AITP Southwest Florida Chapter Meeting
Minutes

January 13, 1998 7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Conference Room at Center for Leadership and Innovation, Walden Center

Members Present
Roy Boggs
Donald Cole
Orv Curry
Dick Freeland
Virginia Goodman
Rob Hainsworth
Scott Hendrickson
David Johnson
Sean McCarty
Kazuo Nakatani
Gary Page
Walter Rodriguez
David Shapiro
Paul Sikkenga
Robert Szanto
Guest Speaker
Bill Larkey
Topics Discussed
1. Welcome and Introductions by David Johnson.

2. Site for Future Meeting: FGCU campus will be the site for future meetings.

3. (Potential) Members who were not at the last meeting introduced themselves (Ginny Goodman, Seam McCarty, Roy Boggs, Robert Szanto).

4. Election of Officers and Board of Directors: Click here for a picture of elected officers and directors.

  • The following officers were elected (also automatically elected as Board of Directors): 

    • President: David Johnson, International College 
    Secretary/Treasurer: Kazuo Nakatani, FGCU 
    Liaison: Fred Goodwin, Allen Systems Group
  • The following Board of Directors were elected: 

    • Don Cole, School District of Lee County 
    Brian Stewart, Data Logic Consultants 
    David Shapiro, Barron Collier Partnership
5. Guest Speaker: Bill Lackey, the national association president in 1996. Topic: Starting an AITP local chapter.  A summary of the presentation, as well as the questions and answer session, is summarized as follows: 
a. Overview of AITP National:
  • Oldest and largest IT association.  Brief history of AITP and its organization.  Anybody can join AITP without being a member of any local chapter.  However, if a member does not belong to any local chapter, he/she may not receive much benefits. 
  • Vision and mission statements of AITP (see AITP brochure). 
  • Strength of AITP is diversity. 
  • $80 due is used for publications, general administration and operations, etc. 
  • Suggested to be part of Region 7 (dues are $3.00 for each member). This is optional. We can receive local support. 
  • National meeting is open for every member. 
  • Special Interest Groups (SIG) has their own dues. Some of SIGs are active but some are not. For more information about SIG, call at 1-800-224-9371 (Ann or Barbara).
b. His Experiences on the Formation of AITP Palm Beach Chapter in 1982:
  • It started with about 35 people. 
  • The chapter once had about 90 members but now has about 30 members. 
  • People go in and out. 
  • People are attracted to AITP because of many reasons. Presentation or discussion topics and speakers attract people. Site visits also attract people. Palm Beach chapter invited speakers from NASA, Universal Studio, etc. Many organizations (i.e. software, hardware vendors) provide speakers for free. 
  • Special committees can be used as a method to get people involved in chapter activities.
c. Benefits of Joining AITP:
  • Establish friendship, as well as business connection. When you actively get involved in AITP (i.e. serving as an officer), you have more opportunities to meet people. 
  • Have an opportunity to speak in front of people and reduce the fear of public speaking. 
  • Receive newsletters. i.e. Information Executives, Leadership News, Nanosecond (student newsletter). 
  • Receive leadership training, speakers guide, audio/video library service, discounts on software, hardware, etc.
6. Break: Application Forms and Dues ($115.00 including $15.00 initial fee) were collected during the break. Members who were not at the last meeting filled out the member profile survey form and their pictures were taken for the member web page.

7. Brainstorming Session: Brainstorming session was held to discuss the following three issues: 
a. Vision: David Johnson suggested that the chapter have a mission statement. The following ideas should be involved in the chapter mission statements:

  • People networking. 
  • Awareness of IT community in the area. 
  • Connecting industry, academia, and government. 
  • Fostering education/training. 
  • Career enhancement/development.
The Board of Directors will make the mission statement based on these and propose it to members for the approval.

b. Future Activities: David Johnson provided a summary of member interests/expertise (created from the profile survey done in the last meeting).
IT Interest/Expertise
1. Networking/Telecommunications
  • Telecommunication Products 
  • Networking 
  • Internet: Web technologies, Web Commerce & Marketing

2. Application Development
  • Database Management 
  • OLTP Systems 
  • Client/Server Systems 
  • Web Development 
  • Legacy Systems Integration 
  • Project Management 
  • Embedded Systems

3. Multimedia
  • Visual Systems 
  • -Computer Graphics 
  • -Computer Games 
  • -Desktop Publishing & Office Automation

4. Methodologies/Languages
  • Systems Analysis & Design 
  • Object-Oriented 
  • Business Process Reengineering 
  • JAVA, C++, VRML, COBOL

5. Education/Training
  • Instructional Technology 
  • Distance Learning 
  • Just-In-Time Training 
  • Emerging Technologies (i.e. OO DB vs. Object-Relation DB)

6. Vertical Applications
  • Financial IT Systems 
  • Game Industry

7. Other Interests
  • IT Entrepreneurship 
  • Outsourcing in Lee county 
  • Disaster Recovery Plan 
  • Hardware/Software Issues

Methods to discuss the topics shown above:

1. Invite guest speakers from AITP members, software/hardware vendors, and local government, NASA, etc.

2. Provide tours (i.e. SW Florida International Airport, FGCU, etc.)
c. Committees:  David Johnson suggested that the chapter have the following committees: Program Committee, Membership Committee, and Public Relations Committee.  Dick Freeland volunteered to be on the Public Relation Committee. Walter Rodriguez volunteered to be responsible for logistics (i.e. reserve sites for meeting, accommodations for guest speakers). Paul Sikkenga volunteered for Membership. Rob Hainsworth and David Shapiro volunteered for Program Committee.

8. Personal bio will be available on SW Florida AITP chapter web page for those who want it. Kazuo Nakatani will solicit member's personal bio information via e-mail.

9. Board of Directors will meet February 10 (Tuesday).

10. Next meeting will be March 10 (Tuesday) 7:00 p.m. at FGCU.