Tony Dye

Switchvox/Asterisk Reminder

One more reminder: Switchvox/Asterisk presentation & demo THIS WEDNESDAY, July 2, Perimeter Church, noon until 3PM or so.  We have plenty of room if you're interested.  Just let me know.  TonyDye [at] perimeter [dot] org.

Vendor vs. Partner

A couple of people I've talked with who are potential vendors at the fall roundtable requested a different word: Partner.  That does convey a very different message, doesn't it?  It's funny, I can't clearly define it, but I could easily make a list of people I do business with, and some would be vendors, some would be partners.

Which would you rather have at a roundtable event?  For me, that's easy: PARTNERS!

Heading for Peoria

Today starts the drive to Peoria, via a rather random route.  Thursday is Central IL Church IT Roundtable.  I'm excited for the chance to be there!

Switchvox Gathering Confirmed

We are confirmed for the Switchvox presentation/demo/discussion.

What:    Information on Switchvox, a commercial version of Asterisk by Digium
When:   July 2, 2008, noon until about 3:30PM
Where:  Perimeter Church
RSVP:    Please let me know if you are coming.  Post a comment, or email me: TonyDye [at] Perimeter [dot] org

Randy Bell is the Channel Accounts Manager for Digium|Asterisk.  He will begin with a brief overview of “What is Asterisk” and “Who is Digium”.  There won't be time for an exhaustive demo, but we will have the chance to play with it.  The discussion will include how the Asterisk Ecosystem works and the difference between community supported and commercially supported versions of Asterisk.

There will be plenty of Q&A time

Switchvox Presentation/Demo

For those of you in or near the Atlanta area, we're going to have a chance to look at the Switchvox variation of Asterisk.  In case you don't already know, Digium is the commercial company behind Asterisk, and Switchvox is now part of Digium, bringing it all back together.  (very abbreviated summary, obviously)

Tom Guffin of Higher Ground Technologies has been deploying Switchvox for a while and has nothing but great stories about it.  He's arranged to have a Digium representative spend an afternoon to help show off Switchvox and answer questions. 

Don't make any big travel plans yet, but pencil in lunch and early afternoon on July 2.  I expect to confirm that in the next few days.  It's confirmed: July 2, starting at noon, location will be Perimeter Church.

Vendor Preferences

Thanks to John Ventry's comment, I now see that my previous post was unclear (a common theme!).  Now I understand the confusion in at least one of the other comments.  The intent was that when I'm selecting a vendor, to buy something from, I'll give preference to those who have CITRT connections.  This has almost nothing to do with how we treat vendors at the national CITRT meetings.  Does that make more sense?

Irony: I've been trying to write a post about how difficult some things are to communicate.  Not only have I re-proved the point, I'm also having a tough time coming up with a way to communicate the challenge of communicating.  Ugh!

Fall Roundtable Info/Blog

Trace has raised the bar! Check out the site for info on the Fall 2008 Church IT Roundtable.

Vendor Preferential Treatment?

Per the earlier thought, I'm ready to start giving some vendors preferential treatment.  Specifically, vendors who have shown an interest in, or connection with, CITRT activities, get an extra advantage.  OK, that's easy, but what would it take to identify those vendors who have shown interest in CITRT?

• Contributor to itDiscuss?
• Participate in podcasts?
• Participate in IRC
• Blog about info relevant to Church IT
• Participate in local roundtables (presenter or attendee)
• Offer something to the Church IT community

I think I'm willing to start slowly.  If there's *any* evidence of any of the above, that prequalifies the vendor.  Anybody else want to take this further?  I'd love one of you wordsmith types to turn this into something nice that I could email potential vendors.

The Juggling FMer

As seen at the Fall roundtable 2007 in Kansas City.  Thanks to Clif Guy and Church of the Resurrection, and especially to Dick Cooper, the juggler himself!

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The "famous" Juggling Facilities Manager

Video 1 What is Facilities Management?

Video 2 Metaphors using sharp objects, plus "The Howling FMer"

(special thanks to Richard Dolan for the DVD to .MOV conversion work)

Vendors/Product/Services - An Idea

(for those tempted to give me grief for posting while I'm on vacation, this post was actually written several days ago and set for a timed posting today)

Sort of inspired by my earlier posts on Outsourcing and Copier selection.  What if...

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For any sort of product, or vendor, or service, or whatever, I specifically seek out CITRT connections.  When interviewing vendors (or whatever), I make a point of asking questions like:

• Does your organization have any current connection to CITRT?
• Does your organization have any bloggers?
• Can you give me names of other churches who are using your product?
• Can you show me references, where a Church IT blogger has given a referral about your product or service?
• Are you willing to do a product presentation at a local, or national, CITRT meeting, or participate in a podcast, or otherwise specifically present to our Church IT community?

At first blush, this seems pretty harsh -- "I don't like you if you're not connected to CITRT."  Then again, what an opportunity, both for the vendor, and for us.

Too extreme?  Too limiting?  Consider this a straw-man -- throw darts at it.