connections

17/012017

Announcement: Social Connections 11 comes to Chicago! See you there!

News connections, event, ibm, ibmcnx, ics, register, soccnx, soccnx10, social, socialconnections by Maria Nordin

Social Connections
comes to
CHICAGO!!!

Are you ready for the best conference of the year, organized by the largest user group focusing on social collaboration technology from IBM?

Good, we are too!

We are sorry we have kept you waiting. A somewhat bumpy road since our last event has made us focus on the thing we knew all along:

Quality before quantity

So here we are, ready to announce the location of Social Connections 11. We want to welcome you all in the beginning of June to the amazing city of Chicago!

What do we have lined up for you?

We will continue our success story with a 2 day event filled with keynote sessions, quality speakers, captivating break out sessions, lots of IBM Champions, a Gala night with extra specials were socializing is the focus, speed sponsoring and of course lots of networking!

We won’t stop there. This time we will renew our concept a bit and add some extra things which will make this our best conference yet!

But don’t fret! Social Connections will still keep our main focus and deliver a conference with a strong focus on social collaboration technology, aimed at both existing and prospective customers and partners, and at individuals with both business and technical perspectives.

Hello sponsor: for you we offer a solution showcase with sponsors and breakout sessions in multiple tracks! You will have the perfect opportunity to network with your customers and new prospects.

Hello IBM customer: for you we offer a broad variety of tracks ranging from use cases, management, best practices, development, design and administration etc.

Hello speaker: time to start thinking and write your abstract to the sessions mentioned above!

We have it all for you!

The Social Connections team is stronger than ever and we are working around the clock around the globe to make this event the best one yet!

Stay tuned for more details such as venue, exact date, where to submit your session and where we will spend our magic gala night.

In the meantime, contact us at info@socialconnections.info should you have any questions.

Wannes, Simon, Maria, Jan, Lars, Femke, Christoph, Doug and Martin

p.s. we are very proud to let you know that all our team members are IBM Champions for 2017!

07/092016

Social Connections 11 postponed to Spring 2017

News cancel, connections, ibm, ibmconnections, soccnx, soccnx11 by Wannes Rams

It is with great sadness in our hearts that the Social Connections team has to announce that there will not be an event this fall.

We announced a November event in Southern Europe during the closing session of our Toronto event and the team has worked very hard since then to get this on the rails, but due to many factors we ran out of time.

It is very important to us to maintain the quality of our events and even improve each and every one of them. We now are at the point where we cannot guarantee that same quality and our high standard. We are thinking of our sponsors, attendees and also ourselves, who depend on this.

Therefore we decided it is best to postpone and focus on our 2017 spring event and make this one the best one ever.

If you are interested in knowing why we ended up cancelling this event, feel free to reach out to any of the team members. We will happily give you an insight in our journey full of pitfalls that led to this decision.

The team is extremely sad and disappointed about this. Both for ourselves, but also for our sponsors, speakers and attendees who have been reaching out to us wondering when they should book their flights and hotel.

We have learned a lot on this journey, which will benefit us and eventually you, in the future.

We have something going on. We can’t tell you yet what it is. But since this one was like a balloon just swooshing out air, next time we will be better, stronger and cooler than ever.

Stay tuned!

01/062016

The Social Connections Team – who are we?

News connections, soccnx, social, socialconnections, team by Maria Nordin

First: you have registered for Social Connections 10 in Toronto, right?

Good. Then you can continue reading this post.

We thought it was time we told you a bit about ourselves. The people behind this fantastic user group called Social Connections.

So sit back and enjoy:

23/052016

We bring that extra to you in Toronto – a masterclass on adoption and engagement!

News connections, ibm, ibmbonnections, luis, masterclass, register, social, socialconnections, suarez by Maria Nordin

Meet Luis Suarez!

As if 2 days of networking, socializing and learning all about IBM Connections and everything around it isn’t enough, we bring you an extra day after the event with Luis Suarez and his masterclass ‘From Adoption to Adaptation, From Enablement into Engagement’.

Join us the day after Social Connections 10 for a full blast masterclass about Social Business. On how to inspire and facilitate adoption in your organization. Get the means to re-define a new way of working with your fellow colleagues and peers and become a successful Socially Integrated Enterprise.

What if that methodology, good practices, extensive expertise and know-how would all be at your fingertips, so you could apply it right away? What if you knew the nuts and bolts of getting your management and senior leadership teams all involved right from the start to help facilitate the final social business transformation you have always been looking for? Are you ready?

Come and join us on this one day masterclass to find out and learn how you can get the most out of your IBM Connections deployment to begin, or continue, that transformation journey into becoming a successful Social Business.

You will learn how to

not only install social software, but also make your business into a social business
promote and support new ways of working in your company
get closer together with new forms of communication and collaboration between colleagues and business partners, and accelerate the digital transformation
avoid typical mistakes in the implementation of company-wide social networks and achieve successful results.
convince executives and middle management and may face resistance

Whether you are just getting started with your Social Business Adaptation Journey, or whether you are already a very well seasoned 2.0 knowledge worker, this workshop will provide you an opportunity to learn with other fellow practitioners through plenty of practical, hands-on advice, good practices, lots of hints and tips and, most importantly, all of the necessary knowledge resources available to date.

This session is going to be really focused, packed with value and offer tremendous opportunities to learn from both Luis and the other attendees’ experience. So do not hesitate too long. Places will be allocated in order of registration.

26/042016

Social Connections 10 – An international line up of 70+ speakers!

News abstracts, agenda, connections, Speakers by Wannes Rams

Still undecided about attending Social Connections 10 in Toronto on Monday June 6th and Tuesday June 7th?

If you are then check out some of the great sessions by speakers from across the globe! Our agenda is now publish on our website Link and in our mobile app (where you can create you own personal schedule for the event! (Find out more about our mobile app).

Here is a selection of some the great sessions you need to come and listen to:

10+ user case studies focused on their implemention of IBM Connections!
Great sessions by IBM Champion (18 IBM champions are currently attending the event)
A peak into the future with sessions on Toscana, Future of work and What is coming to IBMConnections
Our popular ‘Spotlight track’ with 15 minute sessions
Some great sponsor sessions from IBM, panagenda, Harbour lights, TimetoAct, TrustSphere and Kudos
and more……

At finally, we have over 70 speakers at the event. These people are from all parts of the world and have some great content to share with you!

So what are you waiting for – Register now!

11/032016

Social Connections 10 – Social Business Masterclass hosted by Luis Suarez!

News Adaption, adoption, connections, elsua, Enablement, Engagement, masterclass, NoMail, soccnx, SocialBusiness, toronto by Wannes Rams

Social Business Masterclass – ‘From Adoption to Adaptation, From Enablement into Engagement’

Wednesday June 8th – 9am to 15:30pm

Lunch and refreshments included

The Social Connections team are please to announce that as part of our Social Connections 10 event that we are collaborating with Luis Suarez to host an unique event in Toronto – a Social Business Masterclass!

What if instead of “driving” adoption within your organisation, you could inspire and facilitate adaptation instead? What if you would have the means to re-define a new way of working with your fellow colleagues and peers through that very same adaptation to become a successful Socially Integrated Enterprise? What if that methodology, good practices, extensive expertise and know-how would all be at your fingertips, so you could apply it right away? What if you knew the nuts and bolts of getting your management and senior leadership teams all involved right from the start to help facilitate the final social business transformation you have always been looking for? Are you ready?

What you can learn

You will learn how to

not only install social software, but also make your business into a social business
promote and support new ways of working in your company
get closer together with new forms of communication and collaboration between colleagues and business partners, and accelerate the digital transformation
avoid typical mistakes in the implementation of company-wide social networks and achieve successful results.
convince executives and middle management and may face resistance

The cost to attend this masterclass is in addition to your attendance at the Social Connections Conference (the event is only open to attendees of the Social Connections conference). We have put together a really attractive rate for the masterclass and if you register before April 1st, you can benefit from a ‘Early bird’ rate!

What are you waiting for – please register now

The View from the Social connections 10 Venue!

07/032016

Social Connections 10 – What a venue we have for you!

News connections, soccnx, StAndrews, toronto, Venue by Simon Vaughan

The Social Connections team are pleased to announce that we have now secured a venue for our event in Toronto on Monday 6th and Tuesday 7th June.

The venue is…………

The St Andrew’s Club and Conference centre in Downtown Toronto!

We have secured the 16th floor for our event and the location offers first class facilities and stunning views of downtown Toronto!

For the convenience of our attendees, the conference centre is located in the heart of Toronto, near all major hotels and connected through the underground path system to all major office towers in the city core as well as sitting atop the St. Andrews subway station. The conference venue is located on the 16th floor of the SunLife Financial tower.

We are sure that this venue will be hosting one of our best events to date.

We have a limit on the number of people that can attend the event, so we would advise that you register and book your place before it is too late! – Register Now!

To find out more about the venue, please visit the following website: http://www.standrewsclub.ca/

We are currently talking to some of the downtown hotels and we hope to announce some discounts for our delegates – stay tuned for a future announcement!

http://www.standrewsclub.ca/

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!

11/082014

Watch Colleen Burns at Social Connections VI: ‘Who Gives a Clout? Three Reasons Social Eminence is Critical to Your Business’

News adoption, clout, community, connections, event, ibmcnx, ics, influencer, prague, soccnx, vi, video by Wannes Rams

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 Colleen Burns. Colleen is Influencer Engagement Program Manager at IBM.

Her session brief was as follows:

Your mom may have been wrong – in the right crowd, popularity IS everything. Well, popularity combined with expertise and influence. Increasing your social eminence can mean the difference between successful selling and missed opportunities. Is your company tapping into this valuable resource? Learn how companies like IBM are measuring social eminence and using it to influence buyers, customers and industry thinking – PLUS learn tips on how to increase your own.

Here’s the session – it’s in full HD and clocks in at 21 minutes, so make it full screen and enjoy!

[vimeo]http://www.vimeo.com/102960939[/vimeo]

Who Gives a Clout? Three Reasons Social Eminence is Critical to Your Business, Colleen Burns from the Social Connections VI channel, by Social Connections.

All the main stage sessions from the both days 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!).

08/082014

Watch Simon Vaughan at Social Connections VI: ‘Social Software adoption – Moving from ROI to ROB (Reworking of Behaviour!)’

News adoption, community, connections, event, ibmcnx, ics, oic, prague, soccnx, vi, video by Wannes Rams

Next to be highlighted is a session from our Case Study track delivered by Simon Vaughan. Simon consults for OiC, is a founder member of Social Connections and is an IBM Champion.

His session brief was as follows:

So you have spent time evaluating a Social platform for your organisation, the final phase is to get business sign off to proceed. In order to get sign off, you are asked to show what ROI your company will achieve from implementing a Social platform…

This session will give you some real life examples that have been used to help get final sign off for proposals. Once over the line, this session will also be of value to organisations who have adopted IBM Connections and want to hear about some innovative use cases they could utilise in their environment. Based on the highly successful ‘Social patterns / Use cases’, Business Value Assessment models used by IBM and the ‘Social Software adoption wheel’, you will be provided with some real life examples of why ROI is important BUT why the real benefit from your Connections implementation will be to helping drive cultural change within the organisation and implementing ROB (Reworking of Behaviour!).

Here’s the session – it’s in full HD and clocks in at 29 minutes, so make it full screen and enjoy!

[vimeo]http://www.vimeo.com/102907776[/vimeo]

Social Software adoption – Moving from ROI to ROB (Reworking of Behaviour!), Simon Vaughan 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!).

connections

Social Connections comes to CHICAGO!!!

Social Business Masterclass – ‘From Adoption to Adaptation, From Enablement into Engagement’

What you can learn

Social Connections
comes to
CHICAGO!!!