Event Notices From Sept. 11-13

HDI Motown executive panel moves to larger venue: The Sixth Annual HDI Motown Executive Panel will be held Friday, Sept. 18 from 1 to 4 p.m. Due to overwhelming demand, the venue has been changed to a larger room in the Oakland County Executive Building, 2100 Pontiac Lake Road in Waterford Township. The program will feature Metro Detroit's technology leaders sharing their best practices and vision for the future. Panelists will be discussing questions submitted by HDI Motown Chapter Members. The audience will have an opportunity during the discussion to ask questions as well. Panelists include Phil Bertolini, Oakland County, CIO/Deputy County Executive; Jeff Christofis, Kelly Services, Director of Infrastructure Operations & Services; Sean Flater, Volkswagen Group of America, CTO; Barry Fleischer, Optimum Technology, CEO; Frank Petersmark, Amerisure Mutual Insurance Co., Vice President of IT; and Theresa Rowe, Oakland University, CIO. The master of ceremonies is Dave Willmer, Robert Half Technology, Executive Director. Door prizes include a new Dell Mini9 Netbook, Management and Leadership Books, Free HDI Silver Membership, a $100 Apple Gift Card from  Robert Half Technology and a $100 Gift Card from RHT.

Plante & Moran Fall Webinar to Help Biz 'Prepare For Upswing': Plante & Moran, PLLC, the Southfield-based accounting and business advisory firms, has launched a series of Webinars entitled 'Topics 4 the Times.' The complimentary Webinars will be held from September through November and are aimed at helping businesses adopt longer-term thinking to ultimately emerge from the recession as stronger companies. 
The three rotating webinar topics are: What Do You Do for the Next Round? Many business leaders have implemented deep cost cutting plans in recent years and are now asking, “What’s next?” A team of Plante & Moran experts will outline industry specific opportunities to position organizations to take full advantage of the upswing. Issues to be addressed include cost management strategies to improve working capital so companies will have the cash needed to fund inventories and receivables when demand picks up. Also, What’s New on the Tax Front? Specialists in federal, state, local, and international tax will cover tax issues that affect business profits and personal income; they will also take the mystery out of year-end tax planning. Plus, there will be discussion on emerging tax legislation in Michigan. Finally there's Is Simpler Better? Join accounting standards experts discussing the pros and cons of the newly introduced international accounting language (IFRS), the financial reporting language in 100 countries.  This webinar is geared to small to medium-sized companies already doing business globally, as well as those who are considering global operations. With capital markets becoming increasingly global, learn if and when your organization should convert to IFRS and the timeline for IFRS adoption in the U.S.; hear about the impact on accounting systems and beyond, which can include loan covenants, IT systems, and contracts and compensation. In addition to these webinars, other industry specific webinars geared to health care, senior care, manufacturing and distribution, governmental units, and real estate and construction will be offered. To review the webinar schedule in its entirety and register for an event, please go to http://topics4thetimes.plantemoran.com.

Java User Group organizing '1DevDay': The Detroit Java User Group is organizing a day-long conference Saturday, Nov. 14 called 1DevDay Detroit 2009.  This event  is a grassroots undertaking to bring an affordable, accessible, non-vendor specific tech conference to the Metro Detroit area.  The event will be held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at ePrize headquarters in Pleasant Ridge.  Keynote speaker Venkat Subramaniam will address "Facts and Fallacies of Everyday Software Development." Speaker Srini Penchikala will teach a two hour Spring development tutorial, Dennis O'Flynn will conduct a two hour OSGi tutorial, Terracotta co-founder Orion Letizi will be speaking, as will Xtreme programming legend Chet Hendrickson and much more. Organizers are setting a limit of 90 attendees for the event. More at www.detroitjug.org or www.1devday.org. 

Google offers event for student groups: Google's Ann Arbor office is hosting its Third Annual Google Workshop for Student Groups on Wednesday, Sept. 16. The event runs from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Googlers will be teaching students from University of Michigan, Eastern Michigan University, and Washtenaw Community College how to leverage Google products to better manage their student groups. Then, the students will take part in a challenge that awards the the student group that most creatively and effectively uses Google products in their group. Winners will be asked to return to the office next year for lunch, and to speak to the next round of student groups.