To those who believe, Merry Christmas!

To those who do not, have a great Tuesday!

Pictured is the Christmas Eve mass at St. Bernadette Church in Appleton, Wisconsin.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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dMorning is an informal networking meetup event for people who work in the tech and creative fields in and around Northeast Wisconsin.

Our next event will be on Friday, December 14, 2018, from 7:30 – 9:30 am at the new offices of Dealer Inspire, 423 West College Avenue, Appleton, WI 54911. Dealer Inspire is an innovative, scrappy disruptor building unprecedented websites and technology to help car dealerships sell more. Special thanks to Dealer Inspire for hosting our next event!

Though there's no cost, please RSVP – you can do so with Eventbrite or Meetup.

dMorning was started to provide a casual environment for those who work in the technology and creative fields in Northeast Wisconsin to meet, network and have a beverage of choice. The idea is to meet in the morning before the day gets hectic. There are no set rules and no agenda. More information is available at dMorning.com.

Hope to see you there!

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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The next dMorning meetup networking event will be on Friday, November 9 from 7:30 – 9:30 am at Copper Rock Coffee Co., 210 W. College Avenue in Appleton, Wisconsin.

dMorning was started to provide a casual environment for those who work in the technology and creative fields in Northeast Wisconsin to meet, network and have a beverage of choice. The idea is to meet in the morning before the day gets hectic. There are no set rules and no agenda. More information is available at dMorning.com.

Hope to see you there!

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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Great interactive classroom instruction coupled with real-world work opportunities provide the best educational experience for students. When you have the chance to help make that happen, it’s extremely rewarding. That happened for me recently as I was a guest lecturer at a university class.

I was honored to be asked once again by Dr. Sara Steffes Hansen, a professor at University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh and chair of the Journalism department. Her class, Application of New & Emerging Media, provides that educational experience working with entities in the community on their social media and beyond. As her students make on-site visits to their clients, I was asked to speak to the class on the topic of consulting.

Last year I spoke to students in the same class, but after their client visit, where this year it was ahead of it. As meeting face-to-face with clients involves many factors – factors many don’t execute on well – I incorporated a role play into the interactive lecture. With a “volunteer” student, I did an improvised sketch where the student was the client and I was the bumbling, unprepared consultant. This segued into my discussion on preparing for and executing on the on-site visit, as well as the follow-up and deliverables from the class assignment.

For me, this guest lecture served many purposes. As I have learned from others, both in the classroom and in the real world, I welcome the opportunity to share my experience and “war stories” with the students. As someone who still thinks and works like a consultant, poor consulting skills from others stick out like a sore thumb soaked in sriracha and lit on fire! If this lecture can help guide students down the path of honing their consulting skills, then the world will be that much better.

This class is part of the UW – Oshkosh’s Interactive Web Management major, which is a combination of curricula from Computer Science, Marketing, Journalism and Information Systems. It is a unique major, mashing up key aspects of each of these areas to offer a comprehensive educational background for how companies today are staffing roles in marketing and tech.

Where you needed to be enrolled in the class to get the full lecture, I am sharing my slides. You can link to the slides from my guest lecture here on SlideShare, or view them embedded below. I am planning on coming back to the class at the end of the semester to watch their client presentations. In the meantime I wish great success to the students of Journalism 61-440!

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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I am thrilled to announce a networking event for people who work in the tech and creative fields in Northeast Wisconsin. Introducing dMorning.

What is dMorning?

The idea behind dMorning is relatively simple – informal networking before the busy workday starts, with no set rules and no agenda. Since I moved to the Fox Valley last year, I have been looking for something like this, as I work in the Web and I am looking to meet people who work in similar fields in the area.

I hosted a variety of meetups when I lived in Chicago – some very specific and others more general – and have found the latter to be more interesting and worthwhile. A casual gathering of people to talk about what they are working on, sharing stories and bouncing ideas off each other… this is something I have wanted to restart for a while, and why not here? My plan is for this to be a monthly event.

The next dMorning will be on Friday, October 19 beginning at 7:30 am at All Seasons Coffeehouse in Appleton, conveniently located off I-41 at Wisconsin Avenue. I say it ends at 9:30 am, but anyone can stay longer. There is no cost for dMorning; you just pay for any beverages or food you purchase from this locally-owned business.

What’s in a name?

So why did I call this dMorning? As I sought out a name for this event, I didn’t want to pick something too limiting. On the Web site at dMorning.com there are some ideas of what the “d” can stand for.

Hope to see you there!

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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