2024 Agenda

Early Morning 

Registration, Breakfast, and Vendor Tables

Welcome 

Breakfast Keynote

By Bailey Bickley, Chief of DIB Defense National Security Agency – Cybersecurity Collaboration Center

Breakout Session I

Tech’s Role In Perfecting Employee Onboarding

By Ian MacRae, CEO, E-N Computers

In 2025, small businesses must prioritize a seamless and engaging onboarding process to retain top talent and foster a productive work environment. Your Information Technology team plays a critical role in prepare new employees accounts and devices and securing your company upon an employee’s departure. Ian MacRae has helped on-board thousands of local employees through his company E-N Computers which offers turnkey IT services for business. By attending the talk you’ll receiving a templated checklists on how to prepare your organization for staff growth and turn-over. Then learn about where the IT industry is moving with automation for data loss prevent, disabling of risky users, and device onboarding. Perfecting user management for your companies in office, remote, and bring your own device employees will you be the star by making happier employees and put money in your pocket through reducing software cost and business risk.

Harnessing AI: Transforming Marketing Strategies for Business Success

By Peter Denbigh, Entrepreneur & Instigator, Innovation Management, Inc.

Implementing AI can lead to more effective marketing strategies, heightened customer engagement, and superior operational efficiency. In this hands-on breakout session, we will dive into the transformative world of AI and discover how it can revolutionize your marketing. Come prepared with your laptop or tablet and learn how to use AI to test and create various marketing initiatives and ideas.

Breakout Session II

Vulnerability Management and You

By Bud Ritchie and Edna Reid

The number of attacks against small business and local governments are at an all time high. The threat landscape continues to grow and can be daunting to try to figure out a way to keep your business assets safe from cyber incidents. This talk will cover actions an organization can take to increase their knowledge of the threat landscape as well as protect assets by developing a vulnerability management program.

Productive AI Agents Among Us

By Aram DiGennaro and Sven Brueckner

Envision a grid where every task your organization tackles is plotted—accuracy required on the horizontal axis and level of abstraction on the vertical. Think about where your team’s skills land on this grid, and where your current software tools fit in. Now, imagine reorganizing this map with the integration of AI. With generative AI entering the workspace, the parameters shift dramatically. Complex tasks are redefined, and the sequences of work evolve. Have you considered how generative AI transforms these dynamics? Are you prepared for the reality where AI doesn’t just support, but actively participates in decision-making? Join us this fall for ‘Productive AI Agents Among Us,’ where we’ll dive deep into these questions. Our talk will not just discuss the integration of AI—it will demonstrate it, featuring actual AI co-workers alongside us, showcasing real-time collaboration and the transformative potential of AI in our work environments.

Breakout Session III

Empowering Remote Work: Leveraging Technology for Effective Virtual Collaboration

By Tammy Bjelland, Founder, Workplaceless

This session will explore the essential tools that drive productivity and collaboration in remote and hybrid teams of all sizes, and provide strategies for effectively managing the diverse array of technologies needed to thrive in a distributed work setting. Whether you own a business or work in a global enterprise, learn how to harness digital tools to foster seamless teamwork and achieve business outcomes, regardless of location.

AI and Transportation Systems

By Dr. Hala Nelson, Professor of Mathematics, James Madison University

This session will explore the impact of AI is having (and will have) on transportation systems in terms of opportunities, feasibility, adoption, available technologies, implementation, and challenges, hurdles, and concerns.

Networking Lunch – Sponsored by Caf2Code

Network with your conference peers and catch up on some work.

Breakout Session IV

Unlock the Power of Technology to Propel Your Business Forward!

By Judy Marchand Hampton, President, LMH Consulting, LLC

This workshop is designed for business leaders and technologists, where you will discover how to develop a technology strategy that is not only aligned with but driven by your business strategy. This session will equip you with the insights and tools needed to navigate the digital transformation landscape successfully. During the workshop, attendees will: learn why aligning your technology initiatives with your business goals is crucial for achieving enhanced efficiency and competitive advantage; gain a step-by-step approach to creating a technology roadmap that prioritizes initiatives based on business impact; explore case studies from large enterprises, medium-sized companies, and small businesses that have effectively harnessed technology for digital transformation; and discover how to enhance workforce productivity, facilitate continuous employee development, and foster a culture of innovation through targeted technology strategies.

Responsible and Ethical Use of AI tools in Business

By Tatjana Titareva, PhD, Adjunct Faculty, College of Business at James Madison University

The session will cover topics of introduction to AI field, AI applications in business, human skills required for AI Era, example of legislation from the European Union and responsible and ethical Use of AI tools in Business. In the end, participants will have a chance to ask questions and share their best practices in developing guidelines and using AI tools ethically and responsibly.