Meetings & Events

January Meeting: Thursday, January 19, 2012 —
Analyst of the Year and Desktop Support Technician of the Year Awards Luncheon

Sponsored by ServiceNow, our January 2012 meeting was held on Thursday, January 19th over lunch from 11:30 AM – 1:30 PM at Maggiano’s Italian Restaurant. During this meeting HDI Charlotte held its 2011 Analyst of the Year and Desktop Support Technician of the Year Awards presentations over a 3-course, family-style sponsored luncheon. We were also treated to a dynamic presentation on Mobility, Cloud, and the Coming Singularity by Chris Dancy.
   
Topic: Mobility, Cloud, and the Coming Singularity
The impact of “big data” in the cloud on the enterprise, users’ perceptions of support and how support will evolve to use techniques to analyze the data to eventually support precognitive issues. We are living in the future; our devices can see, talk and translate the world around us. Our instant link to knowledge means children today have access to more data than physicians of fifteen years ago. In a single day in 2011 more data is created on the web than in the years spanning 1995 to 2000.Soon, navigating the streams of this “big data” will become a skill set that every IT professional will need. Before the end of this decade users and enterprises will be exposed to precognitive news and events. How will supporting this virtual time travel change the way you interact with risk, governance, and the steady footing that IT has had until this point? This session will redefine you feelings about IT, technology, and your future.  
Click here for the meeting presentation   Check out event photos in our gallery.

November Meeting: Thursday, November 17, 2011

Topic: The Actionable Service Catalog
Do your users know how long it will take to get their new laptop? Their new server? How do you build a successful actionable Service Catalog? Let’s explore the business drivers, process, and real world lessons learned of building a Service Catalog and managing user expectations.
Click here for the meeting presentation   Check out the food the chapter donated in our gallery.

September Meeting: Thursday, September 15, 2011

Topic: The CIO Insomnia Project: What’s Keeping CIOs Up At Night?
Today’s technology leaders are charged with protecting company information amid increasingly complex security threats, implementing hardware and software upgrades, and keeping their teams productive in an age of lean budgets and limited resources. It’s enough to make anyone lose sleep. And, in fact, it does: New research from Robert Half Technology suggests these are the very issues causing IT managers to toss and turn at night. We polled more than 1,400 technology executives about their key concerns as part of our CIO Insomnia Project, a research initiative that examines the top challenges facing IT leaders and provides advice for addressing these issues.
Click here for the meeting presentation

2011 Summer Social: Saturday, August, 20, 2011

Event: HDI Charlotte Summer Social : Charlotte Knights Baseball Game
Time: 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Location: Charlotte Knights Baseball Stadium, 2280 Deerfield Drive, Fort Mill, SC 29715 (Get Directions)
HDI Charlotte will have its annual summer social on Saturday, August 20, 2011 at the Charlotte Knights Baseball Stadium. Join us for an exciting evening of food, baseball, and fireworks as the Charlotte Knights take on the Gwinnett Braves. The dinner will be an all-you-can-eat buffet featuring hot dogs, hamburgers, cheeseburgers, BBQ, grilled chicken, sodas and more! There is also a playground area with a few small carnival rides for the children. The kids will also love meeting Homer the Dragon. All HDI members, friends, family members, and guests are invited to attend. Use the RSVP link above to register you and your family for this exciting event. The dinner buffet will be 6:00 PM – 7:15 PM. The baseball game will begin at 7:15 PM. Fireworks will be immediately following the end of the game.

HDI Charlotte would like to thank our generous summer social sponsor : Signature Consultants.

Signature Consultants is a national IT staffing and services firm experienced in the recruitment and placement of IT professionals on a contract, contract-perm or permanent basis. In addition to being the 35th largest IT Staffing Company in the US, Signature was voted the 7th Best Place to Work in Charlotte by the Charlotte Business Journal. Additional services include managed staffing, infrastructure services and project based staffing.

July Meeting: Thursday, July 21, 2011

Annual HDI Carolinas Joint Chapter Event!
Charlotte | Columbia | Greenville | Raleigh

Featuring multiple speakers, vendors, amazing prize giveaways and more!
Date: Thursday, July 21st, 2011 @ Johnson @ Wales (Downtown Charlotte)

Speaker Presentations 1. The ITSM Journey: From Chaos to Value - Patrick Bolger, Hornbill Service Management 2. What Drives Caller Satisfaction? - Terry Dunigan, T-Metrics 3. But I Need Help Now! Why Simply Logging a Ticket is No Longer Good Enough - Alan Taylor, FrontRange Solutions 4. Taking Charge of YOUR Career - Jerry Ewing and Joe McLaughlin, Brooksource 5. Disruptive Technologies - George Spalding, Pink Elephant Watch “Are you Ready?” on YouTube Event Flyer #1 Event Flyer #2

Thank you to our July event sponsors!

Pink Elephant
www.pinkelephant.com
Pink Elephant is proud to be celebrating over 20 years of ITIL experience – more than any other service provider. Operating through many offices across the globe, the company is the world’s #1 provider of ITIL and ITSM conferences, education and consulting services. Pink Elephant has been championing the growth of ITIL worldwide since its inception in 1989, and was selected as an international expert to contribute to the ITIL V3 project as authors of V3’s Continual Service Improvement book and through representation on the International Exam Panel.

BrookSource
www.brooksource.com
Brooksource is your single source for project and supplemental support through contract employment, contract-to-hire labor employment, and direct placements. We are the trusted staffing partner of our clients when it comes to project management, network upgrades, legacy system conversions, ERP implementations, web-based commerce development and other IT services.

Signature Consultants
www.sigconsult.com
Signature Consultants is a national IT staffing and services firm experienced in the recruitment and placement of IT professionals on a contract, contract-perm or permanent basis. In addition to being the 35th largest IT Staffing Company in the US, Signature was voted the 7th Best Place to Work in Charlotte by the Charlotte Business Journal. Additional services include managed staffing, infrastructure services and project based staffing.

May Meeting: Thursday, May 19, 2011

Topic: Measuring Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty
How do you know your customers are satisfied? What are the primary drivers of a satisfied customer? Are your customers promoters, passives, or detractors? Jeff Brooks from Peak 10 will discuss customer surveys that measure both satisfaction and loyalty. Learn how to measure customer loyalty through your Net Promoter Score (NPS) by asking customers a single question, “How likely is it that you would recommend our company to a friend or colleague?” Based on their responses, customers are categorized into one of three groups: Promoters – Loyal customers who will keep using your service and refer others. Passives – Customers who are satisfied but unenthusiastic and vulnerable to competitive offerings. Detractors – Unhappy customers who can damage your brand and impede growth through negative word-of-mouth. Learn what three different companies are doing to measure customer satisfaction. Ask our panel of experts about their customer satisfaction surveys, ratings, and service improvement plans. Our panel consists of: Jeff Brooks, Senior Manager of Support at Peak 10; Sherrie Durasoff, Director of IT Customer Support at TIAA-CREF; Carlos Witherspoon, Technical Support Manager at Compass Group.
Click here for the meeting presentation

March Meeting: Thursday, March 17, 2011

Topic: Furthering Your Career
Are you in the place you want to be in your career? What are you doing to plan for the next step in your career? Are you doing the rights things, getting the right education and training, and meeting the right people to get you to the next level. This meeting will help you answer those questions. Ted Ebner and Adam Little are veterans in the IT Staffing industry and will discuss its past, present, and future. They will also review the current state of the market in Charlotte and review the qualities employers are looking for in potential hires, as well as what candidates are seeking in potential employers. Candidates who want to further their career will learn valuable tips about the interview process. You’ll also gain information about job searches, where to find available jobs, and using job boards. Candidates will learn how to be more marketable with their resume, keeping up with current technologies, and networking. Hiring managers will gain insight into what is most important to candidates when searching for a job.

January Meeting: Thursday, January 20, 2011

Event: 2010 HDI Charlotte Analyst of the Year
Topic: Handling Difficult Customers by Rae Ann Bruno
Dealing with difficult customers can be frustrating, unnerving, and uncomfortable if you don’t successfully take control of the communication, use your vocal elements effectively, and address a customer’s psychological needs. Whether they are angry or impatient, unable to explain their issues, or providing too much “off topic” information while you are trying to collect facts, there are proven ways to succeed. This interactive session shares tips for using your customer service skills to confidently handle various types of callers without becoming emotionally involved. As a result, you’ll be armed with proven ways to “diffuse” emotional responses and create happier, satisfied customers.

November Meeting: Thursday, November 18, 2010

Topic: Microsoft Office 2010 : Witness The Exciting New Features
Is your organization considering a deployment of Microsoft Office 2010? Have you wondered about the differences between Office 2007 and Office 2010. What holds your organization back from even greater success? People in multiple locations? Inaccessible information? Join HDI Charlotte and New Horizons for an exciting Office 2010 event, and discover the powerful new tools available to your business.

September Meeting: Thursday, September 16, 2010

Topic: Using a Quality Assurance Program to Improve Customer Satisfaction
Customer satisfaction is a key element of any successful helpdesk or service desk. How do you know if your customers are satisfied? How can you implement quality controls to ensure that guidelines are followed and deliverables are met? This presentation will focus on the implementation of a quality assurance program at TIAA-CREF, beginning with where they started and concluding with where they are now. The presentation will also offer guidelines on ways to implement a quality assurance program at your organization.

May Meeting: Thursday, May 13, 2010

May 2010 Joint HDI Half-Day Event organized by the following chapters:
Charlotte | Columbia | Greenville

Press Release: “Join us in Charlotte for one the largest HDI events of the year featuring five outstanding guest speakers, multiple regional HDI chapters, networking, vendors, prize giveaways and more! Topics for this event include Service Desks, Motivation, Interviewing, ITIL Change Management, Community, etc. This event is FREE and lunch will be provided !!
Featuring the PREMIERE of a new Kirk Weisler presentation!
We offered a similar event 2 years ago with nearly 150 guests — Help us exceed that number this year!”
Click here for the meeting presentations.