Haven’t had time to blog about it but we had another Roundtable meeting on Feb. 8th at Calvary Church. I think it went very well. We had 7 people in attendance; representing a bunch of different churches. Our discussions focused around storage/SANs (we currently were the only church looking at a SAN solution), wireless, backups/DR, Exchange 2007 and more. Overall it seems that every church in our area, big or small, is facing the same situations…..just on different scales/sizes and with different budgets to attack those situations with! Made some very strong relationships with Calvary which is just up the road from us; got some very good ideas from them! Overall I thought it was a good meeting and look forward to the next. Thinking sometime later this year (read after Summer)…would like to generate more involvement from other churches around Michigan, not just western MI. If you know anyone who would be interested, let me know.
Also took the time to properly categorize my posts up to this point, did some site redesign and added a pic from Grand Haven from last year…can’t wait for Winter to be over! Nothing is better than camping on the beach at Grand Haven all summer, NOTHING! Well, except perhaps new technology toys 
Also finally setup a twitter account that I will be updating daily.
Now that the holidays are over it seems like a good time to have another roundtable meeting. The details are as follows…
Friday, Feb. 8th
10:00 a.m. until 11:00ish a.m.
Calvary Church (http://calvarychurch.gospelcom.net/directions.htm)
TOPICS: SANs, virtualization, backup and any other issues/discussions you wish
I learned some important things from our last meeting; mostly regarding topic/theme and time. This time we will shoot for a weekday meeting with a more focused discussion. After talks with many people it seems that virtualization/SANs are a big issue right now; I know it is for us.
SO with that said, I’d like to invite everyone who can make it! Even if you don’t live in Michigan. I’d be great for attendance purposes to send me an email first travis@nccwm.org just so I can keep track; if not thats fine too! This should be a very good meeting; some of the areas larger churches will be represented as well as smaller ones! Please attend if you can!
Wow 2 posts in one night
Just wanted to leave some comments regarding the Granger Roundtable. This was my first time at a Jason Powell event (held a similiar type meeting here in Grand Rapids a month or so ago). I really liked the format and the smaller group I think really enhanced discussion. Had good discussions with many; didn’t get to talk in the main discussions because I was remotely troubleshooting some issues @ work (thanks Shelby). Really was great to meet Dean, Nick and Alfred (vendors). Had good discussions with Alfred regarding Shelby Arena (hopefully serious pursuit of this next year) and Dean (trying out their LiveStor product soon) as well as Nick (thanks for the tip about Vmware and electric company savings). All and all it was great, will definitely be back! Thanks Jason and Ed (good to meet you btw) for a great time!
After months of planning/talking we finally had our first Michigan I.T. Roundtable. We had a total of 7 people in attendance and would have had many more if not for scheduling conflicts. It went really well and everyone seemed to bond/network after. Plans are already on the way for the next. I’ve attached some notes that I quickly wrote after the meeting to summarize what we discussed. Big topics were Shelby/CMS, Office07/Vista migration, WIFI/Security.
63007roundtablenotes.pdf
Well the time is finally here! Tomorrow morning is our first official meeting of the Church I.T. Roundtable. AGAIN PLEASE FEEL FREE TO COME/BRING SOMEONE IF YOU CAN MAKE IT, DOESN’T MATTER IF YOUR NOT IN MICHIGAN!
MICHIGAN CHURCH I.T. ROUNDTABLE
JUNE 30, 2007
9 a.m. - 12 p.m.
New Community Church
2340 Dean Lake Ave.
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49505
DRIVING DIRECTIONS
I will post notes/recaps from our first meeting once it is over and I have a chance to digest everything we’ve discussed.
I always hate picking dates; never know if it works for everyone or anyone…but I finally met with our scheduling person, closed my eyes and picked a date. The official date I chose was June 30, 2007 from 9 a.m. - 12p.m. here @ New Community Church. With that said…I would like to offer a formal invite to any in Michigan or surrounding states that could make it; please do! I am still firming up numerous details but I have the date set, I hope you can make it! If you haven’t been in prior email with me and would like to attend, please drop me an email travis@nccwm.org and I’ll put you on the list. General info below:
MICHIGAN CHURCH I.T. ROUNDTABLE
JUNE 30, 2007
9 a.m. - 12 p.m.
New Community Church
Directions to New Community Church
My current plans call for about 3 hours worth of Roundtable, would be open to any suggestions whether this is too long/short. Will provide the usual morning doughnuts/coffee/etc. as well as all the free wifi you can eat! Please pass this information on to anyone else who you may know that would be interested! Any questions/comments please leave them on my blog or email travis@nccwm.org LOOKING FORWARD TO IT!
Church I.T. Survey
Church I.T. Suggested Questions
Church I.T. Outline
After reading numerous posts on many different blogs I have taken the “best of the best” and worked it into generic documents that should be usable to anyone embarking on their own local church I.T. group. Comments/suggestions are GREATLY appreciated. Thanks to Jason Powell and Tony Dye where I “borrowed” most of the information (including the logo!). The first is a generic outline of the purpose of the group and some guidelines. The second is a list of questions I came up with as possible “conversation starters”. The third is a survey to help identify the best topics for discussion. Let me know what you all think!
Church I.T. Survey
Church I.T. Outline
Church I.T. Suggested Questions
Okay with all the talk among everyone on the forums (itdiscuss) and blogs I would like to push forward with a local group here in Michigan. Initially I would like to focus on the Western Michigan area but open it up to anyone in MI/surrounding areas who would like to attend. A couple big questions I have:
- What would this group look like in terms of goals/objectives?
- What would weekly/monthly meetings look like?
- Would this include some sort of website/communication portal so members could communicate?
- What “value-adds” could be done to make the group really beneificial. Possible data hosting exchanges, equipment sharing, etc?
If any of you have some thoughts I’d really be open to anything. Initially I will contact the I.T. people I have been in discussion with and research some local churches and invite any I.T. staff they may have. Anyone reading my blog that’s in Michigan that would want to attend?
I still would like to figure out a way to build a national I.T. group that would have annual meetings; local groups would supplement the rest of the year perhaps on a monthly basis.
WITH THAT SAID…
I would like to extend a formal invitation to any churches/I.T. personnel in Michigan who would like to become part of this group. No official meeting dates or anything have been decided; kind of a grass-roots effort to see if interest exists and what such a group/meeting would look like.
In response to Chris’ response….I am located in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
