I enjoyed a lively week in Chicago at the SLA conference last week. An alumni event in Kroll’s neighborhood bar on South Michigan also gave me a chance to connect with some of our graduates who work in Chicago or were attending SLA. Most of my time was spent with the competitive intelligence group who seem to be engaged in lots of interesting work and are sufficiently energized to connect, share and enthuse. I participated in a lively panel session on cross-cultural aspects of CI, though my role was mainly to outline how we had developed our own Certificate of Advanced Study in Global Media and Research Analysis which is targeted at those seeking preparation or further education in open-source intelligence work. The mood there was extremely positive all round, unlike so many other conferences, and the message that came through loud and clear was that there are remarkable career opportunities for folks with information skills is they are willing to take non-traditional positions and apply their education to the numerous information challenges faced by companies, government agencies and related organizations. Of the 100 or so people in our panel, more than 75% (by my quick show of hands request) had a degree from an LIS program so clearly this is a recognized path and further proof, if needed, that an information degree can take you a long way.