DISC 2015 Update

The conference theme this year is, Missionary Disciples In:formation Technology. We wanted to really focus on the Pope’s Joy of the Gospel this year. The board’s goal for the conference is to celebrate the family that we are to each other, to share things with each other, to lend a hand, to do for others and to be disciples in our mission of IT.

There will be a keynote speaker every day of the conference: Theresa Payton, former White House CIO; W. Curtis Preston, TruthInIt, a.k.a. Mr. Backup; and Kelly Wahlquist, Assistant Director the Archbishop Harry J. Flynn Catechetical Institute and founder of WINE: Women in the New Evangelization. This year you will also see a heavier focus on case studies, round tables, and time for discussion at the end of each presentation. Click here for more detailed information.

Also, don’t forget about our Pre-Conference on Tuesday from 9 am to 5 pm. The topic is “Moving the Office to the Cloud: Google Apps vs Microsoft Office 365”. We will look at the technical side, functionality and practicality of both products.

We will continue the discussion began at last year’s conference, “What Can DISC Do For You? What Can You Do For DISC”.

Click here to register for the conference and don’t forget to register for the Pre-Conference.

Just a reminder, the early bird registration fee of $450 ends on April 30. The standard registration fee of $500 begins on May 1.

The Best Western of Alexandria Inn & Suites & Conference Center is the official hotel of DISC 2015 and the only location offering discounted rates for attendees. The discounted rate is available from Sunday, June 14, through checkout on Saturday, June 20.

Room Rates

• King Room: $75/night plus tax
• Double Queen: $80/night plus tax
• Suite: $99/night plus tax

May 30 is the final day for the DISC discount at the Best Western of Alexandria.

To reserve your room, contact Reservations at (318) 445-5530 and mention that you are with the Diocesan Information Systems Conference.

On Wednesday evening we will be traveling to the Kent Plantation House. The plantation house is one of the oldest standing structures in the state of Louisiana. Together with its outbuildings, it preserves the homestead of a successful Creole family typical of a Louisiana colonial era working plantation.

Our entertainment for the evening will be Roscoe, Lee and Abadie. They perform music of the Old South, music dating roughly from the early 1800s through about 1860. Dressed in period attire they play reproductions of period instruments that include the banjo, guitar and violin.

We are seeking members to nominate themselves to serve on the Board of Directors. If you are interested in running for the board, please click here to learn more about the time commitments and requirements for all board members. If you are still interested, you can complete the quick online nomination form, upload a photo of yourself and officially be on the ballot for the 2015 DISC Board.

DISC 2016 Date Move

The DISC Board of Directors is in the process of negotiating the contracts for the 2016 Conference. Through our negotiations with the hotels, we are finding our prices and hotel rates would be lower if we change our conference to Thursday through Saturday, with Pre-Conference, on Wednesday. Additionally, travel into the city would be better if we pushed the dates back to Wednesday – Saturday, since incoming air traffic on Monday and outgoing on Friday is really heavy which results in fuller flights and higher airfares.

Please click here to complete a short poll. We ask that you complete this poll by Tuesday, April 14th.

In preparation from our move from current forum, QuickR to Google Groups, we will be sending invitations to members. The email will be from forum+noreply@discinfo.org. The invitation sometimes gets caught by spam filters, so be watching for this email. If you have any questions, you can contact Allan Ries, riesA@archmil.org.