Posts Tagged ‘susan baier’

13th August
2009
written by bob

A big ‘thank you’ to Curtis Miller for capturing a successful day at LaidOffCamp in pictures. Here is the link to the photos on Flickr…Laid Off Camp Phoenix photos.

For those that attended there has been a LinkedIn Group created called ‘Laid Off Camp Phoenix 2009‘.  Please be sure to join!

Lastly, a Laid Off Camp Phoenix group post from Charlene Kingston says, “Susan Baier has created a great resource. She’s got slides and Twitter handles for many of the people at Laid Off Camp Phoenix. Don’t miss this!” Susan’s blog post.

Enjoy!

10th August
2009
written by bob

Yesterday, Katherine & I attended “LaidOffCamp Phoenix”. What a great time! I mean, really…I wasn’t too sure what to expect other than the usual: keep your resume up-to-date, make sure you have good recommendations, hit the online job boards, prepare for interviews, send post interview ‘thank you’ notes, etc.

A few months ago, Katherine was asked by a good friend Rachel Reese, the event Organizer, to speak at LaidOffCamp and agreed to do so. She was part of the “Laid Off Panel”. Fortunately for us, Katherine has landed a job since being asked to do this but still figured her experience of being laid off was relevant for other to hear and learn from.

The entire day was filled with speakers in various rooms throughout the day and after looking through the remaining schedule and found a couple of other speakers that I was very interested in hearing what they had to speak about. Susan Baier spoke in the 11 o’clock session on “How to Land That Gig”. While I had never met Susan, I thoroughly enjoyed her session and, before the end of the day, I would really come to know what a great person Susan is.

Lunch break! Pizza was provided by TekSystems and was delicious! Sat at a table and met some new friends: Ray Marano, Parker Neff, and Richard Dewey. We had some great conversation for the next hour until our next session and the one I was honestly looking forward to the most, “Escape from Cubicle Nation”. You see…I’m a software developer and my daily life is spent stuck in a cubicle coding. Of all professionals that have the ability to work remotely whether that is at home, a coffee shop, gangplank, or in another country, I’m pretty sure I would have the easiest time. All I require is an internet connection and laptop.

Pam Slim, author of the book, “Escape from Cubicle Nation” was next up to speak. BTW…I’m still looking for my escape from cubicle nation however; I have ideas in my head. As Pam would say, I’m dreaming and scheming. Not only was Pam’s presentation excellent, she also engaged her audience with real life examples. And to top things off, Pam gave out copies of her book to some of those attending. We were fortunate enough to receive a copy and I am looking forward to reading it! If anyone ever gets the opportunity to hear Pam speak, I would definitely recommend it.

The last session we sat in on was called, “Go It on Your Own: Run Your Own Business”. The panel consisted of April Holle, Susan Baier, James Archer, Remi Taylor, and Byron Bowerman. All these people have/had started their own businesses and offered their experiences in doing so. Quite honestly the information offered up by these entrepreneurs was invaluable and it was really great to hear there are people out in the world that are willing to help others get started “escaping from cubicle nation”.

Afterwards a good gathering happened at Liberty Market and thanks to Joe Johnson for allowing us to congregate for some cold drinks and great food; especially the ice cream sandwich! The day, in our eyes, was a tremendous success from all aspects. I hope in the end that those who are still looking for employment we able to get as much out of LaidOffCamp as I did. Thanks Rachel et al!