I'm not gloating, really I'm not. I got called a "Superstar" this week and trust me it wasn't my evaluation but from my favorite PR / Media Goddess from Blackbaud the adorable Melanie Milonas who called me that I think to butter me up but it was after the fact. I swear it didn't go to my head but it sounded nice and after the past few rough weeks, was a much needed compliment.
To back track my newly found Superstar status,
- I was the hero to my DBA team when I resolved at least two program issues - both web related, go figure
- Got my client services team focused on our new Juniper firewall system
- I got tagged for a quote in a NetCommunity 5.5 Press Release,
- Participated in my first big podcast - remotely no less
- and last but not least, the very same day was tagged to lead a 30 min presentation at the USNA mini-tech conference made up of our local peers who are all in the same proverbial tech boat struggling with how to approach the concepts of Social networking and program integration.
The two topics I will share with you this week ( yes, this week - I plan on doing two of these ) will be to focus on the podcast and the conference.
The podcast was actually a lot of fun, brought back memories of my days doing College Radio. I ended up managing the station during my last year at SUNY - almost became an obsession, I really got a taste for what marketing, promotion and not to mention learning how the whole broadcast biz worked. Prepped me nicely for the IT world which I participate in but didn't exist back in the day when I went to school!
In this case I locked myself in a meeting room for 2 hours which I used to prep, test the equipment and then participate in the actual 30 min conversation. I ended up using the MacBook Pro which for what ever reason did not play nice with any external microphone I dug up and me like an idiot ( I know what you're thinking, 
Superstars can NOT possibly be idiots but alas, we are ), I ended up using the built in microphone which had a bit of an echo effect when you hear me talk.
I totally forgot that sitting upstairs was the MAudio mixer equipment I had purchased last year just for the occasion. Out of sight out of mind I think is the saying. I think what threw me was that this was the first time I was using Skype to talk to the Blackbaud studios that was connecting me, Garrett from USNA Alumni, and the other BB staff down at Charleston who were participating in the discussion.
If you didn't catch the press release, Netcommunity 5.5 just went out to the public this past Friday and while we managed to get in early on the release the goal of this Baudcast ( as they call the pod cast ) was to talk about the integration and process benefits for what we as an organization were looking forward to using once we begin moving some of the web platform over to BBNC.
It was actually my first time using Skype and I found the whole experience to be very easy and a lot simpler then I anticipated. Chad Norman, who hosts and setup the Baudcast walked me through the whole process. Chad's an excellent host and is a natural at this - felt very relaxed during the discussion and I think that was key, how casual the banter was, not forced at all, almost like having a chat at a pub or at a coffee house - after the second or third Americano is there a difference?
Setting up and doing a pod cast isn't as hard as you may think - and it doesn't have to be expensive. We have invested on this front and it's just starting to get used more in some of the messaging platforms our Communications and EPR programs are doing.
In fact the MAudio equipment got a good work out as we start pulling together our Votethebay messaging and is a great fit for any of the YouTube work we are doing. Audio talk overs is key to a good video and having equipment that you can just plug in and use whether in the field or in a studio made the process for staff who aren't experts in this area a welcomed relief.
The one source I used when looking at equipment and guidance was from one of our Citrix Superstars Brian Madden - Brian hosts his own podcast that has been very informative and brings a nice balance to the complex world of remote access, which we at CBF rely heavily upon.
I will focus later this week on what it takes to "Shout from the mountain top" and how a little peer to peer networking, in your own backyard, is worth more then gold-pressed latinum - I linked this currency to Wikipedia in case you thought I made it up, remember: Superstars don't make anything up, we don't have to . . . wonder what size hat I'm wearing this week?
Specialization without integration is fragmentation - Peter Forbes
Michael Sola for the past 9 years is Director of IT at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation - his comments observations and opinions do not necessarily reflect those of CBF. Your comments are most welcomed.
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