Canberra monthly events & news update - 31 Aug 2022
31 August 2022
Highlights
- Canberra Mentoring Program Graduation for the cohort (Feb - Jul 2022) and
- The launch of our next round of the mentoring program (Aug 22 - Jan 23)
- ACS Power app workshop with Skillar MVP
- ACS Masterclass Series: Artificial Intelligence
- Canberra Fellows update from Peter Lambert
On 23 Aug: Canberra Mentoring Graduation & Launch
The ACS had our Canberra Mentoring Program Graduation for the cohort (Feb - Jul 2022), 61 per cent of those mentors & mentees have graduated and received a certificate from the program. *To be eligible to graduate from the program, the mentor or mentee is required to actively participate in the program continuously or to the point where their goals have been met.
It was joyful to see people succeed and hear many mentors & mentees sharing their wonderful stories and the methodology they used to allocate their time on top of their already busy lives to support others. We also see the appreciation from many mentees towards their mentor, and that commitment is priceless for many.
At this event, we also launched our next round of the mentoring program (Aug 22 - Jan 23), with 46 participants.
We look forward to continuing to work with our mentors & mentees to support their mentoring journey, and we do hope our ACS members find the program useful and realize the benefits of participating in the ACS Mentoring Program.
If you are interested in the ACS Canberra Mentoring Program, please contact us via email acs.canb@acs.org.au
#MentoringMatters #ACSMembersHelpMembers #ACSCanberraMentoringProgram #ACSNewsfeed #ACSCanberra
On 18 Aug: ACS Power app workshop with Skillar MVP
Power Apps, Microsoft’s low-code development platform, provides business and operations leaders with great opportunities to accelerate business process transformation.
We were lucky to have two Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals (MVP), Sahan Wijayasekera and Nadeeja Bomiriya, who provided a four-hour hands-on workshop to our members virtually. The workshop was focused on the basic concepts involved in building Power Apps Canvas apps, including step-by-step instructions.
We received positive feedback from attendees who commended the knowledgeable speakers and the pace of the workshop.
We want to take this opportunity to thank Sahan Wijayasekera and Nadeeja Bomiriya for their time in teaching our members.
On 12 Aug: ACS Masterclass Series: Artificial Intelligence
As part of its partnership with the Australian Public Service Commission (APSC), Digital Profession, Emerging Talent Program, the ACS (Australian Computer Society) was pleased to present the 4th masterclass of its 5 Masterclass Series last Friday, 12 Aug 2022. This masterclass was focused on the theme of Artificial Intelligence.
Our keynote speaker, Trevor Drummond, Data & AI Cloud Solution Architect from Microsoft, shared the six responsible AI principles at Microsoft and sample techniques to improve model debugging and responsible decision-making processes, and Steve Nouri, Chief Data Scientist, Founder and Top Voice DS & AI & Web 3.0 shared his insights about the current state and trends of AI with plenty of case studies and examples.
We’ve learnt why responsible AI is so important and some of the ramifications. We must be careful about how to go forward with AI and increase focus on AI ethics and available resources.
It was interesting to see what the trends were on a Country level and which ones are investing the most. And how AI can lead to different problems, for example, a self-driving car that was pulled over etc. We will need to decide how to handle potential complications ahead of time.
On 4 Aug: Canberra Fellows update from Peter Lambert
It was again great to see some of us on Thursday 4 August at our second quarterly lunch at the Chairman and Yip restaurant in Barton. They were able to give us a private room, which allowed for excellent conversations about many things, including the ACS and ACS Fellows. There were six Fellows in attendance; me, Tom Worthington, Mark Hanmeng Looi, Tim Turner, Brand Hoff, and Roland Padilla.
Over lunch we discussed the Canberra Fellows data and information sheet (sent to all Fellows earlier this year). This time it included some questions about whether Fellows would: give SME and/or ICT experience presentations at upcoming Branch events; become an ACS ‘senior’ mentor as part of our mentoring program (I am one already and it is great connecting with more junior ACS members); assist in the Fellows nomination process (submission and citation) for any potential new Fellows and/or anyone they would like to nominate.
We had some really positive responses, which is great. I’m especially chuffed about the last one as I’ve found it quite hard to find the time to complete the detailed nomination process for the number of potential fellows we have. If you weren’t at the lunch and would like to let me know your answers to the three questions, then please just email me at peterllambert@icloud.com
We also spent some time discussing how Fellows could contribute and provide real value to ACS members and ICT professionals throughout the Canberra region. These ideas were suggested for further development:
- Assisting the Canberra BEC in influencing Federal & Territory government, industry, and university CIOs based in Canberra
- Providing free and sage Fellows advice on key professional or industry challenges (perhaps as a ACS service to Canberra based Professional Partner Program – PPP organisations)
- Being offered by the ACS as honorary, experienced and independent ICT advisors on governmental, university and industry committees (potentially again as an ACS service to Canberra based PPPs)
- Forming a “brains trust” of “grey haired persons” (noting ‘beards’ are somewhat gender specific), where experienced Fellows can come together to address particular ACS or PPP challenges
These ideas appear to potentially provide real added value to the ACS as well as to the ACS value proposition to PPPs. We’d welcome your thoughts on these ideas, including whether or not you’d be interested in volunteering for any of the potential contributions. They are not at all firm or approved yet, so we will continue to explore and consider over coming months, maybe for implementation in 2023, and discuss again at the next quarterly lunch. I hope to see you there.
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