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!

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!

Letter of Inquiry * Franklin and Catherine Johnson Foundation

BDPA Education and Technology Foundation (BETF) partnered with BDPA Bay Area chapter on a letter of inquiry to the Franklin and Charles Johnson Foundation. We asked for permission to submit a $2,500 grant proposal for their funding consideration.

Tarah Evans is the executive director of the Johnson Foundation. Our request was forwarded to her via LinkedIn Network. She responded,

"I am happy to review some information about the program, but want to let you know that we do not accept unsolicited proposals. We are a very small family foundation, and do the majority of our grant-making in the local (East Palo Alto) area. But saying that, I am happy to read an executive summary of the program and look into whether or not it might be a fit for us."

We are hopeful that our Student Information Technology Education & Scholarship (SITES) program in northern California will be a fit for them! For that matter, we hope that our SITES program is a fit for you ... please consider making a secure online donation in support of our SITES Endowment Fund.

How to Use LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook to Extend Your Reach (St. Louis)

BDPA St. Louis chapter brought in David Strom, an acknowledged social network expert, as their guest speaker for the Oct 2009 program meeting. The topic was entitled, How to Use LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook to Extend Your Reach.

Here is the slideshow presentation:

How to use LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook to extend your reach

View more presentations from David Strom.

This blog is sharing slideshow presentations from program meetings all around the nation. We do so in the hopes that it brings together more BDPA members from various chapters into a virtual discussion about a wide range of topics. Please let us know if you approve of this idea.

There are 50 slides in this slideshow. Did you learn anything new from Mr. Strom's presentation?

Join BDPA Group on LinkedIn Network

There are hundreds of BDPA members on the LinkedIn Network. I have my profile on LinkedIn. I shared my thoughts on the LinkedIn Network a few months ago.

Anyhow, I want to invite all current and former members to join the BDPA Group on LinkedIn. Joining will allow you to find and contact other BDPA members on LinkedIn. The goal of this group is to help you:

1. Reach other members of BDPA
2. Accelerate careers/business through referrals from BDPA Group members
3. Know more than a name – view rich professional profiles from fellow BDPA Group members

All you need to do is click here to join the new BDPA Group created on LinkedIn Network for us.

I hope to see you in the BDPA group. Please post a comment below if you are currently a member of LinkedIn. What has been your experience to date with this professional network?

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!

BDPA Group on LinkedIn Network

• 6/3/2009 - 1,000th Member - Vanessa Miller (BDPA Atlanta)

There are hundreds of BDPA members on the LinkedIn Network. I have my profile on LinkedIn. I shared my thoughts on the LinkedIn Network in the past.

Anyhow, I want to invite all current and former members to join the BDPA Group on LinkedIn. Joining will allow you to find and contact other BDPA members on LinkedIn. The goal of this group is to help you:

1. Reach other members of BDPA
2. Accelerate careers/business through referrals from BDPA Group members
3. Know more than a name – view rich professional profiles from fellow BDPA Group members

Click here to join.
Hope to see you in the group. Please post a comment below if you are currently a member of LinkedIn. What has been your experience to date with this professional network?

BDPA Enters the Social Network Community

There are a number of social networks where BDPA members can identify themselves. There are over 1,500 subscribers to the BDPA CollectiveX Groupsite. There are over 600 subscribers to the BDPA Group on the LinkedIn Network.

Chris Bomar (Cincinnati) worked with us last year to create a place the BDPA Foundation on Facebook. Former national BDPA president Milt Haynes (Chicago) was the first to create a presences for BDPA on Facebook.

How many of you are active on Twitter? I find myself updating it 3-4 times per day. I get updates from New York Times and Barack Obama via Twitter.

Ura Puranda (Chicago) and her team created a YouTube Channel for the BDPA Foundation. I hope that we can find more videos from BDPA chapters, students and members to include on our newly created channel.

I guess that BDPA is searching for it's place in the Web 2.0 world. What do you think of it all?

The Social Network as a Career Safety Net

I am a strong believer in the power of social networking. You can find me on CollectiveX, Facebook, LinkedIn Network and Twitter. In fact, my 15-year old daughter thinks I'm too old to be on Facebook.
Perhaps you are like my daughter. Maybe you have avoided social-networking sites like LinkedIn and Facebook with the excuse that they are the domain of desperate job hunters or attention-seeking teenagers. If so, it’s time to reconsider.

In a world of economic instability and corporate upheaval, savvy professionals epitomize the benefits of brushing up your online image and keeping it polished.

Click here for the rest of the story.

Undocumented Ways to Use LinkedIn Network

Villagers, many of you know that I've been using LinkedIn Network for the past year or so. It is amazing to me that there are still professionals who are not taking advantage of this online tool.

I currently have over 1,477 direct connections with access to over 6,645,500 people through my LinkedIn Network.

Anyhow, I recently listened to a podcast with Dave Millman. He is an MIT graduate and former Director of Marketing at IBM. His present role is Vice President of Marketing at CiraNova, a software company located in San Francisco’s Bay Area in California, servicing the semiconductor industry.

I encourage you to listen to his views on ways to use LinkedIn to deliver business benefit. Are you a LinkedIn user?

7 Ways to Generate Business With LinkedIn Network

View Upload your own

You are invited to view my LinkedIn Network profile or join the BDPA Group that exists on the LinkedIn Network.

Barack Obama Uses LinkedIn Network ... Do You?

Many of you know that I actively use the LinkedIn Network. I'm not alone.

Barack Obama is the first presidential candidate to use LinkedIn as part of his campaign strategy. He recently asked a question on LinkedIn about entrepreneurs and small business owners. His question generated 1,496 responses!

The Obama organization encourages folks using LinkedIn Network to his campaign link to our profile. I appreciate the brother for using new technology resources to reach out to tech-savvy citizens.

In fact, Barack Obama's use of LinkedIn Network Groups encouraged BDPA to create a similiar Group as well. Are you a member of the LinkedIn Network yet?