2011 BDPA Technology Conference: Day #1

National BDPA president Yvette Graham banged the gavel down at the end of last night's Opening Ceremonies to declare that the 33rd annual BDPA Technology Conference was officially open. The first day of this national conference was an unqualified success.

There are a growing number of people tweeting about it (search #BDPA). There are a growing number of people checking in on Foursquare ... with BDPA Twin Cities member Justin Wulf currently in power as the Foursquare 'Mayor' of the BDPA Conference!   Facebook mentions of BDPA seem to grow each hour of the day.  I suspect that more and more photos will start to show up on Flickr and more and more videos will appear on YouTube.

There are some remarkable high school and college students at the conference to participate in the Youth Technology Camp, High School Computer Competition and IT Showcase. These are the young people that America is counting on to 'win the future'. We need more recognition, support (financial and volunteers), and love to be shared with these young people. We need Corporate America to reach out to these young IT superstars in the same way that the NBA, NFL and MLB reach out to their young IT superstars. I encourage anyone reading this blog post to use the POST REPLY feature down below to share a comment on a BDPA student that you've met this week at the conference!

The opening ceremony speaker was McDonald's president and chief operating officer Don Thompson. The brother's message was outstanding. Yeah ... the second-in-command for one of the largest companies in the world is a Blackman! He spoke to the students and adult IT professionals in the room with a powerful message on taking control of our own careers by doing the right things with quickness. I wonder if anyone videotaped his speech? If so, I would love to see it.


There were over a dozen workshops on the first day of the conference. I attended the IT Showcase presentation hosted by Dr. Jesse Bemley. Good turnout and outstanding dialogue with each and every member of the workshop audience. I also attended Beyond Blogging workshop hosted by Michael Jenkins-Brown (Raytheon). His focus was on WordPress platform. He convinced me that I need to begin migrating my websites to the WordPress platform. I plan to do so before the end of the month.


There were three chapter awards announced on the first day of the conference. Congratulations to the following chapters:

1. Chicago - Most Outstanding Community Service Award
2. New York - Most Outstanding Chapter Management Award
3. Philadelphia - Most Outstanding Membership Award

This is a 4-day conference. I wonder what will be in store for me for the next 3 days?