On Tuesday, April 26, 2011 the Oregon Computer Consultants Association presents the Pac NW Team of Cisco's Small Business division for an exciting talk about Voice over IP and Cisco's commitment and offerings in the Small Business Space.

We will discuss certification requirements, how to "come to the Cisco SMB VoIP Party", overall product strategy, and marketing programs available for partners. Local Cisco Sales Engineer, John Somm, will also delve into the product families applicable to Small Business partners, and Small Businesses themselves. We will discuss a brand new product that cannot be mentioned as of press time – there is guaranteed to be quite a bit of buzz on the street by the date of this event though around this exciting new product family. We will talk about feature set, how to successfully position, sell, and place these products – and see what "whizz bang" features get end users excited and willing to make investments for. Interspersed throughout the evening will be conversations around SIP and other money saving "game changer" technologies.

Who: Dolly Brantley – Small Business Account Manager for PAC NW – along with her Sales Engineer – John Somm. Both John and Dolly are dedicated Small Business professionals!

The meeting will be held at the Red Lion at the Convention Center. The meeting is free and open to the public, however space is limited so please RSVP at meetup.com/itpro-70.

When: Tuesday, April 26, 2011 6:00p.m. - 7:00 p.m. No Host Dinner/Networking 7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. Meeting/Presentation

Where: Red Lion at the Convention Center 1021 NE Grand Avenue Portland, OR 97232 503-235-2100

Bio: Dolly Brantley – Small Business Account Manager for PAC NW – along with her Sales Engineer – John Somm. Dolly has been with Cisco for 3 and ½ years focusing on small business in the Pacific Northwest. Prior she worked as a recruiter at an IT staffing firm in Raleigh, NC. John Somm brings 15+ years of Computer networking experience to the conversation, with a background in Security, along with his current love of the Voice over IP market. Both John and Dolly are dedicated Small Business professionals!

It’s widely known that Project Management requires a certain personality to juggle people and process with a smile. But do Project Managers excel because of certifications, or because of experience? Come join us on November 17th to hear from a diverse panel of Project Management professionals that have gone back to the textbooks for certifications and others who have bypassed formal education for on-the-job experience. All are equally successful with a variety of pros and cons, you won’t want to miss the certification debate from our panelists.

Questions to be answered:

How easy or difficult is it to earn certifications? What is the professional value of earning certifications? What type of certification is most widely accepted or required? What specific experience has removed the need for a certification? What is the monetary value of each certification, or choosing none? What is the right certification for your current and future role?

Panelists:

Saby Waraich Certified Project Management Professional (PMP) Saby Waraich is an International Speaker & Coach with over 16 years of experience in Information Technology, Project Management and Leadership Development. Saby has been serving PMI Portland Chapter as a Volunteer for the last 7 years and is currently leading the Chapter as its President. Saby is currently working as Senior Information Systems Manager at City of Portland, and as an adjunct Professor at PCC and University of Phoenix. Saby enjoys working with people and brings enthusiasm, inspiration & leadership qualities. Saby is a graduate of Portland State with Master's in Engineering and Technology Management and a Bachelor's in Computer Science & Engineering from Punjab Engineering College, India. He is fluent in 4 languages which brings different frames of reference to approach problems and is a self-directed, confident individual with an ability to thrive in a rapidly changing environment. Saby lives in Happy Valley (near Portland, Oregon) with his wife and two kids.

Adam Edgerton

Adam is a Senior Producer at Instrument. He has spent much of the last decade in technical project management on both client and agency sides. From leading large-scale enterprise projects to overseeing client project portfolios to growing and managing a team of project managers, he has cut his teeth on the entire digital project management experience.

Mitch Huff Certified Scrum Master

Mitch Huff is an Agile Program Manager at Viewpoint Construction Software, where he's been leading development of a Software as a Service product for enterprise businesses. Prior to Viewpoint, Mitch led software teams for Nike's FuelBand and Running experiences. His teams were the first at Nike to deliver their software to production continuously, serving traffic from millions of customers with multiple software deployments per day.

Mitch started his career in 2000 with his own business building websites out of his Virginia Tech dorm room during the .com bubble. He continued coding even after focusing his career on project management ten years ago. One of his current coding projects is a simulator that predicts a software project's range of delivery dates for teams using Kanban and continuous delivery. Some of his recent side-projects have included http://meetingmerit.com and http://spinwhim.com

Julie Morse Certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt

Julie Morse is a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt. She earned her certifications at MasterBrand Cabinets Inc. in 2003 and has practiced Lean Six Sigma project work since then in both manufacturing and healthcare companies. Julie is currently working as the Process Improvement Project Manager for Clinicient, Inc. Julie’s personal mission statement is “To help others see a new way of doing things that improves their efficiency and work/life balance.”
Julie holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Portland State University in Political Science with a minor in Philosophy. Her passions in life include spending time with her 2 nephews, 3 dogs and driving a convertible MINI Cooper with PDXMINI.org. Julie lives in Hillsboro, OR.

Event Details Date: Tuesday, November 17th Time: 7:30am - 9:30am I 7:30am Networking I 8:00am Program Where: Kells Irish Pub, 112 SW 2nd Ave, Portland, OR Cost: $25 Members I $45 Nonmembers