2018 Chapter Meeting Presentations
Click on the month to view the topic abstract, speaker bio and download a copy of the presentation. Please note, not all presentations are available for download.
January 2018 Ken Randall - Visualize, Specify, Collaborate!
February 2018 Canceled due to winter weather
March 2018 Recruiter Panel
April 2018 Sneha Fotedar - Working with Remote Teams
May 2018 Marc Rivera - Collaborate, Collaborate, Collaborate!
June 2018 Zack Kelly - Improv Your Interactions
July 2018 Summer Social at The Walrus
August 2018 8th Annual BA-CONference
September 2018 Highlights from the 2018 BA-CONference
October 2018 John Riley - How to Write a Recipe for Automated Testing
November 2018 Chad Willett - Smash the Box!
December 2018 Happy Holidays!
A big Thank You to our 2018 Chapter Sponsor, Improving - Columbus! To see how Improving can help you, your career and company, visit Improving.com today
Wednesday, January 10, 2018
Visualize, Specify, Collaborate!
A three-part talk on the processes, skills and toolsets practiced by professional Business Analysts in leading organizations today. Ken Randall presents a survey of techniques and the application of these techniques in the AxureRP Toolset. The presentation focuses on the challenges Business Analysts face in representing requirements to their many customers, methods to improve communications and collaboration with stakeholders and approaches to representing solution requirements. The talk includes real-world examples of “ah-ha” moments, success and even some painful lessons-learned that no doubt will encourage and challenge you to do your own continuous improvement with your teams
Download Ken's presentation so you can benefit from their information and tips for Visualizing, Specifying and Collaborating! Remember, Ken's presentation is made entirely in the Axure tool too!! To connect directly with the Axure team, please visit Axure.com today.
Ken Randall
Ken Randall has over 25 years of experience developing enterprise business processes and technologies. Throughout his career, Ken has been called on multiple times to resolve crisis and turnaround situations, as well as lead strategic initiatives. His expertise has evolved from client/server-based solutions to n-tier collaborative web applications and he has worked with many of the major technologies deployed today. Ken is currently a Vice President at Wells Fargo, consulting and coaching teams on Business Process and Workflow Strategy and Solutions. Prior to joining Wells Fargo, he was Vice President of Business Development at Flying Bridge Technologies Inc.
Ken is a technology whisperer with a hobby or professional interest in every letter of the alphabet. He is from the future.
Download Ken's presentation so you can benefit from their information and tips for Visualizing, Specifying and Collaborating! Remember, Ken's presentation is made entirely in the Axure tool too!!
To connect directly with the Axure team, please visit Axure.com today.
Wednesday, February 7, 2018
Canceled due to Winter Weather
Winter Weather Emergency Policy:
Level 1 for Franklin County - Meeting still being held
Level 2 or 3 for Franklin County - Meeting is canceled
Wednesday, March 7, 2018
Recruiter Panel
We will be speaking with a panel of Columbus IT recruiters about how we can better market ourselves in 2018. Please come with questions for our recruiters and see how they can help you and your career in 2018!
Wednesday, April 11, 2018
Working with Remote Teams
In today’s age of globalization, organizations and their teams are stretched across geographical locations. We all are a part of global market which works on collaborations across countries and borders. All thanks to technology as it has enabled us to collaborate, supervise and work with people/teams at different geographical locations. Geographical diversity is not just a requirement but a necessity and while working with remote staff has several advantages, managing it can be equally challenging.
This presentation will define the concept of Remote Teams or Virtual Team and how can we successfully build a team of remote staff and successfully manage them. This presentation will also discuss :
- Challenges of working with remote team members and how can we overcome them
- Steps to building trust and open line of communication
- Using Technology/ Tools with remote team members
- Conflict management with remote team members
Download Sneha's presentation so you can benefit from her information and tips for Working with Remote Teams.
Sneha Fotedar
Sneha Fotedar is currently working for Enterprise Automation at Huntington National Bank. She received her Master’s degree in Computer Science from University of Cincinnati after receiving her Bachelor’s from the University of Pune. She has a prior work experience as a mainframe developer with Tata Consultancy Services. After many years working abroad, she decided to pursue a Master’s degree in the U.S. to experience a cross-cultural work environment. Her current duties at Huntington include web automation, as well as integration, system, functional and acceptance testing. Her technical focus is working with object-oriented languages and preparing training sessions to uplift her colleagues.
Wednesday, May 9, 2018
Collaborate, Collaborate, Collaborate!
Is it possible to create a team where requirements and design can collaborate effectively and provide value to the user? The answer is YES!
This presentation will discuss the importance of collaboration between Business Analysts and Developers in gathering system requirements. There’s always the fine line between requirements and design that can be quite challenging when you don’t speak the same language. We will explore different methods to bridge the gap between meeting requirements and creating or implementing a design effectively.
Download Marc's presentation for future reference.
Marc Rivera
Marc Rivera is an IT Architect with Sogeti and received his Masters of Science in Computer Science degree from Franklin University. He has more than 10 years of IT experience from insurance to banking industries. He loves to watch and play soccer especially with his son.
Wednesday, June 13, 2018
Improv Your Interactions
Improv is all about listening and responding intelligently to your colleagues. We're going to take that to the next level by learning how to improve our listening skills and build off of the conversation you're having. These skills will help you build substantial relationships and provide meaningful input to the conversations you have, whether it be conversations with friends, colleagues or clients.
By playing various low-stakes and fun games, we will learn how to roll with the conversation punches, keep your mind free and open to whatever comes next and see things from the other person's perspective to provide valuable input.
Zack Kelly
Zack Kelly is an entertainer at his core. Professionally, he's a Business Analyst with the consulting and training firm, Improving. His love of improv comedy lends itself well to his professional skills as a listener, connector and facilitator. His background is in mechanical engineering gives Zack an eye for detail and enhances his problem solving skills. Zack loves to fuse these skills to help others understand the big picture and solve problems. When he's not working, Zack's probably doing improv or something stereotypically nerdy.
Wednesday, July 11, 2018
Summer Social
We are taking a summer break and hosting our 2018 Summer Social! Join us for appetizers and great conversation. We have a private room booked at The Walrus in downtown Columbus. The Walrusis located at 143 East Main Street, Columbus. Public parking is available across the street and along Main Street. We will kick off the fun at 6:00 pm. We hope to see you there!
Thursday, August 29 - Friday, August 30, 2018
BA-CONference
We do not have an August 2018 chapter meeting due to the 2018 BA-CONference.
For more information about the conference and workshop day, please click here. For conference speaker information and copies of the presentations, please click here.
If you are interested in speaking/presenting at a chapter meeting or the 2019 BA-CONference, please email us at Admin@columbusoh.iiba.org. If you are interested in volunteering at a chapter meeting or the 2019 BA-CONference, please email us at Education@columbusoh.iiba.org.
Wednesday, September 19, 2018
2018 BA-CONference Highlights
We hope to see you on the 19th when we will share "Highlights from the 2018 BA CONference" from attendees and speakers who will give a 10-15 minute Lightning Talk of their presentation or sessions they attended. There will be something for everyone!
If you attended the conference, you can get highlights from some of the sessions you missed or if you missed the event entirely, you still have a chance to gain some of the insights shared by our speakers, and get dinner too!
Wednesday, October 10, 2018
How To Write A Recipe For Automated Testing
As Agilists we strive to achieve Business Agility, that is, by reducing volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. This task can be overwhelming in a world that demands continuous delivery of quality products. Using automated testing techniques is one engineering practice we can use to help us continually drive that quality, however, introducing new tools and techniques can further complicate our delivery. So how can we achieve Business Agility, automate our delivery, and set ourselves up for success?
Believe it or not, it all starts with a well-refined user story. This talk will show you simple techniques we can use as business analysts to write awesome, structured user stories that will become the basis for our automated tests. The techniques include developing a common language and taxonomy that will reduce the VUCA, but also streamline our process, set our team up for a test-first mindset, and give us many other bonuses.
Download John’s presentation here.
John Riley
John Riley is the Principal Agile Coach and Trainer for Ready Set Agile in Columbus, OH. He holds certifications for all scrum roles, and his career has also focused on applying techniques in Lean Manufacturing and Application Lifecycle Management for process improvement as an Enterprise Architect. John is also passionate about mentoring by example to help development teams become high performing through continuous improvement.
Wednesday, November 14, 2018
SMASH THE BOX
SMASH THE BOX by thinking different! Acting different! And creating a culture of innovation! Groups that “Smash the Box” generate “game changing” ideas that gives them a creative advantage over their competition. “Game Changing” ideas, creative plans, and cultures of innovation lie outside the box... Are you ready to take thinking outside the box to the next level?
Smash the Box is a one of kind experience which includes:
Generation: Groups will generate game changing ideas by focusing on one idea, suspending judgment, and collaborating during meetings
Transformation: By saying “Yes And” organizations will transform their culture into one of innovation
Entertainment: Storytelling, role playing, music, and watching short clips from TV/ Films that re-enforce the vision and message of “Smash the Box”
Interaction:
Audiences will experience firsthand what it is like to escape the 4 Walls of Mental Box: Fear/ Perfection/ Negativity/ Judgment
Outcomes:
Culture - Create a “Yes And” culture where everyone is involved
Idea Generation - Generate unique ideas that will add instant value to your meetings
Innovation - Innovative strategies and technique designed for working America
Creative Plan - Many groups have a business plan, few have a creative plan
4 Walls of the Mental Box created by Chad J. Willett
Chad Willett
Chad J. Willett (National Speakers
Association/Screen Actors Guild) is a
professional speaker, author, and
artist who spent seven years in Los
Angeles as an actor which includes
training as the world famous
improvisational school, The
Groundlings. He was featured in the
hit films She's All That with Paul
Walker, Halloween H2O with Jamie
Lee Curtis and Can't Hardly Wait with
Jennifer Love Hewitt.
Chad has also worked for three Fortune 500 companies and is an entrepreneur: Manpower, ITT
Technical Institute and the Washington Post and is the owner/ operator of Broadway2LA Acting
Studio.
He inspires audiences to unleash their creative energies by SMASHING concepts, walls, barriers,
and in short... the Box of life! He also writes a weekly blog where he challenges traditional and
self-limiting lines of thinking.
Wednesday, December 12, 2018
Thank you for a great 2018!
See you on Wednesday, January 9, 2019!