DAMA Chicago
Dave McComb



I presented “Semantic Modeling” to the Chicago DAMA chapter on June 16th. They had a good turnout of about 40 people. I sat in on the “Information Exchange” prior to my talk and the topic that got the most discussion was the rise of “Corporate Taxonomies.” With set ups like this I can save a lot on my “shill budget.”

The conversation was quite lively, mostly around such questions as “What is a Corporate Taxonomy?” and “Aren’t we already doing that?” There was a spirited debate about who should do the taxonomization, and how to get funding for it.

During the discussion of the other Exchange topic (Sarbanes-Oxley), someone came up with a great line on that I’m going to have to start using: “When the executives sweat, it rains money.”

My talk was generally well received, although I did have a few people walk out in the middle. Those who stayed seemed genuinely interested. Sales of my book spiked a couple of days afterward, and I assume it was a direct result.

The Chicago DAMA chapter is a very active one, and the members were very engaged.