Hi everyone, welcome. Thank you for coming. My name is Joe Gunn. I'm the Chief Procurement Officer for the City of Fort Worth. Muy buenas tardes todos sean bienvenidos. La señorita Joan, ella es la directora del Departamento de Adquisiciones de la Ciudad de Fort Worth. We appreciate you all joining our training. Okay, let's see if that helped. Good. Okay. We appreciate you all joining our training today. And I'm looking forward to any questions that you have. Apreciamos su asistencia a la sesión de entrenamiento del día de hoy y para responder preguntas que pudieran tener. With me today on Zoom, we have Derek Atkins, who is our implementation specialist from Bonfire, who will be providing today's training. Y tenemos ahora en línea al señor Derek Atkins, él es el especialista de implementación de la plataforma de Bonfire. And to give us an additional welcome to the microphone here, no introduction necessary there so that he can give a brief introduction as well. Hello everybody, I'm Christian, I'm the Minority Business Enterprise Specialist at the Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Thank you all for coming today. We appreciate you all taking this opportunity to get registered for Bonfire. This got implemented January 1st, so you guys are first in line to, you know, to get started. So we really appreciate y'all showing up and we hope that the training is easy to follow. Derek, we're missing your screen. I'll go ahead and share my screen I have not yet shared. Okay, great. Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome. Today I will demonstrate how to register on Bonfire, as well as how to submit to opportunities at the City of Fort Worth. Buenas tardes, bienvenidos todos a la sesión de entrenamiento del uso de Bonfire. El día de hoy voy a enseñarles cómo inscribirse, registrarse en el sistema, cómo crear su usuario y para que puedan entonces ustedes aprender cómo someter sus ofertas en el sistema en la ciudad de Fort Worth. We are a web based system. I'm using Google Chrome. Somos un sistema basado en la red de internet. Vamos a utilizar el buscador de Google Chrome. I'm connected to the website. Fort Worth, Texas dot bonfire hub dot com. Lo he conectado a la página de la ciudad de Fort Worth. En la parte en donde dice bonfire, en donde vamos a poder ver ese entrenamiento. For testing, we have prepared a sandbox environment for testing only. Y para hacer pruebas vamos a utilizar lo que se llama sandbox que es una área en el sistema que solamente es para pruebas. This is our live system. Our test environment is Fort Worth, Texas dash sandbox dot bonfire hub dot com. Este es el sistema está en vivo. Vamos ahora a utilizar en el buscador. Vamos a ir a la parte donde dice Fort Worth, sandbox bonfire. When you are registering. Use the production system called Fort Worth, Texas dot bonfire hub dot com. Select login slash register. Para registrar sobre inscribirse van a ir a la página en el buscador de Fort Worth, Texas punto bonfire hub dot com. Y van a seleccionar la pestaña de registro. Login slash register. Has this option to create your free bonfire account. El recuadro de registro o de crear al usar a usuario es esta ventana en donde nos va a permitir crear la cuenta. You will type in your organization name, first name, last name, email address twice. Van a escribir el nombre de su compañía o de su organización a su nombre su apellido y su correo electrónico dos veces. When you select create account, this will display success and you will receive an email with further instructions. Cuando ya se creó la cuenta de usuario van ustedes a ver esta ventana que tiene un anuncio que se ha creado la cuenta exitosamente y vamos a proseguir por los pasos que siguen. Here's the sample email from bonfire support. Indicating the bonfire account has been created. Esa es una muestra de un correo electrónico en donde se ha creado una cuenta en bonfire en viene de la cuenta de apoyo de bonfire. The next step is to click the link to complete your registration. El siguiente paso es completar su registro. You will need to create a password between 10 and 20 characters long. Debe de crear una contraseña de 10 a 20 caracteres. Sorry to jump in here. We have a few people who are having trouble connecting to our Wi-Fi. So the Wi-Fi that you want to connect to is the Molly guest. Molly online. Thank you. Molly online should be unsecured. Let's try that one. I know it has guests in it. Sorry CFW guest. Thank you. And that one should not ask for a password to be unsecured. Anyone having trouble connecting to that? There's connected. Great. Thank you. If it's CFW guest and shouldn't ask for a username. So on the Wi-Fi make sure it's the CFW guest. Is everyone able to get connected? Anyone having trouble? Okay, to proceed. Save about. Looks like we're good. Okay. Thank you all very much for your help. Thank you for letting me know that. I will click continue to proceed to the next step. The bonfire registration is not complete. We will need to either create a new organization or join an organization. For example, if someone else at your organization has created a bonfire account. You can search for that organization name or you can match the domain address in your email. For the demonstration today, I will create a new organization. There is a three step process to create your organization. Those items listed with the red asterisk will be required pieces of information. So I will type in my business description, phone number and address. For state, I will choose the country first and select US. That will allow Texas to be selected in the drop-down box. Once I've entered my address, I will click save and next. Now we're on step two to provide further details about your business. We will answer each of these questions. Many employees choose from this drop-down list. Your role again choose from the drop-down list. We had already entered our first name, last name and email address. This completes step two and I will click save and next to proceed to step three. Step three is to determine which locations you service. If I was to choose the entire United States, I would select this check box. Or you can hit the arrow to choose down to the state level. It does allow for multiple states to be selected. Next I will click go to settings. And this completes this three-step process to prepare my global vendor record. Selecting go to settings will direct me to the city of Fort Worth bonfire system. We will see the website will change from vendor dot bonfire hub to Fort Worth. I am using the test environment for this demonstration. And when you initiate this from the production system, it will place you in the correct website, Fort Worth Texas stop on firehub.com. To finish our registration is three more steps. First step is to confirm our account. We will accept the privacy policy and terms of service. These are links to the policy and terms of service which are available on that website. I will check the box save and continue to step two. Step one indicates it's complete with the green check mark. You will notice it collected the name and address information that was previously entered. If you had a headquarters location at 200 Texas street, you may wish to register a regional office or another location address in this area. We also need to answer some additional questions below. Anything with a red asterisk is a required response. We will notice DBA name and website address are not required. So if applicable. Tax ID number is required. This question, if you have special business certifications, you will choose from the drop down list. These questions relate to diversity and MWBE. You are allowed to choose multiple. So if I was veteran owned as well as a woman owned business, you can select two choices. We also have options if it's not applicable or other that you can choose. The next question is whether you accept purchase orders choosing either yes or no. Do you offer discounts for prompt payment yes or no? Are you registered as a legal entity with the state of Texas Comptroller's office yes or no? If you are registered with the Comptroller or Secretary of State in other states, enter the state abbreviation. We also notice this is not a required field. Also not required but optional which cooperatives do you hold a contract through? Note this is only the testing site because I am in the sandbox. The next section is to choose a vendor type. Before we jump into that, we touch base and just make sure is everyone good up to this point? Periodically take breaks and take questions. We do have one question in the audience at City Hall. That was just that he was not able to move forward because he didn't have his tax ID with him here. Any other questions or anything we can get help with? The question was if you have a W9 that was signed in November 2023 that should still be current so as long as your W9 is still good, still current then you can use that W9. The question that was asked was if your W9 is still current was obtained in November 2023 while your W9 is still current so as long as you can use that W9. It doesn't look like we have any other questions in the audience at City Hall. Let's check the chat. It's like we had a question of what do we use for the organization name when creating an account? And thank you Derek for responding that the organization name is your company name. Or in this case it's called vendor name. Yes vendor name, thank you. One of the people who are participating is a question of what is considered the name of the organization. If it's the same as the company name, the answer is yes, it's the same and in this case also in the system it's recognized as a vendor. We're still in step one. Oh sorry and just as a reminder for anyone who it looks like we have some connectivity issues in the chat, the session of thank you Friday is being recorded. So you will be able to access this on the city's purchasing page following the training. It seems to indicate that we are having connectivity issues for the people who are connected via remote. Just so you know this session is being recorded and you will be able to access this session and see it again on our purchasing page of the city's purchasing department. We need to finish step one. By selecting your vendor type, at least one of these selections. This would be the type of service that I provide to the city of Fort Worth. For my demonstration, I had previously entered I'm a construction vendor. I will add construction horizontal and construction vertical by clicking the plus sign. I will add construction horizontal and construction vertical by clicking the plus sign. You can add as many vendor types as you wish. By choosing this option, this opens you up to more opportunities for the projects that you can support. The more options selected in this area, you will then have access to more opportunities to provide services. When I click save, I will continue to step three. Step three is documentation. Here we have two pieces of information, one of which is required and one is optional. If you are MWBE certified, you can upload your certification document as a PDF. I would click upload file. I would click upload file. This is connected to my local desktop computer. This is connected to my computer directly. If you notice here only the documents that are in PDF format are the ones that are in your files. This is my MBE certification document. Now that I have selected it, I click upload file to attach this certification to my vendor record. I received a confirmation, the file was uploaded successfully. Selecting this arrow will display the document I've uploaded. Choosing actions allows me to delete. The download will download what I've just uploaded. For the W9, it is required, so I'll upload file. Choose my file, select the W9, and open upload. I do receive the confirmation message that it was uploaded successfully. And again, I can delete and upload again or download what I've just provided. Step three is now complete, our registration is now complete. We do have one other option to select commodity codes. When I select commodity codes, we're using the NIGP code set. By choosing commodity codes, this will help match you to future bid opportunities in the service regions that I've specified. For example, I indicated I service Texas, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. I can attach commodity codes to my vendor record. I can attach commodity codes to my vendor record. I can attach commodity codes to my vendor record. I can attach commodity codes to my registration. If I enter a keyword search, I searched for the word construction and it highlighted the various commodity codes related to that have this keyword. And then I will give all the codes of all the services that are available for offers with their number of codes. To add these codes to my account, all I have to do is click on the plus sign to add light. Selecting the plus sign adds the button of the NAGP code. You can add as many codes as you wish. I'm searching for keywords. You can also search directly for the code if it's known. For example, I searched code 918. It found these consulting services codes. The next step is really quickly for those here and online. Choosing your NIGP codes are very important because that's the codes we'll use to notify you of opportunities. To apologize for the interruption, but for all the people who are present and are online, selecting NIGP codes is very important because that's what will allow us to select when you offer services or want to send an offer. You can get these notices and you can remove it, but it would be better to go ahead and add it if you think that you might fall into that code. The final thing is to check the box to be notified of opportunities that do match. This opts in to allow you to receive emails. And now we're finished to registration complete. We have completed all of the requirements to register your new vendor account. On the top right, this will provide access to the settings that we've just entered. If you need to change anything at any time, log in, choose the dropdown and select settings. Here are the two registrations we just completed. One for the organization vendor record. The organization vendor record is everything that the city of Fort Worth is requesting. Here are the two registrations we just completed. One for the organization vendor record. For example, that shows my regional office location. All of the custom questions being asked. Additional information are the vendor types I selected. The additional information is the type of provider that I have selected. And the documents are the two documents that I have uploaded. For example, if a new W9 form was to be uploaded, I could delete the existing and upload a new one. We also have a global vendor record. This will connect me to that first step where I initially created my organization. If you recall, that is where I entered my corporate vendor name, my company name, and my company address, number of employees, etc. Clicking Manage My Organization allows you to change that information. Clicking Manage My Organization allows you to change that information. This is the master record that you maintain on Bonfire. If your name changes, first and last name, you can change it here. If you change your email or wish a new password, you can change it here. You can upload a profile picture to your settings. You could choose to set your preferred language. We do have Espanol. It will update the language on the menu items. We also have the option of changing the language on the system. Now, I don't know when this was translated. And whether there are regional differences, but there may be some that are not exactly the same. If you do need updates, you let me know. I'll revert back to English so I can understand where I am. Finally, the settings will default to central time zone. The settings will allow you to select the central area. It does choose Chicago. I don't know if any others might be more appropriate here. But we'll leave it as Chicago for now. That is central time zone. Next, I'll demonstrate how to view opportunities at the city of Fort Worth. That's available from the option called portal. We have three tabs. We have three tabs across the top. Before we leave that first step of getting registered. There are none in the physical audience. I don't see any in the chat. Please continue. Thank you. On the portal, we have three tabs across the top. The first tab is called open public opportunities. If there is a current open project, we'll be displayed below. The first tab is called open public opportunities. If there is a current open project, we'll be displayed below. We'll be displayed below. We'll be displayed below. The first tab is called open public opportunities. As projects reach their end date and are completed. They will appear under past public opportunities. Under past public opportunities. For each of these opportunities, we have a link called View Opportunity. For each of these opportunities, we have a link called View Opportunity. For each of these opportunities, we have a link called View Opportunity. This will show us all the project details. If it was awarded, it will also include an award statement. The third tab across the top is called My Opportunities. This includes all opportunities that you've been invited to participate in, as well as those that you have submitted to. Since I just created this new vendor account, I have no current opportunities. On the bottom left of each screen, you also see a question mark. This question mark opens up to a vendor help center. In the vendor help center, we have three choices here. The first option is to search our vendor knowledge base. This directs you to vendorsupport.gobonfire.com. Here you can search for articles by text search or scroll through the menu options. Unfortunately, we don't have a Spanish translation for this page. Under registration, that is what I demonstrated earlier. And I also displayed how to update your settings. If you connect to vendorsupport.gobonfire.com, you can view the various help articles we have. Again, that was also accessible through the question mark and this link to the vendor help center. The next section in the question mark is a list of the most popular articles. For example, I clicked the link to vendor registration, which also steps through what I just demonstrated. And then the third section is to create a new support ticket. Here I can submit a service request to our support team. I would fill out each of these fields and select bonfire as the product line. If I had a technical problem, I could also include an attachment, which is optional. Clicking submit will automatically generate a service ticket to our support team. We operate from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Typical first response time is around 15 minutes. They're great people. I'm sure they'll be able to help. Okay, let's look at some open public opportunities. Here's one for some storm drain improvements. It shows a status of open and is marked to close January 19th at 10 a.m. So I have 10 days remaining and I will click the view opportunity link for details. This is the opportunity page, which shows me first the project details. Including all of the important dates. We also see that on the calendar display. We have our project description, a list of important events. For instance, we have a pre-bid conference. It does provide the location and a description of the conference itself. In this case, the event has passed and it was not mandatory to attend. We'll notice that the questions due date is upcoming. This button to ask a question will remain active until this date and time. I'll come back to this in just a moment. Scrolling down I also have supporting documentation. This shows me two documents that have been provided with the project material. We have a main ITB and also some submission instructions that have been made available to us. Each of these can be downloaded individually by clicking this button. We'll notice when I click download it saved it to my local desktop computer. You could also download both in one zip file by clicking download all files. So that saved it as a zip on my desktop and then I would unzip them to read each of these documents. Scrolling down now I have requested information, all documents and information that are needed to complete my submission. I can read each document name, the type that needs to be provided, the number of files that are to be uploaded, as well as whether it's required or optional. In some cases it's not a document upload, it's requesting a piece of information such as the primary contact name and the bottom line price. In some cases the information that is not required is as in this case the primary contact information or the price that is requested. Next is our messaging area. And the last area is the message area. We have two tabs, one is for public notices where public notices such as an addendum will be posted and available here. The next tab allows you to communicate with the project owner. We have a button here called start a new discussion, start a new vendor discussion. This allows you to send a private message to the project owner. For example, if you had a question about the requirements or need further information, you can ask the question. I've scrolled back up to the top, I mentioned I would come back to this. When I click ask a question, it will scroll down the page to the messaging area. You'll see that it has started a new discussion, I could enter its subject in a message. I've requested further clarification on this demo project, do you need cleanup of this location of the site? Or do you need to ask a question about the project? Just a demonstration of a message, a one-to-one message to the project owner. When I click send, it's sent a notice to the project owner that this message has arrived. Now we notice that the questions due date is January 15th. The project closed date is four days later. That allows the project owner to receive all questions, prepare responses, and upload an addendum. The questions and answers addendum will be sent as a public notice. The public notice will appear here. And you will also receive an email notice that a public notice has been posted. Once you have everything in order to prepare your response, we will click the link to prepare our submission. If you're new to Bonfire, we do have a video of the submission process. I will demonstrate this process. I'll click prepare your submission and there's two steps. Step one is to provide submission information. Step two is to submit and finalize. I cannot proceed to step two until I take care of step one. We'll see that this option is grayed out. So let's proceed with step one. I need to provide all the requested information. It shows whether it's required or optional. For the first item, it's a bid submission page that needs to be uploaded as a PDF document. We are only allowed one file or one PDF in this case. To upload my file, I click the upload file button. Select my bid submission page document. We'll receive a green check mark to indicate it was uploaded successfully. We also notice the red dot has changed to green. It only allowed one file. So if I try to upload another file, it shows we may only upload one file for that slot. So that is completed. We'll proceed to the primary contact name, which is optional. I'll type in my name. There's plenty of space. It allows for 2,000 characters. When I'm finished typing, I'll click save. And proceed to the next item. We'll notice this one is an Excel or Excel SX document or spreadsheet. Again, it is required, so I'll upload my file. It will choose a spreadsheet. It will highlight a spreadsheet to be uploaded. And I can see that was uploaded successfully with the green dot. Next is a required entry of a number to show the bottom line price. Number inputs will require a number with only digits and optionally a decimal point, no dollar signs. Which means for a high value project, if it's beyond a thousand, you don't use the comma. As well as no dollar sign. It would be simply entered with the numbers. This means you do need to be extra careful in entering the number to ensure there's no extra digits. Once I've entered my number, I'll click save. I should mention for each of these data entries, if you make an error, you can click edit to update and change what you've entered. In fact, up until the close date and time, you would have the ability to revise any information provided. And I will demonstrate how to do that in a few minutes. We also have two appendices and an optional document to upload. For example, if I uploaded this in error, I hit delete the trash can. Are you sure you wish to delete? In doing that, we noticed it changed back from green to red again. This item is optional. We'll also notice that now, step two, this button now becomes active because everything has been provided. Before I submit and finalize, I'll pause here for questions. How can I obtain the codes NGI or NGP in order for me to know what codes to select? I will show you once I've finished submitting here. I'll show you where we can do that. I just want to make sure we get this submitted as is. Yes, up until the close date and time. I would be able to log in January 19th at 9am. That would give me one hour to finish. As soon as it rolls over to 10.01am, this bid will close and disable this button. I'll demonstrate how to do that in just a minute. I was just going to jump in here. I think that's a good segue to as soon as 10 o'clock rolls around, so 10.01am in one second, it will close. So you want to make sure that you're getting in early, giving yourself time to review everything, make sure that it's correct, and submit so that if there's any issues, you can contact support. So please don't wait until really close to that deadline. And Dane, in advance, is actually best. I also wanted to assure you that all the information you provide will be kept confidential until the project closes and the public opening. Which means there's no risk that your bottom line price, for example, will be known and available prior to the opening. What I want to say is that, for example, the price that you've put on offer, it won't be available so that no one else sees it until the project closes and it's signed. So that information opens for everyone. Everything will remain unavailable to view. All the rest of the information from other people will be completely inaccessible to you until the closing. Any other questions on the submissions? Any other questions about the submission of projects? I have been following and I think until this part, I don't know if it shows me, but I'm not able to follow or I get lost in this last part. I can recap. I'll access another opportunity and go through this quickly one more time. I want to comment that we can have the opportunity to review this again. What she says is that this is just a page to play with lies. It's not the real page. I mean, the question is if everyone can manipulate it on their computer at the same time, what? I try to understand the question. Oh, okay. Okay, so the question here is within the sandbox, they're not able to see like if there is, they want, they're not able to play with a bin in order to submit it because when they try to follow you and they're doing it at the same time as you, there's nothing. Yes. So what he's showing, he's showing the steps to do that, but there is not a bid for you to follow at this exact moment to do that because there's, you're going to have to upload blank documents essentially. So this is the part where you would want to be watching follow along, but you're not necessarily going to be able to follow him step by step on this portion. And please make sure I know you're in the sandbox right now if you're looking at it, but make sure that you register in our production site, so not in the sandbox, the production site is where all of our actual opportunities will be listed. There's none that are live right now. So if you go there and you don't see anything, that's exactly right. He's in the sandbox so he can show you and he created a bit so that he could show you the steps to do it and you just can't do that in our production site, because that's all live bits. So make sure you're registering and the production site, which is that go bonfire for Texas go on fire calm, not on the sandbox. It's very important to remind you that everything that has been done today, even when they have entered your information, remember that this was only for demonstration purposes. So if you haven't created the account, it's very important that you go to the website that is live in production and believe in your account as I showed you today because the information that they provided was deleted. That was only for demonstration purposes. We'll put the production site link in the web chat. And it's also available on our web page, the forward Texas doc dot gov back sauce purchasing. You can find it there as well. In La Pagina de la Ciudad de forward Texas. In the area of compras, I even a poder ustedes access are también el enlace para crear que lo lleva bonfire, create a 50 is forward Texas to completo punto bonfire hv. If we're okay to proceed. Step two will be to submit and finalize. Okay, si estamos ya listos para proceder entonces vamos a demostrar como se finaliza y somente. This will send us a confirmation. We'll also receive this information by email. It confirms that it has been submitted successfully. It will indicate that the information has been successfully provided including a list of all the requested documents and data submitted. Incluyendo una lista de los documentos que se han proporcionado y la fecha. It also provides a confirmation code. También el código de la confirmación. That assures you that it has been submitted correctly. Eso le va a asegurar que ha sido sometido correctamente. It's already sent an email confirmation email with that same information. También se puede pedir que envíe nuevamente un correo de electro el correo electrónico con la misma información. Sorry, you can also resend the email and download all files that were provided. Puede re enviar el correo electrónico o descargar los documentos que fueron proporcionados. Here's the email that was delivered. Stand by. Y aquí está la muestra del correo electrónico. So this was sent to my email with the same information submission received with the date and time, all the documents and data, as well as the confirmation code. La maestra del correo electrónico que se me fue enviado por la información de la sumisión de la oferta, la fecha, los documentos que fueron proporcionados. Scrolling down I can return to the portal listing of other opportunities. Si sigo bajando en la página puedo regresar a la lista de que existen el portal. I could provide feedback to Bonfire. Y puedo proporcionar mi opinión a Bonfire. And here I would revise my submission if if I needed to update any documents or data. Aquí puedo revisar la sumisión si necesito actualizar la información o someter data nueva. And please note this unsubmits your previous submission. Es muy importante que note que aquí al pulsar en este enlace lo que va a hacer es retirar la oferta que ya ustedes han sometido. So it will withdraw your bid and you will need to revise it and resubmit. Lo que va a hacer es retirar la oferta, permitirle que la revise, pero deberá desumeterla nuevamente. Let's take a look at that. Vamos a ver esto. So I will click to unsubmit. Voy a seleccionar removerlo. It will ask me if I'm sure. Me va a preguntar si estoy seguro. Okay. Again we have a two step process, step one. Nuevamente tenemos un proceso de dos pasos, el paso número uno. Dep two. Y el paso dos. Which I will need to resubmit. So I'm in the revising. I'm revising my submission. I can replace documents or reenter data. Aquí me va a poder permitir revisar los documentos. Si hay algo que quiero cambiar de los documentos que inicialmente ingresé o información. Si hay algo que quiero cambiar. So I've updated my name. Actualmente mi nombre. I can delete and re-upload my submission page. Puedo aburrar la página inicial de su misión. For example it has a red dot. So it has not been provided. I will not be able to submit because it shows a red dot. Por ejemplo como está aquí este circulo rojo quiere decir que yo no he subido la página de inicial de su misión no me va a dejar proceder. So here's my new proposal. Aquí está mi nueva propuesta. Perhaps I needed to update my pricing. Tal vez quería yo cambiar el precio. I will resave. Lo deberé salvar nuevamente. Once I've revised my submission I'm ready to resubmit. I will finalize it again. Una vez que ya revisé toda la información entonces puedo someterlo nuevamente. I again receive a confirmation that the submission is complete. Y entonces voy a recibir la confirmación de que la sumisión ha sido completada nuevamente. Each of those steps also sends an email. So this is where I withdrew my submission. Aquí cada uno de esos pasos ustedes van a recibir un correo electrónico de confirmación. Primero que he retirado la oferta. And then when I resubmitted I received a confirmation that it was received successfully. Y una vez que les sometí mi oferta nuevamente entonces voy a recibir un correo electrónico de la confirmación de lo que acabo de someter nuevamente. This helps you keep track to ensure that it has been completed. Esto nos va a permitir darle seguimiento a los proyectos que hemos completado al someter las ofertas. Any questions here on revising your submission? Tienen alguna pregunta en esta parte en donde hablamos acerca de la revisión de la oferta? No questions. If not I will show you the question on the commodity codes now. Y si no tienen ninguna pregunta acerca de esto, entonces voy a responder la respuesta acerca de los códigos. That was available in the settings. Eso está disponible en el área de configuración. So the down arrow and two settings. Debo de seleccionar en la parte superior derecha configuración. Under it was in the global vendor record, I believe. Bear with me a moment. Tenme un segundo. Yes, it's in the global vendor record. Esto lo puedo ver en esta página del proveedor global. This is the information I entered originally. If you recall, I entered my business description, number of employees and my rule. Si ustedes recuerdan yo aquí ingresé la información de descripción de mi negocio, el número de empleados y cuál es mi papel o mi puesto. Here's where I chose commodity codes. Aquí es donde selecciono los códigos. So for example, you can search, I've got five codes currently selected. Aquí me estarán automáticamente que tengo cinco códigos automáticamente seleccionados. You can search either by keyword or if you know the number. Los puede buscar por palabra clave o si sabe el número. May I clarify something in this area? Go ahead. Just to make sure that his understanding. El nombre de su negocio y la descripción lo va a llevar a estos códigos y de ahí puede usted meter la palabra clave de que se trata su negocio y de elevar a los códigos. Okay, vamos a preguntarle. So the question I just rephrased your explanation as how to find the codes and his question is, for example, I use the keyword paint. There are is so wrong. The word paint, we can be floors can be doors can be streets. So how do you select the correct codes? That's a question. Right. And we can see that. So here there's so many options. Right. Yes, there's a six three zero. And then there's subcategories underneath. For example, six three zero zero three, six three zero two eight, and so on. So the main category was paint six three zero and these other additional categories within it. La categoría principal es la que va a determinar las otras opciones. Now, this matching will occur if the project owner enters that number in their opportunity. Estas opciones se van a desplegar. Si el dueño de la compañía o de la oferta de en mete aquí el número seis, 30 y entonces le da todo lo que está relacionado con ese mismo código. And as long as there's a match, it will send a notification. Y también le va a mandar notificaciones cuando se encuentra que hay proyectos en común a lo que usted ofrece. You can add as many commodity codes as you wish. By checking the box in each. Puede agregar todos los códigos que usted desee no hay límite al seleccionar al recuador azul. In fact, by making this selection, we would be notified if the project owner entered either this number and or these numbers. So that's that's what establishes the connection to the commodity codes. Lo que va a crear la conexión con todos los códigos de servicio. So we've told the system, which regions we serve and which services we provide. Porque ya le hemos indicado al sistema que servicios proporcionamos y en qué región los proporcionamos. So I would go ahead. So this is where it's helpful because there are so many. One of the benefits of an IGP is it does drill down to more levels of detail is you want to choose the broader categories because if you choose 630 and we choose anything under 636 30 point anything, it will notify you. So choose any of those categories that might pertain to you. It's better to over choose than under choose. Esta es una área que nosotros nos ayuda mucho. Nosotros recomendamos porque tenemos muchas opciones de los códigos en IGP. Nosotros recomendamos que seleccionen un campo amplio de oportunidades de servicio, porque si se limita, por ejemplo, nada más al 630 limita las oportunidades que le van a llegar. Pero si usted selecciona todo lo que está relacionado que pudiera pertenecer a los servicios que está proporciona, eso va a ayudar para que entonces el campo de oportunidades de ofertas para usted sea más amplio. I don't have any kind of information, but to me, I have understood that the problem is where I am finding the codes because I followed the key directions and not showing them. I mean, I choose, well, I choose in Spanish, but I choose the goals, I don't know if it's as an English provider, and it showed me your microphone. I'm in my organization, it doesn't show me codes and nothing, it's showing my information. So Derek, he's having trouble with finding how to go back and actually add the codes. It looks like he's going into his profile and trying to administer his organization and it's not allowing him to add codes. One thing I'll add is we will be publishing on our webpage, still please use bonfire because it's continuously updating, but we will have what's called a crosswalk, so a list of all of those in IGP codes on our webpage. It's still better to use bonfire, it's going to continuously update and it's actually the link to what we have, but if you're just wanting to see a list that will be on our webpage within the next week. Something that we encourage you to use is our webpage, that they enter our webpage of bonfire because we are continuously updating these codes. And so are you already registered in bonfire or are you just wanting to change your profile? Okay. Okay, you just want to check them. Yes, sir. So Derek, I think what would be helpful is if someone who's already registered as a vendor, how they can edit their IGP codes. Select the down arrow and choose settings. Under global vendor record click manage my organization. Then you'll see commodity codes. So he says it's not showing him that. It's only showing him his email or password, he is on his phone, if that makes a difference. That probably is the difference. It is not optimized for mobile use. If this program is not yet optimized to be used in a mobile device. If when you get home or you're on your computer the next time and you're still having trouble that support page that Derek showed earlier, you're able to create a ticket there and someone will be able to reach out and help you get that done. So if you're still running into that issue, please don't hesitate to reach out, but it seems like it may be a phone issue.  Since his phone. Give me just a second to spend people online. The answer. La respuesta es la página el programa de bonfire no es no está no no se suporta no se apoya en. En dispositivos electrónicos móviles en teléfonos es necesario utilizar una computadora. En este caso, una de las personas en la audiencia está teniendo problemas para poder localizar los códigos en AIGP. Si ustedes tienen el mismo problema se les recomienda que vaya a la página en donde pulsan o se dan click en el signo de interrogación para que les den apoyo técnico y les pueden resolver este problema. Okay. And if problems continue on the main login, select the question mark and choose the vendor help center to create a new support ticket. El problema continua, recuerden de seleccionar el signo de interrogación y crear un ticket de asistencia técnica. Let's see. Okay, now I've got the two options at the top portal and submissions. Submission shows me if I had a work in progress if I had not yet clicked on the button for step two. And in the bottom submission in La Pestaña de Submissiones, podemos ver el trabajo que está en pro en progreso el proceso. And those are projects that we have completed. Which means it had not been finalized. What he can I say is that no hemos finalizado. This will show me those that I've completed including this one, the drain improvements. En esa pestaña de completado nueva a mostrar las omisiones que ya completé, incluyendo las que ya vencieron. Clicking the actions button gives me the option to view that submission. Si pulsamos en el recuadro de acciones le va a permitir ver la información que fue sometida. We'll see that it is completed. And again we have the ability to download the files. As well as to withdraw, unsubmit, revise your submission. De la misma manera que nos va a permitir remover la oferta o resumeterla, editarla y resumeterla. The other option was missed. La otra opción es la de los proyectos que se han perdido. It was invited to an opportunity but did not prepare a submission. It would list the opportunity here. Si por ejemplo se me invitó a participar en alguna oferta y yo no sometí ninguna documentación, aquí lo vamos a ver como una oportunidad que se perdió. And portal delivers me back to the main dashboard. Y el portal me va a llevar a la página principal. Which shows our open past and my opportunities. Que me va a mostrar las oportunidades públicas abiertas cerradas y mis oportunidades. There's my opportunities that I responded to. Y ahí están las oportunidades a las que yo he respondido. And that's generally the registration process along with how to submit. Y esto es el proceso general de registro y de la sumisión de proyectos. So I do encourage you to register on Fort Worth, Texas dot bonfire hub dot com. Yo los animo a que se registre en la página de forward Texas. Bonfire. And then again to get started. You can create your free bonfire account using this link. Reintero para comenzar deben crear su cuenta de usuario. That was the same link as what's displayed under the top right. Y es el mismo en las que nos va a llevar a la ventana que se despliega cuando damos cuando pulsamos en la parte superior derecha. You will enter your company name, first and last name, email address, and then proceed from there. Y van a comenzar ingresando el nombre de su compañía, su nombre, su apellido, su correo electrónico crean y así comienzan a crear la cuenta como iniciamos esta sesión. Any problems reach out and the recording of this call will be posted onto the purchasing page later this week. La opción de esta sesión se va a poner en la página de la ciudad de forward en esta área donde está el entrenamiento de bonfire ustedes van a poder regresar y revisar nuevamente. I am available for any additional questions at this time. Yo estoy disponible ahora para alguna pregunta adicional que pudieran tener. The question was when we were going to populate bonfire bonfires actually it's already live. There's just no bids that have been posted in it. So we expect the first bids to be posted later this week. That's going to be more on the public work side so more of the construction that side of the house. I think the first goods and service bid will probably be the week following. I do want to go ahead and register as quickly as possible so you start getting notified, but you can always also go look at the open public opportunities at any time. If you bookmark this page and refer back to this periodically. La persona de la audiencia pregunta cuándo se van a popular las o se van a subir las o las oportunidades en la página de bonfire por parte de la ciudad forward en la respuesta es que se van a comenzar a publicar. Las oportunidades en una semana así que se les anima que creen su su cuenta de usuario para que comiencen a recibir los corrupcios electrónicos con información de oportunidades que van a empezar a ponerse a enviarse al público van a estar abiertas al público a partir de la semana que viene. Y también una vez que quieren en cuenta de usuario pueden entrar y pueden ver todas las oportunidades de proyectos aquí en oportunidades públicas abiertas. And the question was how vendors to be on the list to be notified about beds and whether it's just using those codes. So there's a couple of ways. First is absolutely using the NIGP codes making sure you have those. Second, if you're already a an awarded vendor and you have a contract with the city, then we'll add you to notify you if that's going back out to bid. So if you're kind of an incumbent vendor will let you know. And then you of course can always check in for the public opportunities and sign in to bid on those. So registering is very, very important. La pregunta de una persona a la audiencia es como van a saber los proveedores cuando las oportunidades de ofertas están abiertas al público una de la respuesta es una de ellas es creando la cuenta de usuario. La otra es si existe algún proveedor que ya tiene contrato con la ciudad de Fortborough y a proporcionado servicios en el pasado se le va a contactar el notificar inmediatamente. Pero es muy importante que creen su cuenta de usuario para que puede entonces recibir la información cuando estas oportunidades se abren a público. The other questions also check the chat. Just one more time. Yes, the web page I will. It's for worth Texas dot bonfire hub dot com. I've also sent that. Oh, sorry. I've also sent that to Christians so that he can send that web link out to everyone as well as the purchasing website email or address. You would get that email even in our sandbox so it would be good to make sure that you're registered in double check. Yes, sir. So even if you have registered a double check to make sure that it's in that for worth Texas all spelled out down bonfire hub dot com. That way you know you're in our production site but again that will get that sent out to you later as well. That's okay. The information for registrars is very important to make sure that they are registered in the active system. Okay. I have received it. It's possible that you have received it. For the electronic or informing us to register an hour in the system. And the sandbox that's only for demonstration and the way to register is going to the page. I can have a forward Texas. Bonfire. She's going to be. I'm going to be. Bonfire. I'm going to be. The information is going to be sent to Christian with the link so that he can distribute it to all of you so that you have direct access to the register. Okay, any other questions? I do have just a few reminders. It is available for you to register now and we encourage you to register as soon as possible. We also just like to remind everyone that if you're interested in a bidding opportunity to get involved as soon as possible. Because if you run into any technical issues we want you to have time to reach out to bonfire and get assistance so please make sure you're looking ahead of time and submitting ahead of time so that you don't run out of time to actually get considered for a bit. I understood. Christian. There are some. That survey opportunities for minorities that were not listed on bonfire or city. But I understood that the engineering department, whoever has those projects. They didn't find minority companies and it leads them to anyone. However, they understood that they were not required. What about bonfire website so I just need to know what am I missing or how kind of wanting to go directly to those engineering departments and get contacted them so something comes up. They can reach out to me because it's, you know, I know the codes are there, but the opportunities weren't reaching. And just to summarize the question that we had in the audience was basically what will be posted in bonfire what will be required to be posted in bonfire. And if there's anything that will that hasn't been traditionally posted on our city website and if that will then be posted on bonfire so moving forward all opportunities for contracts and working with the city including land survey will be posted on bonfire. I'm not certain the specific ones that you're referencing and why those weren't posted on the city website. But certainly those opportunities would be posted in bonfire moving forward. That's all going to be available from now on for just to contact each department individually to get put on both to receive those. Yeah, so the process for assigning a goal to a project. It all goes through our dvin department so when a department reaches out to them and states we have this project dvin is only involved if it's over $100,000. Only opportunities over $50,000 will be posted on bonfire so if the value of the contract is 40,000 it won't be posted on bonfire. They'll go through a different process. So that may have been what was occurring and why it wasn't posted. But if there's the if it meets the $100,000 threshold, then dvin will look at it to assign a goal if there's sufficient basically sufficient vendors in the market. If it's under 100,000 then currently they're not reviewing those or assigning a goal. And if it's under 50 then it wouldn't have to be publicly put out to bid and there's just a much more informal process that those departments are going through. So what I would recommend is registering a bonfire and following that so you get any that are over that $50,000 threshold, but certainly reaching out so that departments know that you're interested in those types of contracts, making sure you're registered not only with the city, but also the state as a hub vendor, because part of that process when it's under 50,000 is they have to look at the list of vendors who are registered as hubs with the state and contact at least two. So if you're registered there and in our, our marketplace, then you have a better chance of them reaching out. Well, it's through the same comptroller and they it has a slightly different definition than what the city's definition is. Yes, sir. Yeah. So it sounds like you're, you're on the right kind of path to doing that. And so it's just going to be monitoring bonfire and then making sure that you're on those lists because you'll have a better chance of being contacted. So our engine, we have engineers and multiple departments we have them in TPW, which is our transportation and public works water department property management. Fortunately, it's very spread out. But if you have, if you email Christian he can send it to me and I'd be happy to get it to the departments there to let them know that you're a vendor who's going through the process of getting your db certification and are interested in land survey. And here is brought out in every department. So we don't know if we have an email every department say I put us on this list. I know TPW for them and had her back and so I was wondering if they could put us on the rest but in that case I'll send it over to you and hopefully get connected up. I'm happy to do that. Okay. Do you want me to just mention the two recommendations for people to register with me today. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you there for waiting. In the last question that I would like to interpret the recommendation for the director of the department of acquisitions. Comment that it's very important that they register as soon as possible, because they are putting the offers open to the public so that you can then have time to review them. And if they're interested in submitting an offer, they have time to be able to change them if they need technical support from us or from both. Fire for them to be able to help them. It's important that they register as soon as possible so that they have time to be able to help them and that they feel comfortable using the service. All right. Lastly, I really want to thank Darren. Thank you for hosting this and taking us through how to register. I also want to give a big thank you to Vanessa for doing the lion share of translating and making sure that we were getting everything said correctly and really getting digging into those to make sure we got the questions answered so thank you very much for that. I also want to say that we're really appreciate the forward Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, working so hard to put this together and working with us. When we went to them and ask it this is something we wanted to host they said absolutely and they did a lot of a lot of work leading up to it so to Christian and Jasmine and I'm so sorry that I forgot your name. But thank you very much to everyone who's come and for all the work that you'll put in ahead of time to make this happen. We appreciate that very much and we look forward to working with y'all and making sure that we're responsive to your Chamber of Commerce needs moving forward so thank y'all. And thank you to everyone who came virtually who also was here in attendance physically. We appreciate y'all we're looking forward to working with y'all in bonfire. Thank you have a wonderful day. Thank you.


Welcome to another EDUCAUSE community conversation. I'm John O'Brien, the president of EDUCAUSE, and I'm thrilled to introduce you to our two guests today. We have two recent former leaders of the EDUCAUSE WIPAC Initiative. And WIPAC is Young Professionals Advisory Committee. And both of these wonderful colleagues have a lot to say about that. So I'm going to introduce you to Sarah Buzka and Bea Bimeniz. And with that, I'll hand the mic over to Sarah first. And Bea, to talk a little bit about where they're from, Stanford and Northwestern, and a little bit of their history with WIPAC. Thank you so much, John. I'm so thrilled to be here with you and with Bea to talk about the WIPAC. As John said, my name is Sarah Buzka, and I'm a senior relationship manager at Stanford University. So what does that mean? Really, it means a lot of things. I think me and my team wear many hats, but we specifically work a lot on strategic initiatives. So what does that mean? That means working on large-scale, university-wide initiatives that are kind of complex, that need extra grease, that need a lot of experience, expertise, strong understanding of higher education, technology, and the services we provide in this ecosystem. I've been in that role for almost three years now, and I don't like to pick favorites, but this has been my favorite job this far in my career, aside from being the chair of the WIPAC for three years. There you go. Yes, and with that, I'll hand it over to Bea. Thank you for that. You're a good point, already. Thank you, Sarah. Thank you, Sarah and John. My name is Fessie Menez, and I work as a learning engineer at Northwestern University in the West Coastal area. And my role in titles and with being that is about technology and teaching and learning. So I work with the rest of my team, wonderful people, about on projects that relate the learning management system, but also everything that relates to education and technology. Thank you. Thank you. So both of you are active on your campuses. Obviously, you've taken this wonderful role as leaders of this emerging, I'll say emerging, young professionals have always been there. When I say emerging, it's the name of a podcast I've recently learned about, Rising Voices, the voices of young professionals being heard more often and a little bit louder and organizing around that. So what would you like those folks who are listening to consider themselves young professionals to know about what it's like to be a young professional and how to make that journey a little more navigable, maybe start with there. Yeah, no, that's a very interesting question, John. I would say that for young professionals out there trying to get into IT and higher education, I would say to be very open-minded and to be willing to ask questions. Sometimes with the higher education, what happens is that either we work inside us sometimes or we work in our own space. And sometimes we are not fully aware of what's happening outside or what's happening outside the university even. And I feel like working in this space is so important to be afraid of asking questions. And I think it's a field where everywhere you go, especially around other cause, if you ask questions, you would find a ton of people willing to help. So that's an amazing opportunity out there that for me in my past, I wasn't fully aware of. So I would say that that's kind of the key. And I would say that I wouldn't be able to get here without all the people who helped me in the past. But I think it's an amazing field to work in, especially if you are not afraid of being innovative and ask questions and ask for help. I will get to Sarah in a minute. I love what you said, especially about asking questions. I was just in a conversation today with someone. And we agreed that curiosity was the primary job that we're looking for. I mean, especially going forward when AI takes over everything, like what are the characteristics that are unique and that curiosity is everything. So I love what you said about asking questions. But it leads me to ask another question of you, which is, what do you do as a young professional when your voice isn't being heard? Oh, that's a very good question. Well, I'm very stubborn, but I wouldn't say resonate. I think I can attest to that. But I would say to be patient. Sometimes working in this field, you have to be a little bit patient. I feel like sometimes moving the needle takes a little bit longer than maybe another field or working for other teams. So I would say, for me, the best, what really helped me is, well, to be, especially in my case, working as a learning engineer, I work a lot with faculty. So my main focus is to help faculty to adopt technology and try to adopt technology in a pedagogical way.  And if that works for them, they don't have the incentive to try new things or to be innovative. But in the moment they see something else out there that is innovative and is working well, they reach out. They try to adopt that music as well. So having maybe a couple of people who can be your promoter or your allies is very helpful. So in the moment that you find those, just take care of those folks, those people can be within your domain or out there. It can be instructors can be. I feel like working in this field, it's so collaborative. So it doesn't need to be your boss. It doesn't need to be your manager or your colleague. But if you find that kind of support, speak to it, and try to spread the word around those maybe things that you would like to change or try to demonstrate how to afford or to do that innovation or that change, that for me, that would be mine. That's good. I'll just say that that's good. I trust you that that's good advice for young professionals. I can also say that's good advice for a senior in executive positions as well. And the only thing I would add to it is, yes, patience is required. And if you can be patient with a smile on your face, you get bonus points. And that's not always easy, but recognizing that we're an enterprise that is not known for its speed. And if it's absolutely crucial for you to get stuff done on a weekly timeframe, higher ed may not be the choice for you. So you become to grips with a slower moving engine. But one that still has many other charms as well. Sarah, of the long-awaited, Sarah. Thank you. I'll jump back and answer your former question. I think I have two messages for young professionals, one for current young professionals in higher ed and the other for prospective young professionals in higher ed. But first, for young professionals right now coming into their career, many of them are Gen Z coming out of college during a pandemic who have not had the opportunity to have some of the internships and training and job transition that many of us, at least millennials like myself and our predecessors have had. So I think that can really create a sense of uneasiness and feeling like you don't belong or questioning what you're doing, why you're doing it, what you want to do with your career. And my message is to those folks who might be struggling, you belong here. And it's totally normal to be struggling and to be feeling that way. And it's OK. And to prospective young professionals coming into this space or if you're even considering it, this is an amazing career to have. Something I'm in grad school right now and something one of my professors said to me last summer on how he advises his undergrad students is to really have them consider your overall life and work-life balance and what you want to get out of it. More so than just focusing on finding the next job or the first job that's going to have the highest salary. Consider what really makes you happy, things that drive you, things that interest you. For example, if you're someone who really likes having flexibility and autonomy and has really great ideas and wants a lot of space to be able to kind of create and work with really smart people, well, higher ed is like the perfect job and the perfect ecosystem for that. Like nowhere, I think, in the world do you have as much flexibility as you do working in higher education, really in almost any capacity. There's just so much flexibility for learning and innovation and creation. And it's not as sometimes as stifling and as gruesome as working in a private sector job 80 hours a week can be. So don't let a flashy salary distract you from the things that you really want. Yeah, it's fascinating to me that the biggest broth to bring people to work at a campus is that you're on a campus.   It reminds me of some of the best years of my life being in a place, well, now, and I'm just gonna make a guess that you are both at home. Yeah. That's true. Correct. Well... At home, in a pain, actually. I don't know how to make anyone want to. Maybe even more to my point, because when people can, you know, nowadays the ideal workplace is to not have a workplace for some people. And it's gonna, it's just a really interesting dynamic for higher education. What is the draw? And I think, Sarah, it's so great that you reminded people of that. And the other thing I wanted to ask about, just because we keep throwing around young, young, young, young, professional, does being part of a young professionals group have an age range? Age is just a number, John. No, you're young at heart, John. We can see that I would sound cray yet. I'm guessing by the answers, you don't obsess about what your age starts with or ends with. It's a question of are you, if you're interested in supporting young professionals, which I gotta say, as you've been talking just up until now, this is all new. Like, we didn't, you know, when I was coming up through organizations, we didn't talk about this stuff. Right. Yeah, you know, we acknowledged this group of employees is just getting started. And this group has been, and the academic structure has like gradations, you know, assistant professor, and an associate professor and so forth that I think it's just so important that we talk about it. But WIPAC stores are open to anybody who wants to support and talk about this group of employees. Is that accurate? Definitely, yes. And, you know, getting back to your question on age, because I think a lot of people, you know, are curious to know, okay, well, what's the range, right? If you had to pick a range, what would it be? So I actually did some research on this and of some of the young professional related groups or communities across the United States, at least, most of the ages are between 21, early 20s and 40. Some cut it off at 30, some to 40, I would say probably 40 is at least for us in higher ed, where we typically curtail things. But for folks who are listening who have attended the EDUCAUSE annual conference in the recent years, and even last year, we created a new sticker and kind of slogan where we're talking about, you know, being young at heart. So that's what I said to you, John, right? Like, it's meant to be inclusive while still giving folks a voice and giving folks who really identify maybe in that 21 to 40 age range, you know, a place where they can feel seen, but it's not meant to be exclusionary whatsoever. And that's been, I think, one of the biggest honors that I've had, at least, in serving on the YPAC for the past three years and leading it has been to really, you know, open up this conversation more. Like you said, John, you know, all of us share in common that we have started our careers as early young professionals. And we all know what it was like when we were starting off with no money, either straight out of college or straight out of high school, trying to figure out what we're doing, trying to make it work, living with parents, living in basements, living in cars, maybe apartments, right? It's just such a really hard point in everyone's life during that stage. And I think it adds another, you know, layer of challenges on top of the work that we're trying to do. Not that other generations and other groups of folks don't have that, but it's something that we can all rally around because if we're not supported, it increases the likelihood of us feeling or leaving higher ed or not knowing what we're doing. And you know, for us in higher ed, I think it's been no secret that hiring has been a problem and getting that talent to come here has been a problem. So how do we combat that? And I really believe like young professionals are the future of this profession and will be determining how we survive over the next few decades here. I was reading a New York Times article recently that said 45% of Gen Z feels that a high school diploma is all that you need to be financially secure in life. And so if this new generation, half of them, half of a swath of a population thinks that they'll be just fine without a college degree, well, what incentivizes them to work for colleges and universities? What does that mean for a talent pipeline? Well, no professionals are our future. That's a mathematical certainty. But Matt, notwithstanding that, it's also, I think more than ever, I think I've had more conversations with senior leaders on campuses about how they struggle to bring in people, to hire people for jobs that are so hot right now, you know, cybersecurity professionals would be just one example. But, and so I think there, many of these folks are talking about turning their attention to growing leaders from within. And that presents a huge opportunity for young professionals. And so, you know, I've always said, and here I'm answering my own question, but I'll give them for one moment to say, right, what? If I were to ask myself, John, what could young professionals do to position themselves most effectively? There's a part of me that would just say, everything, everything you both said, but also just be open to the universe. Because I go back and I think of the, the two or three critical junctures in my career where I, a door opened and I went in, were ones I never in, never could have planned for, ever would have planned for, that it was, it was being ready for that. And so I think young professionals could, you know, feel like they know what the pathway is and it's always good to have a pathway, but you have to be open to what you don't seek timing. And, you know, my spouse's advice to the kids was always, if you wanna be successful, make yourself indispensable. And I think that's every bit is true as you're making your way through a career environment, just because there's so much need for talent. If you just are clearly the person who's curious, asks questions about, and is dedicated, that makes all the difference in the world. Yeah, John, that reminds me of like a quote that Barack Obama says, and he was recorded in a video saying his advice to young people was, just learn how to get things done. And I think it's so true, just have to learn how to get things done. It's so true, and also it's so important to don't be afraid of failure. Sometimes we pick to a plan, as you said, don't like life throws a ton of opportunities that you never expect, but also like don't be afraid of failure. Sometimes we, at young professionals, we have a company in mind and then you fail, but that's always a learning process. It's always a learning process. Even when you have a senior role, it's always about, you know, trying to have a learning mindset in how to improve every day. And to communicate what you learn when you fail is, you know, fail, dust yourself off, but then tell whoever is disappointed by that, what you learned and what you're gonna do differently next time. And I have to say, one of my favorite things is when I open up my email and I have somebody apologizing for something because I'm sort of a collector of apologies. I love a really good apology and when somebody needs to write a letter of apology, I always tell them this is an opportunity to assert the kind of leader you are. It's easy to assert your leadership when you're in charge of stuff that's getting done, much harder but much more memorable when you assert your leadership in failure or in something you did wrong. And so be sure to send me one of your good apology letters when I'll add it to my collection. Maybe I'll write a book on apology sometime. And listen, we've talked a lot about young professionals, but I think young professionals will, for a voice to be heard, it has to be listened to. So what, when you look at some of the people who are senior leaders and who are veterans, how are they best supporting young, what practices do you see them doing that are supporting your work and young professionals in general? I can jump in right away. I would say, and this is just a kudos to the Ejikos community because I've found so many of my people here, but there, I don't know if I want to name names, but there's some senior folks in the Ejikos community, folks who have titles of CIO or president or something in that level who have reached out to me even in this past year and have seen my potential and have given me opportunities and have specifically and directly shoulder tapped me to take over something for them or to participate in something for them. Recently, this manifested with a webinar I just moderated yesterday actually. It was called, New to Higher Ed, Getting Acclimated. And because of this person shoulder tapping me, I then shoulder tapped folks on the YPAC, three folks actually who currently serve on the YPAC to also come along and serve and deliver this webinar. And it's just such an amazing kind of display of how we can support each other and give people opportunities. And it went so well. We had so much knowledge to share and even while we were doing our webinar, I realized, wow, I'm with a group of young professionals who know so much. We have so much experience to share, so much perspective to share that I really feel is necessary to hear and to learn from. And we had folks blowing up the chat, just saying how grateful they were, how they had learned so many new things. And it was just a great example of how one person in a senior position who could have taken that role and could have done this work again, but decided to pass the torch and give others opportunities. And that opened the door for me to give others opportunities as well. So I think my kind of challenge to folks would be, I think a lot of us who are in senior leadership positions have a lot of opportunities and access to spaces and people that others don't have. So just try teeing it up for someone and seeing how they handle it, seeing if they can do it, seeing if they're interested, inviting them to join you in meetings, to shadow, giving them a small project, spinning up a committee or an advisory council or a young professionals advisory council at your institution and giving folks some resources to see what they do. That's great. Reminds me of a story, a mentor of mine. I was dealing in a few jobs ago with an employee who was stalled, totally stalled. And I went to him and I said, what do you do with an employee who's in a stall? And he said, give them more work. But then he explained, give them more work that's meaningful, give them something to own, something that they can say, this is mine. And somebody from on high gave this to me because they entrusted it to me. So that's a really great point. Bayat, were you gonna add to this? Sorry. Yeah, little bit to add, I think Sarah went through a lot of bullet points, but I would say support of flexibility. I feel like especially young professionals, we are so diverse and especially coming from pandemics, right? Things we're so happy in so many different stories in human beings, in different places, in different positions. So I would say providing that kind of support and ask what I did a magic question, how can I support you, right? So I love when I hear that question because my needs might be different from Sarah's needs. And it doesn't mean that I'm going to work less or more or any different, but having that opportunity to express the things I need in it. And I need hearing from my managers and leaders that they are willing to listen. I think that for me, that's when magic happens. Yeah, actually to add one more thing, building off of what Bea said, I think young professionals more than any group right now, millennials certainly, I'm included in this, we love feedback, we need feedback. Even if it's bad, if it's good, I don't care what group of category you want to put it in, we want to hear because we don't learn if we don't know and we can't do anything we don't know about. So helping us early on and giving us that feedback, taking the extra minute or two to say, hey, that email wasn't very clear. Here's how you could have made it clearer. Goes a long way and we welcome that, I think more than anyone really because we don't want to look silly, right? If we're talking to someone like you, John, we want to have a well-written email. Well, it is, it's young professionals, maybe more than others, like tell me the rules. Like I just want to know what the rules are. And then I'll put the energy and creativity and curiosity into it to make it sing, but I need to know what the basic rules. You know, every time I talk to a leader of WIPAC, I always end up thinking of more work to be done. But I was just saying, it wouldn't be cool to do like a Educa's review. I want to manifest those too strong, but like five things we want our managers to do. And one of them could just give us feedback. I mean, not long, but it would be something that WIPAC members could share with their supervisors and say, this spoke to me when I read this. Here you go. Yes, absolutely. We all benefit from that. Well, anyway, the thing that I heard so loud and clear that each of you sort of woven throughout everything you've said has been the value of a community of young professionals that you can call on, rely on, complain to. Never. By itself, that would be reason for this community to be a growing and thriving one, not to mention all the other things that you have accomplished and have worked on in your time and leadership of WIPAC. What are you proudest of during your service? Do you want to go first, Peya? I would say what I'm proud of is the community itself and having not only colleagues, but friends and being able to have these close connections really helped me. Not only becoming a better professional, but also you all noticed I have an accent that I'm originally from a space. For me, when I moved to the US, I mean, I was coming from higher education, but it was another context and being part of WIPAC really helped me to blend into higher ed and deal with it in another way. And I have a lot of appreciation for the time I spent with WIPAC. I love that. Thank you, John. So I want to start by actually sharing a story and then I'll answer your question. So in 2016, I attended my first EDUCAUSE annual conference. I was in Philadelphia. I'd never been to Philadelphia. I was going with my boss at the time who was amazing, very plugged into the community. He actually was a former Rising Star award winner and he introduced me to the community and wanted me to have this experience. So I went to this conference with him.  I had never been to a conference as big as the EDUCAUSE annual conference before. And you know, I was young, 20s, super overwhelmed. I had no idea what to expect and everything that I was seeing, people, things, I didn't even, I didn't know what any of it was. And so, you know, not only was my head kind of spinning because of all these new things, but also when I was looking around, I didn't see many people who looked like me, who looked as young as I was, you know, early 20s. I saw a larger age gap. And you know, I think for us as young professionals, when we're just starting out, when we're just trying to stop the world from spinning and make sense of things, it helps to kind of find your people, right? Find someone who's in a similar stage in their career as you, who you can kind of hang on to and figure out what's going on or at least make the world stop a little bit. And I'll never forget, when I was going through the agenda that year, I saw a young professionals, CG meeting, community group meeting. I think at that point it was called constituent groups. And it was like the last time slot of one of the days, like at the end of the day, and I was like so exhausted from already doing a few days of the conference. But I told myself like, let's just go and see what this is all about. I walked into the room. There was just a handful of folks in there, but I saw some folks who looked maybe around my age. And there was this woman who was sitting at a row of chairs kind of in the middle of the room by herself. And I just put on my brave hat and walked up to her and just sat down right next to her, introduced myself, and she turned and looked at me with the biggest smile and southern accent and introduced herself right back. And she and I have been friends ever since and her name's Alicia and she works at Auburn University and she's amazing. And we've literally been best friends ever since. And I met my best friend at an Etch-a-Cos annual conference. She got married last year, we got married a week apart. I know she got married last year. I got married last year a week apart. I played my violin for her at her wedding when she walked down the aisle. And you know, that was last year 2023, right? So it's just been this long journey of us being friends from being at the conference, but I cannot tell you how impactful it was to walk into that room and just feel seen and to have someone see me and fully show up for me. And that whole room of folks, I remember Jonathan Hardy being there, Tina Papas, so many other folks who were just there. And we were all showing up for each other and it was just like this amazing experience. And from that moment, I was like, this is something special. We have to cultivate this by any means necessary. Like this cannot fail. And so fast forward to 2024 now, me just rolling off the YPAC serving as chair, I'm proudest of the community that I've helped build and foster over all of these years. It has developed, I think, more leaders, more opportunities and more conversation around young professionals, but even broader around how we all can support each other better and what that looks like. And I'm so thrilled to see it continuing. Obviously, we've launched our podcast last year. I'm also serving as co-host of that podcast with Wes Johnson who's incredible. And it's just been this beautiful opportunity to take all of that work over those years and bring so many people along and then amplify it and share it. And that's probably my proudest honor really of my career so far. So thank you. Wonderful. It's funny to say that and I never thought about it before, but it's true that if we do all the right things by our young professionals, we will make the world better and our worlds better because it means listening better and differently. It means being open and providing opportunities for growth. If any how to be a good manager 101, it would be all of those things that that's in there. So it would be a gift that would keep on giving. That's fantastic. Thank you both. This has been really enlightening even though I've been following the accomplishments. So WIPAC, since we created it many years ago, this has been energizing and insightful and enlightening and fills me with hope for the future. And that's about the best thing I could have in any given day. So thank you. Oh, thank you, John. I echo your sentiments too.


This is stock number 9282. We are here at Summit Automotive in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Your new and used truck headquarters. This is a 2017 Chevy Silverado 1500 Crew Cab Short Box. This truck has the 5.3 liter V8 motor. From this HD video you'll be able to tell that this truck is like new all the way around. We take all of our videos in 1080p so if you have HD capabilities on your computer tablet or smartphone device, turn them on now because it's like you're right here looking at the truck. This one has the 20 inch chromed alloy rims and it has the Goodyear Eagle P275 55R20 tires. These tires have just about all the tread left. This truck only has about 2,000 miles on it. Very clean inside and out, like new. It has the projector lamp headlamps, the LED running lamps, the LED fog lamps, front sonar. With the collision warning, chrome trimmed grille. Absolutely perfect on that front bumper and grille and lower evalance. Passenger side rim, no scuffs or scrapes on that. This color is called graphite metallic and as you go down this side of the vehicle you can see just how clean the body is. Reflective and glass like that paint is. We take these HD videos so if you are far away or even if you're close by and you just cannot make the trip down you can still see the truck here, the truck, and have confidence in the vehicle that you're looking at before you even get here. I wish it was a little bit brighter out today because you could really see that graphite metallic. It's actually more like a gunmetal gray. Kind of the old slate metallic that they used to have, but a little darker. No dents or dings down this side of the truck.  You can see that frame and underbody is like new. It has the felt wheel well guards in here. Keeps your underbody looking nice and clean. And the lower rockers are absolutely perfect on this truck as well. We want to make sure you get the most accurate representation so that when you get here or if you get the truck shipped to you we saw a lot of these trucks out of state. So if you get it shipped to you, you'll know exactly what you're getting. Tailgate is really clean on back here. Has a spray in line X bed liner. Very nice condition. Has the locking tailgate. Has the shock assist down tailgate as well. And the easy lift tailgate up. So very easy to lift and close that tailgate. They got torsion bars and stuff in there that makes it really light. And as you go down this side of the truck, very very clean as well. No dents or dings on this truck. This has the capless fuel fill. I believe Chevy started that in 2017. But no dents or dings. You can see just how glass like that paint is. Mirror like, I guess you could say.  There are no rips or tears on these seats. Both of these seats are heated. And both of these seats are cooled. Factory all other floor mats throughout, carpeting is like new. Has the Bose sound system. Power windows, power locks. Power folding mirrors with the built in directional signal and driver side blind spot mirror. And it has the memory driver seat. Factory brake controller turned out four wheel drive and automatic headlamps. As you can see this truck only has 1,994 miles. So pretty much like new all the way around. This one has the heated steering wheel. Bluetooth and audio controls on that side. You have your heated steering wheel and cruise controls on that side. I think I said it has collision warning. I do not think it has collision warning now that I look at the instrument cluster here. So I apologize if I said that before. Has the Chevy MyLink touchscreen radio. This is also where your backup camera shows up. But you have your radio, your Bluetooth controls on here as well. And there is a compass as well. Dual climate controls, power pedals, stability control, backup sensors. Down here you have two USB ports, two power ports. And then a 110-150 watt plug-in.  That also turns off the sensors on the front. And you have your heated and cooled seat buttons there as well. Passengers side seat. No rips or tears on that. This truck has never been smoked in. Has the cell phone wireless charging pad. Factory all-weather floor mat on that side. The dual glovebox has all the owner's manuals and everything like that. And up here you have your home link system, your map lights and then your on-star capabilities on the radio. Or on the mirror I should say. Take a quick look at the back seats and then we will check out under the hood. But very, very clean inside. Like new inside and out. Definitely won't be disappointed in this truck. Has the latch child safety system power sliding rear window. With the built-in rear defrost these seats fold up for extra storage. And you can see that this carpeting, if my camera focus is here, is like new. Not sure what happened there. There we go. But carpeting is nice and clean. No rips or tears. All-weather floor mats back here. Latch child safety system. And we'll take a quick look under the hood. Kind of like the new design on the Chevy hoods. It's a good look. 5.3 liter engine bay is very clean, runs very smooth. This truck has been fully safety and inspected by our service shop. Has a fresh oil and filter change. All the fluids have been checked and topped off. And this one is 100% ready to go all the way around. And to see more pictures of this truck or one of our other 400 new and used cars, trucks, SUVs, minivans, wranglers. You name it we got it.  Videos of every single used vehicle that we have all at www.SummitAuto.com Thanks for checking out my video.  Once again, that number is<PHONE_NUMBER> Thanks for checking out my video. If you like it, want to check out more videos, like it. Go to our YouTube channel, which is www.YouTube.com. Remember to like, subscribe, and share on those videos. In fact, in a second you'll see a subscribe button on your left to our YouTube channel. A link to more half-ton truck videos like this one on your right. And if you haven't been to our website on the bottom, a link to this truck on our website. Click those, check us out. And we really look forward to helping you with this super clean, like new 2017 Chevy Silverado 1500 Crew Cab Short Box. Thanks again.


In class, TESOL courses have many highlights, such as in-person instruction from professional teacher-trainer and invaluable teaching practice with real English language students. On top of these major benefits, there are also a few extra bonuses on offer at some of our training locations. In many cases, our training staff are able to arrange free airport pickups, which can be a great help if you are visiting a new country for the first time. The knowledge that you have transported to your accommodation arranged in advance means you can sit back and relax during your journey without worrying about finding a taxi, bus or train on arrival. Although the in-class course does involve some hard work, there will still be plenty of time to let your hair down during the evenings and weekends. Most of our training centers organize a welcome dinner at the start of each course, where trainees and course trainers get to meet each other and to enjoy some local food and drinks in a fun and relaxed atmosphere.