Highlight of Geeks Group

[Kate Howell]

Hello everyone!

We have been contacted by Joe Boomgaard who would like members of our
group to fill out this short questionnaire for the Portal Magazine
powered by MiBiz. He will be highlighting 5-6 people in the Q&A and
this is a first come first serve deal so get your responses in soon.

====================

Portal (Q3) roundtable questions

Hello,

MiBiz has a quarterly publication called Portal coming up in late
July, and I’m hoping to get input from some of you in the West
Michigan technology community. What I’d like is to create a roundtable
or Q&A from your responses to several questions, included below.

I appreciate your time and effort. Please turn in the responses with a
headshot by July 2.

Thanks,
Joe

--
Joe Boomgaard
Associate Editor, MiBiz
616.726.6908 x4
jboom...@mibiz.com
--

1. Please give me a brief description of you and your company and pass
along a headshot to go with your responses.

2. How would you rate the technology community in West Michigan in
terms of capability and variety?

3. What sorts of easy tech opportunities should businesses take
advantage of? Is it more than having a functional Web site?

4. What new or developing technology do you think has the likelihood
to be the most life-changing?

5. There’s been a strong push around the region to shop locally, in
other words, to get businesses to patronize their neighbors. How are
they doing with the tech community? Do most businesses realize what’s
available here?

6. What keeps technology practitioners in West Michigan? How can the
region attract more tech experts?

[Beth]

Hi Kate,

Here are my responses:

1. Beth DeWilde, Principal/CRO of Paragon Recruiting. I have been in
business since 1996 providing contract and direct hire placement for
technology professional in west Michigan.

2. Very strong. We have a lot of opportunities for technology people
across the board; system administration, programming, web development,
project management, network engineering, firm/hard/software
engineering, software testing, technical training and support. The
diversity of industry and professional service base also provides
environments for everyone's interests.

3. Keeping systems maintained just like you would your car or
yourself. Really learn the features the applications you use have so
to capitalize on your investment. A website is used to get
information in front of your target audience. To best leverage your
websites usefulness it should be pleasing to the eye, not too busy,
simple to navigate and have valuable content that pulls people in and
brings them back often. Next you need to draw people in by getting
the URL out to the people who you want to attract; have it on your
business card, email signature and point people to it as often as
possible.

4. Cell/overall medical and alternative fuel research.

5. For the most part the local players know and respect each other and
try to collaborate on projects. However some don’t take the time to
keep aware of evolving local talent or firms. The extra effort it
takes to keep up with what’s available locally takes time away from
other things that you could be doing. Just like anything else you have
to make it a priority and try different venues to find the one that
you can gain/give the most with. You need to continually interact off
line at face to face events that focus on technical local/regional
groups or associations. I think some realize its importance but
others don’t see it as worth their time.

6. Quality of life and a high level of talent to collaborate with.
Build awareness of high tech opportunities available here, for both
employers/employee/consultants. The media many times highlights a lot
of the layoffs and negative impact when there are many thriving and
expanding businesses which don’t get any press. These “pearls” need
to be exposed and communicated too. We need to continue to enhance
our communities with the amenities knowledge workers want: parks/
recreation green space, cultural diversity and arts/education outlets.
“If you build it they will come”.

Let me know if you need anything else. Thanks for facilitating this!

On Jun 25, 9:33 am, Kate Howell <k...@elevatorup.com> wrote:
> Hello everyone!
>
> We have been contacted by Joe Boomgaard who would like members of our
> group to fill out this short questionnaire for the Portal Magazine
> powered by MiBiz.  He will be highlighting 5-6 people in the Q&A and
> this is a first come first serve deal so get your responses in soon.
>
> ====================
>
> Portal (Q3) roundtable questions
>
> Hello,
>
> MiBiz has a quarterly publication called Portal coming up in late
> July, and I’m hoping to get input from some of you in the West
> Michigan technology community. What I’d like is to create a roundtable
> or Q&A from your responses to several questions, included below.
>
> I appreciate your time and effort. Please turn in the responses with a
> headshot by July 2.
>
> Thanks,
> Joe
>
> --
> Joe Boomgaard
> Associate Editor, MiBiz
> 616.726.6908 x4

> jboomga...@mibiz.com

[Kate Howell]

Hello Beth,

This information needs to be sent to Joe Boomgaard. I think he also
wants a head shot with it.

Thanks.
------------------------------
Kate Howell
Elevator UP - a Web Hosting Company
web: www.elevatorup.com
office: 616.931.4636 x.107
email: ka...@elevatorup.com