Continuing further with some more highlights from the superb event I attended a couple of weeks back in Hamburg, Next08, I thought I would go ahead and share another blog post where I will not be mentioning much more about the Keynote speakers, since I did that last time, but more with the rest of the breakout sessions that I got to attend for the remaining of the day. One thing that you may have noticed already is how the great folks from Next08 have already provided some preview of what other people attending the event have been blogging and twittering about all along, including plenty of pictures shared all along by a whole bunch of folks. Thus you may want to have a look into that as well.

At the same time you may have noticed how a good number of the recorded videos are starting to become available for everyone to enjoy and in multiple spaces. So what I will do from here is just share a line or two from the breakout sessions I attended and a quick thought on whether it would be worth while for you folks to watch the video replay or not. That way you would be able to keep up accordingly, and at your own pace, with what has been happening. So let’s get the ball rolling…

Being Real-time: Google’s Mobile Strategy by Robert Hamilton (Google Mobile Management)

The video replay is already available on the Next08 and this would be one of those breakout sessions that I attended that would be worth while watching again. More than anything else to watch where Google is going with its Search engine, amongst many other items, within the Mobile 2.0 world. One keyword coming to mind, even after two weeks that the event is now finished: FAST!! Or, even, FASTER!!!

Decaffeinating Tea - Why Enterprise 2.0 isn’t - what it needs to make it happen by Jeremy Ruston (British Telecom)

Although Jeremy’s video replay is not yet readily available for watching, I can certainly recommend that you take a look into it, whenever it makes it. More than anything else because Jeremy engages in a very interesting and thought-provoking presentation (Using TiddlyWiki, by the way. No PPT slides at all! - Loved it!) where he touches on a good number of elements to take into account with regards to the adoption of Enterprise 2.0 that converge in most cases into cultural aspects, and not just technology. Very inspiring session that settles the ground on where the next generation of the workforce is already and how they themselves will be shaping up the future workplace! Truly engaging and remarkable, to say the least. Like I said, it would be interesting for you to watch this one, whenever it would become available.

And perhaps, for now, and to give you a glimpse of what you will find out, check out Fischmarkt’s summary of Jeremy’s session where you can read some more as to what Jeremy is up to in helping shape the workplace of the future, one where the knowledge workers themselves would be the ones in power! Very good, indeed!

Thinking out of the Inbox - More Collaboration through less e-mail by Luis Suarez (Social Computing Evangelist at IBM)

Going to keep things short on this one, since I already blogged about this particular session where yours truly gave a speech on where we are with Enterprise 2.0 from a corporate perspective as well as sharing my own experiences on my new reality of having given up on work related e-mail. The video replay has now been made available, but I will be creating a new blog post on it specifically, as I would want to share with you folks a thing or two I got from listening to the replay once again. Too funny to watch yourself on a computer screen doing such stuff, I tell you. Thus stay tuned for that one to be posted and feel free to leave a comment if it sparks a question or two while going through it.

Things we care about by Ryan Singer (37signals)

This is one other session that I surely enjoyed quite a bit! And even though I am not a designer, nor a developer, I still found it incredibly inspiring and mind-blowing! Why? Well, because Ryan spent a few minutes explaining, through demos, how certain design elements would work out with different Web sites to help enrich the user experience tremendously and although I know that for most of you folks out there this would not be any news to you, I can honestly say that I wish most of the Web 2.0 tools that I use out there would implement a few of these designer enhancements that Ryan explained and covered very nicely, because it is caring about the smaller details when putting those interfaces together that surely have the highest impact. And Ryan was able to transmit that throughout the whole time! Just brilliant and highly recommended!

Oh, and his session is available through the video replay already! Go ahead, watch & educate yourself on what Web design should always be about!

From there onwards there were a couple of other breakout sessions that I didn’t get to attend, since they were in German, and my German skills are a bit rusty at the moment, so I decided, instead, to do some serious social networking face to face and have a few conversations with various folks coming from different areas of expertise, but all of them with a commitment to make Enterprise 2.0 a success within their own companies. Quite re-energising to see all of that talent coming together into changing the way the corporate world has operated for the last few years. Very refreshing stuff, if you would ask me, because whether we like it or not, this is going to be the generation of folks who will be ruling the corporate world in the next couple of years, if not already! … I can imagine how some of the pictures taken were able to capture those precious moments of an engaging dialogue with someone you share a common passion. Priceless!

And, finally, the last session was the wrap-up session from Gunter Dueck, which I have talked about previously, and one of those sessions that although I didn’t make it, as I was busy with meetings, & Gunter was giving his speech in German, it surely was worth while the time! Kept bumping into people that afternoon saying that his session was one of the very best from the entire the event! And with that introduction, I am certainly looking forward for someone to be able to translate the main thoughts into a blog post in English that we could all digest. Another one in German may also help out quite a bit!

That was it, folks! That’s it for me for today on the highlights from the breakout sessions I was able to attend during Next08. There are plenty more, of course, since there were four concurrent tracks taking place, so you may want to head over to the Agenda and check out some of the remaining sessions, which are already having the replays of them available on the main site for the event, so you can watch them at your own pace…

In an upcoming blog post, the last one from the series, I will be sharing some of the different highlights from a personal perspective from the people I met there, as well as the organisation of the overall event, which I think did a GREAT job! Thus stay tuned, because there is more to come!

Tags: IBM, Social Computing, Social Media, Social Networking, Social Software, Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0, Collaboration, Knowledge Management, KM, Knowledge Sharing, Hamburg, Germany, Next08, elsuacon, Twitter, Live Twittering, Live Con-blogging, Web, Internet, Marketing, PR, Trends, Open Collaboration, Digital Nomads, Gunter Dueck, Social Web, Video, Replays, Recordings, Real-Time, Google, Google Mobile, Robert Hamilton, Jeremy Ruston, TiddlyWiki, British Telecom, Fischmarkt, Ryan Singer, 37signals, Design, Web Design, UX, User Experience, Ease of Use, Simplicity, Organisation, Logistics

Phew! I really needed to have those couple of extra days off over the weekend to unwind from a massively busy schedule with plenty of travelling all along in the last couple of weeks, having just returned from Barcelona on Friday, then on the road again over the next couple of days. Too hectic, huh? Yes, probably, but loving it! Every minute of it! Yes, that is right! Things seemed to have been rather feverish lately and must say that there is no sign it is going to stop any time soon! That’s why you have seen very little activity from my usual regular blogging, but fear not, because now that I am done with the weekend I have got a bunch of posts to share with you folks over the next few hours!

Starting with some more reviews from the Next08 event in Hamburg from a couple of weeks back, where I am hoping that the video recording of my session will become available shortly as well, so that I can share the link with all of you, as most of the different replays are up and running already and in various different places. Then from there onwards continuing further with the weekly reports on my progress giving up on e-mail, where the good news keep piling up, thus stay tuned for those, too!

One of the other things that I would want to touch base with as well is with regards to one of my customer visits from last week to Barcelona, where the session I provided on Social Computing in the Enterprise sparked some really good, and thought-provoking, discussions I am hoping to touch base on as well (Link here, in Catalan). Not going to mention too much just yet in order not to spoil it, but I can certainly guarantee you that it would be quite an interesting read.

At the same time I am planning to create another blog post on the Startup 2.0 event that I was kindly invited by Jose Antonio del Moral and where I met a good bunch of folks involved with Start ups and the Web 2.0 world with a special mention to some fascinating discussions with one of the folks I have been following up for a little while now and whom I know our relationship is going to get more active than ever: Tom Raftery (By the way, Tom, congratulations on the massive gig! Great news for sure!! ). Thus something else to talk about over the next couple of days as well.

Finally, and as I am entering the 16th week in a row of my new reality on giving up on e-mail, I am now ready to start sharing with you folks different blog posts where I can talk about my social software tools suite that I have been using all along and with which I am sticking around for the next few months, in order to help me successfully move away from e-mail. Thus stay tuned for those entries as well if you would want to find out some more how you can get started yourself. Oh, and a lovely surprise I am hoping to be able to share as well very very soon, too!

And now, to wrap up this half-way-through-catchup status blog post from the last few days, I will detail where I am going to be this week and the next (My Dopplr account has been updated already, by the way, in case you are wondering). But before I do that watch out as well because I will be creating a number of other different blog posts where I am going to be sharing some further details as to where I will be over the next few weeks ending up, so far, to the end of June! Non-stop travelling till then! But let’s get started with one step at a time…

Starting this coming Wednesday I am actually flying out to Germany to participate in an event that the IBM Software (Tech) Sales folks have been setting up and which I am surely going to enjoy quite a bit! It is called "See the Light (2.0)" and its main purpose is to help spread the message around with regards to Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0 and Social Computing in general. Yes, I know, my kind of thing! Indeed!

Initially it is going to be for an IBM internal audience, thus a bit more restricted than the events I have been participating thus far in the last few days, but still equally exciting. So much so, that I will be one of the speakers talking about the presentation I have been doing already a couple of times and which I am thinking about changing its title a little bit, thanks to the inspiration from this particular event itself. Thus I will be presenting on "Thinking out of the Inbox - More Collaboration through less e-mail", but I am thinking that I may be changing the title to something more like "See the Light - Thinking out of the Inbox". Much shorter, straighter to the point on what I am doing lately, as well as keeping that evangelism flavour that part of my job role entails. We shall see how that goes…

So, where am I going to go? Well, it certainly is going to be quite interesting and totally new to me. I will actually be in six different cities in Germany over the course of eight days! Yes, you are reading it right. I will be in six different cities over the course of eight days enjoying the unique experience of the Autobahn. Thus I will be flying out this coming Wednesday to Munich where my Tour of Germany will start the next day; then from there onwards off to Stuttgart the day after to continue further with the roadshow. Then I will be spending the entire weekend in Cologne (Probably where I would be getting the highest chances to meet up with folks as I unwind a bit from everything while in there) and will continue with Monday to Frankfurt, Tuesday to Düsseldorf and, finally, Wednesday to Hamburg. And Thursday on my way back home! Have a one day rest at home, and off we go again with the next trip on Friday (But that would be another entry on this blog, not to worry!).

Goodness, eh? Yes, that’s right! That’s the kind of massively hectic week that is awaiting me, talking to a whole bunch of people on Social Computing in IBM and the kind of impact it is having within the corporate world and then finishing up sharing my experiences on how I have been using successfully social software tools to walk away from work related e-mail for the last four months. Sounds like some good fun ahead of me! And I can’t wait!

I am sure that during the course of these few days where I will be travelling I will have some time to keep posting those posts I mentioned above I would want to touch base on, but I am thinking as well that if you fancy getting together for a drink or two, or a dinner, you may want to keep in touch, leaving a comment over here, or contacting me through the various social software tools we interact with each other already. No guarantees I would be able to make it, like I said, Cologne is probably the best option over the weekend, but you never know. I may be able to generate more free time than I expect at that point in time. Either way, here you are, resuming my blogging activities after a wonderful and relaxing weekend and ready for another two weeks of feverish activities in the 2.0 space!

Come on! Let’s do it! Let’s get the fun started!!!

Tags: Travelling, Travels, Barcelona, Spain, Next08, Hamburg, Germany, Social Computing, Social Networking, Social Software, Social Media, Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0, Innovation, Knowledge Management, KM, Knowledge Sharing, Communities, Learning, Innovation, Clients, Customers, Catalan, Startup 2.0, Startup2.0, Jose Antonio del Moral, Jamoral, Tom Raftery, IBM, Software, Tech Sales, Sales, See The Light, SeeTheLight, Collaboration, Remote Collaboration, e-mail, Autobahn, Munich, Stuttgart, Cologne, Köln, Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, Roadshow, Tour of Germany

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

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

If someone would have told me, some time last year, that things were going to be this busy at this time of the year, I would have told them they would be crazy! Alas, it is me the one who is going crazy! Wonderfully crazy, if I may say so! With no time to continue finalising the drafts I have been putting together for the IBM Web 2.0 and Beyond Summit, with which I am going to take another approach, as a new experiment, and see how things would go from there (See if I can finally push them through), here I am putting together another blog post to share with you folks the details of another trip I will be embarking on very shortly.

Yes, indeed, I will be on the road again! This time around to Hamburg, Germany, and as early as next week to attend an external conference whose line-up put together so far is rather fascinating and impressive: Next Conference, a.k.a. Next08 - Realtime. At the same time that I will be attending the event, I have been invited to participate as one of the speakers (Have got a keynote session at 2.45 p.m. CET on May 15th) and will have the great honour of sharing the stage with one of the folks I have been following for quite some time now and for whom I have got plenty of admiration accumulated over the course of the years. Yes, I am talking about JP Rangaswami, author from Confused of Calcutta and today Managing Director of BT Design for BT Group, according to the Wikipedia.

If you care for a moment to check out the agenda you would be able to see the good amount of great speakers that will be there, too. Some of them folks I have been following, and violently agreeing with all along, for quite some time as well, but who I have never met face to face and next week may be the perfect chance to do so. Examples like Stowe Boyd, yes, that edgling, Steve Rubel (The one and only!), Stefan Kellner (From Plazes), Gunter Dueck (Fellow IBM colleague who has done some tremendous piece of work on Knowledge Management and data warehouses), Leisa Reichelt (Author of the super fine Disambiguity) and the list goes on and on and on.

Thus with that specific agenda and impressive list of amazing speakers, you can imagine that the excitement is starting to grow inside of me quite a bit. More than anything else, because it is just right around the corner and can’t wait to get there and continue to learn from all of these thought leaders who have been pioneering in the Social Computing and Enterprise 2.0 spaces for quite a bit already!

In case you are wondering what I would be talking about at the event, I am sure that, if you have been following this blog for a while, you would already have a sense of what it will be about. Yes, indeed, about my experiment on giving up on e-mail, work related e-mail, that is. And with the well known title (Put together already by Craig Cmehil and Ed Stephens, respectively) of "Thinking out of the Inbox - More Collaboration through less e-mail". I have already finished the slide deck and this time around it is very much public, for open consumption, outside of the firewall, so once I get the heads up from the conference organisers I will be sharing the deck over here, after I upload it into Slideshare.

Yes, almost ready, indeed! You may be wondering when I am planning on getting there, right? Well, I will be arriving on the 13th, at around mid-day and will be leaving Hamburg on the 17th of May late in the evening. So if you fancy getting together for a drink or two, or to catch up with a lovely conversation while I am there, do not hesitate to contact me and we will arrange something, I am sure. For now, signing off and checking out some further details from the overall conference itself, which I am sure is going to be one of those special events where I might get to finally figure out whether I am a centroid or an edgling. Or something in between, who knows heh

Tags: Conference Events, Next Conference, Next08, Realtime, IBM, Hamburg, Germany, JP Rangaswami, Confused of Calcutta, BT Group, Stowe Boyd, Edgling, Centroid, Steve Rubel, Stefan Kellner, Plazes, Gunter Dueck, Lisa Reichelt, Disambiguity, Craig Cmehil, Ed Stephens, Slideshare, Collaboration, Knowledge Management, KM, Knowledge Sharing, Communities, Learning, Innovation, Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0, Marketing 2.0, Mobile 2.0, Media 2.0, e-mail, Social Computing, Social Software, Social Networking, Social Media

I was just on the verge of posting over here in this blog the first of three posts that I have put together sharing some of the various highlights from the IBM Web 2.0 and Beyond summit, along with one other blog post detailing my experience while I was in NYC for a couple of days, but then I realised that each of them are rather lenghthy entries and since yesterday I created a couple of blog posts over here already I thought I would go easy with some light blogging today in preparation for what’s ahead in the next couple of days

So, with all of that said, I am just going to put together a few lines in here to let folks know that, once again, I will be on the road travelling to meet up with a couple of customers. This time around, as you may have been able to check through my Dopplr account already, next week, on the 19th of May, and till the 22nd, travelling to Barcelona and with a fully packed agenda for the 20th and 21st meeting various clients to discuss Social Computing within the Enterprise, and the kind of impact Social Software is having within the corporate world.

I will be coming back on the 22nd and since I already got the flight tickets and everything I just need to worry about the hotel, although I have been provided with some excellent recommendations already. Probably staying in the city center to be able to move easily and quickly, too! I doubt I would be getting much free time during the course of the 20th and 21st, specially during the working hours, but other than that it looks as if I am going to be pretty free for the rest of the time.

Thus fancy meeting up? How about some lovely tapas, a couple of beers here and there and all of that on the beach?!?! That’s the plan I have already set up with Tom Raftery, who earlier on today contacted me through Twitter to let me know that he got notified by Dopplr that we would be both going to the same city at the same time! How cool is that? (Dopplr ROCKS!!!) He is going to be there for the Startup 2.0 event, while I will be meeting up with customers, but it sounds like a really cool plan to me! Not only will I be able to finally meet up with him in real life, but I would be able to catch up with the event he will be attending with his highlights while I treat him for a drink or two heh

I know as well that Ferdy Rodenas lives in Barcelona, so that’s probably going to make it easy as well to meet up with someone I have been looking forward meeting up for a little while now, after all of our online interactions in various different places, just like Tom.

Thus there you go. We got a plan. Tapas, beers, a bunch of good friends and all of that on the beach, because I am sure the weather is going to be rather nice. Want to meet up, if you are around? Do let us know. Through a comment over here, or on Tom’s blog or Ferdy’s or hook up with us on Twitter. Probably the easiest way. Hope to see you there!

(Not sure just yet whether I would be able to blog about the outcome of the meetings with these customers, you would need to wait for a few more days, but if I can, I surely will, because so far the the scenarios are just perfect on one of the core arguments that I use for my pitch on Social Software in the Enterprise. Stay tuned for more to come…)

Tags: IBM, Travelling, Trip, Barcelona, Customer Meetings, Dopplr, Social Computing, Social Networking, Social Software, Social Media, Collaboration, Communities, Enterprise 2.0, Web 2.0, Innovation, Knowledge Sharing, KM, Knowledge Management, Tom Raftery, Twitter, Startup 2.0, Events, Ferdy, Ferdy Rodenas, Tapas, Beers, Beach, Life, Work, Balance