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

A World Without Email – Year 2, Weeks 15 to 21 (#e2conf Update on “Thinking Outside the Inbox!”)

While I am going through a number of different blog posts sharing some of the major key highlights from the Enterprise 2.0 conference in Boston a couple of weeks back (Already!), I thought I would go ahead and share with you folks an interim article on my (weekly) progress reports of living "A World Without Email"; more than anything else, because it’s been nearly two months! (Yes, 2 months!! Goodness!), since the last entry I shared over here on this very same topic was quite a while ago.

And it would be even more interesting since it ties in, quite nicely, with one of the many highlights for me while being in Boston a couple of weeks back at such special event. But let’s start one step at a time. Last blog post I shared I put together a report that ended up with Week 14, so I am sure you may be wondering what happened ever since, right? Whether I have been able to keep it up, or give up on it altogether, I am sure you are wondering what’s been going on all this time. I have been sharing in my Flickr account all of the different weekly progress reports (Week 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20), adding some further thoughts along the way, but here is the latest one for week 21 (As well as all the others):

As you would be able to see, things have been going on really really nice, to the point where last week it marked the 2nd lowest number of incoming emails for this year with a wonderful 17 emails received! Great news, indeed! And for the rest of the other weeks things have kept a good pace of staying under control between 20 to 25 emails a week, which is rather close to my follow up challenge for this year on 20 or less a week. Thus getting there!

The interesting thing is that during those few weeks I haven’t shared the progress reports, lots of things have happened: recovered from the phishing attack in Facebook (Which was quite an interesting experience putting to the test my online reputation, like why would Luis send me this awkward link? Not to worry, I won’t!); was on the road again for another business trip; then the Enterprise 2.0 conference event itself and the usual stuff at work. And yet the number of incoming emails has been getting lower and lower, but still interesting as busy as ever through social software tools. I tell you, if things continue like this throughout the year, I expect to have gone well below the follow up challenge I set myself for at the beginning of the year. Remember 20 or less emails a week! Slowly, but steadily!

Ok, moving on! Hopefully, next weekly progress report I will share it won’t take two months for it to come through, since I already got a bunch of interesting links I would want to share with you folks that touch base on this very same topic of re-defining and re-purposing how we make use of email while at work and finally how we can, successfully, diversify our Inboxes. But that would be the subject for another blog post.

For now, allow me to put together over here the connection with one of the main highlights of Enterprise 2.0 in Boston a couple of weeks back. Remember Ulrike Reinhard and the wonderful interview she did with me while I was in Berlin for the Web 2.0 Expo on the topic of Thinking Outside the Inbox? Well, our paths crossed each other again while in Boston and Ulrike kindly invited me to do a short update / interview, where I could detail some more how the experience has been like of living "A World Without Email" and what I have been learning throughout all of these months (17 months and going!).

Of course, I couldn’t reject such a lovely and kind offer, since I thoroughly enjoyed the first interview back in October. So we went to the lobby of the Westin hotel and she hit the record button and right away we were talking again. And Update on "Thinking outside the Inbox!" is the actual outcome of that interview. A video that lasts for a bit over 22 minutes in which I touch base on what it is like having ditched corporate email for good; how much I rely now on the nurturing of my various social networks; how they help me collaboratively filter what I need and how I try to keep them as healthy as I possibly can so that I can trust them to help get the job done throughout the day, just as much as I am contributing myself as well.

Here is the embedded version, so you can start playing it right away. Or, alternatively, the direct link to it is here.

As you would be able to see I got to share plenty of details as well about how I decide to follow people across the board, whether internally or externally, in the various social software tools, including Twitter, which also provides an answer to those folks who have been asking me for a while how I eventually make use of such micro-sharing Web site.

Again, a big special thanks! to Ulrike for another very enjoyable interview that I had the pleasure to participate in and, even more, when such interview, and a couple of other things, sparked a superb conversation on something that’s been in my mind for a while now. Unfortunately, I can’t share many more details just yet. Other than it would involve … Gran Canaria (Thanks ever so much, Ulrike!)

(Oh, in case you may have missed the various installments from the Enterprise 2.0 conference highlights I have been sharing already, here are Part I, Part II and Part III so far… Flickr picture shared above courtesy from Andrea Baker, a.k.a. @Immunity)

Tags: Enterprise 2.0 Conference, e2conf, Boston, Flickr, Ulrike Reinhard, Video, Video Interviews, Enterprise 2.0, Social Software, Social Networking, Social Computing, Social Media, Collaboration, Communities, Learning, Knowledge Sharing, KM, Knowledge Management, Remote Collaboration, Innovation, IBM, Networking, Social Networks, Conversations, Dialogue, Communication, Connections, Relationships, email, Productivity, Progress Reports, Re-purposing Email, No-Email, Challenge Your Inbox, Progress Reports, Thinking Outside the Inbox, Information Overload, A World Without Email, Gran Canaria, Andrea Barker, Immunity

Enterprise 2.0 Conference Highlights – The Networking – Part III

And to finish off this series of Enterprise 2.0 conference highlights from Boston on the topic of networking, here is Part III, last one I had planned to share over here in this blog on this topic, and which will be talking about my thoughts on the networking experience throughout the event itself. More than anything else as part of sharing my two cents on how the overall networking opportunities could be improved in future events. Yes, I know, you can’t get enough networking at these events, so the more we all try to fine tune them, the better, don’t you think?

If you take a look into the agenda from the conference itself, you will notice how packed it is for most of the days and already starting like really early in the morning, till late in the afternoon. Networking opportunities in between sessions are very minimal and this was one of the things that I missed from the event itself. In most cases there are about 15 minutes break in between sessions where folks could interact with one another and follow up conversations.

Well, 15 minutes to make a move to the next session, pack all of our "stuff", have a "nature" break, or enjoy some refreshments, talking to folks about the session we just attended or simply just catching up with them, are probably far too many activities for just 15 minutes in between speaker sessions. So in reality the networking opportunities throughout the conference were very much restricted, if you count lunch as an exception, to the end of the day and as part of the local gatherings from various other networking events.

Not ideal, if you ask me. Don’t you think? So what would I propose, you may be wondering, right? Well, to begin with, I would extend the in between sessions breaks to 30 minutes, minimum, which I do realise would mean that there would need to be a new parallel track of sessions to be added to the already existing one, but I don’t think that would be too much of an issue. If there are conflicts with multiple sessions there is always a chance that video recordings of each and everyone of them would be made available after the event. I mean, for a conference on Enterprise 2.0, I wouldn’t think this would be too difficult, right?

But look at the benefits. You would be allowing folks to engage with the speakers after their sessions to ask additional questions, have some conversations on the corridors catching up with people and discussing key learnings from the sessions attended thus far; a quick stop-over the refreshments area to grab a software drink and a quick bite and back to business; and all of that without having the stress of knowing you need to rush off, because you only have 15 minutes. Well, now with 30m. things would be much much easier for everyone. And those networking opportunities will certainly help conference attendees to build stronger connections amongst themselves by starting the dialogue throughout the day and carry it on during the evening events.

And all of that with breaks of just 30 minutes in between sessions. I would think it would be very doable for future events, and as such I submitted this very same feedback for future occasions hoping to be able to extend my networking opportunities not just to the evening events, which were all great, but throughout the whole day, which would be more engaging and bumping from one session to the other without time for a breather … What do you think?

And with that I am done with this series of blog posts on the Enterprise 2.0 conference networking activities that we all got to experience last week, where you can see that those face to face interactions are just as good as ever; and as such we should exploit them as much as we possibly can. Now, from here onwards, it will be the time for my next round of blog posts detailing the highlights of the sessions I attended and what I learned from each and everyone of them… Another interesting ride I hope you will enjoy reading about, just as much as I did attending them…

Tags: e2conf, Enterprise 2.0 Conference, Boston, Conference Events, Events, Conferences, Highlights, Social Gatherings, Enterprise 2.0, Social Software, Social Media, Social Networking, Social Software, Connecting, Connections, Face to Face, Social Networks, Networking, Conversations, Logistics, Organising Conferences, Feedback, Networking Breaks

Enterprise 2.0 Conference Highlights – The Networking – Part II

Continuing further with this series of blog posts gathering some more highlights from the recent Enterprise 2.0 conference in Boston, here is Part II, related to networking, where I would like to cover some further thoughts on what that experience was like during the course of last week. And, now coming closer to the end of another week at work, I can certainly confirm that the main reason why I have been away from almost everything external has been the need to have a break from all of those amazing face to face conversations, pause, think about them, what I learn, apply that newly acquired knowledge and experience(s) and move on…

And it looks like I haven’t been the only one; while doing my usual Twitter catchup this morning (Specially under the #e2conf hash tag), I noticed how plenty of those folks who were at the same conference were having post-conference fatigue symptoms, hehe, looking for a much needed "break" to get things going as well. And while wondering why that may have happened, it hit me. Big time!

Like I was saying earlier on, this year the amount of local gatherings (Dinners, tweetups, parties, etc. etc.) has been tremendous! More than in previous years, by far! I started with Sunday evening having a lovely dinner with a bunch of my favourite people in the Enterprise 2.0 space (See this picture for more details); then Monday evening’s tweetup with Connie Bensen, Rachel Happe & Jim Storer (From The Community Roundtable) on communities (Amazing event! Although throughout the whole evening I didn’t even had a chance to meet up with Connie! Grrr, guess next time!); followed by Tuesday’s Dachis Group Boston TweeUp that David Armano has been sharing a bunch of pictures over here to then finish up with my own team dinner.

Wednesday’s highlights in the networking space were a lovely dinner invitation by the Dachis Group where I had one of the most amazing conversation on social software adoption (Beyond just the IT industry) with my good friend Susan Scrupski and two incredibly smart and talented 2.0 people:  Greg Matthews and Ben Foster (Who I got to know during those conversations which I thoroughly enjoyed!). To then finish off the evening with one of the major highlights of the entire week!:

Andy McAfee‘s party!! There are a bunch of pictures from such special event all over the place, but I am going to let you go and check the Twitter stream from after the party, where the word warning keeps coming up constantly and reading through you will see why … Andy surely knows how to throw a party and it certainly was a privilege being part of it! Lots and lots of great fun, drinks and amazing conversations! I would have gone to Boston just for this one, I tell you! Many many thanks to Andy for being so gracious in offering his house for hosting one heck of a party that will be remembered for years! At least, I will! (Thanks ever so much, Andy!!)

By Thursday you can imagine what my entire body was like, right? You now know what I meant I spent a whole week sleep deprived, but privileged to be in the company of people who I have been admiring for a long while and have plenty of respect for in the area of Enterprise 2.0 and why I keep coming back to this conference. Last week was another proof! Oh, that very same Thursday evening had another night out with my team where we spent a good time having a lovely dinner, drinks and musing on what we learned from the event itself over the last few days enjoying a delightful bottle of port back at our hotel to finish off a superb week! (Thanks a lot, Josh, for that one!)

I am sure that by now you may be thinking that there have been perhaps a few too many networking events at Enterprise 2.0 in Boston, right? Well, maybe; these are the ones I went to myself, including the usual last few rounds of drinks at the local Irish pub inside the Westin hotel, but there were plenty of others, too! The clear thing about these kind of local gatherings is that no matter what, when, how, why, there is nothing that would ever possibly substitute the face to face physical interactions of bright minds talking passionately about what drives them on a daily basis. Nothing.

That’s still what drives me to keep going to these conference events over and over again and why I have always been saying that an event of this magnitude without networking is no longer the event of events! Glad Enterprise 2.0 in Boston still is …

(A big shout with a special thanks to all of those folks I have met throughout the week, from "my" usual and dear suspects, to the bunch of recently met folks, with whom I had a wonderful week of constant inspiration flowing through! I won’t name you all, since I am sure I won’t do you all justice by leaving the odd name out here and there, but you all know who you are! Thanks much for being who you are! Please don’t change …)

Tags: e2conf, Enterprise 2.0 Conference, Boston, Conference Events, Events, Conferences, Highlights, TweetUps, Twitter, Party Time, Parties, Social Gatherings, Informal Meetups, Enterprise 2.0, Social Software, Social Media, Social Networking, Social Software, Connecting, Connections, Friendships, Relationships, Face to Face, Pictures, Photos, Flickr, Social Networks, Networking, Conversations, Twitter, Connie Bensen, Rachel Happe, Jim Storer, The Community Roundtable, Dachis Group, Susan Scrupski, ITSinsider, Greg Matthews, Ben Foster, Andy McAfee, Port, Josh Scribner, BlueIQ, Passion