Computer Association of Nepal - USA

Minutes of Meeting

Date: Thursday, July 29^th, 2010  (6:30 -7:30 PM EST)

1. Call to order

Bineet Sharma called to order the meeting of CAN-USA members at 6:30 PM EST on 8/29/2010.

2. Roll call

A roll call was called by the facilitator. The following members were present:

 

Bineet Sharma (BKS)

Pradeep Khanal  (PK)

Prabuddhda Dahal (PD) – tele conference

Prajesh Shrestha (PS)

Suresh Ojha (SO)

Pukar Malla (PM) – tele conference

3. Purpose of the meeting and discussion

The purpose of the meeting was to apprise the members of past and present CAN-USA activities and discuss on the new businesses.

 

BKS thanked members for helping out in publication of July 2010 Newsletter, successfully holding the 3^rd Annual Development conference in July 4^th weekend in Boston.  Dr. Ramesh Malla, President of ASNEngr was specially cited for his help during joint CAN-USA/ASNEngr conference in Boston. Prabuddha Dahal’s presentation on Disaster Preparedness at the NRNA Regional Conference at Houston was recognized as one of the most successful contribution in the conference.  Nisha Thapa was commended on her role for the Disaster Preparedness kick off meeting of the concerned parties in Nepal.  BKS let members know that details of all these activities are available in our website www.can-usa.org.

 

After that a lively discussion ensued for present and future activities of CAN-USA. 

 

SO cited need for exploring possibility of writing to US congressmen so that we can have meaningful contacts with US aid organizations in Nepal.  PM, BKS and PK agreed that now such initiation can be jointly done through ANMF/ASNENgr/CAN-USA.

 

BKS explained that Nepal Research and Education Network (NREN) with 45 MBPS dedicated line had potential of supporting three important projects CAN-USA Supports: Open University, Telemedicine and Disaster Preparedness.  While nature of support level was still unknown but, there was general concession that CAN-USA should provide full support for NREN and utilize the potential of NREN.

 

The CAN-USA Annual General Body Meeting (AGM) and election date was tentatively discussed and agreed upon to be by the end of September.  Name of the election commissioner was identified to be Mr. Dorji Lama of Fremont, CA. 

 

Bineet Sharma was nominated by Pradeep Khanal and seconded by all to represent CAN-USA for the Skill Knowledge, Innovation and Education (SKIE) task force of NRN National Co-ordination council. 

 

A need for Advisory board for CAN-USA was discussed and several names were cited to be candidates to be in the advisory board.  It was decided that there would be equal number of Advisory Board Members from Nepal and USA.  The names coined were Mahabir Pun, Sanjib Raj Bhandari, Bal Joshi from Nepal side, Dr. Gewali, Dr. Bijay Bdr Karki, Kiran Joshi from US side.  To get started a white paper on the concept paper on Advisory Board will be written by Pukar Malla.

 

Possible representation in ANMA/NASeA labor day weekend conference in Lexington Kentucky was discussed specially in Joint Disaster Preparedness initiative.  PD told that he may be able to attend the conference.

 

A discussion brewed about providing a Job Fair during CAN-USA AGM and Election Day.  It was decided that we will find out a lead person who can lead the job fair.

 

PD passionately brought, one more time, the need to think about changing CAN-USA’s name for expanding our mandate and reaching out to more members.  It was generally agreed that it is about time to bring the discussion to the general mass and if needed can vote on the topic during our election day.  Idea was coined to create a task force in the leadership of Nabin Acharya.

4. New Business

1.      CAN-USA election to be held by last week of September or early October which will be Annual General Body meeting and a Job Fair/Workshop

2.      Bineet Sharma will represent CAN-USA in SKIE task force of NRN NCC

3.      CAN-USA will participate in ANMA/NASeA joint conference in Lexington, KY

4.      CAN-USA Advisory board will be formed in the near future

5.      CAN-USA will explore the possibility of changing name

5. Action Items:

• BKS will talk to the possible election commissioner candidates and finalize the name
• SO will draft the letter to congressmen and PM will edit it
• BKS will talk to Job Fair/Lead candidates and form the group.
• PM will draft the white paper on Advisory Board (AB)
• BKS, PM, SO will initiate the preliminary talk with possible AB members
• PD possibly will represent CAN-USA in ANMA/NASeA conference.
• BKS will talk to Nabin Acharya to head the CAN-USA name change task force and also talk to legal counsel on steps needed to take and also with Nepali counterpart and let them know that the co-operation unshakable even if name will change.

6. Adjournment

BKS adjourned the meeting at around 8:15 PM PST.

Minutes prepared by: Bineet Sharma

Thank you all of our dedicated networking event patrons!  Please read the note below and click on the links to learn a lot more about the topics.

 

July 8^th, 2010 meeting was very lively and engaging.  We had an insider view of Nepal Research and Education Network (NREN) from our guests Kishor Panth and Prashant  Manandhar who are active volunteers for Nepal Wireless Project and work very closely with Mahabir dai.  Together with other volunteers like Gaurab Upadhyay, they help out technically to bring the internet to villages.  They explained that the wireless projects in the villages are successful because the projects are requested by the villagers themselves and partly maintained by villagers as well.  This is perfect example of how organically grown projects can be sustained instead of projects brought over by foreign donation without paying attention on how to empower locals with ownership of the projects.

 

It was also eye opening for us that the project processes of Nepal Wireless project are now streamlined, equipments are standardized, towers used are permanent and the network is maintained in a consistent manner since last year.  So, today if a village is determined to bring internet in their village (Library, VDC, School, Office, and Banks etc.) a blueprint of the project is available to get it done quickly.

Highlight of the discussion concentrated on how the NREN (45MBPS connectivity) can be used by the projects dearest to CAN-USA and other professional organizations:

 

·         Disaster Preparedness

·         Tele-Medicine

·         Open University for Nepal (OUN)

 

Kishor ji emphasized that the CAN-USA should continue the Networking events and also have frequent brainstorming sessions with Nepal counterpart in a regular basis which will have a high impact.

 

The Networking event concluded with the following remarks:

 

1.        Next Bay Area networking event will continue on 3^rd Thursday of the month (August 19^th) but in a lunch setup at Ming’s restaurant with a guest speaker.

2.        Networking and brainstorming session with Nepal counterpart should continue in at least once in two months basis.

3.        CAN-USA should work with professional organizations to support NREN

 

Attendees:

Bhushan Mudbhary

Bineet Sharma

Kishor Panth

Pradeep Khanal

Prashant Manandhar

Samana Ghimire

 

Computer Association of Nepal-USA (CAN-USA) is an American organization dedicated to the professional development of its members and technological progress of Nepal.  It is a tax exempt 501 (3) © non-profit organization with members throughout the United States.  The organization continues to utilize the creativity and talent of its members and the broader American community to develop technology-rich solutions that address some of Nepal’s challenges. Please visit http://www.can-usa.org/ for more information.

 

A Report from Nepal by Nisha Thapa

About one month ago, I was invited by the Computer Association of Nepal (CAN) USA to  a conference as the keynote speaker and representative of the US-Nepali disaster relief community in Kathmandu. The conference was a part of a joint initiative between CAN USA, the American Nepali Medical Foundation (ANMF), and the American Society of Nepalese Engineers (ASNEngr). Though honored by the invitation and excited about the experience, I was overwhelmed by such an important role.

 

I have been heavily involved here in the U.S in organizing community health screenings, and running a free clinic for uninsured people from Bhutan, Nepal, and Tibet as a part of the Himalayan Health Care Project.  My only experience in disaster relief was fundraising for the post-earthquake relief effort in Haiti with student volunteers from Harvard’s Operational Medicine Institute (OMI).

With this limited experience, I reached out to the best resource for disaster relief I could think of: The executive director of OMI, David Callaway. I found his insights invaluable, particularly his perspective on alliances, or as he called it, Disaster Diplomacy. This meant that the need to identify and reach out to Nepal’s allies is imperative. These allies are the Nepali army and police (the first responders), the Indian Embassy, Indian NGO’s, and other disaster relief entities such as the International Red Cross and the United States Agency of International of Development (USAID).

Bringing together some of the best minds and organizations of Nepal in this historic precedent for establishing a functional disaster relief infrastructure has already made strides in the effort. For the agencies such as the Nepal Society of Earthquake Technology (NSET) who have been doing this work for years, a new platform has been established to prop up the importance of their work.  Joint initiatives between organizations such as the Computer Association of Nepal (CAN) - USA, the American Society of Nepalese Engineers (ASNEngr) and the American Nepal Medical Foundation (ANMF) have been forged to develop disaster response plans. Various organizations that attended the meeting were hopeful that this joint initiative led by U.S Diaspora would bolster their ongoing efforts by integrating technology with disaster preparedness.

 

Our U.S based organization, Sahayeta.org, is piloting medical software called the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) at Model Hospital in Kathmandu, and in our Himalayan Health Care Project here in Bay Area. Electronic health records allow easy access and storage of medical records and billing information while facilitating better communication between health professionals, management and patients. EMR also allows for better preparedness in disaster recovery since the records can be easily duplicated and stored at multiple locations. Our hope is that the software will eventually be used to serve other disaster relief communities such as in places like Haiti, where the lack of technology made record keeping of patients and procedures challenging. This brings us to the central problem of disaster management: you cannot manage a disaster after it has happened. You must be prepared before it occurs. While an earthquake might be inevitable for Nepal, we must take the initiative to ensure that disaster impacts are mitigated. Disaster response plans are currently being drafted, but setting short term goals are equally as urgent.  Between preventative health care and Disaster Diplomacy, we have got a lot of work to do, and no time to spare.

Nisha Thapa is the founder and the president of Sahayeta.org.  She can be reached at nishathapa82@gmail.com.

Houston, TX, USA. May 28-29, 2010

Prabuddha Dahal

 

A joint panel discussion on earthquake disaster preparedness in Nepal was organized by ANMF/ASNEngr/CAN-USA in Houston, TX during the 4^th regional conference of NRN. The panel was chaired by Dr. Prahlad Pant and moderated by Dr. Bishnu Phuyal.

 

The chair, Dr. Pant, opened the discussion by emphasizing the need for urgent attention to disaster preparedness in Nepal. The moderator, Dr. Phuyal, highlighted how the cooperation of the three agencies has already made a positive impact, leading into a conference with wide participation. He then invited the panelists to share their perspective on disaster preparedness.

 

The first panelist, Dr. Gaury Adhikary (E.C, ANMF), showcased how ANMF had participated in numerous healthcare services in Nepal and has had a strong footing in the field. He expressed his organization’s interest and ability to quickly mobilize medical personnel and medical assistance shortly after disaster has occurred.

 

The second panelist, Dr. Rajendra Shrestha(V.P, ASNEngr),  agreed that an effort to make better use of resources and a higher level of cooperation between the three organizations was necessary. Dr. Shrestha graphically explained to the audience how geological formation of the Indian sub-continent and the Himalayas has put Nepal at a high risk of major earthquake activity.

 

Prabudhda Dahal (V.P, CAN-USA) explained the possibility of complete failure of communication and transportation infrastructure during an earthquake and stressed the need for alternate communication mediums, such as walkie-talkies or satellite phones, to build a back-up communication system. He also underscored the need for effective use of technologies, such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS), before, during, and after a major disaster. For such a massive task, he stressed the need for cooperation between the three agencies and urged the audience to get involved through membership or by volunteering time.

(Click here to view complete presentation)

 

Suman R. Timsina of NRN emphasized the need for cooperation between all fellow Nepalese living around the globe and assured, as an NRN executive, to work towards achieving such cooperation through NRN’s programs and networks.

 

The session was highly interactive, with curious and active participants, who not only listened and questioned the panelist, but also provided suggestions. Below is a list of suggestions/questions that came from the participants:

 

1.      Participants suggested that the joint effort be expanded to

a.       Organize similar presentation on the status and path forward for disaster preparedness in Nepal

b.      Prepare projects and participate in disaster awareness in Nepal especially in public places and institutions such as Schools and Hospitals with large number of people.

2.      Participants suggested that the three organizations should build a coalition and partner with other agencies for Building code enforcement in Nepal

a.       Majority of the attendees seemed unsure on how to take this issue in a manner that will generate results

3.      Another suggestion worth noting is a potential for cultural barriers

a.       What is the preparation to address cultural ethnocentrism following a disaster, thereby, limiting flow of essential goods and/or services from or via one community to another

b.      Efforts should be focused on  bringing politicians and social scientists together to discuss this issue

c.       Learn from other areas that have seen such conflicts during disaster (Haiti?)

4.      Mr. Sharda J. Thapa suggested that satellite phone companies could be willing to provide sets so we need to approach them with this request. He graciously agreed to help connect to these providers.

5.      Participants raised questions on the availability or establishment of a contingency fund. If there is none in place, it is something that needs immediate attention.

6.      The need to develop a comprehensive plan to bring government and local agencies, such as Mahanagarpalika, together with the Aid and Non-Profit organizations.

 

Prabuddha Dahal is Vice President of CAN-USA and is an expert in GIS.  He can be reached at prabdahal@gmail.com

 

The video conference meeting between CAN Nepal and CAN USA was held on 16th March 2009 at Mercantile premises Durbar Marg at 8:30 am Nepali time. The meeting was in presence of honorable presence of honorable Minister of Environment Science and Technology, CAN president, CAN Executives, Executive Director of NITC, Controller - Office of Controller of Certification and members of CAN-USA.

 

 

List of participants: CAN Nepal                         List of Participants: CAN USA

 

1. Er. Ganesh K Shah:               Minister                         1. Bineet Sharma   President

2. Er. Suresh K. Karna:              CAN President              2. Pukar Malla       VP West Region

3. Amrit B. Thapa:                     CAN 1st VP                  3. Prabuddha Dhal VP Mid Region

4. Kishor Pant                            Can 2nd VO                 4. Suresh Ojha        GS

5. Er. Binod Dhakal                   CAN G Secretary           5.Deepak Neupane  Secretary

6. Hemant Chaurasia:                 CAN Treasurer               6. Bijay Niraula         Exec Member

7. Narayan Neupane:                 CAN Secretary              7.Amod Pokharel      Exec Member

8. Gaurab Raj Upadhaya:           CAN Member                8.Nabin Acharya       Exec Member

9. Amrit K Pant:                         CAN Member                9.  Prajesh Shreshta Member

10. Bhim Doj Ssrestha                CAN Member               10.Anjana Chalise     Member

11. Dr. Subarna Shakya:            NITC                             11.Ksheetij Thapalia  Member

12. Rajan Raj Pant                     Controller office                       

13 Krishna K Shah:                    MOEST                        

14. Rajiv M. Karmacharya:         Mercantile                     .

 

After introduction between two CAN’s, CAN-USA introduced about what is CAN-USA and the agenda put by CAN-USA. The agenda are as follows:

 

Technology improvement of Nepal:

Future Collaboration:

                  USA - Nepal global Nepali relationship.

·         Online coursers

·         Technologies in hospitals

·         technologies in universities

·         technologies in industrial areas

·         Advertisement, newspaper and websites

·         Job Listings

·         Emergency telecommunication in Nepal.

 

 

CAN-USA talked about transfer of knowledge between world wide to Nepal. Few point regarding different types of knowledge were discussed. Those are:

 

                        1. Technical knowledge

                        2. Economic Knowledge

                        3. Scocial Knowledge

                        4. Cultural Knowledge

                        5. Medical Knowledge

 

CAN-USA also talked about online education for Nepalese kids in United States and globally to teach them Nepali languages, cultures and traditions. The main goal for this online education is to generate work in Nepal. As all are aware that project management skills in Nepal are so fragile, they also talked about project management opportunities through video conference, e-concepts like e-learning, information’s flow, e-libraries etc.

 

 

 

Few ambitions put by CAN-USA for ICT sectors development in Nepal:

 

a)  By creating System world wide to participate in Nepal developments.

b)  By creating economic opportunities.

c) By creating model for development, dissemination through UN bodies.

d) Sharing tips for high end technologies

e) By promoting the professional networking.

f) By sorting of digital device.

 

After these discussions the minister thanks to CAN-USA with his exquisite speech saying, Nepal government is working on ICT policies and will be forwarded to both CAN’s. In his speech he added that if transfer of knowledge between CAN-USA and CAN Nepal works out regularly, then the main advantage will be development in the field of any related technologies in Nepal.

Dr. Subarna Shakya thanks to CAN-USA and talked about future development of ACY projects in Nepal.

President of CAN Nepal adjourned the meeting by thanking  to CAN-USA and other executives. He mentioned that if these types of knowledge sharing could be applied regularly then this will be the equal opportunities and paramount benefits for ICT development.

AOB:

CAN USA put some issues to Minister and those are as follows:

1. VISA issues: Should be fast track visa process for CAN-USA Volunteers.

2. Custom clearance for donated technical H/W for sponsored projects

3. Clarifications and understanding polices of United States.

 2^nd Annual Conference at ANA 2009 Convention 

Members Present:

Bineet Sharma (BKS), Deepak Neupane (DN), Sanjeev Shreshtha (SS), Pukar Malla (PM), Nabin Acharya (NA)

On the phone: Bijay Niraula (BN), Anata Risal (AR),  Prajesh Shrestha (PS), Ksheetij Thapalia (KT), Nabin Khanal (NK)

ANA Representative: Govind Sahi (GS), Sandeep Puri (SP), Sajesh Giri (SG),Simon Dhungana (SD), Nabin Dutta (ND)

 

BKS: Govinda dai joined right on time.

 

Our next agenda item is to talk about

CAN-USA ANA working together for our 2^nd Annual ICT Development Conference.  Handing over to PM to facilitate next agenda.

 

Just want to add one or two items from my side before I hand over to him: This is really exciting opportunity for both the organizations for simple reason that the ANA convention is happening in silicon valley which is hub of the technology development and Nepal is trying hard to do economic development and it becomes so good for “CAN-USA to show our faceless community, this is way to show our critical mass to show case in front of silicon valley crowd and whole USA and ANA venue is perfect.  In my opinion this kind of opportunity doesn’t come very easily.   While there is a caution also  for both ANA and CAN-USA if one of them don’t do good work during convention there will be a backlash for other organization in the mean time we should not think negative and think of positive it will be a good venue for both of these organizations to take it to next level.  With that I would like to hand over the mike to Pukar Ji who is the bridge between ANA and CAN-USA he has done tremendous work in this community infrastructure and like that and he is the right person to fuse youth and human energy and technology.

 

PM: Bineet ji gave a speech … Nonetheless it was powerful one.  We have an hour.  Let us go around and introduce.

 

GS: currently ANA convener for 2009.  Happy to be here.  I was briefed by PM other day, and happy to know that what CAN-USA wants to do along with ANA conference 2009 is commendable from all of your side .

 

ND: Namaste from Denver Colorado.  Pukar sent me an email and called me asked me to join the meeting they liked to do couple of sessions during ANA convention I think is all good and last year also we did it and I am optimistic we will do great work this year also.

 

PM: for those of you don’t know, Nabin Dutta is ANA president.

AR: NJ.  I am working for a startup company.  Knowledge Management.

 

PS: MBA student, work for a S/W company and CAN-USA member

 

KT: Recent Graduate.  Berkeley, CAN-USA member

 

BN: Let us have a theme based on Technology.  Green Technology

 

SD: Simon Dhunghana.  ANA convention of chair-person and working with SP and SG.  Look forward to get the solid proposal to talk about.

 

BKS: working on a startup, leading CAN-USA with other elders.  Exciting to let you know that we are going to have 2^nd Annual ICT Development conference of CAN-USA within ANA convention 2009.  Simon Ji your email was instrumental  also stating what is good about having CAN-USA conference at ANA.

 

SG: Co-convener of ANA 2009.  Nasa Aimes.  Sr Enginer

 

SP: One of the co-convener.  Work at Cicso system.

 

PK: Looking forward to high visibility high impact CAN-USA conference.

 

SS: Looking forward to work with CAN-USA

 

PM: Main goal is to be in same page for the ICT conference vision and then spend some time in some of the logistics.  I hope you have seen the concept paper about ANA convention CAN-USA conference.  Last year we had in UC Berkeley.  Our goal is Professional networking for our members and ICT development of Nepal this was the theme of our past conference and also reach a broader concession for some of the policy.  Going forward we thought of doing this year’s conference in summer.  As Bineet ji mentioned there is lots of interest from both sides to organize the ict conference in ana

This years theme is technology and entrepreunership in general.  What is your thought?

 

SD: I can only stay another five minutes.    Previously I have already discussed modalities with SG and SP.  And what else can be done, of course you know as well that I am CAN-USA member as well and was involved last year Bineet ji was there.  First and foremost is excellent idea, two three hours format basically we have to look for right time and we have to maximize attendance and people should know that CAN-USA’ conference is happening.  The documentation you have sent is excellent.  If we can do all those that will be excellent.  If you guys don’t have any immediate question I will drop out and Sandepe and Sajesh will take over.

 

ND: I have told Pukar as well that American Society of Nepali Engineers are also trying to do something so GS, SG, and SP should be aware of other parties, and they want some resources from us, so keep them in mind when we decide all of these but absolutely CAN-USA will be there and we will provide full support of ours.

 

SD: Oh Ok.  Yes, Pukar have been to many ANA conventions.  We will have CAN-USA conference, but, have you guys thought about how CAN-USA members can have synergy with ANA convention as well.

 

PM: As a larger network, ANA brings hoards of Nepali.  ANA provides ample entertainment and social network.  Our thought about this year’s conference is it will further strengthen the professional networking.  Simon dai, students and professional might not find substantial things, but they might find more interesting if say they have mentorship for students (forum), it grabs them more.  Students will be closer to ANA when they can say I could hand over my resume, this is just an example.

 

SD: Excellent.  This is something tangible.  These are good objective.  CAN-USA’s professional involvement can achieve lots of things.  Having said that what else are we discussing in today’s agenda?

 

PM: In general we all want to be in same page that what we are trying accomplish here.  Agreement on vision and some of the logistics.

 

AR: One thing we might have to think in CAN-USA is while we are all sentimental about Nepal ICT projects we should think of networking in US as well.  We don’t even know who  is doing what in US professionally, can this be furthered in ANA convention as well? How to bring more membership in ANA, how to involve more professional in US.  Then transfer that knowledge to Nepal.  Like for US students writing resume.

 

BKS: Excellent point.  That is why our main vision of CAN-USA is professional development of it’s members and technological progress of Nepal.   The fruits of our professional development is evident from Sanjeev Raj Bhandari providing us the infrastructure of Video Conference.  He was very impressed when he visited west coast last time.  We still have lots of work to do to reach out.  Definitely ANA is right place. 

 

SP: Couple of points everyone made.  2009 is happening in the Bay Area.  Pretty dense in Technical area.  Unique opportunity we can show case what Nepalese are involved in tech field.  Education or engineer.  CAN-USA’s vision fits right in.  It makes perfect sense for CAN-USA to hold its conference in ANA.  One thought is in we need to show case something unique about Bay Area in ANA convention.  Beauty is one thing but there is another thing going on that is technology.  What we could do is not only have the ICT conference going by CAN-USA and we saw the agenda sent by Pukarji where career management, what is happening in Nepal, brain storming what can be done professionally with ideas lots of these are technology based areas, convention’s one portion however we want to do three hours in one day or two days it can be labeled ICT Conference by CAN-USA does not really matter somehow also give the tone that since it is happening as the part of the ANA and this happening from ANA as ell what are doing give it a platform as well theme of Technology.  This year it is Technology, next year it could be something else.

 

BKS: Yes, that is the poing Kiran Joshi also said last time,,t he them for this year should be ‘Technology’ as many years back when it happened in LA the them was ‘entertainment’ and rightly so.  So put together what Bijay ji was saying about the Green theme.  Let us imagine showing the live video feed of melting glacier something live from NamcheBazaar.  Which will be good to show case our prowess. 

 

PM: We are taking professional networking to the next level.  By providing opportunity for students and professionals to meet and share ideas to next level, find a contact in Nepal and when the student and professionals adherence increases then tnext thing is memberships and membership at emotional level, they will be connected to ANA.  My membership has a value.   They go home they can think of going to ANA and be able to do something concrete.

 

DN: Will the conference be run independently or within some forum?  We might be inside ANA but the ICT conference is one its own right?

 

SS: Younger generation usually take it as social fun events.  Social networking.  If we can use CAN-USA to give a professional branding, somehow there is not interest among Nepali as is there in Indian community who has strong professional networking.  Not sure why, is this because the organization like CAN-USA has not done anything for them (at least they might be thinking of that?).

Professional is non-existing in Nepali community. Just wanted to bring this to the attention.

 

PK: Any questions before we go to logistics?

 

SP:   Side of caution.  While there is excitement about the theme in ANA, let us not forget that ANA is all about entertainment and Sports is big part of it.  Which is biggest crowd drawer, and evening events and forums  and like not as when dynamic people like Pukar is there it is crowd pleasure.  So, yet we can mail the theme, we need to be little bit careful on theme and not decide ourselves and open up to the public that what is the theme of this year, that these were what we are thinking around so what is your opinion.   But saying that there were some themes which came out couple of months back, some of themes are conducive for having some technology type like progress.  Other caution as ND dai was saying that there are other organizations which has come forward that they want to have there conference in ANA e.g. American Society of Nepali Engineers.  Actually they have not approached us with the details but they has shown lots of interest.    It is co-operative environment.  Actually if that engineering society and CAN-USA can work together for something else who knows.    

 

This is first time that we are having convention in a convention center in Oakland Marriott.  Pukar has seen it there is plenty of room.  We have reserved some room for Forum, we can expand that.  50/100 persons room are upstairs, convention halls are downstairs.  Projectors and other things have to be paid extra.  We have to figure it out.

 

DN: Scheduling is the key.  We want people to participate in CAN-USA conference.  But due to sports etc there are hardly anyone in the day time but there is crowd during evening.  I have seen this issue in LA, Baltimore ANA and Omaha Naesa.  I talked regarding this with Rita didi and Bineet dai as well.

 

GS: We talked about it among advisory board as well,  this year we are planning to keep sports in the afternoon so that forums and others can happen in the morning.  Not sure where CAN-USA will fit in the morning or afternoon.

 

PM: We don’t want to clash. 

 

All; Mumble

 

ND: Sports crowd may not make whole lots of difference in your forum, ,may be 10%.

 

PM: Nabin dai, I ….

 

ND: Feel free to chime in if you disagree

 

AR: Is it possible, to provide technology for Sports, bring inside the convention?  Is that going to be attractive?  Is it possible to attract people and tell them what is happening in different rooms etc? 

 

BKS: That is possible but I don’t think it is going to fly as sports people want live audience.  Nabin Ji I beg to differ from you that we want students and young professionals in workshop etc. 

I just wanted to conclude on agreement on vision first before going to logistics

 

ND and all: Absolutely.

 

SS: If we need to attract sports crowd then we must have some interesting items for them like if you are going to be ready for job market in a year here are the internship opportunities or resume writing workhops etc.

 

ALL: Yes

 

DN: But when kids go to sports, they even take their parents.  So, sport is big crowd puller.

 

BKS: Are we all in sync with broader idea of the vision and CAN and CAN-USA is going to be very flexible in next 4/5 months during planning stage to be able to pull it off without going in lots of details (which can be worked out later).  What we want to agree on broader vision, rather than details.  In the vision side we all agree, CAN-USA has already agreed on doing the conference, we are all excited about this will be benefit to both of our memberships.  Do we have a ye and ne here because we have all important organizers from ANA side:

 

ND: We all agree

 

ALL: We all agree

 

BN: Starting now, create a facebook or u tube and have a website. Create sports video clips and make them interested, put the sports, dance practice video clips.  That will interest people in technology.  Theme will be build up.  May be they are interested in job more this time.  In this CAN should volunteer on creating this momentum

 

PM:  Bijay ji I agree with you.  These two things are in sync.  There has never been events to strengthen  Professional platform development Garnet Event planning.  From CAN-USA perspective this is important to deliver this message ahead of time and ANA can be instrumental on that.  We need ANA support for making sure that this vision is given before so that the people coming in ANA have that expectation.  CAN-USA is very ready and willing and we want to do this year as well equally from other side we need ANA support and willingness.

 

BKS: In the mean time we do not want to diminish what ANA already does best social networking, entertainment rather we can enhance that by implementing what BN said.

 

SP: We have to figure out in next few months, how many people are expected.  Facebook or website, if you can garner that interest you would know.  Second thing if we expect 100 people for each event. 

 

BKS: We are expecting lots of people even in Nepal and we have given blank invitation during CAN InfoTech.  There is lot of buzz, you can expect from Nepal.  AT least who is who of big company.

 

Just to answer some of the question.  Engineering association had their conference, where our time was overlapped with their while I was interested to attend their conference.   While we should make sure to stagger with Sports, other forum is important as well to stagger; there is very difficult choice for ANA organizers 

 

ND: You touched exact problem, you caught the bull by the horn.   That is what exactly the problem.  Everyone want the prime time.  It becomes very challenging.  Everyone wants to make sure that time slot is not given to others.

 

BKS: Pukar Ji please go ahead with the schedule.  I just want to add that we are planning well ahead this year and know lots of folks in ANA and Engineering association and we can schedule more efficiently so that we can work together.  If any hour has to be overlapped it can be something just Engineering or CAN-USA pertinent so that we don’t compete with the audience.

 

PM:   We did two full whole day last year.  Initial proposal is to two three hours session.  One three hour session and another in another day.  And one hour social networking day, like business talk.  PPT going on but it is like happy hour.    So, generally what we are thinking we will do two days, three hours in each day and one social hour.

 

SP: There are 7 items, and some of them are very interesting to me as well.  So, we may like to prioritize it.  Resource is important, everyone have to work together.  May be social hour is with banquent.  This year looks like forum is going to be dynamic as well, Rita didi is leading and going great job.  There are multiple things they are interesting this year.  May be do core part in two days and non-core part you can spread it out.  Just to keep in mind.

 

We have Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

 

PK: Generally two time three hours. 

 

BKS: May be these details can be talked about later. Anyone has any point regarding logistics?  I wanted to add one point on Vision.

 

ND: Chaina dai, kei pani chaina.

 

BKS: Since we are all about technological progress of Nepal, we need to be able to showcase Nepali companies as well.  I am not sure Deepak has taken booth.  Say if Mercantile wants a booth; say Mahabir pun wants a booth.  Say he wants to show the Show Case of Nepali technology progress.  So how ANA can provide this, how can we impart that information in Nepal?  We may want to promote IT park.  What kind of logistics or support we get from ANA

 

SP: So many things are going on in ANA.  From organization point of view there are different bucket, like Vendor bucket.  For Vendor jewelry shop and non-profit is a vendor, IT park or Nepali Businesses are vendors.  They can keep that.  It is just matter of communication, if you get enquiry, just let us know.

 

ND: What SP said is good, but for non-profit like Mahabir, we did not charge anything.  But, we have to be careful if there are 20 non-profit we will be sensitive as we will not get any revenue.  But, we will see how we can accommodate.

 

SP: Regarding vision, we can use RFID in the ticket to find out who is participating in events.  ANA does not have real data in planning well.  There are some vendors who have approached us to do that.  Even in logistics we can use technology.

 

PM: We will see if CAN-USA pulls we will definitely let them know.

 

Summarizing: We agreed on doing 2^nd Annual ICT conference of CAN-USA in ANA 2009 – unanimously in Vision of Professional development of members and technological progress of Nepal.  We can strengthen ANA membership in ANA, other thing we talked about how to work with other association like engineering association.  We will collaborate with them for time allotments.  Lastly we agreed on three hours two day event and one social hour, totally 7 hours of CAN-USA events.  Actual content of the three hour sessions will be decided later.

 

PM: Thank you everyone, do anyone have closing thoughts?  And what’s next.

 

SP: Next we need to know the numbers.  This will help us in room allotment.  Once you figure out with more concrete plan, it will show up in convention schedule as well.  We will work with pukar on link.

 

GS:  Sandeep why not we plan on meeting between CAN/CAN-USA in the Marriott to show them the venue within next month?

 

SP: Actually Simon dai is coming in third week of February and we can schedule a meeting.  There will be a meeting of convening council.

 

GS: We can meet with CAN-USA that time

 

PM: Another thing let us start talking about this in ANA portal to make it official.

 

SP: Completely agree.  We can add that.

 

PM: I will send you a paragraph to put in there.  Another thing  point of contact.

 

BKS: You are the point of contact; you are in Advisory council of ANA convention

 

ALL: Laugh

 

PM: I think this is good, anything else?  On the phone?

 

ND: No, I think we covered everything.

GS: Yes, I think we covered everything.

Thank you all.

 

Minute of Meetings January 11, 2009

Attendees: Bineet Sharma (BKS), Deepak Neupane (DN), Pukar Malla (PM), Shankar K. C. (SKC), Samjhana Kunwar (SK), Kumar Pandey (KP), Suresh Ojha (SPO)

Tentative Agenda as introduced by BKS:
1 Annual Conference
2 Knowledge Transfer
3 Can-USA introduction at Infotech
4 Newsletter

SPO: Possible theme for the involvement in ANA Annual conference could be Networking for meaningful results.  The Silicon Valley venue is not so critical, but effective networking is.

PM: We may not have the luxury of time to bore into technical details like last year’s CAN-USA conference.  Maybe this year’s focus should be on a who’s who type of networking.

SPO:  How many days will ANA give us for CAN-USA’s involvement?

PM: Two effective days, and two 2-hour sessions

BKS:  We should not just introduce people to one another but introduce people informative and useful conference events.

KP:  People would be interested in going deep into an issue, but they need to have the same ideas to go in deep.

PM:  There should be less academic discussion, and more focused networking.  We must generate a buzz beforehand otherwise people won’t come to the events.

SPO:  We can have a social hour at the end.

PM:  We must time it properly, we should ask for two three hour sessions and one social.

SPO: We agree on the social but what about the theme?

PM:  Networking as a focus can be problematic, how about including entrepreneuring?

SPO:  We have to be inclusive of needs of the Nepalis in the US as well.  How can we encapsulate all people?

BKS:  Aside, we can advertise our knowledge transfer efforts as an effort of professional development. The two topics are:
-Software Program Management
-Cloud Computing
Kumar Pandey and Nabin Khannal are presenting, Kumar from here and Nabin simultaneously from Nepal.

BKS:  I think it is agreed that technical entrepreneurship should be included in the title, and that we should have a social at the end.

PM:  Let’s talk about the middle more

SPO:  Some talks can be:
-How to start a technical business, from concept, financing, business planning etc.
-How to manage a technical career from college all the way through retirement.

PM:  I will ask my professor from college to give a presentation.  What about an entrepreneuring program in Nepal colleges?

Action item for PM to talk to his professor.

BKS: Discussion has already taken place on that topic and it is continuing.

Brainstorming of Ideas on potential modules for CAN-USA conference:
-Starting a Technical Business
-Managing a Technical Career
-Technical Contracting with the US Government
-State of Technology in Nepal
-Professional Brainstorming in Nepal
-Featured Projects in Nepal

Kumar Pandey’s and Nabin Khannal’s presentation took place interrupting the meeting..

Minutes of Meeting 12-14-2008

 

Present members: Bineet Sharma (BKS), Deepak Neoprene (DN), Pukar Malla (PM), Suresh Ojha (SO), Bijay Niraula (BN).  Prabuddha Dahal (PD), Amod Pokharel (AP), Anata Risal (AR)

BKS: Conflict of Interest Policy to be adopted soon (email will be sent by BKS) and everyone need to sign.

Personal interest & CAN-USA: how do we manage conflict of interest?
How do we avoid legal complications (e.g. because of compensation, propriety issues) how do we help an entity’s market interest? How do we go after our vision
of social impact?

 

All: We agreed we will not endorse projects that are corporate affiliation.

BKS: But what about Mahabarji’s project?

All: For now CAN-USA will endorse non-profit projects only.  Each case will be analyzed individually.  But, individual and (for profit) corporate interests are tabled for now. 

We will facilitate and provide networking opportunities for individuals and for profit corporations provided they become CAN-USA members.

Individual CAN-USA members and officials can promote any projects.  Those members can mention that they are CAN-USA members as anyone can do.

PM: Pukar’s meeting with CAN-Nepal
-Vision-ICT development.

       - Upcoming CAN-InfoTech 2009.
-Better (improved communicator between CAN and CAN-USA)
      –Do one CAN-USA meeting, every two month
SO: make it an open meetingso CAN members can join.so that CAN
members can joins as needed
BKS: Special thanks to Bijay ji for the meeting with Kiran Joshi (Disney Animation fame) & Sanjib Rajbhandari (Mercantile) and also for getting commitment from Sanji Rajbhandari to provide the infrastructure for transfer of knowledge remotely between CAN and CAN-USA.
SO: Cited Deepak Neopane as the volunteer who has helped ‘above and the beyond’ the community by organizing the financial Planning seminar.  Also mentioned it is important to recognize such volunteers in yearly basis and proposed a ‘volunteer of the year award by CAN-USA”

BN: Sanjib and Kiran are looking for people to join their project. Further information will be forth. Coming
BKS:  Need donation to pay for Lunch. On last week event (total cost $130.00)
BKS:  Taking CAN.-USA to the next level?
-SO: set that will help people advance professionally can we get CAN more involved?
-BN: time is limited. Let’s get more organized. Eg. Hire people in Nepal.
-PD: what job description for that person in Nepal? Shall we think of just 2-month plan?
-PM: if we hire someone in US, can we pay for it? Even interns? We should think about paying people to make our vision realizable.

BKS: ANA Convention: Should we have CAN-USA conference at ANA 2009?

BN Something wow-connection with Nepal-something existing. Tele conference.

SO: What is ANA expecting from CAN_USA?

SO: Concern about negative publicity of CAN-USA due to mismanaging of ANA.
PM: Can request a media contact person from ANA just like we had for CAN-USA
 ANA is looking for CAN USA leadership. We can be instrumental in
having the technological theme here.
ANA and CAN-USA could have combined project in the conference.

BKS: Let us brainstorm on what and how in our next meeting.

an event during the main ANA event. Conduct a career fair.
ALL: Conclusion, yes, let us have CAN-USA conference during ANA 2009. 

BN- this is a great opportunity to hit-the VC
BP. We can have pilot project and get funding Nepal Governmetn also have
funds.

 

Action Items:

   1. Pukar/Bijay: Co-ordinate with CAN, CAN-USA and Sanjib for setting up fist “Transfer of Knowledge” video conference project by end of January.
2. Bineet: Send out “Conflict of Interest Policy”
3. Have entries in discussion forum for:

a. Participating in CAN Infotech in January 2009
b. February Newsletter articles
c. Discussion for “Transfer of Knowledge” project
d. 2009 Conference during ANA 2009

4. Next meeting middle of January

 

 

Minutes for 9-28-08, 1:30pm.
Attendees: Pukar Malla (PM), Deepak Neupane (DN), Suresh Ojha (SPO), Bineet Sharma (BKS), Khiteej Thapalia (KT), Andris Bjornson (AB), Sanjay Sharma (SS), Biswo Poudel (BP), Roger Adhikary (RA), Govind Sahi (GS), Bijay Niraula (BN), Amod Pokhrel (AP), Prabuddha Dahal (PD)

BKS: Here are a few updates since our last meeting

Officers
Pukar Malla was selected as regional VP of the western region
Other officers are:
President Bineet Sharma
Vice President Eastern Region Sanjay Sharma
Vice President Mid West Region Prabuddh Dahal
Vice President of Western Region Pukar Malla
General Secretary Suresh Ojha
Treasurer/secretary Deepak Neupane

Kurakani with Bal Joshi, owner of Thamel.com

Representation of CAN-USA in the ANMA professional forum in the Mid West during labor day.  DN represented CAN-USA.

DN:Four to Five associations participated including CAN-USA.  Among others, an Engineering professional group, US-Nepal Medical Foundation.  CAN-USA was generally well received.  People were surprised we had accomplished so much in such a short time.

BKS:The books are closed on CAN-USA Conference.

DN: Here is the budget for the CAN-USA Conference:

Corporate Sponsors  $3750.00
Individual Sponsors $2651.00
Registration +Misc   $809.12
Total Income        $7210.12

Expenses
Conference Room       $1,020.00
Online Payment Cost      $56.79
Food (Lunches+Dinner)  $3036.70
Printing               $1290.20
T-Shirts                $282.18
Air Ticket              $523.00
Hotel                   $492.93
Website, App Fee, PoBox $234.56
Total EXpenditure      $6936.36

Remaining Balance       $273.75

WE ARE NOT IN RED!

SPO:At some time we must have an opportunity to de-brief on the conference and go over what we did right and what we need to do different next time.

RA:Let’s let ANA and CAN-USA get together on Newsletter

SPO:That is welcomed but we must remember that all articles must be focused and consistent with CAN-USA goals and targeted to broader American community and the relevant organizations in Nepal. Can AB write an article
on his research trip?

AB:Would be happy to .

GS:Here is a review of ANA Preparation
We dont have an Agenda yet
We will meet tomorrow
60 people are present in planning
Will have formal planning commission soon
We don’t know what exactly or how to implement exact understanding

GS:Here are some expectations of what CAN-USA can do
ANA can give time and Space to CAN-USA to advertize its activities
CAN-USA can run the Tech Forum
CAN-USA can help with Registration, Registration Verification
Help Communications for the Conference

SPO: What is the goal of the ANA Conference?

RA: Rarely has the outcome been a tangible result.  In the past it has not been what it could have been but we can change that.

PM: Though there have not been Tangible results, there has been a great deal of informal networking.

GS: It is not only a social convention.  As the community has gotten a lot bigger a lot of other important issues have been brought up, although marginally.

SPO: The ANA Conference committee should agree on a succinct vision statement on what the Conference will do.  We should then meet to see where the overlaps are and what makes sense to do.

BKS: In the Baltimore ANA conference the engineering conference was reasonably successful.

RA: There should be private discussions between BKS and GS about ways we can collaborate and a proposal to follow rather than discussing in such a large group.

SPO: No, All CAN-USA meetings have been open, documented and broadcast.  Can-USA has been successful because of its open forum policy and it has served us well.

BP: I also agree we should collaborate but ANA needs to tell us what their goals are and what they want from us.

Time Out taken for Green Technologies Presentation

Re-convening for Discussing Andris Bjornson’s Oct 19th trip to Nepal

AB: My background is in Information Management and many other things
I have made some contacts in Nepal already but I am concerned I may not have enough things to do.

SPO: You should prepare a plan before you go.  We can help

PM: You should definitely have a roadmap

SPO: CAN-USA will help you get a 6 month visa before you leave. We will suggest a roadmap for you.

AP: I can contact the embassy to work on Andris’ Visa

BKS: Can Andris take a small technology package to Nepal?

AB: Yes if it is a small one

PM: I can also take a small package.  I will be in KTM at the same time as Andris.

Action Items:
SPO: Start a Blog to discuss Andris’ trip
AP: Talk to embassy to get Andris a six month visa immediately.

Minutes for CAN-USA Meeting Thursday July 31st, 2008, 6:30pm

Attendees: Bineet Sharma (BKS), Amod Pokhrel (AP), Dipak Neupane (DN) and Suresh Ojha (SPO)

Discussion on Expenses:

DN: Total expenses were roughly $7,200.00
   Total collected as of 7-31-08 was roughly $6,900.00

BKS: More money is coming from membership dues and the collected funds are likely to change soon.

The question of who should be able to see the donor list and exact financial details was discussed.
Due to the sensitivity of the donor list and contribution levels, it was generally agreed that only the
elected officers should have full visibility into the donor list and contribution details.

SPO: We should make a thank you plaque for all corporate donors.

It was generally agreed that Pukar Malla who did not attend would be assigned the responsibility
of implementing the thank you plaques.

BKS: We should send the post-conference press release to Nepali and American Media.

SPO: We should not do this unless we have the photographs and the press release on the front page
    of the website.

It was generally agreed that press release should go out once the website front page has been
updated.

It was decided that:
BKS will send the press release to CAN Nepal to distribute to the Nepali media.
AP will send the press release to US media
SPO will give AP the mailing details for the US Media

The importance of a following up questionnaire to audience members was raised.
After some discussion it was generally agreed that:
BKS will send out a survey to all conference attendees.

BKS suggested that we present a policy suggestion report to HCIT

SPO remarked that we should not send policy suggestions at this time, however we should send a report
describing the conference and it’s outcome to the HCIT.

BKS will draft a letter for the HCIT

SPO Expressed concern that as participation of the broader Nepali community increases in CAN-USA functions
the possibility of casteism and racial intolerance may also increase.  Given the multi-ethnic and multi-racial
membership of CAN-USA, this must not be allowed to happen.  However implementing a policy can be challenging.

BKS stated that we can add a note to the by-laws of the constitution specifically prohibiting casteism
and racial intolerance by all engaged in CAN-USA functions.

It was generally agreed that for the next meeting ANA representatives will join in.

BKS will ask Asish Jha and two other members to join the meeting.

SPO suggested that ANA folks make a brief presentation on what their goals are, how CAN-USA fits into
the topic.

It was generally agreed to ask ANA to make a presentation.

It was also suggested that the next meeting be held on a Sunday so that more interaction could
be dedicated to the CAN-USA/ANA possible collaboration.