InfoXchange -- ICCA-Boston Newsletter
| May/June 2007 Volume 3, Issue 2 |
IN THIS ISSUEAnnouncementsFrom the Board - Introducing the New Board of Directors Building Web Applications with Ajax Mentor's Corner - Toolkit for Consultants: Contract Negotiation Process Who Are We? From the Editor:We would like to encourage anyone to submit articles to the ICCA Greater Boston Chapter newsletter. If you know of anyone interested in free publicity, ask them to write an article of any size or topic pertinent to our organization for submission in the next issue of our newsletter. The good news is the smaller the article, the better, since long articles are hard to read on-line.We are very open to ideas and suggestions regarding article topics in all sections of the newsletter, including: Local or Chapter Announcements; Articles; Member-to-Member Spotlights; Member-to-Member News; Mentor's Corner. Submit ideas or articles to:Kim ReddingtonManaging Editor, Newsletter newsletter@ icca-boston.org Next Deadline:June 18, 2007 for the Jul/Aug IssueBoard of Directors:President Robert Goodearl Vice President Gloria Metrick Treasurer James Connell Secretary Michael Kibler Director of Programs François Bigot Immediate Past President Norman Daoust Click for Board contact info |
It's that time of year when ICCA members can
register for the annual ICCA conference. For
those of you who have never been, you are
missing out on a great opportunity to learn
to grow your business in ways you may have
never thought of. Most people come back from
these conferences motivated, more
knowledgeable, and feel they met many nice
people. This year's conference will be held on June 8-10, 2007 in Chicago. You can view the conference details at Looks like some fun can be had on June 9. A bus tour will take all attendees to see the Chicago sights, some of which include shopping, amusement park rides and theaters. We hope to see some of you there. Introducing the New Board of DirectorsAt the March meeting, the chapter voted for a new Board of Directors that includes members with past experience on the board, as well as new members who bring fresh ideas and enthusiasm. The board has a diversity of experience from which to draw and is already working well together to continue moving the chapter forward.The board welcomes your input and feedback, and any member is welcome to join the board at their monthly meeting in Lexington. You can find details of contact information for the board members here: http://www.icca-boston.org/board.htm The new Board Members are:
Click to view bios and company information on all our new board members. I would like to extend a warm thank you to the previous board members and all of the hard work they have done during the past year to keep things running smoothly for all our members. All of the directors have carved time out of their busy schedules throughout the year to volunteer efforts toward bringing value to our organization and its members. By Robert Goodearl, President, ICCA-GBC Building Web Applications with AJAX By Stuart Jones, President of Berwick Heights Software, Inc.How many of you remember building text-based, or what we used to call curses-based, user interfaces? Before we had the modern desktop application with menus, buttons, dialog boxes and other dynamic presentation widgets, the text-based interface was the best way to interact with the computer and was a step up from command-line interfaces. These days, text-based interfaces are considered rather passé and certainly would not gain entry into any user interface design competitions. Now that users have experienced advanced GUIs in their desktop applications, they do not want to use the simpler text-based interfaces of yore. In the same way, once users experience the dynamic features of Ajax-enabled web applications, with their continuous user interfaces and ease of work flow, they will consider today's classic web application (where they fill out a form, hit the submit button and wait for the server to respond with another web page) rather behind the times. Ajax is an acronym for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML. It combines four different technologies to make the web-based user experience more dynamic.
Click here to learn more about AJAX. Toolkit for Consultants: Contract NegotiationBy C. Thomas Tyler, Chief Technology Officer of The Go To Group, Inc.A good contract negotiation process improves your consulting business. Contract negotiations are an integral part of your sales pipeline, and doing it well conveys the confident, professional, and ethical character of your business. What makes a contract negotiation process good? In this article, we'll take a look at some characteristics of a negotiation process, and provide some contract negotiation process tips. Reduce Time Spent NegotiatingA good contract negotiation process minimizes the time spent negotiating, so you can get to the fun consulting stuff. Having a fully defined contract negotiation process allows you to quickly guide clients through the process. This is particularly important when dealing with small to medium sized businesses, or with people inexperienced in working with consultants.Contract TemplatesTo get started quickly, you'll want to have a contract template. As ICCA members, you have access to a standard contract template, which is good to use as a starting point for developing your own contract.Click here to find out more about contract and negotiations. Founded in 1976, the Independent Computer Consultants Association (ICCA) is a national not-for-profit organization of independent computer consulting firms sharing the highest ethical and professional standards. The ICCA Greater Boston Chapter Mission Statement: The Greater Boston Chapter of the ICCA supports and encourages the growth of individuals and small firms in the business of computer consulting through education, networking, advocacy, and the exchange of ideas and knowledge among peers. The ICCA offers great services and benefits to its members including business and health insurance, marketing programs, a National Conference, standard form consulting and subcontracting contracts, and many discount programs. For additional information regarding the ICCA or to search the National Membership Directory, visit the national website http://www.icca.org or the Greater Boston Chapter website http://www.icca-boston.org Legal StuffThis newsletter comes to you via the Chapter Members Announcements list of the Greater Boston Chapter of the ICCA.If you believe it has reached you in error, or if you do not wish to received further messages from this list, visit the Yahoo URL following this newlsetter. Alternatively, you can send a message via US Mail to: ICCA, Greater Boston Chapter Attn: Chapter Email List Unsubscribe 11131 South Towne Square, Suite F St Louis, MO 63123-7817 Publisher: Greater Boston Chapter of the Independent Computer Consultants Association, http://www.icca-boston.org Copyright 2007, Greater Boston Chapter of the Independent Computer Consultants Association This newsletter may be distributed without charge as long as it's distributed in its entirety. Individual sections and portions may be distributed with permission. |