InfoXchange -- ICCA-Boston Newsletter
The Newsletter of the ICCA Greater Boston Chapter
July/August 2007              Volume 3, Issue 3
IN THIS ISSUE
Announcements

From the Board - Volunteers Spotlight

Networking For Beginners - Part 1

Mentor's Corner - Toolkit for Consultants: Going for the Big Fish

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 Reddington
Managing Editor, Newsletter
newsletter@
icca-boston.org
Next Deadline:
August 20, 2007 for the Sept/Oct Issue
Board 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

Announcements

I'd like to announce that our newsletter has won the annual ICCA Chapter Presidents' Council Award for Best Newsletter!! It is a great honor for the whole chapter.

"I would like to extend a huge thank you to all the author's for the InfoXchange newsletter because without all the great articles we receive this newsletter would not have been The Best." [editor]

The ICCA National Conference was, as usual, a great success. Many of the men and women who attended seemed to really enjoy themselves and to learn a great deal of how to run and grow their business. If you didn't go, you don't know what you were missing.

We'd like to mention that there will be no chapter meetings during the months of July and August due to everyone taking so many vacations. We hope that everyone has a great and prosperous summer, and we will see you again in September.

From the Board

Volunteer Spotlight

This month we direct the spotlight on two of our members who have contributed significantly to the chapter: Kim Reddington and Ed Steinfeld.

Many of you have heard of Kim because she's our newsletter editor. She resurrected the chapter newsletter and brought it to a new level of professionalism. But I suspect you don't know...

Kim started her consulting company, Deluxe Technologies, back in 1995 as the Principal Developer. She's published articles in DominoPower Magazine and LotusAdvisor. Her degree in Electrical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute has served her well. Recently she's been focusing on providing a desktop-like user experience to her clients' web applications using her expertise in the Adobe Flex technology. She is currently developing applications for Cardvio.com and Adidas.com.

When Kim is not working, she enjoys the outdoors with her family biking, running, skiing, camping, and hiking.

While no longer a member of the Board of Directors, Kim has continued to assist the chapter by editing our award-winning newsletter, InfoXchange. At the June 2007 National Conference, the Greater Boston Chapter won the award for best chapter newsletter! Note however that Kim would like to step down from this position to pursue other activities. If you're interested in learning what's involved in editing the newsletter, please contact Kim at newsletter@icca-boston.org.

Ed Steinfeld is the person responsible for my becoming an ICCA member. I remember that evening in 2001 when I went to my first ICCA chapter meeting and attended the mentoring session led by Ed. I thought to myself, "If the ICCA provides consultants this type of assistance, I want to be a part of this organization!" I joined within the month.

Ed has more than thirty years experience in real-time and embedded computing, with roles ranging from programmer to marketing. He has published several articles promoting XML to the embedded systems community. His consulting company, Automata International Marketing, has been providing market research and planning services to the embedded computing industry. He has been an evangelist for embedded Web products since 1995 when he announced the first "World's Smallest Web Server" for Phar Lap Software. He believes it was the first commercial diskless web server.

In a previous career, he spent thirteen months at the South Pole for the US Weather Bureau. In case you were wondering, the lowest temperature when he was there was minus 75 degrees, Fahrenheit! Ed currently acts as the distributor for his daughter's two books, "Composting Toilet Systems" and "Liquid Gold".

By Norman Daoust,
Past President, ICCA-Boston

Networking For Beginners - Part 1

By Gloria Metrick

Networking is one avenue we can pursue as we look to publicize ourselves. However, there are some misconceptions about networking. Some people think that they can walk into a meeting, tell about their company, and if they do not walk out with a lead, that they either did something wrong or the event was the wrong venue and a waste of time.

How to View Networking

  • It takes a commitment. Even if your message is clear, it might take multiple interactions with a person for them to remember you and what you do.
  • You must define your purpose for networking and find groups that fulfill that need. If you are networking to publicize your business, you might deal with different groups than if you are networking to keep up-to-date on the local business economy.
  • Networking is a give-and-take situation. If you go into an event solely to get yourself business, the other networkers are less likely to be interested in you. The spirit of networking is that you look to give as well as to get.
  • You should expect unintended consequences. In a business event, you might find the landscaper you needed rather than the business lead you were trying to get. This falls within the true spirit of networking.
  • For some of us, it is a learned skill. Recently, I joined a leads group to learn serious networking skills, and it has been difficult for me. However, I can finally see that my efforts are paying off and that I am making some progress. To look at it another way - I know that I am a great programmer, yet I was not born actually knowing how to write code - I learned that skill. Likewise, I am not a born networker. Using the same logic, though, I am sure I can learn to network and maybe I can learn to be great at that, too!
Watch for Part 2, which discusses which groups are for you.
Gloria Metrick is the Owner of GeoMetrick Enterprises, which helps companies understand and manage their laboratory data. Primarily, she works with LIMS (Laboratory Information Management Systems) and has twenty years of experience with these systems, as well as a solid background in consulting. Her company newsletter, "Out on a LIMS: The Newsletter for People Who Risk Life and LIMS on a Daily Basis" is distributed throughout the international LIMS community and has representatives not just from end-users, but from every major LIMS vendor.

Mentor's Corner

Toolkit for Consultants: Going for the Big Fish

By C. Thomas Tyler, Chief Technology Officer of The Go To Group, Inc.

This article is about some things to keep in mind when you go for the big fish. By that I mean targeting large enterprises as clients - I really don't know much about how to use a rod & reel.

Why Go for the Big Fish?

Large enterprises are the target of many a consultant, and for good reasons:
  • Contract negotiations are more consistent
  • Contract awards tend to be larger
  • There is greater collateral marketing benefit, such as marketing and credibility
  • Due to larger budgets, it is easier to sell a range of follow-on services once a relationship has been established, such as selling annual Support Agreements after a relatively small initial project.
To be sure, there are lots of complexities dealing with larger corporate environments - more bureaucracy to deal with, higher pressure, and slow sales cycles. But on balance, it's a good idea to have more large clients in your portfolio.

Getting on the Approved Vendor List

One very typical hoop that many large companies make consultants jump through is getting on their Approved Vendor List. If someone at a big corporation wishes to hire you as a consultant, this list can be a speed bump in the sales cycle. It is important to view it as a speed bump, not a concrete barrier.

Don't be discouraged into thinking that it is impossible to get on that list

Click here to find out more about targeting large enterprises as clients .

Who are we?

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
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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.