Agenda

Main Event Sessions

General Session
Instructor Best Practices
IT Industry Trends

Instructor Training Sessions (Additional Charge to Attend)

CompTIA Instructor Network Training


  • 7:00 AM - 8:00 AM

    Conference Breakfast

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  • 8:00 AM - 11:30 AM

    Analyzing This and That with CySA+

    Instructor: Nicholas Lane, Technical Instructor, New Horizons Learning Group 

    The CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst (CySA+) CS0-001 certification is a mid-tier credential that concentrates on the rising population of security professionals responsible for monitoring, detecting, and responding to cybersecurity incidents. Here you will learn how to employ analytical tools and techniques for the protection, detection, analysis, investigation, and response to the numerous threats facing your organization.

    Who Should Attend: Instructors currently or looking at beginning to teach a Cloud+ course. Participants should have previous networking and cybersecurity experience and should hold at least Security+ certification or have equivalent experience.

    Analyzing This and That with CySA+ - CEU Approved for A+, Network+, Security+, Cloud+, PenTest+, CySA+

    Click here for more details.
    Speakers:
    Speaker

    Nick Lane

  • 8:00 AM - 11:30 AM

    Classroom Strategies for Hands-on Skills, Employability, and Certification with Network+

    Instructor:Walt Jaqua , Information Technology Instructor, South Bend Community School Corporation

    The latest CompTIA certification exams are bringing new challenges for students and instructors due to employer demands for deeper cognitive understanding and real-world, hands-on skills. How are we adapting in the classroom and in our own skill level to overcome these challenges? This session will examine practical strategies that can be tailored for your Network+ course including hands-on labs, exercises, and scenarios. Take away practical methods for balancing instruction and hands-on to maximize student success.

    Who should Attend: Instructors currently or looking at beginning to teach a Network+ course. Participants should have previous networking experience and should hold at least CompTIA A+ and/or Network+ certifications or have equivalent experience in networking.

    Classroom Strategies for Hands-on Skills, Employability, and Certification with Network+ CEUApproved for A+, Network+ and Cloud+

    Click here for more details.
    Speakers:
    Speaker

    Walt Jaqua

  • 8:00 AM - 11:30 AM

    CompTIA A+: Modernizing a Long-Time Favorite

    Instructor: Jill West, CIS Adjunct Instructor at Georgia Northwestern Technical College and Author, MJ West Enterprises, Inc.

    The CompTIA A+ certification continues to evolve to meet the demands of today’s IT job market. The structure and priorities of this cert show some significant shifts in the new Core 1 and Core 2 exams, with less emphasis on hardware and a growing demand for candidates to demonstrate soft skills and critical thinking skills, skills across operating systems, and diverse skills in scripting, mobile devices, cloud, and IoT. This training session will focus on lab ideas and concepts for new A+ content. We’ll also discuss how to design and build your own lab projects so you can customize your classroom to your students’ needs. Bring your laptop to follow along with the demos!

    Who Should Attend: Instructors currently teaching CompTIA A+ or Introduction to IT courses. Participants should have basic understanding of computer concepts and operations.
    CompTIA A+: Modernizing a Long-Time Favorite - CEU Approved for A+

    Click here for more details.
    Speakers:
    Speaker

    Jill West

  • 8:00 AM - 11:30 AM

    Getting Under the Hood of Cybersecurity - Linux+ for Instructors

    Instructor:Lee McWhorter, IT Expert Generalist and Educator

    This course session will cover an overview and comparison of the new and old Linux+ exams as well as important lab topics such as installation and teaching the Command Line Interface (CLI).  This instructor led training will assist participants with classroom setup, hands-on labs, and other strategies to help your learners achieve success on their Linux+ exam.

    Who should Attend: Instructors currently or looking at beginning to teach a Linux+ course. Participants should have previous networking and Linux experience and should hold at least A+ certification or have equivalent experience.

                  Linux+ for Instructors – CEU Approved for A+ and Linux+

    Click here for more details.
    Speakers:
    Speaker

    Lee McWhorter

  • 8:00 AM - 11:30 AM

    Making Security+ Stick with Virtual Labs

    Instructor:Anthony Sequeira, Online Trainer, CBT Nuggets

    We all know that students can sometimes struggle to master new material, especially when there is a lot of theory mixed with practical applications. We also know that it can be a struggle to outfit the live or virtual classroom with modern equipment for hands-on lab work. In this action-packed session, Anthony Sequeira will teach you how to deploy a variety of virtual lab options for use in any classroom or self-paced learning setting. The session includes plenty of detailed demonstrations of actual examples from various portions of the Security+ curriculum, making this session a great review of that material as well. 

    Who should Attend: Instructors currently or looking at beginning to teach a Security+ course. Participants should have previous networking and cybersecurity experience and should hold at least Network+ certification or have equivalent experience.

    Making Security+ Stick with Virtual Labs – CEU Approved for A+, Network+, Security+, Cloud+

     

    Click here for more details.
    Speakers:
    Speaker

    Anthony Sequeira

  • 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

    Instructor Training Course Attendee Lunch

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  • 1:00 PM - 4:30 PM

    Classroom Strategies for Hands-on Skills, Employability, and Certification with Network+

    Instructor: Walt Jaqua , Information Technology Instructor, South Bend Community School Corporation

    The latest CompTIA certification exams are bringing new challenges for students and instructors due to employer demands for deeper cognitive understanding and real-world, hands-on skills. How are we adapting in the classroom and in our own skill level to overcome these challenges? This session will examine practical strategies that can be tailored for your Network+ course including hands-on labs, exercises, and scenarios. Take away practical methods for balancing instruction and hands-on to maximize student success.

    Who should Attend: Instructors currently or looking at beginning to teach a Network+ course. Participants should have previous networking experience and should hold at least CompTIA A+ and/or Network+ certifications or have equivalent experience in networking.

    Classroom Strategies for Hands-on Skills, Employability, and Certification with Network+ CEUApproved for A+, Network+ and Cloud+

    Click here for more details.
    Speakers:
    Speaker

    Walt Jaqua

  • 1:00 PM - 4:30 PM

    CompTIA A+: Modernizing a Long-Time Favorite

    Instructor:Jill West, CIS Adjunct Instructor at Georgia Northwestern Technical College and Author, MJ West Enterprises, Inc.

    The CompTIA A+ certification continues to evolve to meet the demands of today’s IT job market. The structure and priorities of this cert show some significant shifts in the new Core 1 and Core 2 exams, with less emphasis on hardware and a growing demand for candidates to demonstrate soft skills and critical thinking skills, skills across operating systems, and diverse skills in scripting, mobile devices, cloud, and IoT. This training session will focus on lab ideas and concepts for new A+ content. We’ll also discuss how to design and build your own lab projects so you can customize your classroom to your students’ needs. Bring your laptop to follow along with the demos!

    Who Should Attend: Instructors currently teaching CompTIA A+ or Introduction to IT courses. Participants should have basic understanding of computer concepts and operations.
    CompTIA A+: Modernizing a Long-Time Favorite - CEU Approved for A+

    Click here for more details.
    Speakers:
    Speaker

    Jill West

  • 1:00 PM - 4:30 PM

    Making Security+ Stick with Virtual Labs

    Instructor: Anthony Sequeira, Online Trainer, CBT Nuggets

    We all know that students can sometimes struggle to master new material, especially when there is a lot of theory mixed with practical applications. We also know that it can be a struggle to outfit the live or virtual classroom with modern equipment for hands-on lab work. In this action-packed session, Anthony Sequeira will teach you how to deploy a variety of virtual lab options for use in any classroom or self-paced learning setting. The session includes plenty of detailed demonstrations of actual examples from various portions of the Security+ curriculum, making this session a great review of that material as well. 

    Who should Attend: Instructors currently or looking at beginning to teach a Security+ course. Participants should have previous networking and cybersecurity experience and should hold at least Network+ certification or have equivalent experience.

    Making Security+ Stick with Virtual Labs – CEU Approved for A+, Network+, Security+, Cloud+

    Click here for more details.
    Speakers:
    Speaker

    Anthony Sequeira

  • 1:00 PM - 4:30 PM

    PenTest+ for Instructors – Turning Your Training Environment Red

    Instructor:Instructor:Lee McWhorter, IT Expert Generalist and Educator

    This course session will cover an overview of PenTest+ and why it is important for security professionals, penetration testers, and bug bounty hunters.  Important lab topics such as nmap, netcat/shells and scripting will be covered in detail.  This instructor lead training will assist participants with classroom and hands-on labs, and other strategies to help your learners achieve success on their PenTest+ exam.

    Who should Attend: Instructors currently or looking at beginning to teach a PenTest+ course. Participants should have previous networking and cybersecurity experience and should hold at least Security+ certification or have equivalent experience. A basic understanding on Linux commands will come in handy as well but not required.

    PenTest+ for Instructors – CEU Approved for A+, Network+, Security+, Cloud+, CySA+

    Click here for more details.
    Speakers:
    Speaker

    Lee McWhorter

  • 1:00 PM - 4:30 PM

    Reach for the Sky with Cloud+

    Instructor: Nicholas Lane, Technical Instructor, New Horizons Learning Group   

    The CompTIA Cloud+ CV0-002 certification is an infrastructure credential that perfectly synergizes cloud computing and virtualization for the optimization and maintenance of cloud services. Here you will learn how to utilize and teach cloud computing and virtualization technologies, in addition to learning about the industry’s most popular cloud products.

     

    Who Should Attend: Instructors currently or looking at beginning to teach a Cloud+ course. Participants should have previous networking experience and should hold at least Network+ certification or have equivalent experience in networking and cloud technologies.

    Reach for the Sky with Cloud+ - CEU Approved for A+, Network+, Linux+ and Cloud+

    Click here for more details.
    Speakers:
    Speaker

    Nick Lane

  • 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM

    ChannelCon Technology Vendor Fair

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  • 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM

    ChannelCon Party

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  • 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM

    Great Eggspectations Breakfast

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  • 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM

    A Conversation with Shaquille O'Neal

    Join us for an intimate one-on-one conversation with NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal as we discuss his career, how he became an entrepreneur, and why he went back to school to get his doctorate in education.

    Shaq is a member of the NBA Hall of Fame and 15-Time NBA All Star player, media personality, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and holds a PhD in Education.

    Few individuals ever become iconic enough to be known by one name — Shaq. A revered cultural icon, Shaquille O’Neal is best known for an NBA career spanning nearly two decades and earning him the sport’s highest honors, including membership in the NBA Hall of Fame. The four-time NBA Champion, 15-time NBA All Star and three-time NBA Finals MVP has been named one of the most influential athletes by Forbes Magazine, in addition to being the highest ranked NBA athlete on Nielsen’s State of the Media: Year in Sports 2010 and Business Week’s Power Sports 100. But Shaq isn’t only a legendary athlete; he has also established himself as a powerful media personality and businessman over the years. Ranked among ‘‘The 100 Most Creative People in Business’’ last year by FastCompany Magazine, Shaq is currently an NBA analyst on TNT’s Emmy-award winning show,Inside the NBA.In addition to being an early investor in companies such as Google, Shaq has managed an increasingly robust personal brand, which has included television shows, a shoe line and social media/tech products. The first verified celebrity account on Twitter, Shaq announced his NBA retirement via Tout, a new social media app that allows users to tape 15-second video statuses.

    In May 2012, he also received his doctoral degree in education from Barry University in Miami Shores, FL. He compiled a cumulative grade point average of 3.8 while completing 54 credit hours at Barry, mostly through online courses and video conferencing over four years. Shaq’s doctoral project explored how business leaders use humor in the workplace.

    Click here for more details.
    Speakers:
    Speaker

    Shaquille O'Neal

  • 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM

    Networking in Expo

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  • 12:30 PM - 2:00 PM

    Conference Lunch with Keynote

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    Speakers:
    Speaker

    James Stanger

    Speaker

    John McGlinchey

    Speaker

    Todd Thibodeaux

  • 2:15 PM - 3:15 PM

    A Case for “Soft” Skills: Developing Balanced IT Professionals

    Speaker: James Taylor - Programs Manager/Training Analyst at BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina

    Do tech professionals need “soft” skills? Based on research conducted with cyber security, as well as risk and compliance teams, the answer is a resounding YES! My presentation makes a compelling case that “soft” skill are essential and developing these skills is a must in the IT profession, not just something nice to have. As technology changes, IT professionals must morph and change to meet the requirements and trends of business needs, making IT professionals one of the most flexible and indispensable professions in today’s business environment. As a collective IT workforce, we must transform to meet the demands of the future; we must also make it imperative to meet the demands and expectations of our organizational cultures. To do so, a focus on “soft” skills, especially communication skills and emotional intelligence (also known as Emotional Quotient or E.Q.), should be a must for tech professionals to prioritize and implement into their professional toolsets. Overall, “soft” skills can be defined as personal attributes that enable someone to interact effectively and harmoniously with other people. Even if you've got solid technical “hard” skills, employers will also require soft skills as you move through your career. Every role in the IT profession needs to balance and develop these hybrid skills - a combination of technical and non-technical “soft” skills. Management, as well as instructors, of tech professionals need to consider this need as a primary focus and not only upskill and reskill to meet today’s emerging technology demands, we must also retool and expand these important non-technical skills as well, to help meet the expectations and demands of our organization cultures. Bottom-line, in Information Technology, IT professionals need to be able to interact successfully with customers, convey their thoughts and ideas to others, interact with vendors, colleagues and managers; not to mention, as their careers grow manage departments of other highly skilled technical people.

    Click here for more details.
  • 2:15 PM - 3:15 PM

    Using ITF+ for Digital Literacy and an Entry Tool for IT/Cybersecurity Programs Aligned with CompTIA Certifications

    Speaker: Steve Linthicum - Deputy Sector Navigator / Professor at Rancho Santiago Community College District

    Using CompTIA’s entry level certification, ITF+, is an effective way to interest young adults in the pursuit of a cyber career but also to provide much-needed digital literacy for ALL students. Steve Linthicum, from the California Community College Chancellor’s office, and Cyberhub have developed an ITF+ program for California Community Colleges and Unified School Districts across the state with fantastic results. Learn how you can utilize ITF+ at your institution to introduce IT as a pathway to CompTIA certifications like A+ and Network+ as well as cyber careers.   

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  • 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM

    Best Practices for Implementing Virtual Labs

    Instructor Damon Garn discusses how he effectively uses virtual labs in various course formats to enable students to get hands-on in classroom environments

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  • 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM

    X Marks the Spot: Applying Competency Mapping and Assessments to Build a Cyber Workforce Baseline

    Speaker: Pamela McComas - Program Manager at General Dynamics Information Technology

    As the cyber workforce continues to evolve and become more complex, government and commercial companies continue to struggle to define what their ever-changing workforce looks like. Recent graduates are entering the market armed with degrees and certifications, while other professionals are switching mid-career to enter the cyber market. How then do the recruiters and ranking officers who are hiring and managing the cyber workforce ensure they have the right people in the right roles? Fortunately, through the DoD Cyber Workforce Framework (DCWF) and NICE Cybersecurity Workforce Framework, the heavy lifting has been done on establishing the workroles within cyber. And, we also have technology and methodology on our side. By applying knowledge and performance-based assessments and mapping those questions to skill levels and competencies, both industry and government alike can build a cohesive cyber workforce baseline. In our discussion, we’ll talk through the process of building workrole-based assessments that map to skill levels and the knowledge, skills, abilities and tasks defined in the NICE Cybersecurity Workforce Framework. We’ll show how these assessments can help in the recruitment process as a pre-screening tool and can help hiring managers identify strengths and areas for improvement within their existing workforce. Through this approach, the cyber industry can continue to build a baseline that align to the DoD frameworks we are using as our guide for ensuring we have a qualified cyber workforce.

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  • 4:30 PM - 6:30 PM

    Networking Reception in Expo

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  • 7:30 AM - 9:00 AM

    Breakfast Partner Expo & Networking

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  • 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM

    Arriving at a narrative: Emerging tech and the future value of the IT support professional

    We’ve seen unprecedented device diversity today; if you thought that “Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)and smart phones brought about some pretty big changes, then wait until we start talking about what IoT has wrought at the help desk. We’ve also seen organizations worldwide change their operations inradical ways, due to actual cloud adoption, the use of emerging technologies, and the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automation.As businesses transform themselves more quickly than ever before, what does the tech support professional need to know? Will there be a help desk anymore? Join Dr. James Stanger as he reports on discussions he’s had with execs, hiring managers, and tech support pros around the world. He’ll discuss how traditional repetitive, script-based tech support is rapidly disappearing. Instead, we’re seeing tech support professionals having to learn more advanced skills, including troubleshooting, security, and proactive, consultative approaches. James will also discuss how managers are finding that they are having trouble upskilling today’s workers, because learning curves are steeper, yet they have less time available to teach workers than ever before.

    Click here for more details.
  • 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM

    Automation and AI

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  • 10:15 AM - 11:15 AM

    De-mystifying Cyber Security education: How Cyber Security Trainings can be affordable and effective at the same time?

    Speaker: Prem Jadhwani - CEO & President at Intellectual Point

    Cybersecurity workforce training and development is going through a major transformation today with the changing threat landscape as well as rapidly evolving technologies such as machine learning, artificial intelligence and big data analytics. This presentation will bring the real world best practices from the trenches on how cyber security education and training can be both affordable and effective in helping people fill the cyber security job openings with the right skills? Attendees will walk away with a clear understanding of practical cyber security training solutions as well as best practices in developing and delivering an effective cyber security awareness program from a pragmatic perspective within the commercial and federal organizations. Attendees will learn how an accredited training provider has been leveraging the Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act (WIOA) program to effectively impart cyber security education to the unemployed and underemployed folks and help them transition to a lucrative and stable career in cyber security with the help of hands-on professional short courses and IT certifications. Learning Objectives : - What are the fastest growing market segments within the cyber security hiring today? - How is the role of a security analyst rapidly evolving with the advent of advanced persistent threats, zero day attacks and new indicators of compromise like ransomware ? - Best practices in cyber security workforce development - Effectively blending real world cyber security skills into the classroom with Cyber Security certifications and short courses by building a SOC environment - How can you best leverage open source tools in cyber security to help provide the best real-world learning environment for effective cyber security education and skills transfer ? - What are the effective ways to build the right blend of conceptual learning and hands-on skills in cyber security in your training programs ? - How do you effectively bridge the gap between the non-technical IT workforce looking to get into cyber security and the type of skills that potential cybersecurity hiring managers are looking for?

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  • 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM

    Hands-on Approach to Teaching Cybersecurity and IT/Networking

    Speaker: Hau Nguyen - Professor at Grossmont College

    This talk will discuss various hands-on approaches to teaching Cybersecurity and IT/Networking courses. It will leverage interactive materials and hands-on virtual lab environments. It will also illustrate how materials can be integrated with Learning Management Systems. It will also describe best practices and tips and tricks for successful deployment of Cybersecurity and IT/Networking courses.

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  • 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM

    What CompTIA Partners shoud know about where the Future of Blockchain Technology is going

    Speaker: Joseph Holbrook - Blockchain Author and Trainer

    As an enterprise or even a CompTIA partner you may be wondering where all the hype is going with blockchain? Blockchains are an open-source distributed database that use state-of-the-art cryptography to essentially facilitate transactions and or interactions that can be either financial or non financial data. A Blockchain essentially is a record of transactions similar to a traditional ledger. These transactions can be recorded for anything and not just financial Blockchain is NOT Bitcoin Blockchain is NOT just about Cryptocurrency Blockchain is to Bitcoin, what the internet is to email Blockchain is now really about providing value to the enterprise Whether you just now learning about what blockchain technology is or your deeply involved in a Proof of Concept (POC) then learning about the disruptive nature of blockchain technology is the right move The seminar will cover topics such as. • What exactly is Blockchain technology? • Why are companies are embracing Blockchain technologies? • Overview of major Enterprise Blockchains (Hyperledger, Ethereum, Quorum and R3 Corda) • What are the industries that are ripe for disruption from Blockchain Technology? • What is Blockchain as a Service (BaaS) and why as a Cloud SME you should understand this technology. • The top five areas that CompTIA partners should learn to profit from Blockchain

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  • 2:45 PM - 3:45 PM

    Heard from The Horse’s Mouth: An Industry Panel

    How well (or not well) are we doing to prepare candidates for IT jobs? Hear from a panel of employers on the state of the current talent pool and what knowledge, skills and abilities are needed now and in the future for IT workers.

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  • 10:15 PM - 11:15 PM

    Intro to Linux+ in your Classroom

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