This is the August 2010 issue of the BDPA Cincinnati chapter newsletter.

1. VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1
B D PA CI N C I N N AT I
C H A P T ER N E W S L E T T E R
AUGUST 2010
BDPA CINCINNATI— NATIONAL CONVENTION
The 32nd Annual National BDPA Convention was held in Philadelphia, PA from July 28 –
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
31, 2010. The convention included a career fair with fortune 500 companies including
Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Allstate, Robert Half, Wellpoint, and many others. There were
workshops with topics for Experienced IT Professionals, College Students, IT Leadership,
BDPA NATIONAL 1
CONVENTION and also for Entrepreneurs.
BDPA 2010- 2
2011 DIREC-
TION Another key activity at the National Con-
OFFICER 2
vention is the National High School
SPOTLIGHT Computer Competition (HSCC).
Throughout the year, local chapters con-
TOPIC OF THE 3
MONTH duct training programs for the youth in
their communities. These programs are
PILLARS FOR 3
IMPROVEMENT
designed to expose our youth to the
concepts of computers and give them
STRATEGIC 4 the expertise to develop web applica-
PLANNING
tions. Each BDPA chapter is able to
send one team of 3 to 5 students to the
Follow us on facebook National Conference to compete against
facebook:
teams from chapters all over the coun-
http://www.facebook.com/
try. Hewlett Packard (HP) sponsored
pages/Cincinnati-OH/BDPA-
this year’s National HSCC competition HP provided all of the technical support and com-
competition.
Cincinnati/46581377621
puters for the competition.
Contact us: bdpacincypresi-
dent@hotmail.com
Students that participated were Ross Batean, Kamin Johnson, Chidima Okafor, Hadiya
Harrigan, and Aquil Frost. A heart-felt “Thank you!” goes to Deborah Prince, Frank Hill and
SPECIAL POINTS all of the volunteers, students, parents, individual supporters and the corporate sponsor-
parents
OF INTEREST:
ship provided from Cincinnati Bell and Procter & Gamble for our trip.
Upcoming Workshops:
“How to become Purple On the final night of the convention, the awards gala recognized the students, corpora-
Cow — Stand out in your tions, and BDPA Chapters for the work they have done for the BDPA as a whole for 2009
Job Search”.—October 16, and 2010. BDPA Cincinnati won the Community Award and 1st Runner up for Chapter of
2010 the year!! Kudos goes out to Janice Lee, BDPA Cincinnati Immediate Past President,
President
BDPA Board of Directors and Corporate Advisory Board (CAC). Also, Hewlett Packard won
the National Corporate Sponsor of the year!!!
How to become a certified
Project Management Pro-
fessional (PMP) - Begin- I had a great time, learned new things at the workshops, enjoyed spending time with the
ning October 2, 2010 for 6 students at the awards gala, and was honored to be able to represent the BDPA Cincin-
weeks nati Chapter. We hope to see you all there with us next year at the 33rd Annual National
BDPA Competition in Chicago, Illinois! — Wanda Gray President, BDPA Cincinnati Chapter
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2. BDPA– A NEW DIRECTION Our Equity
2010 promises to bring many changes to BDPA. As the world economic pic- The BDPA-Cincinnati organiza-
ture evolves, so too must BDPA evolve to continue to provide its members tion has been serving the
with relevant content, programs, and activities which promote the growth and community of Cincinnati, Ohio
since 1989. BDPA-
development of the individual, the companies they represent, and the com-
Cincinnati’s main focus is the
munity as a whole. BDPA Cincinnati is focused on bringing programs and education life cycle program
workshops that are a value add to the Cincinnati Community, IT Experienced for Information Technology (IT)
Professionals, College and High School Students. from the classroom to the
Boardroom. We provide pro-
We would like to get your feedback on what programs/workshops we should grams and workshops for ex-
offer. Please forward suggestions to: memberservices@bdpa-cincy.org perienced IT professionals,
P R O V I D I N G O P P O R T U N I T I E S High School and College Stu-
F R O M T H E C L A S S R O O M T O T H E B O A R D R O O M dents.
O F FIC E R SP OT LI GH T —WA N DA G RAY
Meet the President — Wanda Gray
Wanda Gray joined the BDPA in 1998 as the Vice President of Membership Manage-
ment and has held various roles in the BDPA over the years.
Attended University of Cincinnati; graduated with a B.S. in Information Technology.
Graduated with a Masters Degree in Information System from Univ of Phoenix. Cer-
tified Six Sigma Black Belt, Project Management Professional (PMP), and Certified
Software Quality Engineer. Worked for P&G for 8 years. GE for 7 years. Currently
working for Cincinnati Bell Technology Solutions.
Born in Cincinnati, Ohio on August 14th. Wonderful son name Frederick, his girl-
friend Janay and beautiful granddaughter Harmony.
ABOUT BDPA CINCINNATI CORPORATE
ADVISORY COUNCIL CHAIR—PATRICK NELSON
Patrick Nelson became the CAC Chair in 4 sons – Nuri (15), Tiko (13), Abayomi (10),
2009. “My goal for the BDPA is to leave Akintunde (7)
it a stronger, more vibrant organization,
Currently resides in Mason, Ohio
with a large active membership.”
Born in Mendenhall, Mississippi on Oc- Personal Interest:
tober 9th Family (Married with 4 sons—Keep’s me busy)
Attended Jackson State University; Health/Fitness/Nutrition (Marathon runner 2005,
graduated in 1985 with a B.S. in Com- 2006 Geneva Marathon and 2006 Florence Italy
puter Information System Half Marathon, Avid Golfer)
Joined P&G in June, 1985 African History
Married to Lisa A. Williams-Nelson Global Travel
Follow us on facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cincinnati-OH/BDPA-Cincinnati/46581377621
facebook:

3. BDPA CINCINNATI CHAPTER NEWSLETTER Page 3
FOUR PILLARS FOR SELF IMPROVEMENT
BDPA Board of Directors:
The Board has developed four topics of conversation for the monthly program meet- Wanda Gray President
Gray—
ings—Financial Mastery, Entrepreneurship, Professional Development and Technol- Janice Lee Immediate Past
Lee—
ogy. From each of these pillars will emerge a lecture series, culminating into our fee President
-based workshops. The complete program meeting calendar is available at Sheri Williams— VP Mbr Mgmt
Williams—
www.bdpa-cincy.org. Clarence Larcarte, VP Member Services is leading this effort. Prince Ellis — VP Finance
Stay tuned for more details... Clarence Larcarte VP Mbr
Larcarte—
Srvcs
UPCOMING WORKSHOP “THE PURPLE COW—STAND OUT IN YOUR JOB SEARCH”
PRESENTED BY VALERIE PLIS, EXCEED WITH PURPOSE COACHING, INC
There are many pitfalls in the search for jobs in today’s market. Wondering why your job search hasn’t
yielded the results you desire? Maybe you need a coach. Valerie Plis has over 20 years of experience as
a career coach, teaching individuals the strategies needed to achieve their highest potential.
Join us on October 16th for the “One Critical Day” workshop You’ll learn industry-specific tools and tech-
workshop.
niques to help you stand out from your competition.
• Resume collection (we need to get some staffing agencies engaged for this)
• Mock interviews----Give participants fictional job description, have them take the training, have staffing
reps interview for “job”.
Non-
The workshop cost for BDPA Members is $50; for Non-Members the cost is $75.
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4. VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1 Page 4
STRENGTHEN YOUR ORGANIZATION WITH STRATEGIC PLANNING
Strategic planning is the formal consideration of an organization's future course.
All strategic planning deals with at least one of three key questions:
"What do we do?"
"For whom do we do it?"
"How do we excel?"
In many organizations, this is viewed as a process for determining where an or-
ganization is going over the next year or more, typically 3 to 5 years, although
some extend their vision to 20 years.
In order to determine where it is going, the organization needs to know exactly
where it stands, then determine where it wants to go and how it will get there.
The resulting document is called the "strategic plan.
It is also true that strategic planning may be a tool for effectively plotting the di-
rection of a company; however, strategic planning itself cannot foretell exactly
how the market will evolve and what issues will surface in the coming days in
order to plan your organizational strategy. Therefore, strategic innovation and
tinkering with the 'strategic plan' have to be a cornerstone strategy for an organi-
zation to survive the turbulent business climate.” Strategic planning
bridges the gap
My personal brand of Strategic Planning includes a bit of team building as well. I
between corporate
like to add a few questions that help the team to bond with one another. I include
this because it has been my experience that the team is much more successful policy and functional
at sticking to the plan and ultimately delivering better results if they bond with execution.
each other from the very beginning. The additional questions I ask include:
Why are you here and what is it that makes you give of your time and energy to
be a part of this?
What are your hopes for this organization that we are planning for?
What are your fears:
What one thing will you personally commit to do to ensure our combined suc-
cess?
These questions help the team members understand each other’s perspectives
on the team and for each other. It helps the leader/chapter president to under-
stand what motivated each team member to become officers and it gives her a
hint at what will motivate them in the future.
- Patrick Nelson
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