It’s always a pleasure to hear Dr. Pearl Kamer speak.  This time it was at the  Association of Information Technology Professionals  Technology Showcase & Economic Forecast at the Huntington Hilton.  She was more upbeat than her quarterly report and focused on job creation in technology.  One must remember however, that Dr. Kamer is a 1 percenter, and while the numbers, prognoses and projections are fairly standard, (not necessarily valid, since all statistics are stale reflections of what used to be) there is some distance from the reality of being unemployed. I found the most exciting news she offered, both closely tied to Kevin Law, CEO of the Long Island Association,  were the “Smart Grid” being created on Rt. 110 between Babylon and Huntington townships, and the LIA Initiative called “Accelerate Long Island”, which is a fabulous concept that deserves it’s own blog.

Also on the program was Christoper Pendergast, the Chief Information Officer of Marchon Eyewear who encouraged a roomful of IT professionals not to underestimate the power of electronic networking via LinkedIn and Facebook.  He also mentioned that Marchon is hiring, as soon as they can find people who fit the jobs they have available.  I hope they are all from Long Island.

Dennis Dissick, Senior Account Manager at Verizon gave a terrific presentation entitled “Technology Advances in the Last 25 Years”.  The presentation was funny, accurate and very well done with black and white clips of old television shows that featured shockingly familiar scenarios using technology we now use every day.  Two thumbs up!

The REAL stars of this show were the exhibitors and attendees.  The conversation was lively, constant and substantive. The only problem with it was that the event was over too soon.  I believe that Technology is the answer and AITP provided some of the proof.

© 2011 Street Smarts Publishing, Inc.