BDPA Entrepreneurs Find Support on LinkedIn Network

Guest Blogger: Keith Warrick
BDPA LinkedIn Group Manager

The BDPA LinkedIn group has become the premier professional site destination for African American IT professionals and their supporters on LinkedIn with over 3,600 members worldwide.

The group added 6 subgroups in 2010 in order to manage its exploding growth and to address niche IT areas such as:

• Cloud Computing
• Content Management
• Healthcare IT
• Information Security
• Software Development
• Virtualization and Game Technology

Two others were created that address strategic and administrative areas of fundraising:

• BDPA Education and Technology Foundation
• BDPA IT Corps

Now we are pleased to announce that a ninth subgroup - BDPA Entrepreneurs - has joined the national BDPA LinkedIn group family.  The focus of this new subgroup will remain as before with the subgroup being a networking/training/business referral mechanism that provides various business related services to the entrepreneurs and prospective entrepreneurs that make up its membership.

Membership is open to anyone who is a member of the BDPA LinkedIn group ... so what are you waiting for! Come join the BDPA Entrepreneurs subgroup if you own your own business or have aspirations of living the entrepreneur dream!

BDPA iRadio Show - February 14, 2012

BDPA Education and Technology Foundation (BETF) is very proud to be the creator of the BDPA iRadio Show. Our Internet Radio Show has been up and running for seven months with over 70 guests. You can listen to the archive version of the show using the widget shown in the right-hand sidebar of this blog.

Episodes of the BDPA iRadio Show are now available for immediate and FREE download from the iTunes Store.

If you missed the live show, then we encourage you to listen to the archived audio-clip of the show that aired on Tuesday, February 14, 2012.

Listen to internet radio with BDPA on Blog Talk Radio

---

The guests on the show:

1. Keith Warrick - manager, BDPA LinkedIn Network Group - Keith is a social media expert with a nationally-recognized reputation on the LinkedIn Network. He has been a presenter at a local and national level on the tips and techniques for using social media to advance one’s career. He served as a past officer for the BDPA Atlanta chapter and now supports the marketing efforts for a number of non-profits in the greater Atlanta area. Keith recently announced that the BDPA LinkedIn Network had reached 3,000 subscribers. You can follow Keith on Twitter - @KeithWarrick

2. Loraine Stewart-David - vice president (finance), National BDPA - Loraine joined BDPA Detroit chapter in 1992. She served in increasingly responsible leadership positions within the chapter including the past few years as the chapter’s chief financial officer. She was elected to serve for the next two years as the National BDPA VP-Finance. Loraine holds a BS in Accounting and MBA in finance. She is a contractual CFO/Financial Analyst with one of Michigan’s top fortune financial companies. She is also a contractual comptroller with two local nursing facilities.

3. John Malonson - chapter president, BDPA Los Angeles - John is an IT Business Partner Lead at Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems. He received his BA in both Psychology and Business Administration from UCLA. John is also a 2-term president of the BDPA Los Angeles chapter serving from 2009-2012. His chapter has consistently grown in terms of membership and impact in the community. The chapter had dozens of students in its 2011 SITES program and they plan on having even more in 2012. The chapter recently created a strategic alliance with Cal-State Dominguez Hills that results in use of its computer labs and such. John has strong feelings about the ways that BDPA can advance the careers of African Americans in the IT industry from the ‘classroom to the boardroom’. John is on Twitter - @Malonson

---

What questions would you like to see answered by these guests?

Top 10 BDPA Twitter Users

Twitter is a microblogging service is gaining popularity as a real-time communication platform. There are at least a dozen local BDPA chapters with Twitter accounts.

However, Twitter is driven by individuals. As such, I thought it would be interesting to share with you our pick of the top 10 BDPA-nation Twitter users (in alpha order) that you should be following:

1. Billy Cunningham - Billy Cunningham is one of the unsung heroes of BDPA Chicago chapter. He is at every national conference and is very supportive of BDPA on a local level.  Most recent tweet: I'm at CompUSA. http://4sq.com/cKA7yw
2. Milt Haynes - Haynes is past national BDPA president and a long-time BDPA leader. His focus on Twitter is to promote social networking to help African Americans in IT stay connected.  Most recent tweet: The BDPA Insider – August 15, 2010 #BDPA http://ow.ly/2pRn0
3. Callie Herd - Callie is a member of BDPA Memphis chapter. She wants to be part of the future growth and expansion of the BDPA vision in Tennessee. Her passion is getting scholarship information to young African Americans.  Most recent tweet: The Hickory Hill Community Redevelopment Corporation Youth Reformation Initiative’s FREE after-school ... http://tinyurl.com/2678flf
4. Wayne Hicks - Hicks is executive director of BDPA Education & Technology Foundation (BETF) and a long-time BDPA leader. He uses Twitter to share information about fundraising, nonprofit finances, BETF grants and such.   Most recent tweet: Re: The role of Black inventors in the Computer and Data Processing.: Wayne said: "Keith - I've not read your book... http://bit.ly/d3W0qv
5. Reginald Hillery - Reggie is president of BDPA Columbus chapter.  I have watched Reggie quietly and effectively building the strength of his Ohio chapter.  His tweets are primarily focused on BDPA.  This is an African American IT professional who should be followed on Twitter by others in BDPA.  Most recent tweet: I'm attending BDPA Columbus August I/E Meeting - Embracing Technology: Virtual Reality -- http://august2010exchange.eventbrite.com/  
6. Michael Holman, Sr. - Holman is a long-time member of BDPA New York chapter. Michael was one of the SysOps that created BDPANet back in the early 1990s. He was a visionary when it came to taking BDPA into cyberspace.  Most recent tweet: Your next move in God, like a Surfer and that next Wave. Do not try to MAKE it happen! Be alert and when you RECOGNIZE it, you just RIDE!
7. Kevin Minus - Kevin is an HSCC alumni. He competed in the 2004 national HSCC championships as a member of the team trained by BDPA Dayton chapter. He now lives and works in the greater Cincinnati area and is very active within the Blacks In Technology network.  Most recent tweet: Man I slept to long. Time to read a little, map out my plan for the week and go to bed. See you later all.
8. John Malonson - John was one of the first BDPA leaders that I saw on Twitter. He is president of BDPA Los Angeles chapter.  Most recent tweet: I'm going to use the "smurf" equivalent for all of my future expletives
9. Pablo More - Pablo is the president of BDPA Orlando chapter. He is a business analyst for major bank with an interest in politics, technology, economic development, law, green technology, Black studies and Latin America.  Most recent tweet: WSJ: Brands Are Friending Social Gaming. http://tinyurl.com/22re2et    
10. Keith Warrick - Keith is a member of BDPA Atlanta chapter. He is a master networker, especially on the LinkedIn Network. His conference workshops have been heavily attended over the past two years.   Most recent tweet: recommends reading The Skinny on LinkedIn Recommendations...a good primer for writing the perfect LI recommendation! http://lnkd.in/hDkGn3

Are you on Twitter? What BDPA Twitterer do you follow that should be in the Top 10?

Mastering LinkedIn: Advanced Techniques and Insider Secrets (Keith Warrick)

There will be over 50 workshops at the 32nd annual BDPA Technology Conference in Philadelphia later this month. Keith Warrick will be a presenter at two of them ... including one entitled, 'Mastering LinkedIn: Advanced Techniques and Insider Secrets'.

Keith has over 10 years of Information Technology professional experience in various roles from technical writer, quality assurance analyst and project manager to business analyst in the industries of telecommunications, information technology services and insurance. He has been involved in the implementation and training of software solutions to working directly with external clients in the development of custom software solutions. Prior to working in IT, he spent time in operations analysis and marketing. He currently serves as a Business Analyst for a large insurance broker.

He is also an active member of the International Institute of Business Analysis, the professional organization for business analysts. Keith holds a MBA degree in Marketing from Clark Atlanta University and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Lincoln University.

This workshop is designed to enhance the LinkedIn user experience of current users by taking it to the next level through the introduction of advanced features and techniques designed to get the maximum value out of using LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a professional social networking site that has grown in popularity since starting up in 2003. This workshop begins where LinkedIn – Getting Started with Professional Social Networking ends.

This workshop will provide attendees with an overview of the site as well as introduce attendees to advanced features that many users do not use or know exist that includes:

• How To Punch Up Your LinkedIn Profile in Order to Be Found by Hiring Managers and Companies
• Advanced Strategies for Connecting
• Advanced Strategies for Building your Expertise and Becoming a Recognized Expert
• Advanced Ways to Use Groups
• How to Use Tools/Plug-Ins/Applications
• New functionality such as Answers, posting jobs and applying for them and finding company information

I attended Keith's workshop on LinkedIn Network last year in Raleigh NC. It was excellent. I highly recommend all BDPA IT professionals to pre-register for both of Keith's conference workshops!

BDPA LinkedIn Group Hits 1,200 Members!

by Keith Warrick

Another important milestone for BDPA was achieved today when the BDPA LinkedIn group hit 1,200 members! This is only after reaching 1,000 members just three short months ago!

We continue to make our mark in the exploding and burgeoning world of social media by creating the largest concentration of IT professionals of color on LinkedIn but we still have more work to do.

So, for every IT professional that you know that is not on LinkedIn or not in this group, please tell them what they are missing and invite them to join us.

Remember that membership increases the expanse of your network so the more members, the deeper your network reach when you need to reach out for assistance and expertise that you may not possess. This all translates to better and increased networking opportunities as Wayne mentioned when we hit 1,000 members.

We are still looking to read about any success stories as a consequence of being connected via this group so please share them with us.

Congratulations go out to Aaron Jones of Houston, Texas for becoming member 1,200!