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

Trip to the Web 2.0 Expo in Berlin – Are You Ready?

As the Web 2.0 Expo in New York City continues to take place over the course of the next few hours and already producing some really good outcomes, I thought I would let folks know about something that I am really excited about. No, I am not in New York City for that event, although I wish I were (I would have been able to meet up plenty of really smart and talented folks in the Social Computing space, apart from catching up with a whole bunch of good friends, colleagues and thought leaders in this space). However, I surely am going to be at another Web 2.0 Expo. Yes, indeed, the one in Berlin!

That’s right! I am really excited about the whole thing. For the first time in a couple of years I will finally be able to make it to one of those events that I always wanted to go to: The Web 2.0 Expo and probably at one of the best locations, don’t you think so? Woohooo! Can’t wait!

Like I said above, I am incredibly excited to go there by the end of October and for multiple various reasons which I am going to detail over here trying to keep things short and sweet. Too much to talk about each of them, for sure! Perhaps I will be expanding further into multiple blog posts, but let’s see:

- I will be going to Berlin, arriving on October 19th, and I will not be alone. My entire team will be there as well as a whole bunch of fellow colleagues, and good friends, who have been helping us out driving the adoption of social software within IBM. Pretty excited about meeting them all up face to face and hang out together the entire week!

- I am certainly looking forward to being there after having gone through an agenda where it is going to be incredibly difficult to pick up which sessions to go to! Yes, indeed, they are that good! But I will expand further on that one. Too much to talk about in such a short time!

- And if the agenda is quite impressive, the list of speakers is just as worth while meeting up! I am looking forward to catching up with a whole bunch of people I have met throughout the years and who I still keep in touch with social software (Or course!), but also at the same time meet up with some others who I have started following lately, but haven’t had a chance to get in touch with just yet. This event would be the perfect opportunity for that!

- Oh, yes, I will also be speaking at the event, on October 23rd, and on the topic I am sure you are all familiar with hehe Oh, oh, and my boss’ boss will also be one of the speakers! Pretty excited about that, too! Remember, my entire team will be there! It would be the second time I would be able to see them in the last year! W00t!

- Of course, one of the items I will be really looking forward to would be the networking throughout the event! Let’s face it, folks! This is as good as it gets! One of the best, and perhaps most relevant, Web 2.0 events taking place in Europe this year! Everyone is going to be there! Will you? Let’s meet up!

- Finally, I am also pretty excited to share with everyone a little surprise, which I am sure some people may appreciate, specially if you want to be able to make it, but perhaps things just didn’t work out all right. I have just been given the opportunity to share with you folks, the faithful, and ever engaging, readership of this blog (I read and go through each of the comments you all drop & already working my way through sharing my two cents for each of them! Hang in there for just a little longer! I’ll eventually be coming around all of them!) a special discount with which you can register for the event and get 35% off the original fees!

Yes, that is right! If you would want to attend the Web 2.0 Expo in Berlin and would want to get a lovely discount, go ahead and use this specific code: webeu08gr23 when you register for the event. And off it goes. My special thanks to everyone who is a regular reader / commenter on this blog and my token of gratitude for sticking around through thick & thin all along! Without you all folks this blog would probably have been something completely different! That’s for sure!

So, you see where all of this excitement was coming from, right? Yes, indeed, I surely am and I hope you would be, too! Specially if you manage to make it to the event of events in the Web 2.0 space! And if you would want to get together for a beer or two (With what a perfect timing, eh? heh), give  me a shout and we will meet up while in there! (I will be there from October 19th till the 24th!)

Oh oh, like I said, stay tuned, I still got another lovely surprise for one of you folks out there… But that will be put together in an upcoming blog post where I will be expanding further on some of the items I mentioned above!

Thus, are you ready? Will you be at the Web 2.0 Expo this year in Berlin? Get in touch & don’t forget to make use of the discount!

Tags: Web 2.0 Expo, web2ny, New York City, NYC, Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0, Social Software, Social Networking, Social Computing, Social Media, Collaboration, Communities, Learning, Knowledge Sharing, KM, Knowledge Management, Remote Collaboration, Innovation, IBM, Speakers, Agenda, Berlin, Germany, Networking, Social Networks, Registrations, Discounts, Web 2.0 Expo Europe, web2europe

The Sweettt Podcast – Episode 7 – Conversations as The Future of Conferences

Yes, indeed, we are baaaaack! That is right, folks! We are back again at it! Here we go with another podcasting episode from The Sweettt Show, Living on the Bountiful Net that my good friend, and fellow co-host, just shared over at The Sweettt Podcast – Episode 7 – Conversations as The Future of Conferences. And we back into the action! Here is a short excerpt from what Matt wrote in that blog post that I am sure that you would be able to relate to quite a bit, specially if you get to travel, quite often, to various different conference events all over the place, and not just restrictive to a single geography or country, for instance. So here is the text:

"In this episode, we really point out all the things that are wrong about the modern conference and presentation format. In our conclusion of our August 15th discussion, we contrast this old guard presentation style with a more refreshing approach in which the audience is a key contributor to the event. When people gather together within conferences, this is a knowledge sharing event, designed to maximize the sharing of insights and perspectives."

At first sight you may be pondering that what we are actually doing is talking about the "barcamp" concept. No, we are not talking about such concept. In fact, we are talking about how we feel regular conferences would need to do to move into the 21st century. Have a listen to the whole episode and you will see what we mean…

Matt already shared his show notes from this particular episode and you would be able to read them all over here. Now, it is my turn to give it a show and share with you folks what I got out of that episode and what I learn while recording it with Matt. Yes, we do get to learn a thing or two, as well! And even better when those new ah-ha moments kick in live, right there, right then, and you have got that sense of accomplishment very difficult to surpass heh (Yes, you can tell I am loving the show quite a bit thus far, eh?). Here we go!:

- Still musing on the superb presentation that Carl Frappaolo did on Knowledge Management 2.0 and how disruptive it was from the traditional breakout sessions you get to attend on a regular basis. Hang in there, we are not talking about barcamp events …
- I still think about it along the very same lines: "Main tent / Keynote sessions are a waste of time from a knowledge sharing point of view."
- With the huge amount of events on Enterprise 2.0 flourishing out there nowadays, we need to look for new models of delivering the message. Traditional events need to move into the 21st century and become much more engaging than what they are now!
- People at conference events appreciate quite a bit not being talked at… (Too true!)
- Two way conversations rule at conferences, why neglect them? What would it take to change the model of delivery. Webcast format(s) are just that, for the Web, not in front of real audiences, real people!
- One of the best keynote speaker sessions I have been to this year from the various events I attended, and which I thoroughly enjoyed for the innovative approach, was that one of Harriet Pearson, Chief Privacy Officer at IBM, at IBM’s Web 2.0 Summit, who got started with her session by asking whether the audience had any questions, way before she started talking on the topic of privacy!
- Now, that‘s the way to engage with an audience as a keynote speaker and grab their attention from the very first moment! Oh, and check out Harriet’s Facebook profile to see what she is up to (It will surprise you!)
- Will upcoming conference events be up to the challenge? Will you be up to the challenge? heh
- Moving on … ahhh, the obsession of slides for every single conversation. Wonder what the world was like before slide decks took over?!?
- "Without your slides are you naked?"
- Wish people would start giving up on slides. For good. They are just a tool, NOT your message!
- [Check out Matt's show notes on this section... Couldn't have put it in much better words than those! W00t!]
- Dave Snowden gets a mention for being on of those rare folks who doesn’t use slides and gets away with it! Powerful! Wish more folks would follow his example …
- Lou Gerstner gets a mention as well as being on of those folks who doesn’t use slides either!
- [Too funny that in the course of about a month from now I will eventually be meeting up face to face both of them! -- Stay tuned for more updates coming up on that! ]
- Musing on how BIG people feel when they know they have got a bunch of slides behind them is probably as good as it gets on what needs fixing!
- We will probably cover this topic at another time, since there is so much more to talk about! But let’s move on …
- Brainstorming on the best way of engaging with the audience from The Sweettt Show. We have got the blogs where some folks have been commenting so far, but what would you want to use to engage with our tertulia and be part of the show! Share your insights with us! More than happy to accommodate … Remember, this is our – your tertulia!
- We will figure it out at some point, I am sure …
- Introducing the podcast at the end of the recorded episode?!?! My goodness! What’s going on with these guys?!?! Are they crazy? (Probably!)

And that would be it, folks, for this our 7th episode of The Sweettt Show on Conversations as The Future of Conferences. We hope you enjoyed it and get ready for the next one, because it is just around the corner! And it promises to be just as entertaining … we hope …

Oh, dear, I won’t let you go just yet … I nearly forgot to include as well in this blog post the Wordle (Thanks, Jonathan!) from this episode, so here you have it:

Tags: The Sweettt Show, Sweettt, Matthew Simpson, Matt Simpson, The Sweettt Tertulia, Podcasting, Podcasts, Episodes, Series, New Media, IBM, Collaboration, Remote Collaboration, Social Software, Social Networking, Social Media, Social Computing, Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0, Conversations, Knowledge Sharing, KM, Knowledge Management, Collaboration 2.0, Communication, Communities, Learning, Innovation, Personal Knowledge Sharing, PKM, Tertulia, Wordle, Jonathan Feinberg, Conversations, Conference Events, Enterprise2conf, Carl Frappaolo, Bountiful Net, Dialogue, Barcamp, Harriet Pearson, CPO, Chief Privacy Officer, IBM Web 2.0 Summit, Facebook, Presentations, PowerPoint Obsession, Dave Snowden, Lou Gerstner

Where the Enterprise 2.0 Action Is Taking Place! Happy Birthday SMT!

I guess that most of the folks doing Social Media, Social Computing, Web 2.0 or Enterprise 2.0 would probably be rather busy this week chiming in and participating, rather attending physically or virtually, the Web 2.0 Expo that just got started in New York (Which promises to have a really interesting and engaging agenda, by the way, in case you may not have seen it yet!), but I just thought I would take this opportunity to reflect on something rather important and relevant that is taking place over the last couple of days and which I thought would be worth while noting down as well.

If you have been a long time reader from this blog you would remember how a little bit over a year ago I actually became an active member of the Social Media Today Collective group, just as it was getting things started and building up some more momentum around the Enterprise 2.0 & Social Computing spaces. I guess that time flies when you are having fun, because over the course of the last couple of days SMT is actually celebrating their first birthday / anniversary! Goodness! Yes, indeed, time flies when you are having fun!

I must say that during this time, it surely has been a great pleasure and a privilege to be part of such incredibly talented, energised and splendid group of thought leaders and bloggers, social media consultants, CIOs, CEOs, and a long etc., always wanting, and succeeding, in taking things into the next level! You cannot imagine the amount of stuff I have been learning throughout the course of the last few months exchanging information and knowledge and engaging in multiple conversations around the topic of social software and Enterprise 2.0, amongst many others with a good chunk of the regular and active members of the collective.

At the same time I have been having the unique opportunity to meet up face to face with a whole bunch of SMT members, including the co-founders Robin Carey and Jerry Bowles, and it probably wouldn’t be too fair to name them all, as I am sure I would be forgetting the odd name here and there! But either way, if there would be a collective rather representative of the Social Computing space within the corporate world nowadays, I am sure that the Social Media Today one would probably be ranking high up in the list! And rather high, to say the least!

You would probably remember how a couple of months back I was actually featured as an SMT blogger of the week (With SMT Blogger of the Week – Luis Suarez, the Blogger From Paradise) after having done a very enjoyable Skype interview with Jerry. So the least I could do this time around is to take this opportunity to sincerely thank each and everyone of the SMT members for helping pave the road around the adoption of social software within the Enterprise. I am sure without this collective being out there actively nurturing and engaging in multiple conversations that adoption would have probably been a lot slower than what it is today!

So from here, a BIG and special thanks! to everyone who is, or has been, a member of the SMT collective and another rather special Happy Anniversary wish, hoping there are going to be many many more years to come for us to enjoy some of where the hot action is taking place within the Social Networking space! Keep up the superb piece of work & keep leading the way SMTers! It’s been a great pleasure and look forward to many more thought-provoking and engaging dialogue!

Tags: Web 2.0 Expo, w2e, Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0, Social Media, Social Networking, Social Software, Social Computing, Collaboration, Remote Collaboration, Communities, Knowledge Sharing, KM, Knowledge Management, Conversations, Dialogue, Social Media Today, SMT, Anniversary, Birthday, Thought Leaders, Robin Carey, Jerry Bowles