All posts by wannes

16/032015

Sponsor Highlight: IBM

As we are approaching April 16, the date for the first day of the Social Connections conference, we will be highlighting all our sponsors. This event could not happen without their support and we are delighted to have them on board as each one plays a really important role in helping to fund the event but also as a member of our community.

So we present you one of our returning sponsors for Social Connections, Platinum sponsor for Boston: IBM

IBM enables every business to engage, contribute, create, and unlock new opportunities for business growth by delivering an efficient, highly effective and intuitive collaboration platform. Available as software-as-a-service(SaaS) from IBM Cloud Marketplace as well as on-premises, businesses can easily work with customers and partners. IBM delivers integrated, elegantly designed, user centric software, expertise and services to help any business on it’s journey to stronger, sustainable growth.

IBM is also helping clients drive business growth by delivering exceptional digital experiences whenever and wherever customers choose to receive it — improving customer propensity to buy with compelling and targeted rich media content and offers, and empowering LOB professionals with rich media and social capabilities to engage with and respond to customers changing expectations. For more information visit: http://www.ibm.com/socialbusiness

13/032015

Sponsor Highlight: RockTeam

News by Wannes Rams

So we present you one of our sponsors for Social Connections, Silver sponsor for Boston: RockTeam

For more than 30 years, RockTeam has helped businesses of all sizes apply collaborative and social technology to enterprise solutions to reduce cost, increase productivity and drive growth through online collaboration.

RockTeam is an award-winning IBM Premier Business Partner offering consulting and technical services as well as being a Software Reseller. Our core expertise is in social and collaborative software, systems design architecture, application development, and systems integration.

Now more than ever it is important to stay ahead of your competition by developing a software strategy and solution for your company. Effective software solutions can drive a competitive advantage, just as ineffective deployment and execution can have costly consequences. RockTeam has deep understanding of these systems and has been an industry leader for providing effective solutions for our clients.

For more information, checkout rockteam.com…

12/032015

Sponsor Highlight: Kudos

News by Wannes Rams

So we present you one of our returning sponsors for Social Connections, Gold sponsor for Boston: Kudos

Reward User Adoption, Measure Performance, Increase Productivity. For IBM Connections.

Kudos rewards user adoption, measures performance and increases productivity for IBM Connections. Adding value to organisations in over 30 countries around the world, Kudos is developed by leading Australian collaboration experts and IBM Premier Business Partner; ISW.

Visit KudosBadges.com for more information.

11/032015

Sponsor Highlight: goodmeeting.biz

News by Wannes Rams

So we present you one of our sponsors for Social Connections, Gold sponsor for Boston: Goodmeeting

goodmeeting – the brilliant meeting software

Meetings could be collaboration at its best!

But unfortunately 45% of all meetings are considered as “wasteful” or not “well prepared”.

Change your meeting behavior and become a meeting hero by using goodmeeting.

goodmeeting.biz powered by WebGate Consulting AG

10/032015

Sponsor Highlight: TimeToAct

News by Wannes Rams

So we present you one of our returning sponsors for Social Connections, Gold sponsor for Boston: TimeToAct

TIMETOACT GROUP provides professional services for IBM Software, Microsoft Software, Google Software and open standards. The group includes the companies edcom, BLUETRADE, CLOUDPILOTS, novaCapta, TIMETOACT and X-INTEGRATE.

With round about 200 employees, TIMETOACT GROUP is one of the largest IBM Software Services providers in DACH. TIMETOACT GROUP is located in several locations in Germany and Switzerland.

Visit TimeToAct.de for more details.

09/032015

Sponsor Highlight: TrustSphere

News by Wannes Rams

So we present you one of our returning sponsors for Social Connections, Gold sponsor for Boston: TrustSphere

TrustSphere is the recognized market leader in Relationship Analytics having pioneered a next-generation approach to analyzing both internal and external communication patterns across an organization and synthesizing these to provide actionable insights.

Clients who implement our solutions, which are primarily based on their existing corporate data, improve visibility and collaboration amongst management and customer teams.

Collaboration leads to an improvement in performance and productivity across multiple lines of business. The insights gained have a direct impact on both customer experience and business performance.

Visit trustsphere.com for more details.

04/032015

What should you expect at Social Connections 8?

News boston, expectation, prague, soccnx by Wannes Rams

Every Social Connections event has been different – after all, we’ve hosted every one in a new country so far! So the culture, the language and the surroundings definitely influence the kind of atmosphere and interactions that take place. That’s the joy of being a truly international user group!

However, there are certainly common themes…

A gathering of like-minded and passionate advocates of Social Business technologies, collaborative approaches and the use of IBM solutions.
Awesome content from internationally renown speakers, plus some case studies that you’ll hear nowhere else.
Hearing the latest product news – from IBM and from third-party vendors. We’ve been thrilled to hear from IBM product managers at almost every event – including Heidi Ambler, Luis Benitez, Kramer Reeves and in Boston, Suzanne Livingston.
A mix of business and technical… From high-level strategy and user adoption tips right down to geeky sessions on TDI assembly lines and widget development. The team always aim for a broad mix of deep content.
An atmosphere of openness and sharing. Attendees come with an attitude of wanting to make the most from the event, the opportunities and to be ready for meeting others that may start as strangers but will likely become friends in the long-run.
We weave ‘Social’ with ‘social’… This is about having fun, making connections, and re-energising ourselves and each other for the hard work ahead!

That’s a lot of words, right? Well as ever, a picture paints a thousand words, and a video… Well that must be a million, right?

So here’s our overview video from Social Connections VI, the event that took place in Prague in June 2014…

Like what you see? Well there’s no time like the present! Register for Social Connections 8 today!

17/022015

Two months…

News boston, soccnx by Wannes Rams

Social Connections 8 is approaching fast! In fact it feels as though the pace is picking up with every day that passes!

With this being the first Social Connections event that has been run in the USA, the team is working hard to pull together the very best experience that it can.

What does that mean? Well we’ve been busy on:

The abstract submission process. We’ve been delighted to have received a great number of abstracts submitted for this event than any we’ve run before. We’re also thrilled at the range and depth of the topics that we’ve seen, as well as hearing from some awesome speakers both old and new. Despite this, we’ve extended the deadline a teeny bit (by one week to next Sunday, the 22nd February). Why? We would love some additional sessions in specific tracks – Spotlight, the Future of Work and Case Studies. The team will review all abstracts that are submitted, but those are the ones we’d most like to add to the very balanced agenda that we’re pulling together. Submit your abstract now!
Planning the agenda. Whilst the final set of sessions are yet to be confirmed, we’ve already started to add key sessions to the schedule… If you’re waiting to see the agenda before confirming your own attendance, it will be published early next week.
The gala reception. Those that have attended previous Social Connections events will know that we really lavish a lot of focus and attention on our receptions – from a Welsh castle, to the Guinness factory in Dublin, at the lakeside in Zürich, a villa overlooking Prague (and the fireworks), to the gallery in Stockholm. Therefore we know we have a lot to live up to! We’re busy confirming the venue and arrangements for the Boston reception (with complimentary attendance for all attendees), and should have some news to share very soon.
Recruiting sponsors. We sometimes feel that we don’t say this enough… We could not run this event without our sponsors – they are absolutely key to funding the event and enabling us to deliver a conference that meets your needs. (For background, the small fee that we now charge to attend the conference barely covers the daytime catering, let alone the reception, the signage, the materials, etc. etc.) Therefore we hugely value their support for Social Connections, and are delighted that IBM, Kudos, GoodMeeting, TimeToAct, Ephox and Panagenda have already committed to sponsoring and exhibiting at the Boston event.
Planning some great ‘extra-curricular’ activities. Whilst formal sessions are key to any conference agenda, we feel that the really great interactions often take place outside the auditorium or breakout rooms. Therefore we’re ideating hard to try to provide a really great mix of activities at the conference. From SpeedSponsoring to unconference sessions, to opportunities for feedback on designs, there will be plenty of chances to get up close and personal with key IBMers, speakers, and IBM Champions.

So, with just 58 days to go, there really is no excuse! Register for Social Connections 8 today!

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

05/022015

10 days…

News abstracts, schedule, sessions, soccnx by Wannes Rams

It is just 10 days until the Social Connections 8 call for abstracts slides ever so tightly shut.

Yes, you have just ten short days in which to submit your great ideas for sessions at the upcoming IBM Social Business user group, which takes place in Boston on 16th and 17th April. We’re looking to select 20-30 really tip-top sessions to fill out our provisional event schedule – we’ve had some really super abstracts so far (thanks go to everyone that has submitted) but we’d really love more!

For the first time at Social Connections, we will be offering a selection of session durations:

15 minutes – solely for Spotlight sessions (see below)
30 minutes – the standard session length, used for ~75% of our session slots. You will increase your chance of being selected by opting for this session length
60 minutes – for in-depth technical sessions, where it is difficult to get to grips with the content in 30 minutes

We are inviting sessions in the following tracks:

Administration – sessions relating to administering Social Business platforms. It could be the design and build of infrastructure, upgrading, managing users, migrating to the cloud, integration with other services or platforms etc. Sessions relating to cloud, hybrid or on-premise infrastructures are welcome! (30-minute and 60-minute slots)
Case Study – sessions focused on telling the story of existing Social Business projects. We love case studies! And the more honest the better! Ideally these sessions should feature at least one speaker from the company that uses the platform, but they could be accompanied by a vendor or partner. (30-minute slots only)
Development – how and why to develop for these services. We’d love you to share your tips, techniques and experience of developing solutions or applications, where you might hit issues, and how you overcome them. (30-minute and 60-minute slots)
Future of Work – new for this conference, sessions in this track should explore topics around the area of improving the productivity of individuals and organisations through the use of social technologies. (30-minute slots only)
Management – sessions that take a higher-level view of the issues, challenges and opportunities that surface when deploying social platforms. (30-minute slots)
Spotlight – also new for Social Connections 8, this track is designed to give new (or experienced) speakers the chance to present a short session on a topic of their choice. Think of it as being akin to TED talks, but within the framework of Social Connections. You can choose to use a presentation deck or not, to prepare earnestly or to speak from the heart, the choice is yours. What we’re after is insight, interest and passion – the rest is up to you! (15-minute slots only)
Sponsor – for those organisations that are sponsoring the event at Gold level or above, there is the option to submit a Sponsor session for the conference. (30-minute slots only)

The theme for the conference is ‘Beyond the Enterprise‘, so you may wish to give some thought to how your topic relates to this. You can take it any way you like, e.g. bridging internal and external communities, working with partners, making Social Business relevant to small organisations, creating non-work-related social communities, and so on. It’s not mandatory for the abstract to relate to the theme, but obviously it would be even better if it did.

The deadline for submitting an abstract is Sunday 15th February 2015, so you need to get your proverbial skates on!

Some advice that might help:

If you’re an experienced speaker and want to submit your session that you presented at IBM ConnectED, or will present at InterConnect, Engage or ICS UG, then we’d be happy to accept it. We’d just advise that you might tweak it to suit the session lengths described above. Also, we do try to have a really interactive atmosphere at Social Connections, so make sure you leave some space for questions and feedback from the audience.
If you’re new to speaking at events such as user groups and conferences, please don’t let that put you off! We all have to start somewhere, and we’d love to support you make your debut at Social Connections 8! You might want to consider submitting for the Spotlight track mentioned above, which would give you an informal 15-minute slot to cover your case-study, concept, solution or idea. If you need longer, but feel unsure about delivering a session alone, please reach out to the Social Connections team – either one of us would be delighted to assist or co-present, or else we can recommend another speaker that might be ideal for your session.
We’re always very keen to receive submissions for the case-study track, so please give some thought to whether you can tell your own organisation’s story regarding adoption of Social Business technologies. Typically case study sessions get really high ratings from attendees, as well as comments that suggest how useful they’ve been in assisting their own organisation’s journey.
Please consider submitting multiple abstracts for different topics and tracks. The selection team will be trying to create a balanced and informative schedule for the two days of the conference, therefore we may (for example) have a surplus of great management sessions, where a quality administration abstract would have been selected.
Submit ASAP! We’ve already highlighted a number of speakers on our site and will be selecting a few key sessions throughout the remaining few days of the process to list on our site. If you have a great idea for a session, get it to us right away…

So, ten days and counting! Hope to read your abstract(s) very soon!

05/112014

One week until Social Connections VII in Stockholm

News soccnxvii, stockholm by Wannes Rams

Whoa! Where did the time go…? It seems like just a few short weeks ago that we were in Prague announcing that our next event would be this November in Stockholm. And here we are already, in the beginning of November, only one week away from Social Connections VII! Exciting times…exciting indeed!

First things first, I wanted to mention the truly awesome team who are responsible for organizing Social Connections’ 7th event. Without this team, there would be no event. Period. From organizing the venue and securing fabulous locations for the receptions. To making sure we have everything we are going to need covered – from the big things like sponsors and sessions to the small stuff like pens and notepads. And it’s also worth noting that every member of our team, past and present, does this work pro bono since the very first Social Connections event was held in July, 2011. If you do not know who the team is, be sure and check out our team page.

For Social Connections VII; we have over 140 attendees registered. Some familiar faces but a lot of new ones! Stockholm is going to be a real hotbed for fresh social business and IBM Connections discussions! I am personally really excited, not only to see some of my old friends, but to make new ones. And a neat little fact: Once VII is done, we’ll have had over 1,000 Social Connections attendees over 3 year at 7 events! That’s a lot of networking!

We continue to have some great organisations sponsoring the event this time around, 11 in total. And they have a similar story to the attendees – some familiar sponsors and some new ones! We are so pleased and thankful, not only the long-term sponsors we’ve had over many events, but those new ones we’ve gained this time. It’s so rewarding for us to have these business partners, ISVs and vendors seeing the value of our event and putting their money where their mouth is, giving us the resources to make the conference happen. We always hope to provide a truly great environment where the sponsors can connect with our attendees and share their ideas and solutions with the community in a non-sales atmosphere. Be sure to participate in Speed Sponsoring on Thursday evening for your chance to meet each sponsor and win great prizes!

Another thing we are excited about is the gala reception. It is a tradition for us to gather in a more relaxed environment and keep the conversations going. A chance to “be social” if you will. The gala in Stockholm is shaping up to be, dare I say, the best yet. Did you ever think you would have the chance to wine and dine at the world renown photography museum, Fotografiska? We didn’t either! And as we are completely SOLD OUT for the gala reception, we know the attendees are excited too! It is a bit unfortunate that we had to cap the attendance for the gala but we hope that that everyone who couldn’t get a seat understands and appreciates that it’s not a case of not wanting you there, but we just didn’t have the budget to invite everyone.

As I said from the start, we are excited! Can you tell? And if you haven’t registered for the event yet, be sure to act quick as there are only a few spots remaining!

We look forward to seeing everyone in Stockholm next week!