All posts by wannes

It’s over…. finally….. damn, it’s over… is it really???

Mixed emotions at the end of a conference as always. The team is physically and mentally exhausted, so we are happy to see an end to it as we can now go back to full nights sleep and actually taking time to have lunch during lunch.

On the other hand, this conference that is so close to our hearts we have been working together on for months is over, how can it already be… It was too fun to be over already…

Well as it really seems to be over… some statistics for you

• 54 Speakers delivering 52 sessions from 16 different countries, including 15 IBM Champions
• 203 Registrations from 22 different countries

So what has happened in those 2 days… a lot, we kicked of with some great keynotes by IBM, Customers and External speakers to the fill up all 4 rooms across all tracks for an afternoon packed with sessions. Only to be paused for some food in the amazing palace we held the event at.

The evening dinner was a blast, what an amazing experience… It was hosted in the oldest basement in Vienna and had no cellular reception and no WiFi… We must admit we were not 100% sure it was a good idea to send 200 IT geeks into a basement where they could not use their phone, but it seems all survived and only about 60% needed mental treatment afterwards.. Unintentionally the lack of WiFi in the cellar was completely inline with the lack of it at the venue on the first day. We tried solving it on the second day to have 1 of the team members rush out to pick up some 4G routers and it seemed to help a bit. The evening in the cellar was a blast, the photo booth got us some great pictures and everyone seemed to have a good time.

On the second day we toned it down and only used 3 rooms… Lot’s of great sessions again to end in the main auditorium again for the Connections Pink session and closing with prize draw… Again a couple of winners that were not in the room, we should really start listing them on the website so they realise what they have missed out on by not staying around…

The team’s view on the conference… apart for the normal organisers hickups….it was a GREAT event… it shouts out to us.. let’s rock on with

Today’s sponsor highlight goes out to returning sponsor Genus Technologies. After sponsoring us in Boston it is good to see them again for Social Connections Chicago!

Genus Media Upshot for Connections™ adds to the robust functionality of IBM’s business social network platform by simplifying the process of creating, managing, sharing and tracking documents, images, video and other rich media. With integration with Watson for image and voice recognition plus complete transcription (voice-to-text) and language translation automation, Genus provides cognitive video solutions for diverse enterprise workplaces.

Apart from that, Genus is also a long term partner of IBM providing expertise, integration and knowledge in the areas of:

• IBM Digital Experience
• IBM Enterprise Content Management
• IBM Social Business, more notably IBM Connections and Sametime

We are really happy to have Genus Technologies back on board, make sure to visit their booth in Chicago!

Todays sponsor highlight goes out to our gold sponsor Riva. another one of the sponsors that make Social Connections possible!

Riva integrates the world’s best CRM systems – Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, SAP Cloud for Customer, Oracle Sales Cloud, SugarCRM, NetSuite, and others – directly with IBM Collaboration Solutions.

By doing so it allows you to seamlessly sync CRM contacts, calendars, tasks, email, opportunities, cases, custom fields, and custom objects with IBM Verse, IBM Smart Cloud Notes, IBM Notes and Domino, and IBM Notes Traveler mobile devices. Helping IBM customers bridge the CRM integration gap, drive sales productivity, deliver better customer experiences, and improve CRM adoption and satisfaction.

Riva is one of our trusted sponsors and we are really happy to have them join us again this year!

Check out the Riva booth at social Connections to see more about the Riva products or visit their website for more information  www.rivacrmintegration.com/integrations/ibm-notes/.

As abstracts for Social Connections 11 in Chicago this June are pouring in we also get some rather frantic requests from people asking for just a little more time. With the end of quarter upon us some seem to struggle to hand in that abstract before the deadline. And as we really want to make sure we can provide you with the best possible selection of sessions and give everyone a chance to submit, we’ve decided to extend it.

So, if you haven’t yet submitted and thought you were too late… This is your chance – but last chance! – to submit for this great event. The deadline has been extended to Friday April 7th. Which will be the final deadline for this event and although we already have an amazing line up of sessions to choose from, we are still open for any great design or administration idea, your real life experiences with ‘going social collaboration’ or any other interesting topic around social collaboration, Watson work services or analytics. So don’t wait any longer and use these extra days to submit that awesome session!

Want to get a feel for the type of sessions we generally look for? Visit our agenda for our previous event in Toronto and to read more about two of our keynote speakers that have already been selected for this event check out this blog. We look forward to seeing your session!

As people who have attended previous events know Social Connections isn’t just limited to a day time program. One of the things we try to do is to also provide attendees with an opportunity to really connect and network with other attendees, speakers and organizers by providing an evening program in the form of the Social Connections Gala event. A way to socialize, enjoy some good food, great entertainment and also see something of Toronto outside the venue location. All attendees are invited and there is no additional costs involved.

As we like to stay in theme and Toronto is known (among others) for its ice hockey we opted this time to select the Hockey Hall of Fame as our venue for the Gala. A great location to learn more about the sport (exhibits will be open) play hockey themed games but also a place where you will simply be able to enjoy a night out, have some good food, drinks, connect with other attendees and enjoy the life music. After all, Social Connections is a conference about social business so why not make that a reality!

The Gala event will be held in the Hockey Hall of Fame at 7PM directly following the speed sponsoring and is open to all attendees (badge required). The dress code is the same as for the conference itself (business casual) and the location is walking distance from the venue and most hotels.

We hope to see you there!

Entertainment will be provided by Toronto cover band “The Wrong Kids”: