COM0015-PMu Assignment #1 Blog Post #3 Professional Networking Now and in the Future

COM0015-PMu Assignment #1 Blog Post #3 Professional Networking Now and in the Future

It seems inevitable that in-person and virtual on-line professional networking will converge into a combination where in-person will require some form of on-line presence and the on-line presence will lead to in-person meeting.

Therefore it makes perfect sense to develop a current and future strategy to merge in-person and on-line networks and identify the activities, define the commitments and plan the timeline schedule  to develop the content materials for on-line and continue to attend professional network meetings.

Q1. What is your present strategy for developing your professional network online and in-person?

A1. Currently my in-person strategy involves attending professional association meetings to attend presentations from practitioners in areas of IT similar to and different from my practice area. This broadens my awareness and knowledge of those areas, and provides access to people working in those areas for follow up questions and get a sense of where trends are forming or changing towards something else. I also present at professional association meetings, and volunteer on the executive committee and arrange collaboration meetings with other associations.

There is also a LinkedIn account which I do not actively maintain despite having joined professional association groups related to the IT industry, Algonquin College Social Media and other Special Interest Groups (SIGs) as shown in the picture, and a WordPress account created as part of the Social Media program which is currently being used for course related blog, discussion and comment submissions – and could be associated with the LinkedIn account and content.

Based on this analysis, the response to the question is my present strategy can be described as an active in-person professional network, and a passive on-line  professional network presence.

Q2. What activities and commitments are you making in the next 6-12 months to continue the development of your networks?

A2. The first step in developing my network is to bring together the in-person involvement with the on-line presence. The following steps and timeline should achieve this integration over the next 6-12 months.

The on-line presence will consist of publishing in the WordPress account 4 topic specific Blog items dealing with customer service and analysis of feedback over the next 12 months addressing the following:

Blog Topic	Topic Description	Timeline
FOCUS	Finding Out Customers Uses and Satisfiers. A sequence of process steps and template tools to define and articulate customer usage and satisfaction points for a product or service.	Mar 2016
SCOPE	Satisfying Customers-Opportunities, Performance, Experience. An action plan to achieve what was discovered from using the FOCUS process, and identify tangible metrics and measures for the product or service.	Jun 2016
ANODA	Analysis of Data of attribute/variable for quantitative, qualitative and verbatim data based on basic, descriptive and analytical statistical tools and techniques to report data and identify its underlying trends. ANODA can also be used as part of Web Analytics data monitors and measurements.	Sep 2016
PAL	Personal Action List. A template form to define goals and objectives and the planned activities to achieve as part of the FOCUS, SCOPE and ANODA steps.	Dec 2016

3 on‐topic blog postings will be made each month using WordPress addressing the quarterly topic content, followed by actively listening to and engaging with customers, and establish partnerships and relationships with interested and like-minded individuals and their blog sites in accordance with listening to and engaging with the audience.

As the topics are published and blogs submitted, links to the LinkedIn account and Groups will be made, with reference to upcoming in-person meeting events with the professional associations to provide an opportunity for on-line convergence to integrate with in-person meeting.