ACM SIGUCCS is hosting our first virtual Seminar Series (Beta Edition) on November 10, 2020. The theme of this conference is Life Beyond the Lab – information for aspiring or new managers who transition from supervising students to supervising professionals.
Register Now: https://acm-org.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJIqcemvqTIvHdYZs53WXJwkQ-c0vYOJR4o7 There is no cost to attend. Once you are registered, you will receive the webinar link. We encourage you to watch together with your colleagues!
Schedule (all times are Eastern):
| Time | Event | Speaker(s) |
| 1:00pm | Welcome | Allan Chen, Professional Development Chair Laurie Fox, SIGUCCS EC Past Chair |
| 1:15pm | Session I: Taking the First Step | Phedra Henninger, Muhlenberg College Nik Varrone, SUNY Geneseo Tom Wilk, Carnegie Mellon University |
| 2:00pm | Open Discussion | |
| 2:30pm | Session II: Persuasive Communication Skills | Rob Guissanie, Bucknell University |
| 3:15pm | Break | |
| 3:30pm | Session III: Strategic Thinking | Dan Herrick, University of Colorado – Boulder |
| 4:15pm | Wrap-up | Allan Chen |
Session Details
Session I: Taking the First Step
This panel will share their experiences from their first promotion to manager.
Session II: Persuasive Communication Skills
As IT professionals, communication with our clients is certainly important. However, establishing a rapport is absolutely ESSENTIAL. Communication shares information. A rapport not only creates a relationship–it establishes trust.
How do you get there? What do you say, and how do you say it? What’s important, and what isn’t? How do keep from being “white noise” and become relevant in the eyes of your campus community? This session considers ideas and strategies in reaching that end goal.
Session III: Strategic Thinking
“Think strategically, act tactically.” Great advice, but how do you apply it as a manager?
As you navigate the transition to a manager role, it’s important to consider the differences between strategic, tactical, and operational work, and how you apply each of those to your role. You’ll need to understand how your work changes and how your work is now structured, and even embrace a new definition of what “work” is. No matter your manager role, there are strategic aspects of the job: You must strategically prioritize your work and your teams’ work, you will plan for contingencies and for the future, and you have to lead while ensuring the effectiveness of your team.
All of this takes a certain mindset and perspective of strategic thinking. Thinking long-term and broadly about impacts, interconnection, and relationships, while still working toward results and keeping customers happy, seems daunting but is completely achievable. This session will talk about the fundamental concepts of strategic thinking, while providing examples of applying strategic thinking to your work as a manager.