Propositions and Leadership • Understanding the role of a Performance Platform in the achievements of an organization

Biography Mohan Nair servers as Senior Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer at Cambia Health Solutions, a nonprofit health insurance corporation based in Portland, Oregon. He guides Cambia's Innovation Force (IF) as it inspires ideas from a variety of sources, selecting execution-focused concepts and starting them on the path to new businesses or concepts. Mohan joined the company in 2004 as Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Executive accountable for product development, brand management, consumer-directed health systems/e-business, business intelligence and corporate performance management/planning for all four health plans.

Before joining Regence, Mohan founded Emerge Inc., a business advisory firm, focused on business transformation. He also took over ABC Technologies and ProTools Inc., serving as president of each firm until their profitable sales to SAS and McAfee respectively. He has been an adjunct professor of business at Kellogg School of Management for over 10 years and authored the books Essentials of Balanced Scorecard, Activity-Based Information Systems: An Executive's Guide to Implementation, and Strategic Business Transformation. (Wiley & Sons)

Mohan has served as a member of the Armed Services Interest Group on Cost and Performance Management, and the Government's Committee on Performance and Accountability for the State of Oregon. He also serves on the Chronic Care Workgroup under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

His community activities include board roles in United Way and National University of Natural Medicine (vice chair). He also serves as advisor to the President of George Fox University.

Mohan holds a bachelor's degree in computer science and business, and a master's degree in computer and information sciences from the University of Oregon. He received an accreditation in advanced management from Stanford University.

IT as a Value Creator - How to get IT out of the Engine Room

Abe Lietz, SVP & CIO - KinderCare Education

With digital transformation and technology disruption at the top of the agenda in the board room, IT is uniquely positioned to step of out of back office and take the lead in driving value creation. However, IT teams are often buried in technical debt and struggle to just “keep the lights on”. In this talk, Abe will discuss strategies to transformation the people, process and technology of IT to drive growth, create value, gain market share, and delight customers.

Key topics that will be explored in this talk include,

• Leadership design principles to support digital transformation

• Modern architectures to deliver with speed & quality

• Discuss going “all-in” on public cloud as a key enable

• Examine “experience first” design principles to delight customer

• Learn about leveraging the VC community to accelerate innovation

Abe Lietz is SVP & Chief Information Officer (CIO) for KinderCare Education. In this role, Mr. Lietz leads the Information Technology and Change Management functions for KinderCare and is charged with driving digital transformation to support business growth and managing all key enterprise business systems which includes in-center, family facing, mobile, data analytics and back office applications as well as all supporting infrastructure. Abe is leading a multi-year transformation of KinderCare’s digital capability by reorganizing its people, process and technology to deliver on value creation initiatives through the use of cloud-first architectures (SaaS, IaaS, & PaaS), as well as delivering multiple innovative mobile, web, and data solutions for its customers and staff.

A recognized industry expert, Abe has received multiple industry awards, including being recognized as San Diego’s Top Technology Executive in 2015. He is a frequent speaker on IT transformation and cloud migration strategies and has been featured in many publications including CIO.com, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes and many others.

Prior to joining KinderCare, Mr. Lietz was CIO & VP, Customer Service Operations for Curves and Jenny Craig where he led a complete transformation of the IT organization, as well as managing the service contact center for both brands to drive a best-in-class service experience for customers, franchise owners and corporate users. Prior to Curves & Jenny Craig, Mr. Lietz was Chief Architect & Head of Divisional IT for Life Technologies (now part of Thermo Fisher Scientific) where he was responsible for driving technology strategy, new technology incubation, and overall technical architecture for the IT infrastructure and applications footprint, as well as all instrument and software system product lines. Mr. Lietz holds a B.A. in Business & MIS from Washington State University.

Join us for our monthly gathering to discuss everything from incident response to cross-team collaboration to automation frameworks. Food provided. Please RSVP!

This month: LIGHTNING TALKS!

DevOps Preppers

Sure, the odds of you meeting your demise from a zombie bite are pretty much zero, but pretending it could happen isn’t completely worthless. This talk will walk through how a prepper thinks, how that mindset can be extended via the Incident Command System, and how you can use iICS for non-zombie-based risks.

Tiffany Longworth is a Site Reliability Engineer at Puppet. She has launched successful projects large and small, but has also worked on projects that were spectacular failures! She likes using her background as a Marine, her training as an English teacher, automation, and cat gifs as much as possible.

So you want to switch to microservices?

The hype cycle around microservices often glosses over the real challenges that engineering teams face when trying to migrate away from monolithic applications. In this talk, we'll discuss code architectures and strategies that can help guide your codebase's transition from mono to micro.

Matt Greensmith is the Operations Engineering Manager at Cozy, where's he's responsible for a lot of nouns that end in "ity," like reliability, observability and security. In a past life he was simultaneously a call center rep, a bingo caller and a wedding DJ, so you know he likes to talk.

A Brief History of Schedulers

What do schedulers do for us, how has that changed over time, and why should we care? We'll discuss the historical context that gave rise to early schedulers, and take a look at the state of such tools today.

Kate has been in software engineering for almost a decade, having worked in areas ranging from power grid resiliency to fintech to enterprise software. Kate has managed a variety of teams across the devops spectrum at New Relic and Simple, and is now at HashiCorp helping build tools for other companies and teams to manage their own infrastructure.

What DevOps can teach you about starting a business (and why spreadsheets are everything)

I went from devops to starting a magazine and was happy and dismayed that many of the same skills apply to both. What happens when you don’t have time for structuring databases, building a custom front-end, or maintaining any real code? Well, there’s a lot you can do with a spreadsheet.

Audrey Eschright is a writer, community organizer, and software developer based in Portland, OR. She's the publisher of The Recompiler, a feminist technology magazine. Previously she founded Calagator, an open source community calendaring service which has been actively used in the Portland tech community for ten years as of this month. Her work on community safety and codes of conduct is used by user groups and open source projects around the world.

Pair Programming/Problem Solving

Pair programming is a practice a lot of engineers know about, few profess to enjoy and everyone has an opinion about. Let’s take a look at how to use it regardless of your role and leverage it to shift our perception of effective problem solving.

Logan Davis is a software developer. He’s shipped a lot of code and some of it was pretty good. He believes in fostering an inclusive culture focused on solving problems in a healthy way. Logan currently is a software engineer at InComm Digital Solutions.

*****

Risky Business

As we operate production systems they inevitably fail. As they fail and fail and fail again we as operators start to identify the way they fail and we know the causes of the failures. What if we could see the future and predict failures before they happen. We're going to explore using techniques to identify risks and how to present the risks to engineering and business stakeholders.

Jesse Dearing enjoys spending time with his family, bicycling, and working on small projects around the house and in Open Source. During working

Speaker Panel - "Demystifying Micro-services and the impact of the changing DevOps development tools in IT"

Phil Taylor, VP of Engineering - Infogroup Northwest)

Dan Anolik, VP of Engineering - HeathSparq/Cambia)

Moderator: Richard Appleyard, VP Technology - GB2tech.com

What are Microservices? Why is this new software development architecture important? How does it compare with the traditional monolithic development style? Where will Microservices be most effective and what impact will it have the service that IT will need to provide?

Join us for the SIM Portland March 2018 meeting when we will explore what the implications of Microservices are, how a local company is implementing this architecture, and what has been learned from this experience.

Key topics that will be explored in this talk include,

• The difference between Monolithic and Microservices development models

• What are the benefits of Microservices and are they right for your business and technology stack

• What are the people, process and technology considerations for moving to Microservices

• Lessons learned from implementing Microservices, including how and why the switch worked, as well as areas for improvement in adoption and implementation.

Speaker panel: "A Jetsons or Bladerunner future for our metropolitan areas - are we on the brink of a technology sea-change for Smart Cities?"

Stan Curtis (Urban.Systems),
Kevin Martin (City of Portland),
Kristin Tufte (PSU),
Dave Pelkey (Azimith Communications)
,
Moderator: Bud Borja (CGI).

The idea of Smart Cities has been around for a while. It encapsulates how technology is going to transform the way we interact with City government & infrastructure, local businesses and our communities. It is very exciting to consider all the transformational possibilities when cities are digitally enabled, as well as the impact of emerging technology such as self-driving cars on the City administrative model and the local economy. But what are the barriers to realizing this future? Which cities are having successes and which are having failures? How about our own City of Portland and other cities in the metropolitan area?


Join us for the SIM Portland April 2018 meeting when we will review what is happening with IT and Smart Cities. We will have a panel of thought leaders speaking on NextGen wired and wireless network, Internet of Things (IoT) and sensors, autonomous vehicles, as well as big data & visualization. Come learn what new opportunities and challenges are here today and on the horizon. 



Key topics that will be explored include,


• Review of Smart Cities planning and strategies to date.
• Major technology areas being tackled by Smart Cities groups and collaborations.
• Examples of Smart Cities projects successes and failures.
• What does this all mean to IT leadership? What should IT infrastructure be prepared for?

Agenda
5:30 PM Social
6:30 PM Dinner
6:50 PM Meeting Start
7:00 PM Keynote and Q&A
8:15 PM Close

Over the past 20 years, advances in Information technologies have continuously remade the business world. Think– the Internet, virtualization, cloud, the smartphone to name a few. That has however been one exception – the wide area network (WAN), that is … until now. One of the hottest topics in IT Infrastructure is Software Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN or SDWAN). It is a specific application of software-defined networking (SDN) technology applied to WAN connections. WAN links are used to connect enterprise networks – including branch offices and data centers – over large geographic distances. SDWAN technologies promise the moon; lower costs, faster performance, business agility to name a few. So, what is real and what is pure marketing?

Come hear from someone who has been an Oregon pioneer in SD-WAN. John Spiegel from Columbia Sportswear will provide an overview of SD-WAN, relate his first-hand experiences implementing this new technology, the results he has seen and how it has changed John’s approach to the ever-evolving landscape of IT infrastructure (both good and bad).

John Spiegel is the Sr Manager of Infrastructure at Columbia Sportswear Company. He is a leader with 20 years of experience in Information Technology and Networking. Forward-leading, big thinker with a passion for transformative and cutting-edge technologies such as SD-WAN and Cloud. Believer in the power of sharing and collaborating with other like-minded individuals to evolve the industry. Outside of work, focus and energy is on family, brewing beer, Duck and Packer football and currently planning a trip to Africa with his family.

Agenda
5:30 PM Social
6:30 PM Dinner
6:50 PM Meeting Start
7:00 PM Keynote and Q&A
8:15 PM Close

About the event
Please join us for the SIM Portland September 2018 meeting when a panel of experts from the Office of the State CIO will review what is happening in IT in the State of Oregon, and what new opportunities and challenges are being worked on, and how can public and private IT organizations lead and partner to implement these goals.

Key topics that will be explored include,
• Review of current State of Oregon IT planning and initiatives, including,
• State of Oregon Cybersecurity initiative including Cybersecurity Advisory Council and awareness
• Statewide Broadband initiative and addressing the Digital Divide with OregonFIBER
• What does this all mean to IT leadership? How can we partner and collaborate? What should we be planning for?

The Distinguished Panelists
• Melody Riley Ralphs, Chief Technology Officer, Oregon’s State Chief Information Office
• Dave McMorries, Deputy Chief Information Security Officer, State of Oregon
• Jordan Masanga (Panel Chair), CIO, Oregon PERS

Agenda
5:30 PM Social
6:30 PM Dinner
6:50 PM Meeting Start
7:00 PM Keynote and Q&A
8:15 PM Close

Join us for our monthly professional networking event. Our keynote speaker is Alex Vasquez, Information Security Project Manager at Viewpoint.

This is a great opportunity to build real connections with experienced technologists in Portland. PDX Veterans in Technology is a non-profit dedicated to assisting active-duty, reservist, and returning veterans with reintegration into the local tech community. Our organization is committed to helping create, advance, and maximize the careers of current veterans in technology within the Portland, Oregon and surrounding areas. These networking events are open to the public as well.

Agenda:
5:30pm - Event kick off, catering served

6:00pm - Group announcements, job opportunities

6:15pm - Keynote speaker

7:00pm - More networking

7:30pm - Event ends

About the event
Most organizations want to succeed at what they do, right? And an inclusive workplace is a key aspect of successful organizations. What does an inclusive workplace feel like? What behaviors make people feel like they’re part of the team? These questions must be answered if the goal is to create an environment where everyone can grow and thrive. To build such a culture, there are specific strategies that can be employed in any organization.

Join us for the SIM Portland November 2018 meeting when we will discuss the concepts of diversity and inclusion, along with the behaviors that make it possible – or impossible – to achieve true workplace inclusion and highly effective organizations.

Key topics that will be explored include,
• Key aspects of successful organizations
• The concepts of diversity and inclusion
• Strategies that create an inclusive workplace
• What does this all mean to IT leadership? How can you create an environment where everyone can grow and thrive.

The Distinguished Panelists
• Bob Leek, Interim Director and Chief Information Officer, Department of County Assets at Multnomah County, Oregon
• Kory Murphy, Equity and Inclusion Manager, Department of County Assets, Multnomah County, Oregon

Agenda
5:30 PM Social
6:30 PM Dinner
6:50 PM Meeting Start
7:00 PM Keynote and Q&A
8:15 PM Close

Martin gives you stories, studies, humor and data from the stage that teach and inspire attendees to look at influence, persuasion and negotiation in a very different way. He mastered methods for determining objective probabilities with the best strategies for success in transactions and disputes needed in the information economy. But this was not enough. His research then focused on tempering this objective approach with understanding human behavior and brain function. The result: we do well when we know our choices in how we communicate our needs to the world.

About the Speaker
Martin Medeiros began his career supporting SABRE Technology Group for American Airlines' flight reservation system. After obtaining his law degree he was recognized by his client, Ryder, with the RISE Award for information systems excellence. As a negotiation leader in thousands of deals and disputes over the last 25 years, information technology remains his passion. Martin authored three books on influence, persuasion, negotiation and technology.

Speaking and offering workshops to start-ups, Fortune 500 companies, Am Law 100 firms, trade associations, strategic investment associations, universities, non-profits, governments and healthcare providers, Martin also presented to hundreds of attorneys as: a Board Member of the Oregon Law Institute at Lewis and Clark College of Law, a speaker for the Washington State Bar Corporate Counsel Section, and as Chair of the Technology Law Section of the Oregon State Bar. Martin's skill as a keynote speaker and teacher were forged on the anvil of his unique experiences, experiences attendees benefit from by leaving his talks with immediately actionable takeaways.

Agenda
5:30 PM Social
6:30 PM Dinner
6:50 PM Meeting Start
7:00 PM Keynote and Q&A
8:15 PM Close

Bikram will provide his insights into what to look out for in IoT and MIoT. The "internet of things" and especially the "internet of medical things” can empower us with new insights and enable remarkable capabilities for managing our lives and health. In most cases, we need to need to rethink how we integrate this into our existing infrastructure and tools, and how to utilize all this novel information to its full potential.

About the Speaker
Bikram Day is a Solutions Architect for Capsule Technologies, and focuses on designing medical device data integration solutions and informatics consulting for major Hospitals and IDNs. He is currently part of the pre-sales team at Capsule, but has previously been in roles with product and development at Capsule over the past 13 years.

He is also affiliate faculty at the Department of Medical Informatics & Clinical Epidemiology, Oregon Health and Sciences University.

Bikram's specialities include clinical device and systems interfacing - Bedside Medical Device Integration (BMDI), systems and network architecture and design - particularly medical informatics systems, network and systems security and HIPAA, and systems provisioning and deployment.

Agenda
5:30 PM Social
6:30 PM Dinner
6:50 PM Meeting Start
7:00 PM Keynote and Q&A
8:15 PM Close

Blockchain has been around for a while. It is now past the “Peak of Inflated Expectations” and probably more in the “Trough of Disillusionment” on the Technology Adoption Curve. But what are the barriers to realizing this technology? Which companies are having successes and which are having failures? And as we begin on the “Path to Enlightenment,” are there real use cases achieving actual results that we can begin to pin our expectations and planning on?

Join us for the SIM Portland April 2019 meeting when we will follow one CIO’s process of discovery relating to the component software technology that is Blockchain. Through the eyes of a key information system decision maker, and by querying local experts, we’ll review what is happening with Blockchain. Our experts include developers working hard on developing the business leaders who are creating new blockchain models. Come learn what new opportunities and challenges are here today and on the horizon with the implementation and operational management of this technology.

Key topics that will be explored include,
• A CIO’s approach to evaluating blockchain
• Review of current status Blockchain technology
• Major adoption areas in Blockchain
• Examples of Blockchain project successes and failures

Speakers
Cian Montgomery, Director of Technology, LO3 Energy
Benjamin Diggles, VP Business Development, Constellation Labs
Nathan DeNiro, Cofounder, YouBase
Aloysius John Keralavakkayil, S. Manager, HCL Technologies
Jordan Masanga, CIO, PERS
MODERATOR: Tony Alferez, 2 Worlds Tech Consulting

Agenda
5:30 PM Social
6:30 PM Dinner
6:50 PM Meeting Start
7:00 PM Keynote and Q&A
8:15 PM Close

The modern CIO is a multifaceted professional who has become adept in a full spectrum of IT, HR and business skills in order to be a truly effective technology change leader. The need for complete IT Modernization within an organization can be an overwhelming challenge that means drawing on everything in this toolkit and as well as industry best practices to transform systems across the entire spectrum of IT services and support. IT Modernization is often challenged by the competing business priorities, the need to deliver new functionality to remain competitive, increase efficiency or improve customer service, and driving effective organizational change.

Join us for the SIM Portland May 2019 meeting when CIO Roland Rivera will review what is happening with IT Modernization at the Oregon Secretary of State, and share the four step approach that he has used; benchmark assessment, strategic planning, technology road map and implementation initiatives. This has allowed foundational change around IT governance, portfolio management, service desk support and a Network Operations and Security Center. The Agency is now able to leverage Cloud Computing for improved business continuity and resiliency, and securing a path to become an IT center of excellence rivaling many high-tech firms.

Key topics that will be explored include,
• Challenges and Best Practices to IT Modernization
• Four Step Approach to IT Modernization (based on the Federal CIO Playbook)
• Use of Structured IT Initiatives to deploy different modernizations

About the Speaker

Roland Rivera is an accomplished, visionary, and results-oriented IT executive offering 20+ years of Federal, State, and Higher Education experience covering a broad spectrum of IT activities from Concept Development, through Design, Implementation, and Operations, all using ITIL best practices and the Project Management Framework for execution of major projects and programs.

He is currently the CIO at Oregon Secretary of State where he provides strategic policy recommendations, direction, and proposals to promote the successful execution of the goals and objectives of the Agency’s Information Systems Division. Roland leads a high performance IT environment, grounded in industry standard frameworks and best practices balanced with a healthy dose of common sense. He has lead the deployment of Service Desk management, Network Operations and Security Center, IT asset management, IT Governance and Project Portfolio Management as well as cost-benefit analysis, feasibility studies, budgets and narratives related to IT projects.

Agenda
5:30 PM Social
6:30 PM Dinner
6:50 PM Meeting Start
7:00 PM Keynote and Q&A
8:15 PM Close

This is a placeholder for the Community Leadership Summit - more details coming soon!

A proposed agenda:

9:30am - 12:30pm formal presentations / keynote

12:30pm - lunch

2pm - 5pm break out sessions / unconference style

A new group of folks are taking on leadership of this event this year.

Here is a link to the Call for Papers: https://forms.gle/stL7v7dkGjWsSTsA6

Not only is Ric Ferrin a dynamic speaker and U.S. Navy Veteran | Chief Warrant Officer, Ric holds an MBA and is certified in PMP and ITIL v3. As the Vice President, Programs, Project Management Institute (PMI) Portland, Ric will share with us how he landed in Project Management and ITSM in the Aerospace industry.

Seating is limited to please don't forget to RSVP.

Bring your resume! NEXTAFF will be there to meet job seekers and share current job openings. NEXTAFF helps companies identify, evaluate & acquire quality talent using their X-FACTOR process.

Whether you are looking to advance your career or are new to Project Management or IT, you will learn about opportunities within IT and Project Management that are essential in providing the skills and solutions that today’s employers desire.

Small bites and beverages provided.

Keynote Speaker: Skip Newberry, CEO, Technology Associations of Oregon (TAO)

The technology industry is often viewed as a source of innovation and disruption to established institutions and markets, as well as. a driver of economic growth for region's that can support a strong, vibrant tech ecosystem. What are the prospects for Oregon and SW Washington in this race for talent, innovative companies and, ultimately, economic prosperity? In this presentation, TAO President and CEO, Skip Newberry, will delve into the trends, companies and sub-sectors to watch, providing insight into the relative health of the region's tech ecosystem.

Speaker Biography
Skip is a frequent speaker on technology trends and topics, economic development, public-private partnerships and civic innovation. Before joining the TAO, Skip served as an economic development policy advisor to Portland Mayor Sam Adams, where he helped create Portland’s first comprehensive economic development strategy in 16 years, recognizing software as a key industry cluster. While at the City of Portland, Skip’s projects included the adoption of the nation’s first open source software procurement policy at the municipal level, an award-winning regional open data initiative and the development of resources to support entrepreneurship, like the Portland Seed Fund. Previously, Skip was a corporate and IP attorney and entrepreneur. Skip is Chairman Emeritus of the Board of Directors of TECNA, Technology Councils of North America, which is a global network of technology and entrepreneurship associations, and he serves on the community advisory board for Wells Fargo and several community-based organizations in the Portland area. Skip is also a 2012 recipient of the Portland Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 award. When he's not working on behalf of the region's tech industry, Skip enjoys exploring the Pacific Northwest with his family.

Agenda
5:30 PM Social
6:20 PM Dinner
6:50 PM Meeting Start
7:00 PM Keynote and Q&A
8:15 PM Close

Keynote Speaker: Sarabjeet Waraich, Senior Technology Leader, Globally Recognized Keynote Speaker, Trainer

How do you develop an ability to lead from any position in an organization? How can you be more adept in influencing those over whom you have little or no authority?  What are the key skills that are needed for a successful leader?  How do you stand out as a successful leader? Knowing how to influence and lead others—often without direct authority—is critical in successfully managing projects. Most of us aren't natural leaders, the good news is that leadership skills can be learned. The best make the journey from manager to leader using their innate talents and through continuous learning and improvement. Don't rely on the school of hard knocks, discover the secrets to exceptional leadership and the mistakes to avoid on your own road to success.

Learning Objectives:
+ Learn how to leverage influence to lead your project teams
+ Avoid mistakes on your road to success
+ Unlock the power of your personal leadership style

Speaker Biography
Energetic … engaging … lively … enthusiastic … inspiring … words that are often used to describe Saby. A speaker with the uncanny ability to look at the normal and see something quite different. Saby shares his life stories and have a fun way to look at life as well as live life. You are guaranteed to learn a thing or two on your journey from his unique perspective. He is a Technology Leader, Angel Investor, Professor, Mentor, Coach, Project & Program Management Expert, Change Leader and Volunteer Leader with a diverse experience of about 20 years in both public and private sector.

An international recognized speaker, trainer and coach, Saby have assisted multiple diverse clients in their business transformation through project successes, bolstering communications across various departments, and assisted customers in creating effective solutions to complex problems. Saby is currently working as Senior Technology Manager at City of Portland, and as an adjunct Professor at Portland Community of College. He speaks 4 languages, enjoys working with people and brings enthusiasm, inspiration & leadership qualities.

Agenda
5:30 PM Social
6:20 PM Dinner
6:50 PM Meeting Start
7:00 PM Keynote and Q&A
8:15 PM Close

Keynote Speaker: Richard Appleyard, PhD, Deputy CIO, Oregon Secretary of State; President-elect Portland Chapter of SIM

What are ethics and why are they relevant in the IT field? Why is a code of ethics important to us personally and to our organizations? How do you develop and maintain an ethical code for the use of Information Technology in an organization? These are just some of the questions we will consider at the next SIM Portland meeting. Everyone is familiar with the concept of medical ethics and the Hippocratic Oath, “First do no harm.” Ethics are a set of mutually agreed upon rules that encompass the personal and shared standards of behavior expected by a group of people, typically within a given profession. There are now ethical investments and mutual funds that hold to certain principles when selecting companies to invest in.

Information Technology is advancing at an ever increasing rate, and is having an increasing impact on our lives. The recent Facebook / Cambridge Analytica scandal demonstrated what can happen in organizations when there is no ethical grounding, and decisions are simply left up to the bottom line, or market forces. Join host, and incoming SIM-Portland President, Richard Appleyard for the February Chapter meeting where he will share his ideas and facilitate discussion around embracing more formal ethical standards with in the IT management profession. Come and be part of the process to discover what this means to you, to your colleagues and how we might develop a Code of Ethics at the SIM Portland chapter.

Learning Objectives:
+ Review & discuss ethics, its history and relevance to the field of IT
+ Review ethical frameworks and discuss which apply to IT
+ Consider the creation of a SIM-Portland Working Group to develop a Code of Ethics for the Chapter

Speaker Biography
Richard is a seasoned Technology Leader in IT Operations, Application Development & Web Management, with a foundation in Informatics Research. He is currently the Deputy CIO and Applications Development Manager at the Oregon Secretary of State. In addition to assisting the CIO, he is responsible for software development team that manages a portfolio of applications for the different SOS divisions; Elections, Corporation, Audits and Archives as well as Business Services. He is the President-elect for the Society of Information Management Portland Chapter and currently planning his agenda for his April 2020-2022 tenure.

Richard is an emerging Technology Ethicist and IT Futurist with a passion for being more thoughtful with how IT is implemented. He is a proponent of Holistic Technology Management that looks for the potential "butterfly effect,” and the unseen opportunities and unintended consequences of today's technology advances. Richard has a Bachelors in Chemistry from the University of Oxford, a PhD in Biochemistry / Biophysics from Washington State University and completed a Post-doctorate in Medical Informatics (Information and Data Science) at Oregon Health and Science University where he focused on Consumer Health Informatics and the usability of patient information systems.

Agenda
5:30 PM Social
6:20 PM Dinner
6:50 PM Meeting Start
7:00 PM Keynote and Q&A
8:15 PM Close