SEVEN REASONS WHY CMG MAKES MORE SENSE THAN A ONE-WEEK TRAINING CLASS

October, 2009
by Denise P. Kalm

About the Author
Denise P. Kalm, CA, Inc. formerly Cybermation

Denise Kalm has 30 years experience in IT including application programming, enterprise systems management and performance management/capacity planning at Pacific Telephone and Bank of America. She moved to vendor land in 2000, spending 5 ½ years with BMC on the EPA product line, then recently became the senior product marketing manager for enterprise job scheduling products at CA, Inc., formerly Cybermation. She is a regional officer of CMG, has held many volunteer positions within that organization and is a frequent contributing author. Prior to entering the IT profession, she was a biochemical geneticist. Her hobbies include flying, Jazzercise, writing and scuba diving. Her book, Lifestorm, on the Oakland Hills fire, is available on Amazon. She is an executive and personal coach as well, offering phone and in-person coaching.

  1. Hear the leading lights in our field and then spend quality time with them. If you go to a class, you get 1-2 teachers and may not have much time 1x1 with them. Meet with everyone who is leading up the capacity management field.
  2. Learn a lot on a variety of subjects; go wide and deep. Classes are very deep on one subject. Who has the time for that? We need quick bites in a wide range of areas.
  3. Get the equivalent of many weeks' worth of classes in one registration. Though you can only attend one session in a slot (it works better that way), you get access to all the material for the conference - enough to fill several months of training needs.
  4. See old friends. For many of us, our extended "family" is very extended. CMG is a great place to catch up with friends, learn what's changed, and get all this before anyone feels compelled to write a Christmas letter. Save your friends time and catch up here.
  5. Make new friends. We're no longer in school so meeting new people can be tough, especially those in your field. Haven't your best ideas come from informal gatherings with like-minded people? Go back to work charged up with ideas and energy.
  6. Create your own informal classes through Bird of a Feather (BOF) sessions. Design your own and learn just what you need.
  7. Meet vendors and play with new tools. It's fun to check out the new stuff, without the pressure of a sale.
  8. PARS - enough said.

See you in Dallas in December.