So where to begin when it comes to yesterday?
Hitting 3800 members in our LinkedIn group?
Or all of the new faces that showed up at last night’s casual networking event for information technology folks here in metro Detroit?
Or how packed it was at last night’s event?
Or maybe that we’re finally incorporating ITintheD.com as a “real” entity?
Or that it’s also going to be a 501c3 charitable organization?
Or that we’ve actually got sponsors for IT in the D…
Yeah…yesterday was pretty full.
The group continues to grow, and that was pretty clear last night.
We hit 3800 members in our LinkedIn group yesterday, and at times it felt like they all decided to show up at the same time last night.
It didn’t take long at all for the back room to go from “empty” to “We have to get that wall open quick before people start suffocating”.
Not that we’re complaining…oh hell no. It was fantastic to see so many new faces last night. New recruiters, new people looking for gigs, new companies…it was just a great night all around.
And yes, we still appreciate and like seeing you “old faces” too. 🙂
At least one of those old faces that showed up was around for the very beginning back in 2001.
And boy, was he stunned to learn that we’ve finally taken the leap into being something “real”.
I mean, sure, we’ve always been “real” enough…we’ve had real events with real people that have had real effects on people’s lives.
But now…now it’s really real.
We’ve formed a company. A formal organization.
One that, among other things, is a 501c3 organization with charitable purposes in mind.
See, we’re really not kidding about what we want to do after IT in the D is over – we intend to fund scholarships and grants so that people who need technical training and/or certifications but don’t have the money to do it on their own and aren’t able to get funding any place else can turn to us for assistance.
Once again…we’re going to find ways to continue to have positive impact on people’s lives.
We’re very excited about this next step in our evolution. We really think it’s going to help us do more for the area, and for you, our members, specifically.
And like I mentioned up above…there are more and more of you with each passing day.
With quite a few of you showing up last night.
I want to give a particular shout out to Lisa from TEKsystems, because she’s in a very particular minority group – recruiters who actually listen to me and what I have to say when they contact me out of the blue and we have a chat.
Because the chat, at least on my end, is always the same:
– Nope, not really looking right now, but thank you for contacting me.
– I run a networking group for the IT industry here in metro Detroit though, and there are a lot of people in that group who are looking. You should absolutely catch us online and join our LinkedIn group. Odds are good you’ll find what you’re looking for in there.
Now, that’s not really that hard of a conversation to follow, and it seems pretty straightforward, right?
Right.
Unfortunately, less than 1 in 10 recruiters that I have that conversation with follow through and actually do anything. They never join the LinkedIn group, they never show up at an event…and they eventually wind up in my spam filter after I get tired of the random job postings that I’m still not interested in showing up via email once a week.
But Lisa not only joined the group, but also showed up with a whole crew of recruiters with her.
Solid. Thanks for listening, thanks for showing up, and glad you enjoyed the event.
And yes, IT in the D is really real, too. Tickets have been sold, sponsors are actually signing paperwork and jumping on board with us…this is going to be phenomenal.
That’s all for now, folks. If nothing else, we hope to see you in Rochester Hills at Rochester Mills for our year end Support The Troops event in December: http://www.ITinTheD.com/meet/