|
Welcome to the AIIM Garden State
Chapter
The AIIM Garden State Chapter has been relatively
quiet over the past couple of years, so some of you will
probably be surprised to receive this communication. I believe
our decline in activity is a direct result of several factors
including a maturing ECM industry, ubiquitous ECM information
availability via the Web, and constant pressure on our
collective calendars. Several AIIM chapters around the country
and professional associations in many industries have
experienced similar issues over the past decade.
A few months back the Garden State Chapter board
asked me to take over chapter leadership and rejuvenate the
chapter. At first I was concerned about the time commitment,
but then I realized that that maybe this would be an opportunity
to pay off a personal debt I have incurred with AIIM over the
past few years. When I entered the ECM industry only a short
five years ago I knew precious little about the industry, but
based on my past professional experience I knew that I needed to
learn. During my first few years working in our industry I
attended every AIIM, ARMA, TAWPI, etc. meeting that I could.
Now I attribute a valuable portion of my professional success to
the knowledge I gained from these professional organizations,
especially AIIM. In accepting the task of rejuvenating the AIIM
Garden State Chapter, I intend to return the favor.
Another factor attracted me to working with the
Chapter. The mission of local AIIM Chapters is to enhance “the
educational, professional, and interpersonal development” of our
membership. When I read interpersonal development I think
socializing, and I enjoy interacting with people. I imagine
that many of you receive your fill of CRTs, PDAs and telephones
during the work day; and might look forward to actually sitting
down for a light meal and refreshment along with industry peers
knowing there isn’t another meeting scheduled to start 5 minutes
ago.
On December 21 the Chapter Board approved our
2007 revitalization plan. Our plan includes investing in
several high-quality, relevant content-rich meetings in 2007.
We are committed to providing presentations from speakers who
will fulfill our chapter mission and educate our membership. We
are especially interested in hosting presentations that include
end users of ECM technology who have a success story to tell and
we encourage you to suggest future speakers who fit this bill.
Our theme this year is Return on ECM
Investments. We chose this theme because R.O.I. has topped
AIIM Industry Drivers surveys year after year, and a solid
business case is still often the best way to fund an ECM
project. Meetings will he held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in
Clarke which is located just off Exit 135 of the Garden
State Parkway. Meeting dates and speakers for the first
half of 2007 are:
|
Date |
Topic |
Speaker |
Company |
|
Tuesday March 13 |
Contract
Management with SharePoint |
Alan Weintraub |
Canon Business
Solutions |
|
Tuesday May 15 |
Complimenting ECM
Implementations |
Stephan Rioux |
Adobe Systems,
Incorporated |
|
Tuesday June 12 |
Spring Social
Outing |
N/A |
N/A |
|
Tuesday Sept. 18 |
Advanced Capture
Tools |
Thomas Heath |
Kofax Image
Products |
Meeting notices including additional details and
registration information will be distributed shortly. Please
mark you calendars now so you can join us for one or more of our
events!
Now that the Garden State Chapter is off and
running again the only thing we need is member participation.
In order to sustain our momentum The Chapter needs a few
motivated volunteers for Chapter leadership positions. The
board welcomed our new Communications Chair, Christine Scoppetta
from AIG to the board in December and a new Membership Chair
Arthur Hedge III from Castle Ventures this month. We still
would like to fill our Webmaster, Program Chair, and Advertising
Chair positions. I would be pleased to receive nominations,
including self-nominations for these positions from any of you
who are interested in volunteering your time to help enliven the
Chapter.
Please contact me anytime you have questions, or
have ideas about how we can make the chapter stronger. Let’s
make 2007 a great year for the Garden State Chapter!
Sincerely,
Eric Labiak
|