Well, it’s my first attempt at this ‘live blogging’ concept, hopefully I’ll do it right…
Arrived at KM Summit this morning, at Hilton Tel Aviv. As someone living outside of Tel Aviv, getting into the city in the morning takes some planning, and time.. usually an hour. Luckily I used the time to go over my presentation (when the light was RED, not while driving), and catch up on TheMarker newspaper from yesterday. Parked at Hilton in 08:30, just in time for the pre-event networking. Even met a friend from my army reserve unit, which, ironically, sells SAP Portal… a small world.
No pictures yet – will upload them soon and over the following days…
09:15
Moria Halevy from ROM Knowledge, the lead sponsor of the event, is keynoting the event, talking about blogs and blogging. I’m gonna prepare for my presentation – will pick this up afterwards.
10:15
Finished. It’s hard to talk about social networking and social software in 25min. I can talk about the subject for 3-4 hours, easy. The last 3-4 slides – which were more important, steps to implement enterpeise social software in your business – I covered faster than I wanted. There were also couple of questions from the audience on IBM’s experience with blogging and bloggers that ‘ate’ my time. Overall, I think the presentation went well – I got the crowd involved (asked questions and gave away small prizes :-), showed KM and enterprise social software is kicking and growing and finally that IBM is the right partner to help you – Lotus Connections.
10:10
Yehuda Tzirkel from Elta Systems is talking about using web 2.0 technologies for market intelligence. Most of the things are well-known, but still, as a social software advocate, it’s good to see other companies are implementing web 2.0 for various business needs.
10:30
Gilad Savyon, co-CEO of Nogacom is talking about their innovative search technology – NogaClass, a solution based around information discovery and analysis.
10:50
Naama Berkovitz from ROM Knowledge is showing the results of their KM survey, which covered over 70 businesses in Israel, with a little more than 170 participants. Not statistically valid, but still… Most organizations with active KM projects are large, over 1,000 employees. Almost 70% of organizations employ KM manager (under IT department), with computing or knowledge background. However, in 5%, the KM manager answers the CEO or other strategic unit. In terms of budget, 45% are operating under 10K a year – which is quite impressive – the ability to implement KM projects with tight resources. In terms of portal infrastructure, Microsoft’s MOSS is leading with 54% (decrease from 62% in 2007) – proof of the strong presence Microsoft have in Israel. As for the future, most participants will continue to implement web portals (55%), but web 2.0 technologies are also top in to-do lists for 2008.
11:15
Break !
During the break I met some colleagues and customers (Bank Hapoalim, Bar Ilan Univeristy, Teva, Central Bureau of Statistics and others), and also a sort of VIP in the social networking arena: Jeff Pulver. Jeff is in Israel this week, doing some breakfasts and business meetings around the adoption of social networking. It just so happens those meetings are held at the lobby of Hilton Tel Aviv.. small world again. Jeff will flying out tomorrow, but when he’s back in Israel next month, I’ll be sure to join one of those breakfasts.
12:00
Back. Adam Shuv is onboard, a long time member of social networking arena in Israel, and one of the founders of TheMarker Cafe. He’s also the CEO of Refresh, an internet company focuses on content management. Anyhow, Adam started talking about social networking – facebook, linkedin, myspcae, etc, and mentioned several companies that are using external blogs to communicate. IBM was not one of the logos on screen, and I was ready to raise my hand and say something, but the next slide made me lower my hand. Adam mentioned Lotus Connections, referring to the Youtube video, that started playing in the background:
‘The best social software I’ve seen so far is a solution from IBM, called IBM Lotus Connections, that provides a platform for companies and enterprises to share knowledge across teams and communities.”
At the end of Adam’s presentation, he showcased several social networks, that are less known in the business. One of those networks was Respectance – a social network for dead people. Really… or as we say in Hebrew, walla… Poking around with the network, I did a quick search on Heath Ledger, who passed away earlier this year. Apparently there are over 1,900 results… fans of course. I’m sure Heath’s family didn’t open any of those results.
Basically, what that means, is that when ones die, it’s easier to ‘steal’ ones identity…
12:15
A lecture from Gur, co-CEO of Debate, a company specializes in business debates. His lecture was interesting, and there are some tips I’m gonna take from his lecture. Especially what’s the #1 rule to pass a message to your audience – Very simple:
Tell them what you’re gonna tell them; Tell them; Tell them what you told them.
The lecture involved the audience, which woke some people from their morning naps… and was actually funny at times. Thanks Gur.
Note to next live-blogging: bring my power adapter… my X60 lasted for brave 4 hours of emailing and blogging – gotta charge now..
Lev Cinema is one of the veteran chains of cinemas in Israel (25 years), doing its best to succeed in todays world, with broadband internet aceess, DVD, LCDs and video streaming. It recently opened it twitter account, @lev_cinema, and its first action of business was to gather as many followers as possible – # of users is the key indicator when it comes to any web 2.0 business.
