All posts by lars

25/022015

The Social Connections 8 agenda has arrived!

News agenda, boston, soccnx by Lars Samuelsson

We are so super excited! Today we are unveiling the Social Connections 8 agenda for our event in Boston.

As you know from our previous announcements, we have keynote presentations by Suzanne Livingston and Ed Brill. We couldn’t be more excited by these well-known IBM big-hitters (and hugely respected supporters of the community) headlining our conference content.

That said, we have been absolutely blown away by the response to our call for abstracts, and can now formally declare that we will host a grand total of more than 60 sessions over the two days, a total of 57 speakers, including an incredible 17 IBM Champions.

We feel this is our strongest lineup to date, which feels extremely pleasing with our first trip to the US, kicking it off with a bang!

We’re covering everything from Case Studies and the brand new ‘Future of Work’ track, through to the nitty gritty details of how to configure your IBM Connections environment or start developing for the platform. Even better, we are thrilled to debut a new ‘Design’ track, staffed exclusively by IBM’s awesome design staff from the labs in the Boston area. In short, there is something for everyone, and I can honestly say that we are so so proud to present this to you guys.

We’re not going to promote any specific sessions right now, apart from a call to check out the sponsor sessions. After all, without their help we would have no chance of putting all this together!

If you haven’t taken a look at the agenda yet, do it right now! It’s here!

And if you like what you see… Register now!

02/022015

Have you registered yet? We’re only two and a half months away!

News boston, registration, soccnx by Lars Samuelsson

Hi guys,

Hope everyone who went to ConnectED got back safe, and everyone else, i hope you are safe anyways!

Now that ConnectED is over, it’s time to focus on Boston and Social Connections 8. The team is still super psyched to get this show over to the US for the first time, and we wanna see you there! Listening in to some of the buzz in the corridors at ConnectED, there is interest in attending too!

We know that you are waiting for a schedule with some sessions, we’ve been working hard for you to get it as soon as possible, and now it’s here! Please head over and check it out at the schedule page. We also got the speakers page up, check it out! We will update them both with details as soon as we have them confirmed.

Do you have questions on attending? Please contact us at @soccnx on Twitter or like our Facebook page, that way you can also stay up to date with what we have in store for you in April.

Oh, yes. Now that we’re through with ConnectED, we will once again kindly remind you to submit your abstracts. We got some real goodies in already, but are looking for more! Please, don’t be shy!

We’re also working on hammering out the details for the evening reception on thursday, so stay tuned for that. We promise, we’ll try to put it a bit closer than in Stockholm. (Yes, we saw the feedback).

Speaking of the feedback, it was lovely, and we’re really trying to take it all in, don’t be shy to tell us if there’s something you feel that we’ve missed, we wanna make this event as awesome as possible for everyone attending.

21/012015

Going to IBM ConnectED? So are we!

News ibmconnected, soccnx by Lars Samuelsson

Are you in the final prepping stages for your trip to Florida? I can somehow relate to that if that is the case.

There is a heavy snowfall over Stockholm and I must admit that Orlando sounds a lot more inviting, however, I would like to see the forecast pick up there as well!

From this…

to this… (yes!)

Anyways, what I was getting at is that we are going to Orlando, at least a few of the Social Connections team. Maria, Jan, Doug and (Lars) from the #soccnx team will be on hand in Orlando, running around, trying to be as social as possible and learning what’s up in the world of ICS, Social Business and the rest of the collaboration space.

For those in the Americas, you might be telling yourself that you’ve heard about this Social Connections event we’ve dragged across Europe for the last couple of years, but you’ve never had the opportunity to go as it’s quite a trip over the pond? Well, we are bringing it to you and to the USA for the first time this April! So we wanna ask you to come talk to us while at ConnectED, ask us questions, or just generally buzz around to get the feeling for what will surely be a memorable event in Boston this spring.

Like we always say at the start of each Social Connections event, come up, be social! We would love to inspire you to come to Boston with us.

Maria

Lars

Have a great week in Florida all of you who will attend, and see you there!

keep-calm-and-submit-your-abstract-featured

14/012015

Calling for abstracts – submit yours now!

News abstracts, sessions, soccnx by Lars Samuelsson

Hi everyone!

I know that we’re pushing ahead towards IBM ConnectED with insane speed, but this is a friendly reminder that we have a call for abstracts running for Social Connections 8 in Boston.

Do you have something super awesome that you wanna tell the world about IBM Connections, or Social Business as a concept? Send in an abstract now. We would love to have you do your presentation. This time around we have some different time slots to choose from. You can go 15, 30 or even up to 60 minutes if you got something extra inspiring for everyone to hear and see!

This is the first time ever we’ve run Social Connections in the US, and you have this amazing opportunity to be the first ones out, the pioneers! How the West was won, (I know it’s the East coast, but from our European point of view at least) and so on.

Remember this, most of you guys have a few flight hours getting to ConnectED, why not spend them planning your next event already?

Haven’t got anything yet?

Take your time during IBM ConnectED, get inspired, find something cool – something you want to share with the world and your peers, and write the abstract on the way home instead. We will close submissions on the 15th of February.

If you’re asking what’s in it for me? You’ll of course get all the awesome recognition and kudos from your peers, plus the opportunity to take part in our ‘Ask the Experts’ panel, you’ll receive complimentary admission to the event including the gala reception and be offered an invite to our exclusive VIP reception.

And for those that might be too shy to talk. Register for Social Connections 8 now, and we’ll see all of you in Boston on 16th and 17th of April!

Cheers!

08/012015

Wrap up of Social Connections VII

News connections, event, soccnx, stockholm, vii by Lars Samuelsson

It’s been a while since we closed Social Connections VII in Stockholm, but it’s finally time to do a wrap-up and an official send off, over the Atlantic ocean and to Boston, MA.

First of all, our team.

Stuart, Brian, Martin, Jan, Wannes, Maria. Some of them I knew from before, some I met for the first time, but I hardly think i’ve ever worked in a team that was so hell-bet on delivering a project. We’ve done our fair share of stressing about with getting it all together, but the feeling of seeing it play out was all thereward i ever needed.

Thank you guys!

Secondly, Stockholm.

It was great seeing so many people coming to my home town to be part of this conference. From all across the globe, people came to socialize, and freeze their toes while beeing outside. I sure hope you liked visiting, and that you got to see a glimpse of the city as well, however, it is a lot more comforting in the summer, so I urge you to come back by then. It’s not as dark, and not as cold.

So what can we say about the event itself?

We had a 100% attendance rate, which is totally amazing. There were some nervous discussions in the team about the idea of charging for the event for the first time. In the end we are happy that we did.

The event itself seems to have been very well received, the results for the survey have been fantastic, also the amount of answers have been much higher than previous events. We wanna give you all a big thank you, it really helps us in planning onwards for the future!

Our sponsors?

What can we say apart from that we are so happy to have you? You are the ones making all this possible. Infoware, Affecto, IBM, TrustSphere, Kudos, TimeToAct, Connect2Cloud, Intravision, Longana and Belsoft. We know that you all put so much energy as well as your time and money into sponsoring this event, and we are forever grateful for that.

The sessions?

The agenda was a little different this time to previous events, with the volume of abstract submissions lower than before, but the quality was definitely still there! With fewer sessions the team had the opportunity to offer some longer 65-minute slots for the more technical topics, whilst still offering at least four session options for most time slots. With speakers from more than 15 countries, including many IBM Champions, we feel that the agenda was one of the strongest we’ve fielded. The feedback has been good, though a few attendees suggested we needed to go a little deeper for those organisations that have been using Social Business technologies for a number of years. We’ll certainly be looking at that for the next event. Our speakers did a fine job, so we thank them all!

The receptions?

We always try to deliver receptions that make our even especially memorable for our attendees. We know that everyone takes time out from their families and friends to travel to the event, and so we want to give them a reason to feel they’ve had a special and enjoyable time as well as achieved their work goals.

This time that took the form of a gala reception at the Fotografiska photo gallery on the water’s edge. Whilst the venue was a little bit of a trek, hopefully the quality of the food, wine and conversation more than made up for the effort involved in getting there!

As usual, we invited our speakers and sponsors to attend a special reception to thank them for giving up their time and energy to plan, prepare and attend the event. This time we hit the Hard Rock Cafe just 100 yards from the conference venue. Beer flowed, friendships were rekindled, and the world was put to rights!

So where next?

Stuart and the team are not so presumptuous as to claim that they’ve conquered Europe, but with events in the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the Czech Republic and now Sweden over just 3.5 years, Social Connections has given it a good go!

So we’ve expanding our reach and heading to the US for the first time. To Boston (or Cambridge to be precise), on 16th and 17th April 2015. Registration is open, the call for abstracts has been made, sponsors are invited, and we’ll reconvene for Social Connections 8 in just a few months!

So finally…

Thanks for coming to Stockholm, to my home town, it was great to have Social Connections here and to welcome so many to this great city. See you in Boston!

15/102014

Varför delta på Social Connections VII?

News event, soccnx, swedish by Lars Samuelsson

Har du redan IBM Connections? Kom och träffa ledande experter, få tips och idéer för hur ni kan utveckla ert användande.

Om du har planer på att implementera IBM Connections, eller för den delen någon form av social mjukvara så är det här platsen att besöka! Du kanske inte ens siktar mot IBMs lösning? Kom ändå! Det är mycket att tänka på vilken lösning ni än väljer. Och vi alla älskar att utbyta idéer och tips påmhur man bäst lyckas med sin implementation, i sann social anda.

Om inte annat, kom för våra talare! Louis Richardson, en av IBMs mest underhållande historieberättare (ja, hans titel är storyteller) kommer tala under temat ”What were you thinking?”. Ett nytt sätt att se på en affärssituation, att försöka betrakta den från ett ”utifrånperspektiv” och analysera ”Hur tänkte jag här, egentligen?”.

Luis Suarez, föredetta IBM-are och en ren veteran i Social Connections-sammanhang kommer hålla två presentationer. En betitlad ”A day in the life of a knowledge (web) worker” och centrerar runt Connections har förändrat, inte bara ditt sätt att arbeta, men också ditt sätt att interagera med andra.

Den andra sessionen centreras runt de nya strukturer som skapas i och med sociala nätverk, fenomenet wierarchy förklaras och möjligheterna till mer demokratiska, inkluderande och på alla sätt ihopkopplade arbetsplatser.

Mike Roche från IBM Irland, kommer att prata om och önska feedback på deras idéer om Connections och Docs och det som kommer framöver. Det blir en liten titt bakom kulisserna i IBMs labb.

I övrigt så har vi föreläsningar om det mesta, från molnet och övergripande tankespår kring sociala nätverk, till utveckling och administrationssessioner där ni kan lära er det mesta om det mest detaljerade.

Om ni inte sett hela startfältet så ta genast och surfa över till vårt program och hitta just det som intresserar dig.

Vill också trycka på att ni är där direkt från början på torsdagen, detta då förmiddagen kommer innehålla en session enbart på svenska för just er!

Vi ser fram emot att välkomna er till Stockholm i november, och ha en riktigt trevlig konferens tillsammans.

Anmäl dig här

01/092014

Social Connections VII: Calling for abstracts – last call!

News abstracts, deadline, soccnx, stockholm, submit, vii by Lars Samuelsson

Hey everyone!

We’ve reached September! Where did the summer go? (Or indeed, the winter for those from the Southern Hemisphere).

What we’ve also reached is the final stretch for submitting your abstract for Social Connections VII!

We know that we said that the deadline was last week, and we got a lot of great ones in, to make that date (great job by the way!)

However, we do realize that when we started planning and announcing this, most of you were on vacation, hopefully enjoying life! Therefore we have decided to give you all a few extra days to top it off.

Now we hope that you who barely got your head out of your inbox for the first weeks of work will sit down and think “Hmmm, I really would like to go to Stockholm and share my wisdom on how to avoid getting stuck in the inbox by using social software, in the middle of November”.

We can’t wait to see what kind of stories you want to share with the rest of us, but whatever it is, please observe the new deadline of September 7th. Come on and hit us with your best shot! And yes, the fact that Pat Benatar started playing in your head right about now is a gift from us. 😉

Are you up for it? We sure are!

Tick…tock…tick…tock

It’s the final countdown! To use a quote from a famous swedish band. Musical references all around!

Have a nice one, and see you all in Stockholm in November!

20/082014

Have you registered for Social Connections VII yet?

News soccnx by Lars Samuelsson

Welcome back!

We hope that you have had a wonderful summer and that you feel energized to continue your social journey!

Our big question now is of course – Have you registered yet? We want to see you in Stockholm in november for Social Connections VII.

Why, you ask?

Well, it’s the event to brighten you up when the darkness of autumn is encapsulating everything else. You get to meet the best people when it comes to social business adaption, in a warm and friendly environment.

But Stockholm? In november? That doesn’t sound very warm!

Sure, you might need to bring a warm coat for the trips outside, but it’s what happens at 7A Odenplan that will keep your mind heated for a long time to come.

There will be speakers to entertain your every need, from a management view to tell you how you should do to actually evolve your business. Down to the technical level with development and config files and everything in between. Just look at some of the videos from our previous events and the lineups we’ve had!

Still not convinced?

Think about the other attendees, they might be or have been in the same place on the social business journey as you are right now. They might be on the verge of jumping into SmartCloud or are seasoned veterans who have been using Connections since before it was cool!

But previous events have been free? Now you’re charging a fee!

Yes, it’s true that the previous events have been free. However, we saw in Prague that people reserved tickets and didn’t show. That is the downside of giving away free tickets. And it makes us a little bit sad when we know that others would have wanted those seats instead! That’s why we’re asking for a comittment from you, to help us continue in creating this great event for us all!

One thing you can be certain of is that you will go home with a lot of ideas, information and a big smile on your face, after a productive and hopefully enjoyable two days in what the local government dubs “The capital of Scandinavia” (Sorry Oslo and Copenhagen)

So what on earth are you waiting for? Register now!

07/082014

Watch Chris Crummey at Social Connections VI: ‘Understanding the journey of becoming a Social Business’

News community, connections, event, ibmchampions, ibmcnx, ics, inotes, oliheinz, prague, soccnx, vi, video by Lars Samuelsson

For the first time at Social Connections VI, we recorded every single session in glorious HD video – opening and closing sessions, keynotes, breakouts and even our ‘Pardon the Interruption’ panel. This was a huge (and expensive) undertaking but one that we think will be massively valuable in terms of increasing the volume of IBM Connections information and education available to the community.

Next to be highlighted is a session from our Management track delivered by Chris Crummey of IBM. Chris is the Executive Director of Sales For Social Business at IBM. With 25 years as an IBMer, he will be able to provide a LOB perspective on the value of a culture of a “Social Business”.

His session brief was as follows:

This session will focus on the the major milestones and journey of IBM as a “Social Business. We will present a combination of “Day in the Life” examples followed by an overview of the major milestones achieved by IBM. This session will focus on the process, culture, and IT programs designed to successfully deploy an “Social Business.”

Here’s the session – it’s in full HD and clocking in at over 45 minutes, so make it full screen and enjoy!

[vimeo]http://www.vimeo.com/102117447[/vimeo]

Understanding the journey of becoming a Social Business, Chris Crummey from the Social Connections VI channel, by Social Connections.

All the main tent sessions from the first day of Social Connections VI are now available on the event channel, and the remainder of the sessions will be published over the next few weeks (that’s the downside of HD-quality recordings – they take a while to upload!).