HDI First Coast

HDI 1st Quarter Newsletter

By admin, on March 16th, 2011

President’s Corner: A Look Back at 2010, Plus 2011 Preview

Spring 2011, where did the time go? 2010 was certainly a very eventful year for the First Coast chapter.

It all began with submitting Michael Yon as our chapter representative for Analyst of the Year in 2010. Michael went on to take the title for the region, as well as at the National level. WOW…

Later in the year we had the world renowned author and speaker, Malcolm Fry in Jacksonville for two day, presenting on ITIL Lite. If you haven’t met Malcolm you should try to meet him at this years’ National Conference. What an intelligent, enlightened individual. Great fun!

We also ended this year growing our membership over 30%! Tremendous year!

Are you ready for what is ahead in 2011? I know I am! Let’s start with the kickoff annual dinner we had on January 21^st. What a great time! We had a guest from HDI National in attendance, Sophie Klossner and our previous years AOY winner, Michael Yon, was with us as well. Sophie was inspiring and so appreciative of everyone’s efforts to grow the Jacksonville chapter. She shared some of the key changes coming from National for instance; HDI has changed their tag line to include a broader base of technology professionals in the Desktop support arena. Sophie also spoke briefly about the upcoming joint conference with ITSMF coming this fall and the upcoming March national conference in Las Vegas. We gave away an IPad, courtesy of CDW, congratulations Linda Kirkpatrick on your win.

Speaking of Las Vegas, I’m so excited to be speaking during the conference this year. Please come by and see me on Wednesday March 30^th. I will be speaking on “What is Service Readiness”. For those of you who can’t make the conference, I will also be presenting on this topic at our April meeting. But I really hope to see you at Conference. There are great topics and fun events for all.

See you in Las Vegas!

HDI Meeting, April 2011

This year, we will hold quarterly meetings in the month of April, July and October. All members will receive an invitation the month prior to the quarterly meeting with details of topics to be presented and location. Charlene Bates will present “What is Service Readiness” at our April meeting. Further details will be available soon.

We’d love to hear from our members on what topics you would like to see presented in 2001. Take a moment to complete our brief survey on topics for 2011. Insert link for survey here

HDI First Coast Awarded Platinum Level Circle of Excellence for 2010

Last year, we were honored to receive the Silver Level Circle of Excellence. This year, we are even more excited to announce we have achieved the Platinum Level Circle of Excellence. We would like to give a huge thank you to our members for helping us grow, and to the dedication of our board members for all their efforts in achieving the Highest Honor –“ Platinum Level “.

The Circle of Excellence is awarded to chapters based on 4 key areas, Which are listed below along with our achievements

Chapter Growth, Increased membership by 30% and increased our attendance at our Chapter Meetings

Chapter Management: Built a solid board who regularly attend local, regional and national meetings

Chapter Education/Career Development One Chapter Member achieved HDI Cerfitication; We hosted the ITIL LITE Workshop in September 2010; We participated in the Analyst of the Year program

Chapter Professional Development and Contributions: Our members submitted speaking proposals for HDI Conferences and gave presentationsat industry related events

Way to go, HDI First Coast!

What should I tell people when they ask me about HDI?

Do you ever find yourself at a loss for words when people ask you about HDI? New VP of Membership, Jesse McFarland, has prepared an HDI elevator pitch to help members explain what HDI is all about.

Take a look:

HDI is a worldwide membership association that focuses on IT service desk and technical support professionals. The service desk is an integral part of a company, and HDI is an invaluable resource for the local service desk. HDI provides numerous benchmarks to measure performance against your established goals, other companies in your industry, or against the support industry as a whole. In addition, HDI local chapters offer interactive meetings to provide networking opportunities, strategic communications, and answers to solve common support center issues. HDI can keep organizations up to date on industry trends and technologies through resources such as eNewsletters, white papers and the advice of other members around the world. HDI is an invaluable tool for IT support professionals to help their business stay up to date and on track.

2011 HDI Annual World Conference in March

HDI First Coast is excited to have three members represent our chapter at the 2011 HDI Annual World Conference in March; Charlene Bates, Chapter President, and Beverly Hanson, Chapter VP of Finance and Derek Rowan, Chapter VP of Programs. In addition to attending the conference, Charlene will also present on “What is Service Readiness”.

They will share their conference experience with the Chapter in our future newsletters, as well as our quarterly meetings.

Spotlight on HDI Tools and Resources:

As the economy improves and job markets open up, we’d like to take this opportunity to draw your attention to the HDI Job Board. Members can post jobs on the HDI Job Board, allowing nationwide visibility of jobs. Or, HDI members can search for job openings around the country and even a few international listings. Jobs can be searched by Job function, Location and Experience Level. Current job posting include a Technical Support Analyst for ADP in Oregon, IT Service Desk Specialist for Swarovski in Rhode Island, IT Director fir Timothy James Consulting in the UK, and many, many more!

To access the HDI Job Board, log on to www.thinkHDI.com