Category Archives: IBMConnect

My Two Big Questions Heading in to IBM Connect 2016

With a new location this year, I have two big questions as I head down to Orlando for IBM Connect

  1. Is the Hilton big enough to get my 10,000 Fitbit steps in or will I have to hit the gym?
  2. Where do I get Ice Cream? I’m going to miss Beaches and Cream

Speaking at IBM Connect

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It’s almost time to board a plane and head to Orlando, looking forward to seeing a lot of you in Orlando next week.  I will be speaking again this year, come check out my session on Tuesday morning.

To Infinity and Beyond: Migrating your Users and Their Data into IBM Connections Cloud 

Tuesday February 2, 2016 - 9:15-10:15 AM

Room: Lake Highland AB

 

IBM Champion.. Again

IBM Champions

Yesterday IBM announced the 2016 IBM Champions, I am honored to once again be on the list.  Congratulations to all the Champions, especially the 39 new Champions

Announcing the IBM 2016 Champions 

The 2015 Lotusphere Closing Ceremony

The name of the conference might change, but the traditions remain the same.  The conference ends around 4:30 in the afternoon, but many many hours later Mat Newman finally has his badge removed and only then is Lotusphere officially over.   The honor this year was given to Sandra Bühler.

Lotusphere 2014 Closing Ceremony

Lotusphere 2013 Closing Ceremony

Adding Two Factor Authentication to IBM Connections Cloud

Yes, it’s true 🙂

When I looked at the schedule for IBMConnectED, there was one session that was a can’t miss.  Steve McDonagh was talking about adding Two Factor Authentication to IBM Connections Cloud.   If you know me, you know I do a lot of work with IBM Connections Cloud and I am obsessed with two factor authentication, of course I had a conflict and could not be there, so with the help of Devin I managed to get a video of the session which Steve was nice enough to let me publish.

On a side note, if IBM Connections Cloud and two factor authentication is of no interest to you, consider watching the first 5 minutes regardless it’s brilliant,

Check out Steve’s Blog for more on Two Factor Authentication with IBM Connections Cloud 

Where to Find me (or my sessions) at IBMConnectED

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Sunday January 25th

1 PM-2 PM Swan 7-10 with Scott Souder

MAS102: Mail As You’ve Never Imagined It Before: IBM Verse

At a time when organizations are striving to be more efficient, we are faced with an overwhelmingly large volume of email that outpaces productivity. But IBM is changing all of this by re-imagining what mail should be and transforming the way we work. Enter “IBM Verse.” Optimized for web and mobile, Verse gets to know you — by identifying the people and patterns of how you work — and draws your attention to the messages, meetings and tasks that you care about. Join Scott Souder and IBM Champion Mitch Cohen for a candid discussion, overview and demos as we kick-off a great week where Verse is sure to be one of the hottest topics!

Monday January 26th

1 PM-2 PM Swan 1-2

BP210: Sunny Days, (Smart)Cloud-y Users (this title was better when SmartCloud was still the branding, but the content is good)

Learn how you can leverage the data in your existing on-premises or cloud systems (LDAP, Profiles, Active Directory, and others) to automatically provision users in IBM Smart Cloud for Social Business. This session will provide a basic introduction to Tivoli Directory Integrator, and how to connect to multiple data sources to create users in IBM SmartCloud. We will cover user the automation of user creation, changes, and deletions, as well as explain different enrollment and log in methods available to your users.

5 PM – 6 PM Swan 5-6

INV402: Strategies for Connecting the Global Workforce through Cloud – Customer Panel

Hear directly from companies how they’re using social cloud to connect employees to each other, to partners and to customers to energize their work. This customer panel will discuss their experiences in starting their social cloud journey, their insights on how to best use cloud to drive social adoption across diverse workforces globally, and share best practices for what works and what doesn’t. Gain insights on how to be successful using cloud to connect employees so they can be more effective in their daily work and learn where these companies are going next.

Wednesday January 28th 

10:30 AM – 11:30 AM Swan 5-6

Gurupalooza is back again this year hosted by Susan Bulloch.  If you are not familiar with this session it is many of the (non-IBM) speakers on stage, you ask the questions, and in theory you get answers.  This is always a fun and informative session.

Hope to see you in Orlando next week

Speaking at IBM ConnectED 2015

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IBM ConnectED 2015 is a little over a month away and it is shaping up to be a busy week for me.  Here are my sessions looking forward to seeing you there.

Scott Souder and I will attempt to answer all your questions about IBM Verse

MAS102: Mail As You’ve Never Imagined It Before: IBM Verse

At a time when organizations are striving to be more efficient, we are faced with an overwhelmingly large volume of email that outpaces productivity. But IBM is changing all of this by re-imagining what mail should be and transforming the way we work. Enter “IBM Verse.” Optimized for web and mobile, Verse gets to know you — by identifying the people and patterns of how you work — and draws your attention to the messages, meetings and tasks that you care about. Join Scott Souder and IBM Champion Mitch Cohen for a candid discussion, overview and demos as we kick-off a great week where Verse is sure to be one of the hottest topics!

Interested in provisioning users into IBM Connections Cloud? I will share my experience and tell you everything you need to know to get started

BP210: Sunny Days, (Smart)Cloud-y Users (this title was better when SmartCloud was still the branding, but the content is good)

Learn how you can leverage the data in your existing on-premises or cloud systems (LDAP, Profiles, Active Directory, and others) to automatically provision users in IBM Smart Cloud for Social Business. This session will provide a basic introduction to Tivoli Directory Integrator, and how to connect to multiple data sources to create users in IBM SmartCloud. We will cover user the automation of user creation, changes, and deletions, as well as explain different enrollment and log in methods available to your users.

Finally I will also be participating in this customer panel

INV402: Strategies for Connecting the Global Workforce through Cloud – Customer Panel

Hear directly from companies how they’re using social cloud to connect employees to each other, to partners and to customers to energize their work. This customer panel will discuss their experiences in starting their social cloud journey, their insights on how to best use cloud to drive social adoption across diverse workforces globally, and share best practices for what works and what doesn’t. Gain insights on how to be successful using cloud to connect employees so they can be more effective in their daily work and learn where these companies are going next.

Should be a fun, busy, and hopefully warm few days in Orlando, what are you waiting for Register Now.

 

IBM ConnectED 2015 Call for Abstracts is now open

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The Call for Abstracts for IBM ConnectEd 2015 has gone out.  You have until October 8th to submit your abstract for the upcoming event.   You can see the seven available tracks and their descriptions here, and the Agenda overview here.

IBM ConnectED 2015 Call for Abstracts

Slides for SHOW304: How to Create a Perfect Profile: A Hitchiker’s Guide to A Smarter Workforce

Chris Whisonant and I had fun preparing and presenting this one together at IBM Connect 2014.  If you are using IBM Connections this should help you get even more out of Profiles

IBM Connect 2014 By the Numbers

Here is a quick look back at IBM Connect 2014 by the numbers

Photography

I felt like I did not take that many pictures this year, as I left the big camera behind most of the time and stuck with my phone, at the end of the week I somehow ended up with  2251 pictures between my phone and camera.

Here is my Flickr Collection for IBM Connect 2014

Steps

Everyone knows you walk, and walk, and walk at IBM Connect here were my Steps per day as tracked by my Fitbit One

Sunday – 18,428

Monday – 19,384

Tuesday – 24,298

Wednesday – 19,738

Thursday – 23,228

5 day Total – 105,076

Tweets 

When this slide was shown on screen at the Closing General Session more than one person remarked “and that was just Mitch”

It wasn’t all me, but I guess I did my fair share of tweeting with 459 tweets over five days

Sunday – 105

Monday – 141

Tuesday – 114

Wednesday – 34

Thursday – 65

Ice Cream

It was suggested to me that no numerical wrap up of IBM Connect would be complete with out a total on Ice Cream consumption.   I can’t put an exact total on it but I can tell you that Chris Whisonant and I (along with various others) visited Beaches and Cream for Ice Cream at least 5 times during IBM Connect.

Much to Chris’s disappointment we did not order the Kitchen Sink