As we approach the dawn of 2024, seize the opportunity to shape your year starting right now…

Empower Your Journey: Unlock Success Together

• Invest in Continuous Learning – Commit to taking at least one professional development course or certification to stay updated with the latest industry trends and skills.
• Foster Cross-Functional Collaboration – Become a catalyst for innovation within your organization. Initiate and lead cross-functional projects to enhance collaboration and drive breakthroughs across departments.
• Enhance Digital Presence – Craft a comprehensive strategy to boost your online presence. From updating your social media profile to creating insightful blog posts and actively engaging with your professional network, ensure your digital footprint stands out.

Let’s embark on a journey of growth and achievement in 2024 together.

Wylie Blanchard

In the meantime, here are a few of my activities from 2023:

• Bridging the Gap: Unleashing Digital Transformation for Business Growth
• Security and Privacy Best Practices for Safeguarding Member Data in Non-Profit Organizations
• Building Trust through Effective Communication: Enhancing Customer Relationships in a Digital World
• How Non-Profit Health Services firms can use ChatGPT
• Exploring the Intersection of Emerging Tech, AI, and Business with Marc Lee – Online Dinner Party

Get more great content at WylieBlanchard.com... Need a great speaker for your next event, contact us to book Wylie Blanchard now.
Learn what clients are saying about his programs....

With the 1st day of 2023 approaching, there is no need to wait until the new year to begin planning goals and efforts, let’s do it now…

Challenge your mental and physical discipline.

• Set a new fitness goal that genuinely challenges your physical and mental limits, your time management skills and your nutrition management skills.
• Expand your worldliness by visiting a new part of the world (nationally or internationally) and interacting with locals.
• Learn a skill that is outside of your comfort zone, like public speaking, to exercise your ability to adapt in uncomfortable situations.

Ensure that your goal(s) are SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound).

Wylie Blanchard

Let’s meet up in 2023.

In the meantime here are a few of my activities from 2022:

I took a break from the internet (personal use internet activity – with a few exceptions) from Nov 2021 to Nov 2022 and I don’t have any activities to share.

Get more great content at WylieBlanchard.com... Need a great speaker for your next event, contact us to book Wylie Blanchard now.
Learn what clients are saying about his programs....

Originally posted at www.GreatTechPros.com.

Excerpt from the Interview:

Wylie Blanchard: What tips do you have for individuals who are new in their career, transitioning in their career or just interested in building their executive presence?  What tips do you have on how they can build their personal branding and their executive presence?

Eric Schmuttenmaer: The first one that comes to me is listening… It is a combination of listening and learning. So if you’re coming new into something,.. find the people that are in the area that you want to be in or that you want to improve upon and get notes on them. Find out where they have succeeded and replicate those in your world or, work to replicate those in the world and find out, more importantly, where they failed and why they failed… Learn where those common pitfalls are for where you want to be from individuals who are already there and then avoid those as much as you can. It’s not gonna be a hundred percent but do your best to do that. It takes a level of listening and slowly learning. You’re not going to boil the ocean but take those little key moments, those little tiny moments, of takeaways from other people’s lives.

Useful Links:

• Connect with Eric Schmuttenmaer on Linkedin.
• Learn more about AMITA Health.
• Follow on Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Watch or Listen to Great Tech Pros anytime, anywhere.

• Watch on YouTube,
• Tune in on Facebook Watch,
• Eavesdrop on Google Podcasts,
• Listen on Spotify,
• Be all ears on Apple Podcasts,
• and more.

Get more great content at WylieBlanchard.com... Need a great speaker for your next event, contact us to book Wylie Blanchard now.
Learn what clients are saying about his programs....

Responsible for the strategy, roadmap, resource oversight and overall success of the Voice Assistant Delivery solution and interaction model. Designed for Finance, Mortgage, Insurance, Utilities & Healthcare markets.

Get more great content at WylieBlanchard.com... Need a great speaker for your next event, contact us to book Wylie Blanchard now.
Learn what clients are saying about his programs....

EVENT UPDATE: The SQL Saturday Chicago event is always amazing. I presented two sessions at the event: Become a SQL Pro who’s in High Demand and You’re hired! Creating value before and after the interview.

Notable Sessions: Here are two sessions that I attended that were both educational and enjoyable.

• Andy Wickman (t, l, b) “Lessons from Consulting: Third-Party Vendors,” which explained what to expect and what questions to ask when dealing with third-party software that interacts and manages company data. Andy shared what key things to check and look for in 3rd party software that will have an impact on a data professionals role. He also shared advice on how to work with these vendors that can make integrating their software into a company’s enterprise more successful.
• David Klee (t, l, b) “My Brain Has Blue Screened – Let’s Laugh,” which was a fun exploration of unique stories that data professionals have encountered over their career. Since this was the last session of the day it was a much-needed laugh and break from learning.

More below, including  Event Photos.

Event Follow Up:

SESSION 1 DESCRIPTION:

Become a SQL Pro who’s in High Demand.

Speaker(s): Wylie Blanchard

Track: Professional Development

Expertise in SQL is an in-demand IT skill. As demand continues to grow, so does the increase of SQL professionals entering your specific industry. Learn what’s needed to ensure that you become a stronger technology authority in your industry and a SQL Pro who’s always in High Demand.  You’ll learn how to invest in growing your expertise, improve your social/people skills, how to effectively sell and market your talent, what is a “source of truth” and why is it extremely important and more.

Session Materials for Event Attendees: 

Download: Presentation Slides 

Event Follow Up:

SESSION 2 DESCRIPTION:

You’re hired! Creating value before and after the interview.

Speaker(s): Wylie Blanchard

Track: Professional Development

Landing a gig as an employee, consultant or contractor has become highly competitive. You need to differentiate yourself in a way that tells the hiring manager that you are more valuable than everyone else. In this session, I’ll share 3 things that I’ve learned from my experience as an employee, hiring manager and consultant that will help you market your expertise, create new opportunities and get them saying “you’re hired”.

Session Materials for Event Attendees:

Download: Presentation Slides 

Wylie provided excellent tips on how to make yourself stand out when marketing yourself and reinforced important principles like focusing on quantifying your achievements.

Steven A Osacky
Crowe LLP

Event Follow Up:

PHOTOS FROM THE EVENT:

SQLSaturday is a training event for Microsoft Data Platform professionals and those wanting to learn about SQL Server, Business Intelligence and Analytics. This event will be held on Mar 23, 2019, at Benedictine University, 5700 College Rd, Lisle, Illinois, 60532, United States.

Get more great content at WylieBlanchard.com... Need a great speaker for your next event, contact us to book Wylie Blanchard now.
Learn what clients are saying about his programs....

The resources from this session are now available.

Session 1.

Become a SQL Pro who’s in High Demand.

Speaker(s): Wylie Blanchard.

Track: Professional Development.

Expertise in SQL is an in-demand IT skill. As demand continues to grow, so does the increase of SQL professionals entering your specific industry. Learn what’s needed to ensure that you become a stronger technology authority in your industry and a SQL Pro who’s always in High Demand.  You’ll learn how to invest in growing your expertise, improve your social/people skills, how to effectively sell and market your talent, what is a “source of truth” and why is it extremely important and more.

Session resources and photos are now available.

EVENT UPDATE Mar 23 2019: A speaking slot became available at the last minute, giving me the opportunity to present on another topic. I decided to keep the focus on career enhancement by sharing ways to position yourself as the candidate of choice during the interview process.

Session 2.

You’re hired! Creating value before and after the interview to before and after the interview.

Speaker(s): Wylie Blanchard.

Track: Professional Development.

Landing a gig as an employee, consultant or contractor has become highly competitive. You need to differentiate yourself in a way that tells the hiring manager that you are more valuable than everyone else. In this session, I’ll share 3 things that I’ve learned from my experience as an employee, hiring manager and consultant that will help you market your expertise, create new opportunities and get them saying “you’re hired”.

Session resources and photos are now available.

SQLSaturday is a training event for Microsoft Data Platform professionals and those wanting to learn about SQL Server, Business Intelligence and Analytics. This event will be held on Mar 23, 2019, at Benedictine University, 5700 College Rd, Lisle, Illinois, 60532, United States.

Get more great content at WylieBlanchard.com... Need a great speaker for your next event, contact us to book Wylie Blanchard now.
Learn what clients are saying about his programs....

With the 1st day of 2019 approaching, there is no need to wait until the new year to begin planning goals and efforts, let’s do it now…

• Speak only great things about your family and colleagues.
• Learn a new soft skill (Communication skills – Adaptability skills – Teamwork skills).
• Share news about this skill to your family, friends and associates via mobile technology and social media. 

The people we interact with and actions we take impact future outcomes. Higher a coach, ask a mentor for help, demand excellence from yourself, and never stop taking action.

Wylie Blanchard.

Let’s meet up in 2019.

Contact Wylie today.

Get more great content at WylieBlanchard.com... Need a great speaker for your next event, contact us to book Wylie Blanchard now.
Learn what clients are saying about his programs....

Assignment Purpose.

The goal of this exercise is to examine the customer choice process in the digital era and how marketers may persuade consumers to create connections with businesses using the four primary channels (search, display, video, and social).

Assignment Specifics.

As digital platforms that brands may utilize to create relationships with customers, the following were discussed in the lecture:

• Search.
• Display.
• Video.
• Social.

Consider how firms may build relationships with their customers and assess the success of the four digital channels based on your own experience.
Then answer the following question:

Which, in your view and experience, is the most effective?
Explain your reasoning with one or two instances of firms that use that channel.

Response

Video is the most effective since it can engage our senses multiple times within a short amount of time while also activating various sensory connections such as sound and vision. Furthermore, YouTube, a video content site, is one of the most commonly utilized search engine sites at work. According to Alexa, YouTube.com has the world’s second-biggest combination of visits and page views, trailing only Google.com. SimilarWeb ranks youtube.com as the third most viewed and used website in the world. These rankings demonstrate how important video (especially videos posted on YouTube) is to today’s consumers.

I’ve discovered that video is an excellent marketing strategy since it allows for the creation of several content streams. For example, I’ve previously generated YouTube videos, which allowed me to make three various types of material. The first was video footage I uploaded on YouTube. I then extracted the audio from the video and turned it into audio (podcast) material. I recently finished transcribing the video and creating written (blog) material. I was able to do all of this by generating only one piece of content. I was then able to distribute all three content items as three social media content sharing at various times.

I have personally found that video is an effective marketing tool, due to being able to create various content streams from it. For instance, I’ve created YouTube videos in the past and in doing so I was able to create 3 different forms of content. The first was the video content that I posted to YouTube. I then stripped the audio out of the video and created an audio (podcast) content. Lately, I transcribed the video and created text (blog) content. I was able to do all of this simply by creating one content item. Later, I was able to share all three content items on social media at different times as three unique social media content shares.

Overall, the video digital channel is the only channel specifically designed to engage our visual and auditory sensory connectors at the same time and at a rate on par with our natural ability to process information.

Get more great content at WylieBlanchard.com... Need a great speaker for your next event, contact us to book Wylie Blanchard now.
Learn what clients are saying about his programs....

EVENT UPDATE: The SQL Chicago community is always the best. I had a full house for this session and the audience participation was amazing. Feedback from the audience was that they enjoyed the discussion portion on scaling degrees and certifications to maximize the return on their investment. I didn’t originally plan to share my views on scalability but I’ll definitely include it in my next session on this topic.

Notable Sessions: Here are two sessions that I attended that were great in both content and delivery.

• Henry Treftz’s (t) “Why Third Party Vendors Do The Things They Do,” which gave us an inside look at why ISV’s design their technology in ways that can sometimes make the end user ask, “Why did they do that”. Henry shares the pros and cons to ISV design.
• Ed Leighton-Dick’s (t, l, b) “How to Keep Your Databases Secure in Just Minutes a Day,” because we all need to learn more about database security. Ed is the go-to resource for helping us keep our DB secure.

Follow Up:

SESSION DESCRIPTION:

[pdf-embedder url=”https://www.wylieblanchard.com/wp-content/uploads/Become-a-SQL-Pro-who’s-in-High-Demand_SQL-Saturday-719_Chicago-2018_-Benedictine-University_Wylie-Blanchard.pdf” title=”Become a SQL Pro who’s in High Demand_SQL Saturday 719_Chicago 2018_ Benedictine University_Wylie Blanchard”]

Download: Presentation Slides

Cool slide deck, nice presentation and organization of content as well as an awesome story to be telling others at UGs and SQL Saturdays. Thanks for paying it forward!

— Tim Radney (@tradney) March 19, 2018

SQLSaturday is a training event for Microsoft Data Platform professionals and those wanting to learn about SQL Server, Business Intelligence and Analytics. This event was be held on Mar 17, 2018, at Benedictine University, 5700 College Rd, Lisle, Illinois, 60532, United States.

Get more great content at WylieBlanchard.com... Need a great speaker for your next event, contact us to book Wylie Blanchard now.
Learn what clients are saying about his programs....

The resources from this session are now available (For event attendees only).

SESSION DESCRIPTION:

Get more great content at WylieBlanchard.com... Need a great speaker for your next event, contact us to book Wylie Blanchard now.
Learn what clients are saying about his programs....