Interaction 2007 Midyear Update
Hi everyone,
Phew! . . . almost half way through the year and it really doesn’t seem like it was that long ago I was sunning myself on the beach at Christmas. Now alas, the winter is upon us and the darker shorter days are here.
However, for those eternal summer sports fans, there is still cricket. The World Cup Cricket has just
finished. And it went very well for Australia, with winds against South Africa (2), Sri Lanka and Ireland. Unfortunately no giant killing here, the Irish minnows were well and truly beaten by Australia but they did manage a fantastic win over Pakistan & Bangladesh and a tie with Zimbabwe.
And Yes I do qualify to support the Irish (can’t you tell?) and it’s a good way out of the England V Australia debate! And when it comes to New Zealand, well we all want to beat the kiwi’s EVEN the Irish, so I’m on safe ground there.
And the news from Interaction is all good
. . . In March we had the first Interaction meeting in Canberra. Not only was the meeting well attended by the growing System z members in Canberra, but we had Mark Latchford, VP Server Technology Group (STG) and Jeff Ferdinands, BUE (Business Unit Executive) STG both attend the meeting.
Subsequently we have held the second Canberra meeting, on May 8. John Crooks from IBM, was the primary speaker here. John has worked with IBM for 38 years and gave a very intriguing presentation on the changing role of the mainframe to embrace more workloads.
This regional group is going from strength to strength so if you have an interest in the System z, get a long to a Canberra meeting
Queensland had two firsts in May
- The first meeting of the year and
- The very first presentation from Microsoft at an Interaction meeting.
The speaker, Charles “Chuck” Sterling, presented on some of the more practical features of Vista including:
- tighter security measures,
- easy(er?) remote access,
- user access control and
- sharing and collaboration.
The session was extremely well received and we will be asking Chuck back to present on Office 2007 very soon.
Sydney also had a regional meeting in May
Ngoc-Tram Hoang, from The Australian Manufacturing Worker’s Union, presented on WebFacing, and converting a legacy application using IBM websphere tool set. This was a very well receive presentation and Ngoc was busy for some time after the presentation answering questions and relating her experiences.
This was Ngoc’s second presentation to the user group and it goes to show that Interaction members still like the technical orientated customer presentation. Many Thanks Ngoc!
Interaction is keen to expand this new liaison with Microsoft…
… to the point of including them in this year’s conference. We already have one confirmed speaker: Peter Watson, Microsoft Australia’s Chief Security Advisor.
So if you are interested in Windows security and Vista, get along to the October conference, I am sure you will be informed, well educated and well entertained.
IUGC in New York
Michael Sumner (Immediate Past President) attended the annual meeting of IUGC (International User Group Council) in New York. This meeting had Presidents from SHARE and COMMON – USA, the European SHARE and Japan’s GUIDE/SHARE user groups.
A plethora of senior IBM executives also attended the meeting, including;
- Bill Zietler IBM Senior VP and Group Executive, Systems & Technology Group,
- Philippe Jarre Global Technology Services VP Global BCRS,
- Henry Bergmans Software User Group,
- Danielle Otteson IBM Software User Group Liaison,
- Susan Puglia -Tech Support and
- Andy Monshaw General Manager, Storage.
These execs briefed the delegates on initiatives coming from IBM and ideas on how user groups can better assist IBM.
Getting help with PR
We have recruited the services of a PR company to assist us with a number of activities leading up to this year’s annual conference, including a membership drive. Recognition PR is a well established communications company that specialise in assisting IT related companies.
Recognition will assist Interaction to develop creative and successful communications campaigns and other marketing initiatives. Look out for some of these changes in the next Interaction communication.
Membership drive
In June we embark on our biggest membership drive ever. We will be mailing up to 6,000 non Interaction members and encouraging them to join Interaction. If you are one of these non members I strongly encourage you to look out for your letter from Mark Latchford and sign up immediately.
Plans for this year’s conference are well under way
The ‘Call for Paper’s’ has gone out. If you haven’t seen it, I have reprinted the invitation below. We would welcome any of Computer Merchants customers to submit a paper as we and our members are always very interested in end user presentations.
Please remember if you see an invitation to an Interaction event, please circulate it to your colleagues, pin it on the notice board or even on your BLOG! We welcome all IT professionals and you do not need to be a member to attend your first regional meeting.
Interaction Conference Call For Paper
Interaction 2007 will be held on 22nd 23rd and 24th of October at the Sebel Albert Park Hotel Melbourne (formerly the Carlton Crest). We are pleased to invite you to submit papers for presentation at this conference.
The theme of this year’s Conference is: “Exploit IT for Business Advantage”
We seek a range of papers that will be of interest to both technical and management professionals who work with IBM products and
services. We are especially interested in “user experience” (case study) presentations as are our conference attendees – and priority will be given to responses indicating that you are prepared to give this type of presentation.
Speakers wishing to make other Technical or Management related presentations are also encouraged to nominate their paper.
To nominate as a speaker please send an email to info@interaction.com.au containing a session abstract and a brief personal bio.
Please visit our web site for any further information on any of these events. And you are also welcome to email for membership information or any other questions you may have.
