36-Year History of BDPA Conference Themes

One of the beautiful things about being a past national BDPA president is that you have a treasure chest of history in your files. One of the beautiful things about having a blog is that you can create a repository for an organization's history. No other excuse is necessary!

Please enjoy this documentation of the 36-year history of BDPA Conference themes and locations:

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• 2015, Evolution of IT: Embracing the Digital Future, Washington, DC
• 2014, Race to Innovate, Indianapolis, IN
• 2013, Diverse Opportunities in the Age of Convergence Washington, DC
• 2012, Transforming the IT Professional,  Baltimore, MD
• 2011, Ignite, Inspire & Empower: The GPS of Future Technologists, Chicago, IL
• 2010, Access for All, Philadelphia, PA
• 2009, Challenges for Today; Strategies for Tomorrow, Raleigh, NC
• 2008, Harnessing Emerging Technologies to Advance IT Careers, Atlanta, GA
• 2007, Global Strategy for the IT Professional, Washington, DC
• 2006, Picturing the Future of Information Technology, Los Angeles, CA
• 2005, Driving Innovation, Bringing Value and Embracing Change, Detroit, MI
• 2004, BDPA: Securing Our Future Through Technology, Dallas, TX
• 2003, Information Technology: From the Classroom to the Boardroom, Philadelphia, PA
• 2002, Changing the Culture of IT: From Access to Ownership, Orlando, FL
• 2001, Empowering the Nation Through Information, Chicago, IL
• 2000, Taking IT to the Net: From High-Tops to High-Tech, Washington, DC

• 1999, Closing the Gap in Information Technology, Atlanta, GA
• 1998, Unveiling the Magic of Emerging Technologies, Orlando, FL
• 1997, Looking at Tomorrow, Today, Houston, TX
• 1996, Building World Class Skills for Information Technology, Atlanta, GA
• 1995, Linking Business, Education and Technology, Philadelphia, PA
• 1994, Unleashing the Power of a Creative People, Cleveland, OH
• 1993, Cultivating Tomorrow's Leaders in the Heart of America, Kansas City, MO
• 1992, Shaping the Information Technology Professional: Current and Future, Detroit, MI
• 1991, BDPA Getting to the Core of Technology, New York, NY
• 1990, Education and Technology Bonding for Excellence, Washington, DC
• 1989, Ideas in the Making, Los Angeles, CA
• 1988, Growth and Success by Designs, Chicago, IL
• 1987, A Bridge to Success, New Orleans, LA [photo to the right shows young Earl Pace, Norman Mays and others at 1987 conference]
• 1986, Securing Your Professional Future, Atlanta, GA
• 1985, A Decade of Professional Growth, Philadelphia, PA
• 1984, Information Processing: A Vote for the Future, Cleveland, OH
• 1983, Rise to the Challenge, Newark, NJ
• 1982, Entrepreneurship: A Successful Attitude, Detroit, MI
• 1981, Growth Through Professional Association, Philadelphia, PA
• 1980, A New Era of Minority Involvement in Data Processing, Washington, DC
• 1979, The Role of the Black Technical Organization, Washington, DC

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My Conference Memories: I've attended 23 of these conferences. I remember being blown away by the massive gathering of African American IT professionals when I attended my first national conference in Chicago (1988). I was amazed at the passion and energy displayed at the national BDPA board of directors meeting. I met Vivian Wilson at this meeting. Vivian is one of the best people that I've ever known and I am grateful to have served as her national BDPA vice president when she was the National BDPA president.

My favorite conference was the one held in Detroit (2005). It was my final year as national president. My mom and oldest daughter both were in attendance ... and we were able to bring together many of the past national presidents for recognition at the Awards Gala. Yep ... that was my favorite BDPA conference!

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How many of these conferences have you attended? What is your favorite memory from these past four decades of national BDPA conferences?

National BDPA Conference History (1979-2013)

We want to have an interactive blog. Here is a list of the past 35 national BDPA technology conferences. Take a look at the themes and locations. Let your memories roam on the networking, education and fun that you had as a participant at one or more of these annual conferences. How many of these did you attend?

• 2013 - "Diverse Opportunities in the Age of Convergence" (Washington DC)
• 2012 - "Transforming the IT Professional" (Baltimore, MD)
• 2011 - "Ignite, Inspire & Empower: The GPS of Future Technologists" (Chicago, IL)
• 2010 - "Access for All" (Philadelphia, PA)
• 2009 - "Challenges for Today, Strategies for Tomorrow" (Raleigh, NC)
• 2008 - "Harnessing Emerging Technologies to Advance IT Careers" (Atlanta, GA)
• 2007 - "Global Strategy for the IT Professional" (Washington DC)
• 2006 - "Picturing the Future of Information Technology" (Los Angeles, CA)
• 2005 - "Driving Innovation, Bringing Value and Embracing Change" (Detroit, MI)
• 2004 - "BDPA: Securing Our Future Through Technology" (Dallas, TX)
• 2003 - "Information Technology: From the Classroom to the Boardroom" (Philadelphia, PA)
• 2002 - "Changing the Culture of IT: From Access to Ownership" (Orlando, FL)
• 2001 - "Empowering the Nation Through Information" (Chicago, IL)
• 2000 - "Taking IT to the Net: From High-Tops to High-Tech" (Washington, DC)
• 1999 - "Closing the Gap in Information Technology" (Atlanta, GA)
• 1998 - "Unveiling the Magic of Emerging Technologies" (Orlando, FL)
• 1997 - "Looking at Tomorrow, Today"(Houston, TX)
• 1996 - "Building World Class Skills for Information Technology" (Atlanta, GA)

• 1995 - "Linking Business, Education and Technology" (Philadelphia, PA)
• 1994 - "Unleashing the Power of a Creative People" (Cleveland, OH)
• 1993 - "Cultivating Tomorrow’s Leaders in the Heart of America" (Kansas City, MO)
• 1992 - "Shaping the Information Technology Professional: Current and Future" (Detroit, MI)
• 1991 - "BDPA Getting to the Core of Technology" (New York, NY)
• 1990 - "Education and Technology Bonding for Excellence" (Washington, DC)
• 1989 - "Ideas in the Making" (Los Angeles, CA)
• 1988 - "Growth and Success by Design" (Chicago, IL)
• 1987 - "A Bridge to Success" (New Orleans, LA)
• 1986 - "Securing Your Professional Future" (Atlanta, GA)
• 1985 - "A Decade of Professional Growth" (Philadelphia, PA)
• 1984 - "Information Processing: A Vote for the Future" (Cleveland, OH)
• 1983 - "Rise to the Challenge" (Newark, NJ)
• 1982 - "Entrepreneurship: A Successful Attitude" (Detroit, MI)
• 1981 - "Growth Through Professional Association" (Philadelphia, PA)
• 1980 - "A New Era of Minority Involvement in Data Processing" (Washington, DC)
• 1979 - "The Role of the Black Technical Organization" (Philadelphia, PA)

Which was your first national conference? Which was your favorite national conference? What is your best conference memory? C'mon, let's talk!

Message from the National BDPA President

by Monique Berry
National BDPA President

 Why You Should Attend the BDPA Technology Conference

As strange as this may sound it has never occurred to most members to go to the BDPA Technology Conference. They know about it - they've been getting emails since joining letting them know about it, but it has never even come up as something to do.

This is how I felt when I joined. The conference was is in Dallas, Texas and I lived hundreds of miles away, and I already had my own summer plans.

As it turned out, my plans changed, I had some free time so I went to the 2004 conference in Dallas. I can honestly say it was the single best thing I'd experienced with my BDPA membership since I joined in 2001.

There were a number of reasons the conference was fantastic - any one of them alone made it worth going:

1. I was not a minority among attendees. Do you know what it's like to attend a conference where there may be one or two (.5%) other people who look like you?
2. I networked with members of Chapters from around the country. I sat next to them in seminars, ate with them at the plenary luncheons and socialized with them during the corporate receptions.
3. We talked about our careers, issues, challenges, opportunities, the companies we worked for and companies that we wanted to work for.
4. We talked about our chapters; what we've done that was successful; mistakes we've made; and new ideas for how our chapters could move forward.

I walked away from the conference with a notepad full of action items for my personal development as well as ideas for the Chapter (enough to keep us busy the whole year if we wanted); a pocket full of business cards of peers, recruiters and decision makers; and a stronger feeling of optimism for my Chapter and what we could accomplish than I would have ever imagined.

Perhaps the most important thing I got from the conference was competency. I was amazed at how much tangible, real-world advice was given. There were talks on how to use technology, chapter building, closing the digital divide, leadership skills, team building, and much more. In short, I received a lot of information on developing oneself and everything necessary to know how to run a successful Chapter. I've attended dozens of conferences and this was by far one of the most tangible and beneficial.

So within a two-week span, I went from never attending a program meeting to showing up in Dallas not knowing anyone or what to expect, to meeting two new BFFs (Allstate employees: Marvie Barton and Kimberly Vaughn), falling in love with BDPA and the conference.

When I later became president of the Philadelphia chapter, the conference was at the top of our budget. Every year, we were going to send several of our members and students to the conference. We would take full advantage of BDPA Education and Technology Foundation grant awards or disbursements, but whether we get those or not, conference, airfare, and lodging fees, would be covered for that year. Our goal was to win the Chapter of the Year Award to cover some of the registration fees.

So if you haven't attended a Technology conference where you are one of the 99.5% and not the 0.5%, this is the conference for you. This is my personal invitation to you. I would love to meet you in Baltimore!

Warm regards,
Monique

National BDPA Honors Cincinnati Chapter (1992-2010)

BDPA Cincinnati chapter founded in 1989 by Everett Gregory, Neal Johnson, Brenda Johnson, Charles Cooper and Gina Billings is currently the 4th largest in the nation. BDPA Cincinnati has been recognized over the years for the efforts of all chapter volunteers, supporters and sponsors at a local and national level. The chapter is a catalyst for professional growth and technical development for those in the IT industry.

Past chapter president Janice Lee, shared the following list of Cincinnati chapter awared winners since 1992:

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1992 - BDPA Conference held in Detroit MI

• President’s Award: Wayne Hicks

2000 - BDPA Conference held in Washington DC

• Chapter of the Year, 2nd Place: Cincinnati
• Chapter Membership Award: Cincinnati
• Comeback Chapter of the Year: Cincinnati
• Most Improved Chapter of the Year: Cincinnati
• Outstanding Contributor: Pam Marshall Ramsey
• National HS Computer Competition, 2nd place: (25 teams in competition)

2001 - BDPA Conference held in Chicago IL

• Chapter of the Year, 1st place: Cincinnati
• Chapter Professional Service Award: Cincinnati
• Outstanding Member: Gina Billings
• Outstanding President Award: Wayne Hicks
• Outstanding Contributor: Frank Hill

2002 - BDPA Conference held in Orlando FL

• Chapter of the Year, 1st Place: Cincinnati
• Chapter Community Service Award: Cincinnati
• Outstanding Contributor: Sammie Jiles
• National HS Computer Competition, 5th place (22 teams in competition)

2003 - BDPA Conference held in Philadelphia PA

• Outstanding Corporate Champion: Gina Billings (Hewlett Packard)
• Chapter Community Service Award: Cincinnati
• IT Showcase, 1st place: Ms. Swathi Nibhanupudi (University of Cincinnati)
• National HS Computer Competition, 7th place (21 teams in competition)

2004 - BDPA Conference held in Dallas TX

• Chapter of the Year, 1st Place: Cincinnati
• Chapter Professional Service Award: Cincinnati
• National HS Computer Competition, 8th place (23 teams in competition)

2005 - BDPA Conference held in Detroit MI

• Chapter of the Year, 2nd Place: Cincinnati
• Chapter Management Award: Cincinnati
• Youth Conference CIO Challenge, 3rd place: Cincinnati (Terrell Bonner, Ameka Giles, Elisha Huntley, Malaika McCoy and David Wilson)
• National HS Computer Competition, 10th place (19 teams in competition)

2006 - BDPA Conference held in Los Angeles CA

• Chapter of the Year, 1st Place: Cincinnati
• Chapter Management Award: Cincinnati
• National HS Computer Competition - 9th place (19 teams in competition)

2007 - BDPA Conference held in Washington DC

• Chapter of the Year, 2nd Place: Cincinnati
• Chapter Professional Service Award: Cincinnati
• Youth Conference CIO Challenge, 2nd Place: DeRicco Swan (Cincinnati)
• IT Showcase High School Cohort, 1st place: Jahmal Chase (Cincinnati)
• IT Showcase High School Cohort, 2nd Place: Amber Gosby (Cincinnati)
• National HS Computer Competition, 14th place: (21 teams in competition)

2008 - BDPA Conference held in Atlanta GA

• Chapter of the Year, 2nd Place: Cincinnati
• Chapter Professional Service Award: Cincinnati
• President's Award: Wayne Hicks (Cincinnati)
• Epsilon Award: Dr. Juan Gilbert (Auburn University)
• National HS Computer Competition, 12th place: (23 teams in competition)

2009 - BDPA Conference held in Raleigh NC

• Chapter of the Year, 2nd Place: Cincinnati
• Chapter Professional Service Award: Cincinnati
• National HS Computer Competition, 13th place: (23 teams in competition)

2010 - BDPA Conference held in Philadelphia PA

• Chapter of the Year, TBD: Cincinnati
• Chapter Community Service Award: Cincinnati
• National HS Computer Competition, TBD: (23 teams in competition)

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I encourage any of you that live or work in the greater Cincinnati area to Give Back, Get Involved and Get Noticed!

As an aside, do any of you know where the BDPA Cincinnati founders (Everett Gregory, Neal Johnson, Brenda Johnson, Charles Cooper and Gina Billings) are nowadays?

2008 National BDPA Technology Conference (Atlanta)

UPDATE: You can find a post-conference review of events here.

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The theme for our 2008 National BDPA Technology Conference is 'Harnessing Emerging Technology to Advance IT Careers'.I am looking forward to the 30th annual National BDPA Technology Conference in Atlanta. It should be a record-setting event for attendance by young people, entrepreneurs, IT professionals and corporations. Corporations are encouraged to contact BDPA Corporate Sales immediately to reserve their speaking opportunities and career fair booth placements.

• Hotel Reservations - (800) 233-1234. The special BDPA rate for a single, double or triple rate room is $129 per night.


• Conference Registration Rate: $600/Members or $800/Future Members. You can join BDPA and become a member for only $75. You do the math!

You can contact BDPA Headquarters for more information on the 2008 conference by phone (800.727-2372) or email (conference@bdpa.org).

Well, BETF-Blog Readers, are you planning to attend the 2008 National BDPA Technology Conference in Atlanta GA in August?

Where Are They Now? Dr. Stephanie Parson

One of the great friends of BDPA over the years is Dr. Stephanie Parson. She was a charter member of the BDPA Rocky Mountain chapter when it was founded in April 1989. It is also worth noting that today is Stephanie's birthday!

I met Stephanie when she was an executive at Walt Disney World. She was a key player in the successful 2002 national BDPA conference held in Orlando. Stephanie helped us land Roger Berry, WDW Chief Information Officer as the keynote speaker for the Awards Gala that year.

Stephanie served in national leadership positions with BDPA from 2002 through 2005 as both one of our Outside Directors and as VP-Strategy & Planning. Her place in the BDPA Hall of Fame is based on the intense passion that she brings to vision and strategic planning for our organization. She taught us how to create a shared 3-year stategic direction and base on current year budgets on a detailed 1-year business plan. We still use that methodology in our strategic planning today.

On a professional level, she left WDW and started her own company ... Crowned Grace. She is very active with an organization of chief executive officers known as CEO Space. In fact, her involvement in CEO Space resulted in recent opportunity for her to become part of an investment opportunity in Costa Rica. Here is what she had to say about her visit to South America:

"Wow!

• 4 hour drive from the airport to our cabins!
• 1 hour drive each day to the plantations
• 3 hour walk on 1 plantation (only able to see ~1/4th of this plantation)
• 3 hour horseback ride on another plantation (able to see ~1/8th of this plantation) My horse knew that it had been years since I had been on a horse
• 2 hours down (and up again) 500 steps to get to the waterfall
• 2 hour hike in the rain forest (rained for about 1.5 hours --- HEAVY RAIN!)
• Saw an active volcano Saw monkey's, creatures with long tails, beautiful birds, dogs, flowers and so much more Met wonderful people!
• Created LONG TERM Strategic Alliances
• Wet...Covered in Mud...Covered with Ant Bites...Broken fingernails...Broken toenails...don't even get me started on my hair :->
• WOULDN'T TRADE THE EXPERIENCE FOR THE WORLD!!!

Who knew that wood was a profitable venture??? Who knew that replanting the rain forest would be such a profitable experience???"

You can see Stephanie and her partners in this 4-minute video from Costa Rica. Hmmm, I need to get that sista a BDPA Foundation T-Shirt that she can be wearing for her next YouTube video (smile).




Do any of our BETF-Blog Readers remember working with Stephanie? Care to share your rememberances with us?

BDPA IT Showcase Sponsored by Johnson-Johnson

One of the best things that I did while serving as a national BDPA officer was appointing Dr. Jesse Bemley to serve as the conference delivery manager for the BDPA IT Showcase.

My vision was twofold. First, I wanted to find a way for HSCC alumni to continue to participate in the annual BDPA technology conference after their high school careers ended.

Second, I wanted to inspire young African American technologists to continue their educational arc through the Ph.D program by providing role models ... successful African American Ph.Ds in the computer science, engineering and information technology fields.

Dr. Bemley took the BDPA IT Showcase from a one-day event to its current position of being a 3-day event, sponsored by Johnson-Johnson, at the 30th annual BDPA Technology conference in Atlanta, GA. IT Showcase activities are now a part of the Youth Technology Camp (YTC) and Adult Forums. The main IT Showcase occurs on Thursday.

The activities include presentations, both paper and poster, of advanced computing topics. Participants are high school and undergraduate students. The focus is leading edge technologies, hardware and software methodologies, research proofs of concepts encompassing, but not limited to, intelligent technologies (i.e., smart toys, machine learning, genetic algorithms), wearable computing, web technologies, high performance computing, computing curricula, computational science and so forth.

Demonstrations are incorporated in the presentations where applicable. Presentations/projects are judged in two categories, college (undergraduate) and high school. Three awards will be made in each category. Previous showcases have answered questions such as:

• What is a smart toy?
• Can machines actually learn?
• Is there a difference between virtual humans and avatars?
• How will high performance computing change IT as we know it?
• Will genetic algorithms put more programmers out of work
• Can neural networks actually be trained?
• Why would anyone want to wear a computer?
• Should I get an Internet phone?
• Are those movie/video scenes actually computer-generated?
• Can I actually make maps on my computer?

Click here for a copy of the 2008 IT Showcase Handbook.

Our hope is that all 49 BDPA chapters will identify HSCC alumni or college students to participate in this year's IT Showcase. We are pleased that Johnson-Johnson stepped up to become sponsor of the 5th annual BDPA IT Showcase taking place on August 6-8, 2008 in Atlanta, GA. Let's see if we can make this the largest IT Showcase in BDPA history!

Any thoughts or questions?

Blogging While Brown Conference

I have only been a blogger since January 2007. When I first entered the blogosphere the only blogger that I knew was my sister. Over the past few months I have enjoyed the exchange of ideas with bloggers of all nationalities, politics and geography. With one or two exceptions ... every blogger that I've met has been through my computer screen ... out here in cyberspace.

Perhaps it is time for us to meet face-to-face?!

The 2008 Blogging While Brown conference is my opportunity to meet some of these talented brothers and sisters in the so-called real world. The BDPA Education & Technology Foundation plans to attend this conference next year. Early Registration is now open for Blogging While Brown 2008. In the spirit of Ujamaa I plan to take advantage of the $100 early registration rate. It will never get less expensive!

The purpose of the event is to give Bloggers of Color an opportunity to meet each other for the first time, discuss current issues affecting Bloggers of Color, and learn about the latest technology that will assist them with publishing their work.

Blogging While Brown was created in response to widespread dissatisfaction with the amount of diversity in some of the largest blogging conferences. A critical mass of Bloggers of Color have yet to attend these established conferences, however the initial response from Bloggers of Color to the idea of holding their own conference has been overwhelmingly enthusiastic.

Bloggers of Color are excited about a conference, for, by and about them and look forward to moving beyond the single panel or discussion focusing on diversity that are typically featured at some of the larger blogging conferences.

The conference is in Atlanta, GA on July 25-27, 2008. The host hotel is the Hilton Atlanta Downtown. Pass this on to your friends and readers.

Those of you that share your insights by posting comments on the BETF-Blog are just as important as I am to the growing success of our online community. As such, this invitation to attend the 2008 Blogging While Brown conference is open to any of the active BETF-Blog readers that come here regularly.

Stay tuned! I understand that the Conference Planning Committee will provide guidelines for workshop suggestions and facilitator proposals in the near future. Get on board now because 2008 will be an amazing year for bloggers! Blogging While Brown is the first international conference for, by, and about Bloggers of Color and the readers who love and comment on them.

Will you be in attendance?