E L S U A ~ A KM Blog Thinking Outside The Inbox by Luis Suarez

Next08 – Highlights from the Keynote Speaker Sessions

As you may all recall from a blog post I put together a couple of weeks back, this week I am in Barcelona, preparing for a couple of client meetings, over the next couple of days, to talk some more about Social Computing @ IBM and the kind of impact it is having within the corporate firewall, and then on the 21st I have been kindly invited by Jose Antonio del Moral to attend Startup 2.0, where I will also be able to meet the one and only: Tom Raftery. An event that surely promises to be one to remember! But more about it as time comes by as I will be sharing as well a short story on how I got into that one.

For now, and while I am wrapping things up for the next couple of days, where everything has now been ready for a few hours already, I thought I would drop the first of a series of blog posts detailing some of the highlights from the superb event that I attended last week in Hamburg, Germany: Next08. An event that will be difficult to forget as all of the already high expectations I had for it before getting there were met and exceeded big time! To say the least.

As you may remember from previous conference events, I have now developed the tendency to live twitter events as opposed to live con-blogging them and so far I have been quite delighted with the results. Next08 was no exception and have been able to share a bunch of tweets at my second Twitter id: elsuacon. As you would be able to see, there are some intervals where nothing seemed to have happened and that was because the wireless connection was a bit flaky at times, but was still able to capture some offline tweets which I will be sharing shortly as post-conference notes in that same Twitter stream. That would give you a good sense of the kind of event that this conference has been! Just amazing!

So what could I talk about in this first post sharing these highlights? Well, there are many many things, but I think that the first thing I should be sharing with you would be some quick, short notes on the various keynote sessions that I got to attend and which I am sure you would find rather interesting as well, specially for three of them! No doubt!

Here we go then:

To get things started Matthias Schrader kicked off the conference with a short pitch detailing what we were going to find throughout the event and, I tell you, if the expectations were high with Matthias’ presentation they reached into another level! Very good!

From there onwards we had the first three keynote speaker sessions with Geraldine Wilson (From Yahoo! Mobile), Matt Cohler (From Facebook) and Mike Jennings (From Google – Android). Both Geraldine’s and Mike’s sessions were recorded so I am not going to comment much on them, except for mentioning that the future of the Mobile 2.0 market is bright and that I hope to be able to jump in very shortly with my Nokia N95, being able to do all of the stuff we saw during the speeches. I must say that Mike’s session on Android though was a bit too technical for my taste, but I am sure that the techies on the floor enjoyed it quite a bit. I think I would have done the presentation a bit different. A bit more on the pragmatic side of things showing the potential for mobile workers like you and me. I guess better luck next time…

What was disappointing as well a little bit was Matt’s session on Facebook. Too basic, in my opinion, from the perspective that those folks who may have been using Facebook for a while would have learned very little, if much at all. I think I would have focused more on the current situation that Facebook is facing with more and more business folks abandoning it by the day (I think we would all love to find out more on what FB is doing to gain those folks back, before it is too late, and if at all worth it), un-targeted adds, privacy (Not deep enough originally), security, Intranet potential, etc. etc. Like I said, I would have provided a bit more than just the basics.

Another keynote session that I enjoyed quite a bit, specially since most of the background was new to me and found it rather fascinating was Werner Vogels‘, from Amazon, who opened up my eyes a bit more on some of the really good stuff that Amazon is doing, and yes, nothing to do with books! hehe Highly recommended watching the replay!

For the first three keynote speaker sessions, with Geraldine, Matt and Mike, the video recordings are already available and you can re-play them from here. Werner’s session is not up yet, but it would be another one to watch!

Finally, from all of the various different keynote speaker sessions, I would strongly encourage you all to have a look at two of them that really had an impact throughout the whole event. Just those two, and another hidden gem, were worth while attending the entire event! Yes, of course, I am talking about Steve Rubel‘s and Stowe Boyd‘s inspirational sessions that are going to make you think and WOW for quite some time to come! At least, they have with me. I was there live, but I am surely going to watch them again from the re-play, because too many goodies thrown out at you cannot be left behind just like that!

Stowe‘s session on Social Revolution on the Web, and its impact on business, media and society … and us, as individuals is already available for re-play, and at the same time he has made it available, with the lovely option to download a copy of the deck, in Slideshare. Like I said, the session’s video is already up and running and you can watch it over here, but if there would be a single sentence that could summarise what we witnessed and that made me proud of being an edgling was this one: "A well-ordered humanism does not begin with itself, but puts things back in their place. It puts the world before life, life before man, and the respect of others before love of self.” Claude Lévi-Strauss. Priceless! Watch it! Now!

Steve‘s session, just as inspirational as Stowe’s, is probably an essential must-watch the re-play (Whenever it would become available) for those folks in marketing and PR in order to figure out some more what’s going on at the moment and what are the emerging trends in the next couple of years, if not sooner, altogether! Very thought-provoking, to say the least, and, once again, if I were to summarise it using a couple of keywords I would probably say the following: Attention Crash, Digital Curators, Open Collaboration (Slide 25 from the deck & and a must see!!) and the role of Digital Nomads ("It’s conceivable that in the future corporations will be more virtual than they are today").

Like I have mentioned above, Steve’s session hasn’t got a video re-play at the moment from all of the keynote sessions I have mentioned in this blog post (Werner’s either, by the way), but I am sure they would be added eventually, and when they are, be certain to go and spend some time watching them. You can then thank me later

Oh, and to close off this initial first blog post on the highlights from the keynote sessions, I would now like to point you to the hidden gem from the event that although I couldn’t make much sense out of it (Need to polish my German skills for the next time I am around!), from what I talked to people right after and for several hours, it was just pure delight and a treasure enjoying one of those engaging speakers that will make you think twice about things and shake your ground big time! Yes, I am talking about the final keynote speaker session from Gunter Dueck, fellow IBM colleague , whose video re-play is now available, and who provided such an inspirational and capturing speech, in German, that I am hoping my German readers (Specially my good friend Martin Koser, who I am sure is going to enjoy it quite a bit!) would be able to enjoy and then share a highlight or two from the talk, because from what I could gather asking around, it was a speech to remember!!

And that was it, folks, first blog post with the keynote speaker session highlights done with. Next blog post will deal with some of the other sessions I got to attend during the course of the event, and then a final blog post where I would just comment further on impressions of the overall event itself … For now, I am just going to tease you all a bit embedding both Steve’s and Stowe’s decks over here, to give you a glimpse of the unique opportunity we had last week at Next08 to be watching them live giving such powerful presentations in under 30 minutes! Yes, a privilege, that’s the word … (Even more when you get a chance to talk to them on the side, too!)

Next08 – Marketing Trends – Open Files

The Social Web – Why The New Web Matters

Tags: Barcelona, Spain, IBM, Social Computing, Social Media, Social Networking, Social Software, Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0, Collaboration, Knowledge Management, KM, Knowledge Sharing, Jose Antonio del Moral, Startup 2.0, Tom Raftery, Hamburg, Germany, Next08, elsuacon, Twitter, Live Twittering, Live Con-blogging, Matthias Schrader, Geraldine Wilson, Yahoo! Mobile, Matt Cohler, Facebook, Mike Jennings, Google, Android, Mobile 2.0, Mobile, Nokia, N95, Werner Vogels, Amazon, Steve Rubel, Stowe Boyd, Web, Internet, Marketing, PR, Trends, Open Files, Slideshare, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Edglings, Attention Crash, Digital Curators, Open Collaboration, Digital Nomads, Gunter Dueck, Martin Koser, Marketing Trends, Social Web

Next08 – Thinking out of the Inbox – More Collaboration through less e-mail (Presentation Material)

What a fantastic couple of days I have been experiencing here in Hamburg, Germany, attending an event worth while remembering for quite some time to come: Next08. Yes, indeed, so much so that today is the day after and I am still buzzing!; not only because of the superb quality of the speakers and presentations, but also because of the overall event itself, including the organisation and overall setup. And what to say about the massive social networking activities going on throughout? Just brilliant!

Anyway, while I am getting ready to start putting together some thoughts, sharing some of the various highlights from the couple of days I have been enjoying over here, I may be able to share something over the weekend, when I head back home again, I thought I would create a blog post today sharing with you folks the presentation materials I used for my early afternoon pitch.

From the feedback I have been collecting, it looks like plenty of folks enjoyed it quite a bit!, most of the comments were along the lines of when and where I would be sharing the deck, as people may want to re-use some of the materials themselves. This time around, there isn’t anything sensitive nor confidential in the slide deck, so I have already gone ahead and shared the slides across over in Slideshare.

The title of the presentation, as you well know already, is Thinking out of the Inbox – More Collaboration through less e-mail and you would be able to download it as well directly from there. However, if you would prefer, I have also embedded the deck here below in case you would want to check it out right away. You will notice how I have shared it in PDF format with the speaker notes as well and although I have received as well a couple of comments on other slides I could include, for now I am just sharing it as I used it during Next08. Then, at a later time, because I am sure it is not going to be the last time I present on this same topic (In fact, got piled up a bunch of events where I am going to be re-using the same theme throughout), I will go ahead and upload the updated version.

At the same time, some of the other feedback comments I got as questions will eventually get their extended answers as well in the form of blog posts. Examples like what tools do I use the most, for what purpose, how do I manage working with multiple social software tools at the same time, how can I find the content I shared with someone else, etc. etc. are just a few of the areas I will be covering over the next few days / weeks.

But for now, and as a petition for all of those folks who asked about it, here is the embedded version of the slide deck and here is the direct link to it as well. I have been advised as well that the sessions were all recorded and everything, so whenever I can get my hands on the audio itself of the pitch I will go ahead and let you know as well, so that you can get to go through all I said during the course of those 30 minutes.

Thus here it is. Feel free to append a comment over here, or in Slideshare itself, if you would want to ask further questions, share your feedback or some other advice you think I could do with to improve the overall deck and message. Hope you enjoy it, just as much as I did presenting in a fully packed room with plenty of folks asking lots of interesting questions!

Thinking out of the Inbox – More Collaboration through less e-mail

(Oh, I mentioned this on the Slideshare space itself, but I thought I would repeat it over here as well. A special thanks! goes to Craig Cmehil, Ed Stephens and Ralph Demuth for their generous contributions in helping me shape some of the ideas for the deck itself! Thanks, guys!)

Tags: IBM, Collaboration, Remote Collaboration, e-mail, email, Social Software, Social Networking, Social Media, Social Computing, Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0, Innovation, Productivity, Conversations, Dialogue, Openness, Knowledge Sharing, KM, Knowledge Management, Collaboration 2.0, Communication, Conference Events, Hamburg, Germany, Next08, Next 08, Slideshare, Craig Cmehil, Ed Stephens, Ralph Demuth

IBM’s Social Computing Guidelines – Now Updated!

I am sure that plenty of you folks out there may already know about this, but I thought I would share a few thoughts about it, just in case you may have missed it. If you would remember, some time ago, I actually put together a number of different blog entries where I was sharing some further details on how IBM, way back in 2005, came about putting together a bunch of what then was called IBM‘s Blogging Policy & Guidelines, in order to help guide IBMers who were new to the whole blogging phenomenon and didn’t know how to get things going. Back then I mentioned how the guidelines were actually created by a bunch of us, early adopter bloggers, who spent a few days chiming together in a wiki space, putting them together and then passing them to the powers that be for the final approval.

Well, fast forward to May 2008! Exactly three years later those same Blogging Policy & Guidelines have now been updated to become a bit more generic, but still with the same outstanding quality as ever before. Yes, that is right. Let me present to you folks IBM’s just recently updated Social Computing Guidelines. As you may have noticed, these newly updated guidelines cover a bit more ground than just blogging. They now include most social computing activities out there, including virtual worlds and sharing of rich media.

As far as I could see, this update we very much needed, since last time they were looked at was about three years ago and time and time again folks were wondering when they would be going through a revision, since three years in the current social computing world is just quite a lot of time without doing much about it. Perhaps it wasn’t even necessary, who knows, but, at least, the update is now done and ready for everyone to take a look and see what’s changed.

I have noticed already how a whole bunch of people have actually been mentioning them already in their corresponding blogs as well, both fellow IBM colleagues and other folks interested in the world of social computing in general. And by now you may be wondering how the update took place this time around, right? Well, as mentioned in most of the different blog posts mentioned above we used a couple of blog entries with some massive discussions taking place, then consolidating the first initial drafts in a wiki space and contributing some more in there, and, finally, going through a final round of comments uploading them into Cattail and asking folks to comment about them for a final round. Then a couple of weeks later my fellow colleague, and good friend, Adam Christensen, unleashed them to the world and we are back in business!

For those folks who may be wondering what they are about, just in case, they may not know much about them, I have taken the liberty of adding the executive summary that clearly puts together the basis for the rest of the guidelines themselves:

"IBM Social Computing Guidelines: Executive Summary

1. Know and follow IBM’s Business Conduct Guidelines.
2. IBMers are personally responsible for the content they publish on blogs, wikis or any other form of user-generated media. Be mindful that what you publish will be public for a long time — protect your privacy.
3. Identify yourself — name and, when relevant, role at IBM — when you discuss IBM or IBM-related matters. And write in the first person. You must make it clear that you are speaking for yourself and not on behalf of IBM.
4. If you publish content to any website outside of IBM and it has something to do with work you do or subjects associated with IBM, use a disclaimer such as this: "The postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions."
5. Respect copyright, fair use and financial disclosure laws.
6. Don’t provide IBM’s or another’s confidential or other proprietary information. Ask permission to publish or report on conversations that are meant to be private or internal to IBM.
7. Don’t cite or reference clients, partners or suppliers without their approval. When you do make a reference, where possible link back to the source.
8. Respect your audience. Don’t use ethnic slurs, personal insults, obscenity, or engage in any conduct that would not be acceptable in IBM’s workplace. You should also show proper consideration for others’ privacy and for topics that may be considered objectionable or inflammatory — such as politics and religion.
9. Find out who else is blogging or publishing on the topic, and cite them.
10. Be aware of your association with IBM in online social networks. If you identify yourself as an IBMer, ensure your profile and related content is consistent with how you wish to present yourself with colleagues and clients.
11. Don’t pick fights, be the first to correct your own mistakes, and don’t alter previous posts without indicating that you have done so.
12. Try to add value. Provide worthwhile information and perspective. IBM’s brand is best represented by its people and what you publish may reflect on IBM’s brand."

Yes, I know, I am sure you would agree with me that they are pretty simple guidelines to use, for sure, and I would go and take things one step further pushing things some more saying these Social Computing Guidelines are pretty much about using your common sense. Hard to believe in the world of the blogosphere and perhaps the social computing world as well, right? But that’s all. That’s what it’s all about. Use your common sense to get the most out of them and help you avoid trouble, whether internally or externally. As simple as that! I guess that some times simple is best heh

Oh, and here is something else rather important and relevant as well to the conversation; now you would probably know, too, how thanks to those Social Computing Guidelines there isn’t a chance I would be in any kind of trouble with my management line on what I am trying to do, as plenty of folks have been commenting to me on the side, as I mentioned in a previous blog post. When in doubt, it is always a good thing to know that they are there to help, guide and encourage you to push the limits, because after all you are the one who sets those limits in the first place! Thus how far do you want to go?

PS. Very nice! Now, incidentally, as I am about to post this entry I see that Linda Skrocki, from Sun Microsystems, has been commenting how they have just recently updated their own Sun Guidelines on Public Discourse. Excellent stuff! Another one to add to the list! Let’s keep it up and continue to spread the message!

Tags: IBM, Blogging Policy and Guidelines, Social Computing Guidelines, Policy, Guidelines, Advice, Social Computing, Social Media, Social Software, Social Networking, Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0, Communities, Learning, Innovation, George Faulkner, Andy Piper, Adam Gartenberg, Jon Mell, Adam Christensen, Executive Summary, Common Sense, Business Conduct Guidelines