Welcome to DAMA International Community Corner, this column will share news from the whole DAMA Community each quarter.
As a community, our mission is to support each other and provide tools and opportunities for each member to develop their knowledge and reach their personal goals within the Data Management profession. We do this though a wide variety of techniques from webinars, meet ups, standard seminar days, mentoring relationships, to conference call discussions and tweet ups where we are geographically challenged.
Somehow we have burned through the first half of 2015, however we have not been idle! For example, the Enterprise Data World conference in Washington DC at the end of March was a triumph despite somewhat challenging conditions as we discovered that the venue was unexpectedly in the middle of a major refurbishment of the lobby when we arrived!
This flagship conference was sold out, and the most frequent lament I heard was “but I want to do more than one session now!” as 900 delegates had more than 130 sessions to choose from.
It is with great sadness that we announce that Pat Cupoli, a Data Management industry expert for the past 40 years and one of DAMA’s biggest supporters, has passed away. Pat was a Past-President of DAMA International and a founder of both the Chicago and Philadelphia chapters. DAMA wishes to convey their condolences to Pat’s family and friends in the business, computing, and data industry and to acknowledge her incredible contributions to the field of Data Management.
Learning opportunities on everything from strong foundation level to advanced techniques and cutting edge tools was catered for over a week of workshops, conference sessions and exhibition hall, as well as networking with colleagues across the globe providing an intense dose of all things data for those of us able to attend.
There have also been a number of local chapter events across the globe in the UK, Netherlands, South Africa, Chicago, St Louis to name but a few and a variety of webinars from chapters and we are delighted to report a new DAMA branded webinar channel from Dataversity, please see http://www.dataversity.net/jun-16-dama-webinar-10-keys-to-world-class-metadata-management/ for the launch webinar on World Class Metadata from David Marco.
We have more exciting ventures, for instance DAMA South Africa is running a two day conference with the tagline Explore, Evolve, Enrich in July bringing together local experts and delegates with proven specialists from Europe and the US providing the energising conference experience to a wider audience (see www.dama.org for more details).
All of these events and conferences don’t appear from the ether! As well as organization they need people to stand up and talk about what they are passionate about, good at and really want to give back their insights to the community and share with others – this is the essence of our community.
When I first joined I looked at the speakers with awe thinking “wow, wish I could do that.” However, over the years I have had the support from my chapter to help me learn how to and, more importantly, give me guidance, support and the confidence to stand up and be that speaker myself. It is now my personal mission to contribute back to the community and share with and encourage others.
As a community we only thrive on the input and contributions from our membership and the more we all put in the more we will get out. Your chapter provides a great opportunity for you to try out an idea or presentation before it goes either internally to your enterprise or externally as a conference submission – so ask for and use the support.
We are very aware that the profession is growing and not everyone is within reach of a chapter however there are still ways to connect and contribute; join the conversation in the DAMA International LinkedIn group at https://www.linkedin.com/grp/home?gid=56773 ask questions, comment or follow along.
Add your voice to the discussion by following @DAMA_I on Twitter and commenting on the live comments from conferences and the latest news from the community as well as upcoming event information.
Building www.dama.org is an ongoing process and we will continue to develop and add more content as we receive the input from our community members. Please email details of your events and initiatives to marketing@dama.org as well as posting in the LinkedIn group and tweeting to @DAMA_I.
If you have an idea for a virtual event (Tweet up, conference call, live chat – anything else we can think of!) please let us know and we will explore all of our opportunities. If you wish for guidance or advice from someone who’s been there, done that please ask!
The DAMA community relies on our members engaging so please talk to us and let us know what’s on your mind, details of events coming up or insights from events you’ve been to; where the good links and webinars are and lessons learned you are happy to share; also any ideas you have to grow the community.
Contact:
Email: marketing@dama.org
Twitter: @DAMA_I
Web: www.dama.org
DAMA AWARDS FOR DATA MANAGEMENT EXCELLENCE
If you would like to recognize a data/information management professional or an organization (profit or non-profit) who has made a significant, demonstrable contribution to the information resource management industry, nominations are now open. Starting this year, either an individual or a DAMA Chapter can submit a nomination. Previously only chapters were eligible to submit nominations.
Nominated individuals and organizations will be judged by a panel of Data Management Experts and the winners presented with their awards at the Enterprise Data World (EDW) conference in San Diego, held April 17-22.
Past winners include John Zachman, Karen Lopez, Anne Marie Smith, Robert S. Seiner, Peter Aiken, Dr. Gordon Everest, David Marco, Steve Hoberman and many others. A complete list can be found on www.dama.org.
Award nomination forms can be obtained by emailing awards@dama.org. Submission of nominees must be completed and returned by Friday, December 4, 2015.
