Category: soccnx

I would like to say a Thank you to all that supported the first Social Connections user group in London on Monday 4th July.

There was a fantastic turn out of 50 people on the day and 120 watching the sessions on-line.

• Thank you to all the speakers – sessions and presentations will be available (watch the Social Connections site for details)
• Thanks to all that assisted in the setting up and running of the event
• To the boys at the Salvations Army for a fantastic venue, AV and streaming service – you are amazing
• To our sponsors – Portal, Ascendant and Collaboration Matters
• To everyone that attended – We couldn’t do it without you

We are planning on meeting approx every 6 months and would love some feedback on what sessions you would like to see, location, format etc.

So once again a big thank you from all of us

I am delighted to announce that today we are launching:

Social Connections – the IBM Connections user group

Initially based in the UK (but open to members world-wide) Social Connections aims to be the place where individuals with an interest in IBM Connections can come to meet, share knowledge, develop best practices, discuss adoption strategies and to generally build a network of key folks with a similar focus.

We will try to be customer-focused, enabling organisations that are using the product to share their experiences and to ask for advice from others.  Partners and IBMers will be welcome, but we will try to always satisfy the needs of customers first.

Organised by a panel of willing individuals from around the Connections community in the UK (including  Stuart McIntyre from Collaboration matters, me (Sharon Bellamy of City University), Simon Vaughan of Cardiff University and Jon Mell of IBM), the group will organise two main events each year (targeted for late Spring and late Autumn) in the form of meetings held primarily on customer sites.  With a mix of business and technical sessions, plus plenty of chance for networking, we hope they will be fun events with real business value.

Today, we are also announcing details of our inaugural event, Social Connections 1, scheduled for 4th July 2011 in London.

Thanks to the gracious assistance of Mark Calleran and his organisation, the event will be held at The Salvation Army‘s international headquarters just adjacent to the Millennium Bridge in the centre of London.

The event will start at 9:30 and run through to 17:00, and feature a selection of the very best speakers from IBM, customers and partners.  We will have a mix of business-focused sessions, customer case studies and technical deep-dives in order to satisfy all tastes, including an IBM keynote.  Best of all, we will ensure that there is plenty of time for networking and sharing of experiences and tips for successful Connections deployments.

Registration will be opening soon, and we’ll be on the lookout for both sponsors and session abstracts over the next couple of weeks.

Come join us!