Karen Lopez is  frequent speaker at DAMA chapters and conferences around the world.  Her sessions are well attended and receive great reviews.  She is often invited to return to speak again on new topics.

InfoAdvisors waives our normal speaking fees for DAMA Chapters, AITP Chapters, and CIPS Sections.  Your not-for-profit association may also be eligible.

She has been a speaker for:

• DAMA Australia
• DAMA Iowa
• DAMA MN*
• DAMA NJ*
• DAMA Philadelphia
• DAMA Portland*
• DAMA San Francisco
• DAMA UK
• DAMA WI
• IRMAC (Toronto)*
• Albany EMUG
• Dallas EMUG
• New York City EMUG*
• Philadelphia EMUG
  
  *Multiple events

These topics are also available for corporate workshops.

Please contact us if you are interested in booking a speaking engagement.

One Hour Topics

Overview: Working with the New Generation of Techs

Are you a Baby Boomer?  A Gen X? A Gen M?  Do you pride yourself in quality of work, meeting deadlines or having a real life…or is it all of them?   A recent Canadian study of North American youth shows that the generation gap between more experienced and newer IT workers is adding complexity to managing cultural differences based on age and environment.

Karen leads an interactive discussion on increasing collaboration with newer developers, DBAs, and other technical IT staff.   Topics include:

• What are Traditionalists, Boomers, Gen Xers, Gen Yers?
• Why do Generational Differences Matter?
• Are They All Whiners? 
• Separating Generational Bunk from The Facts

While we recommend our 2 hour workshop below on a similar topic, this overview is intended for organizations that have only a one hour time slot.

Starting with More than a Blank Page: Modeling with an Industry Standard Data Model

Have you ever considered using pre-existing pattern models to jump start your data modeling projects?  Have you considered purchasing proprietary models? Did you know that there are hundreds of models available to you for free or for minimal cost?

Many industry trade associations publish industry standard data models (ISDMs).  These models focus on the core and supporting business functions associated with retailing, health care, criminal justice and other industry sectors.  They may be provided free to the public or for just the cost of joining a trade association.

In this presentation, Karen discusses some of the benefits and gotchas of working with acquired models - industry standard models, patterns, and other universal model concepts.   This session includes topics such as:

• The costs, benefits, and risks of working with industry standard data models
• The benefits of using industry standards in your package acquisition projects
• Choosing the right process
• Myths in working with pattern models
• 10 Tips for successfully working with third party models
• What you should know before committing to project plans and estimates
• Lessons Learned
• Resources

Find out what other organizations are doing with industry standard data models -- how vendors and industry organizations are partnering to set standards that your organization will want to leverage for better meet the business needs of your solutions.

 I Learned Everything I Need To Know About Data Modeling from Amazon.com: An Overview of Really Useful Books that Aren't About Data Modeling     
In this presentation, Karen shares her passion in reading by giving an overview of really useful books for data architects who want to be:

• Great team members
• Well positioned in the workplace
• Great communicators
• Better Analysts

Attendees will also get the opportunity to nominate their favorite books. 

• Party/party role
• Natural vs. surrogate keys
• Class Models vs. Data Models
• SOAs, Ontologies, ESBs, New TLAs and Shoe Strings
• What is Logical? What is Physical? Why Do We Care?
• Politics vs. Customer Satisfaction

...and others Participants in this session will be presenting with an issue along with a range of responses or possible solutions. Participants will vote on their preferred response, then the group as a whole will discuss the results, along with the merits of each possible response. If the specific issue has been discussed in other presentations, a summary of the responses of the other groups will be presented. The goal of this workshop is to help practitioners identify potential points of conflict in data modeling, as well as alternative approaches to resolving the issues. This presentation is targeted at experienced data modelers and assumes extensive data modeling skills. 

This presentation can be easily extended to two hours.

Managing Your Project Manager: A Survival Guide for Data Professionals
As we are asked to do more with less, project pressures can lead to compromises, shortcuts, and other streamlining techniques. These shortcuts influence the quality and completeness of data management deliverables, yet most project managers have only a high-level understanding of what we do and what we require to do it. How will you respond when your project manager asks you how long it will take, how much will it cost, and how your efforts should be reflected in the project plan? This highly interactive (and sometimes irreverent) discussion will include:

• Warning Signs: When project pressures influence you ability deliver
• Getting It Right: Questions to ask when estimating data management activities
• Survival Tips: Making the best of more for less
• Resources: Where to turn for other survival tips

Two Hour Topics

Workshop: Working with Techs: Better Collaboration with the New Generation of Techs

Are you a Baby Boomer?  A Gen X? A Gen M?  Do you pride yourself in quality of work, meeting deadlines or having a real life…or is it all of them?   A recent Canadian study of North American youth shows that the generation gap between more experienced and newer IT workers is adding complexity to managing cultural differences based on age and environment.

Karen leads an interactive workshop on increasing personal collaboration with developers, DBAs, and other technical IT staff.   Topics will include

• What are Traditionalists, Boomers, Gen Xers, Gen Yers?
• Why do Generational Differences Matter?
• Are They All Whiners? 
• Separating Generational Bunk from The Facts
• Planning for improved personal and organizational performance

If I had a Million Dollars ...
A fun, interactive workshop with audience participants "designing" the perfect modelling tool and then debating and prioritizing features and standards that it will support. Participants will work in groups via a requirements process to define and refine the features of an ideal toolset that would best support modelling in the real world. Topics to be addressed may include:

• Usability
• Meta Data Quality
• Support of Standards (techniques, DBMSs, XML, etc.)
• Diagramming, Printing, Publishing
• Vendor Support
• Collaboration and Remote Modelling.
• Multiple User Views of Meta data

This presentation requires a workshop-like room format, with easels and newsprint paper or sticky presentation papers.  It also is most successful with at 20-40 attendees.  It requires at least 2 hours.

How to Win Friends and Influence People with Painless Data Model Reviews and Presentations
You don't have to be part of a painful data model walk through, presentation or review ever again. This hands-on workshop will provide you with real world tips, techniques, and trade-offs in preparing for a data model presentation and publishing models.

Workshop participants will learn:

• Tips for getting the best review comments from business users.
• A technique for reviewing modelling objects in the right order and spending the right amount of time reviewing.
• Trade-offs in presenting the material.
• Resources for easing the pain of developing definitions
• 10 tips for getting the right people to review the right models.
• Myths and Urban Legends about data model reviews

 Full Day Topics 

Full Day Workshop:  Working with Techs: Better Collaboration with Developers and DBAs

Karen leads an interactive workshop on increasing personal and organizational collaboration with developers, DBAs, and other technical IT staff.   Topics will include

• Working with the new generation of IT workers
• Location, location, location
• Building Trust
• Planning for improved personal and organizational performance
• Planning for organizational performance improvement

Each attendee will take away a personal performance improvement plan for better collaboration for easier projects, better products, and faster tasks.

Karen's Bio

Karen López is a principal consultant at InfoAdvisors, Inc., a Toronto-based consulting firm. Karen has spoken at several DAMA conferences and DAMA Chapters.  She has 20 years of experience in project and data management on large, multi-project programs.  Karen specializes in the practical application of data management principles. 

Karen is also the ListMistress and moderator of the InfoAdvisors Discussion Groups at www.infoadvisors.com.