Rocky Mountain Internet Users’ Group (RMIUG) is a group that meets once every other month to learn about the Internet through presentations, information sharing, questions & answers and informal conversations. We typically have about 100 people attend our meetings. It should be noted that RMIUG is not a formal organizations and has no legal status, no money/dues, and the meetings/Email lists are run by volunteers.

Our meetings are scheduled to be held at NCAR auditorium in Boulder. Our usual meeting day is the second Tuesday of odd-numbered months, from 7:00 - 9:00 pm (exact meeting details are posted to the RMIUG-announce mailing list about one week before the meeting). There is an optional half-hour period from 6:30 to 7:00pm for new user questions and informal networking. We try to start at 7:00 sharp with general announcements from us and the audience. Our featured presentation will usually start around 7:15-7:30 and last about an hour. Minutes from the meetings will be posted to the the RMIUG-announce mailing list within a week of the meeting.

There is no cost for attending the meetings or joining the group ... but we may pass the hat at a meeting to cover the room cost if we don't have a sponsor.

Read the minutes of our last meeting was on Tuesday, November 10th - "Making sense of Facebook and Twitter."

The Tuesday, January 12th meeting of the Rocky Mountain Internet Users Group
(RMIUG) will discuss "Digital Job Searching in the 2010s"

If you are out of work, it doesn't matter that Colorado has fared better than most states during this recent recession (7% unemployment vs 10% nationally in November 2009 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics).
If you need a job, the process can seem as daunting as ever.

Of course, there are plenty of digital tools to help out. During the last recession, job board websites such as Monster.com and HotJobs.com came into their own displacing newspapers "help wanted" sections. Through text searching and advanced fuzzy logic, online job boards proved to be more efficient at matching job seekers with positions.

During the current recession, social networking has become a major component to the job search. If most jobs aren't publicly advertised, then networking is the best way to find your next opportunity. Sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter are the ultimate digital enablers of that process.
Built on the principle of universal interconnectedness, these sites allow you to reach out to your colleagues and the colleagues of your colleagues.
It's through these connections that you can find the person or the person related to the person who has your next opportunity.

A recent comScore study on LinkedIn backs this trend. 28.5% of LinkedIn's total audience was comprised of job-seekers, compared to just 11.8% of the total U.S. Internet population (http://blog.comscore.com/2009/09/linkedin_social_media_job_market.html). In fact, 8.2% of LinkedIn.com visitors were heavy users (by time spent) to the Job Search category, compared to just 2.4% of the total Internet audience.
This means that when people need to find a job, they are going to LinkedIn to find it.

Clearly as we leave the 00s, LinkedIn is a terrific resource for job seekers. Are there other emerging trends for the 2010s? Besides LinkedIn, are there other resources? In this new medium, how do you position yourself for maximum impact?

At our next RMIUG meeting we will explore this topic in much in greater detail with one of the foremost experts in the field:

Liz Ryan (liz@asklizryan.com): has been called 'the voice of the new-millennium workplace.' Liz works with employers, universities and Human Resources thought leaders on the changing nature of work and employment. She advises working people through her columns, blogs, radio commentaries, podcasts and the Ask Liz Ryan online community. Liz's columns reach over 40 million readers every month, and her presentations across the U.S. and abroad bring Liz's pithy, down-to-earth observations and humor to corporate, university and association audiences. Liz works with a team of national thought leaders who share the Ask Liz Ryan mission.

Links:
Ask Liz Ryan: http://www.asklizryan.com
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com

The meeting is Tuesday, January 12th from 7:00 - 9:00 pm (with optional 6:30 pm start for refreshments and informal networking). The meeting will be held at The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) at 1850 Table Mesa Drive in Boulder. To get to NCAR from the Boulder Turnpike (US 36) or Broadway (US 93), take Table Mesa Drive west towards the mountains for approximately 2.5 miles into the foothills. NCAR is at the top of the hill.
For door-to-door driving directions, go to MapQuest (http://www.mapquest.com/), click on Driving Directions, enter your starting address, NCAR's address, and voila! Park in the NCAR lot, go in the main door, and ask the guard to point you to meeting, which is held in the main auditorium, right off the lobby. The meeting is free and open to the public, but we may pass the hat to help defray expenses.

Our meeting location seats about 120 people. That is usually enough room to accommodate all attendees, but it's impossible for us to predict how many people will show up for any given meeting. Seating is always on a first-come, first serve basis, and in the event of more attendees than seats, we won't be able to admit additional people into the auditorium after all seats are filled.

Thanks to our three sponsors who help make RMIUG meetings happen:
---------------------------------------------------------------
Applied Trust Engineering (http://www.appliedtrust.com/) -- an IT security and network/systems infrastructure consulting services company sponsors the refreshments.
ONEWARE (http://www.ONEWARE.com) -- a Colorado-based software company that provides semi-custom web-based applications, sponsors the RMIUG meeting minutes.
Copy Diva (http://www.copydiva.com) which provides marketing project management, marketing communications consulting, and web content development is the AV sponsor for RMIUG.

Consultants and companies are invited to bring Internet-related Product information, brochures, and business cards which will be displayed on an information table.

There are email mailing lists set up for this group. To subscribe or unsubscribe, see http://www.rmiug.org/maillist.html. You can also reach the RMIUG "Executive" Committee at rmiug-comm@rmiug.org. Our web site is at http://www.rmiug.org/

*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=
Please note that RMIUG is hosted at NCAR and we are their guests. NCAR has security regulations in effect that we must follow in order to use the facility. If any RMIUG attendee is unwilling to follow these simple regulations, I would ask that he or she not attend and instead read the minutes after the meeting.

Here are the NCAR security policies that must be followed:

1. No weapons.
2. Must sign in at front desk and provide name.
3. Cooperate with security folks including providing ID if requested.
4. We are guests of NCAR so cooperation and courtesy are expected when dealing with NCAR staff.

If there are any questions or concerns with this policy, please contact me directly.
Thanks, Josh Zapin (josh@rmiug.org).

Follow us at:
Twitter: http://twitter.com/rmiug
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/rmiug
Linkedin: Group: Rocky Mountain Internet Users Group *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=