Have a question or concern about us, our events, our broadcast / podcast, or attending one of our events? Read on. As always, you can contact us with any question you don’t see listed below. Hope to meet you at our next event!
When and where is your next event?
All of our events are listed on our Meetup group page (http://www.meetup.com/ITintheD/).
Who are you guys?
Save yourself (and us) some time. Go read our About Us page here: http://www.ITinTheD.com/the-story/
Why do you do these events?
Again… read our About Us Page here: http://www.ITinTheD.com/the-story/
What’s with the podcast?
We do a weekly live podcast every week on Monday nights from 9pm to 11pm. We then pop it out on our site and syndicate it out through Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and a few other places to make it as easy as possible for you to listen. You can read all about it here – http://www.ITinTheD.com/listen/
I / my company want to appear on your podcast.
Sounds good. Drop us a note – http://www.ITinTheD.com/contact-us/ – and let’s start chatting about topic and timing.
What about sponsors? Do you take sponsors?
We absolutely do. Contact us!
Why should I attend an IT in the D event?
This is the perfect place to network with colleagues, meet recruiters, learn about new opportunities, brush up on your interviewing skills in a relaxed, social environment and have some fun. We are wholly dedicated to the metro Detroit information technology community. No fruit basket salesmen, no MLM, no clutter.
Should I wear a suit?
Completely unnecessary. This is a networking event, not a formal job interview. If it makes you feel more comfortable, sure, I guess you can… but remember, it’s in a bar, and you’re there to have conversations and make connections. I wouldn’t suggest showing up in destroyed jeans and a tattered t-shirt either.
The best way to get you in the right mindset is this: Think of being at a bar (because, well, our events take place in bars… ), and imagine that at the table next to you, you hear someone talking about needing to hire someone for what is basically your dream job.
Don’t wear anything that would keep you from approaching that person and starting a conversation.
Is there a cover charge or admission fee?
Uhhh, no. We’re not that group.
Just like all of our other events, we don’t think it’s either necessary or good karma to charge people for these, and so we don’t. No cover charges from you, no kickbacks from recruiters when they hire someone, no cut from the bars we go to… hell, we even pay for our own drinks, since we don’t even ask for that.
I saw your event listing on Meetup/LinkedIn/wherever and it didn’t look like a lot of people are coming… what gives?
We’re not anal-retentive about RSVPs. We’re also not Social Media Experts.
We have our events listed on a number of sites, and we’re experimenting with quite a few different locations with just a “presence”—meaning we’re there, and we’re on it… but we’re not really paying attention to it.
So when you see only one, two, four, ten… RSVP’s… that’s just not something we care about. Probably to our own detriment, because then we do get this question tossed at us. But we’re not here to brag about numbers, and so it’s not high on the priority list to force people to RSVP for something that’s free. And so we’ve got the Facebook event, it’s out on Meetup, LinkedIn, and who knows where else thanks to syndication… and so part of it is that it’s just not worth the headaches trying to track them.
For instance, our first Pink Slip Party event back in May of 2009 – if you go back and look at the LinkedIn event listing, you’ll see all of 10 people RSVP’d—for an event that had over 300 people show up.
Hop on over to check out some photos from past events, ask around, read the FAQs and hear from prior attendees that way… whatever you feel the need to do.
It would be nice if people RSVP’d on those sites, just to keep this question from coming up… but it’s just not a big concern for us.
What should I make time to read?
We’ve got a lot of blog entries out here, we know. However, they all serve a purpose.
If you’re looking for some highlights and really want to get into what we’re all about, then here are a few suggestions:
By Topic
Don’t Be That Guy over at http://www.ITinTheD.com/tag/dbtg/ covers all of the various behaviors that will cause you to fail at networking and networking events.
Entries for Job Seekers out at http://www.ITinTheD.com/tag/jobseekers/ is a combination of our Don’t Be That Guy entries and random thoughts that are specifically targeted for people looking for jobs
Entries for Recruiters out at http://www.ITinTheD.com/tag/recruiters/ are the postings that we’ve had specifically geared towards those looking to hire people.
Networking Basics out at http://www.ITinTheD.com/tag/networking-basics/ covers, well, the basics about networking.
Things We Hate over at http://www.ITinTheD.com/tag/hate/ is a good list of entries to read if you want to avoid being That Guy.
Specific Articles
The Recliner Principle at http://www.ITinTheD.com/22/the-recliner-principle/ is a good entry about WHY networking is important.
The 10 Commandments of Networking at http://www.ITinTheD.com/68/the-ten-commandments-of-networking/ continues to be a popular topic.
The 7 Deadly Sins of Networking lives at http://www.ITinTheD.com/1309/dont-be-that-guy-the-seven-deadly-sins-of-networking/ … because what good are the 10 Commandments without the 7 Deadly Sins?
Through The Looking Glass at http://www.ITinTheD.com/887/through-the-looking-glass/ gets into why we think job fairs suck, why we don’t “do” them, and why we get annoyed when people think our Pink Slip Party events fit under that umbrella.
Multi Level Marketing Guy at http://www.ITinTheD.com/935/multi-level-marketing-guy/ exists because we have to keep dealing with them, and this is who you won’t find at our events. And if you do, point them out so we can have them removed.
Bad Resume Guy at http://www.ITinTheD.com/101/bad-resume-guy/ walks you through the process of how to craft your resume effectively.