2024 Program

TechExpo 2024 Program

TechExpo 2024 is a hybrid conference on Friday, May 17 from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

The in-person experience starts at 9:00 a.m. with breakfast at the Apella Conference Center at 12 Davis Drive in Research Triangle Park (map).

TechExpo 2024 content will be available both on site and remotely. Attendees can choose whichever option best meets their needs!

Sessions

Empowering Your Career Growth: A Panel Discussion for IT Professionals

Apella 100W
 
Join us for an informative and engaging panel discussion on the topic of career development and professional networking for IT professionals. Our panelists are distinguished senior leaders with extensive experience in mentoring and guiding IT professionals towards successful career paths. The panelists are representing Duke University, Duke Health System, Duke Clinical Research Institute, Duke Diversity IT and Duke Analytics Community. This discussion is intended for junior and mid-level IT professionals who are keen on developing their skills, setting career goals, and expanding their professional network. Our panelists will share insights on building a successful career, leveraging professional networks, and the role of diversity in the IT industry. Mentoring will also be discussed, including how to choose a good mentor and what to expect from a mentoring relationship. Continuous learning will also be emphasized as a key to career growth. This is a great opportunity to learn from experienced leaders and connect with peers in the IT industry.
 

Getting Cozy with AI: Beginners Guide to Bing’s Copilot

Apella 100E

Getting Cozy with AI: Beginners Guide to Bing’s Copilot is a course designed for anyone who wants to learn how to use Bing’s Copilot (powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4). This powerful and creative chat assistant can help you with various tasks while protecting the data and business interests of Duke University. In this workshop, you will learn how to interact with Copilot, how to ask for information, generate content, and receive tips to make the most of Copilot’s features and capabilities.

Using Technology to Flip The Classroom

Apella 101

With the rise of Youtube, Instagram and TikTok, how people consume knowledge is drastically changing. How can Universities keep up with this changing landscape? How can technology help? In this panel, I will discuss engagement technology, asynchronous learning and my efforts to engage more students inside and outside of the classroom.

Communicating Tech to Non-techies

Apella 100E

Picture this. You’ve just handed off a project that was the culmination of 2 months of data analysis and countless mocha lattes. Your boss is thrilled with the deliverable and the insights of the research. They want YOU to present the findings to a group of non-technical members of the organization. You ask yourself, “How do I talk about technical stuff to non-techies?” There may be a lot to say about your findings and it is up to you to be selective in communicating the key ideas, arrange the presentation clearly and cohesively, and deliver it in a simple way. This session will provide you with tips and tricks that may help you find your own, unique and workable presentation style. It will focus on the audience, the message, and the story you might build to help you communicate the technical details in a way that makes sense to and can be retained by the audience.

Data Visualization Accessibility Tips

Apella 102

Data visualization has the power to enhance communication, support decision-making processes, and offer valuable insights into performance metrics. In this presentation, we’ll offer actionable suggestions to enhance these capabilities for all users, with a particular focus on inclusivity for individuals with disabilities. Discover how accessible data visualization reduces cognitive load for all consumers and accommodates diverse learning preferences. Topics will include accessible alt text tips for simple charts, providing equally effective supplemental formats for complex data, accessible color combinations, how to accessibly label chart data, and more.

Patch Notes: Updating DEI in IT

Apella 100W

This moderated discussion will offer an opportunity for the greater Duke IT community to reflect on our ongoing efforts toward diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB). By some metrics, IT culture outside of Duke is seeing improvements. (For example, Raleigh-Cary has been ranked 2nd best place in the country for women in tech.) How do things feel at Duke? What progress are we seeing? What concerns do we still have? Join us to share your thoughts, hear the experiences of others, and suggest areas where we should focus future efforts. (This discussion is being organized by DiversifyIT, a staff-led community working towards awareness and support for all identities in IT at Duke.)

Real Solutions with LLMs and ChatGPT

Apella 101

In the rapidly advancing realm of artificial intelligence, Large Language Models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT stand at the forefront of innovation, transforming how we approach problems and tasks in everyday life and professional settings. This talk will showcase real-world examples and personal experiences that highlight the versatility and impact of LLMs. From revolutionizing educational methods and healthcare diagnostics to enhancing customer interactions and personal productivity, we’ll explore the tangible benefits these technologies offer. Drawing on specific case studies, we’ll demonstrate how LLMs and ChatGPT are not just theoretical marvels but practical tools that streamline operations, foster creativity, and provide solutions to complex challenges. This presentation aims to illuminate the practical applications of LLMs, offering insights into their potential to change the landscape of various industries and everyday life, while also addressing the ethical dimensions of their use. Participants will gain a comprehensive understanding of how these cutting-edge technologies can be leveraged to improve efficiency, innovation, and problem-solving in their own spheres of influence.

Authentication, Authorization, and Automation! Oh my!

Apella 100W

The authentication and authorization services provided by the Identity and Access Management team in OIT are widely used across Duke and DHTS by staff and vendors alike. They allow participation in Duke’s single sign-on process. IAM developers engaged their users across the Duke and DHTS Enterprise, in BlueDevilDevs discussions and Zoom meetings, to determine ways to improve their offerings. From this conversation, a vision of new APIs for managing these services emerged. The resulting APIs provide enhanced automation for clients to streamline DevOps pipelines. ESS-Web, OASIS, and Duke Innovation Co-Lab participated as partners with Identity and Access Management as beta users of the new services. This talk gives a brief overview of the new APIs and a discussion with our partners in OASIS and Duke Innovation Co-Lab on how they use these new tools. It provides a model for how organizations at Duke can collaborate to improve software development within the wider Duke Enterprise. There will be demos.

Guide on the Side: AI’s Tide in the Workplace Ride

Apella 100E

This talk explores the transformative impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in streamlining everyday tasks for university and health system professionals. By integrating AI technologies, we can enhance operational efficiencies, improve decision-making, and elevate collaboration experiences. From automating administrative duties to providing predictive analytics for better resource allocation, AI holds the promise of freeing up valuable time. We will showcase practical examples of AI applications, discuss implementation strategies, and address ethical considerations. Join us to discover how AI can be a powerful ally in advancing our work at Duke.

Integrating AI into Medical Education

Apella 101
The School of Nursing transitioned from a distrust of generative AI to fully embracing AI and machine learning. This is a look at how we made the switch and are now working to integrate AI into the classroom and school administration.
 

Working with your Data in Splunk Cloud, from Pipeline to Production

Apella 102

This talk is for anyone who wants to know more about working with their data in Splunk Cloud. Maybe you’ve heard of Splunk, maybe you use it every day—but no prior experience with Splunk is necessary to attend this talk. We will follow an event as it travels from its source to Splunk Cloud, covering how Splunk “labels” and parses the data in a practical, user-focused way. Additionally, we will cover a highly requested topic in two parts: “What is a Splunk Technical Add-on?” and “What is the Difference Between a Splunk Technical Add-on and a Splunk App?” By the end of this talk, an attendee who has never worked with their data in Splunk Cloud will have the confidence to “get their data in” to Splunk Cloud and “tell” Splunk what to do with their data. This talk will cover the basics, and we can get into specifics in Q&A.

Certificate Churn: CABF, PQC, and Automating for Agility (and Survival)

Apella 100E
If you haven’t heard by now, the CABF plans to further restrict publicly-trusted TLS certificate lifetimes (to a max of 90 days) in the near future. That, alone, will make non-automated TLS certificate management infeasible. We’ll look at the change and the reasons behind it, and talk about some of the automation alternatives available to prepare for the change. We’ll also look at the drivers for crypto agility, and depending on audience preference, may spend some time talking about post-quantum cryptography and how it factors into the TLS certificate situation (as well as other crypto-sensitive topics).
 

CMASS UI, a Homegrown App for PHMO

Apella 101
The Population Health Management Office (PHMO) is the care management arm of Duke Health. This office has its own IT Data & Analytics team to, in part, handle data streams that are specific to PHMO, such as payor plan attribution files and claims. Our care managers need access to some of this data in their daily work as well as to be able to pull down work lists that are informed by these data streams. To solve the challenge of providing data to the care managers, we created the Care Management Attribution and Stratification System User Interface (CMASS UI). This .NET web-based application, sitting on a Microsoft SQL Server database, provides user access to information unavailable in Maestro Care. Risk stratification algorithms designed by PHMO are applied to Maestro Care and payor plan data to create a dataset from which work lists are generated. We have a comprehensive User Guide for this application and our users are extremely happy with the product. So much so, they are forever proposing new features. This presentation will inform the audience of the who, what, when, where, why, and a bit of the how we successfully implemented our solution, CMASS UI.
 

Duke University IT Security Primer

Apella 102
The Duke University IT Security Primer will provide information about key concepts in information security for the Duke University community. The presentation will offer an overview of the Duke University network, foundational concepts in information security, Duke’s data classification standard, and the various technologies employed to protect the campus and detect attacks. It would also describe common attacks that the IT Security Office (ITSO) responds to daily and present some acronyms commonly used in such discussions. The presentation will explain how the ITSO utilizes a defense-in-depth approach to security, applying key controls to Duke University IT systems and networks based on data classification. The presentation would also outline the seven strategic goals that form the basis of Duke University’s Information Security Program.
 

Taking Control of Your Email: Achieving Inbox Zero with Microsoft Outlook

Apella 100W

Do you have thousands of emails in your Inbox? Do you have trouble tracking which emails you need to act on…and when? Inbox Zero is a concept for effectively managing your email. In today’s fast-paced digital world, managing email overload is crucial for productivity. This presentation explores practical strategies for achieving Inbox Zero using Microsoft Outlook. Key takeaways include: 

  1. The Case for Inbox Zero: We’ll discuss why Inbox Zero matters. By reducing clutter and minimizing distractions, participants will understand the benefits of a clean inbox.
  2. Leveraging Outlook Tools: Discover how Outlook tools such as Quick Steps can help to declutter your inbox.
  3. The 4D Principle: Implement the “Do it, delegate it, defer it, delete it” approach to efficiently handle emails. 
  4. Transition and Maintenance Strategies: We’ll discuss practical “baby steps” for transitioning to Inbox Zero…you don’t have to get there all at once! 

We will also cover ongoing maintenance strategies to keep your inbox at zero. By leveraging Outlook and understanding the case for Inbox Zero, participants will transform their email experience, reclaim valuable time, and maintain a clutter-free inbox. Remember, Inbox Zero isn’t about having zero emails—it’s about managing them effectively!