Recently in Gilbane Boston 2007 Category

The theme for the opening keynote panel: Content Technologies - What's Current & What's Coming? at our Boston conference this week is: change - and what it means for content and information management strategies. Of course there is constant and rapid change in technology, but we are now entering an era of multiple tectonic shifts that will challenge IT and business strategists more than ever. And the changes are not all technological, even if largely caused or influenced by technology. For example, the computer-literate generation entering the workplace, consumer technology changing expectations in the workplace, and a sometimes desperate need to adjust or completely change business models.

Other fundamental changes affecting enterprise information management strategies include the speeding freight trains of mobile computing, cloud computing, enterprise software consolidation, and global e-commerce markets.

We'll also take a look at some specific technologies and ideas that are often over-hyped or not well-understood. Many of these have an important role to play in enterprise information strategies, and the panel's goal will be to help you think through what your expectations of them should be. Examples include technologies that go 'beyond search', social software networks, user-generated content, tagging, enterprise blogs and wikis, and e-books.

This is a lot to cover in an interactive 90 minutes, but our panel will certainly get you thinking, and provide some perspective for your discussions with other attendees, speakers, and exhibitors.

Joining me on the panel are:
Andrew P. McAfee, Associate Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School
David Mendels, Senior Vice President, Enterprise & Developer Solutions Business Unit, Adobe
Andy MacMillan, Vice President, ECM Product Management, Oracle
David Boloker, CTO Emerging Internet Technology, Distinguished Engineer, IBM Software Group

It's that time of year again. Not only for our Boston conference, and the co-located Content Management Professionals Association (CM Pros) Summit, but for CM Pros members to nominate candidates for soon-to-be-open board seats. It is also a great time to join CM Pros, or at least to come to the Summit and find out what they are all about. The association is also looking for a new Executive Director. Here is the announcement from CM Pros:

Call for nominations
CM Pros is pleased to announce the call for nominations for election of the expanded board will be made at the Fall Summit on November 26, 2007. Nominations open on the day of the Summit and close on December 21, 2007. More information about the time line is available on the website.

The board is seeking enthusiastic candidates to run for four seats, bringing the board to 7 members. To qualify as a candidate, you must be a member 'in good standing' of CM Pros. This is an opportunity for anyone who is passionate about content management in its many forms to contribute to the continued growth of the organization.

In the words of one of the departing board members:
Ever wonder what it would be like to have weekly discussions with really smart people, about issues that you're passionate about? What if those discussions helped shape the future of your professional organization? What if you could contribute your voice, your ideas, your creativity to those discussions and really make a difference? With the Board expanding to 7 members, there are opportunities for you to contribute and make a difference. It's been a great adventure so far, and we've made tremendous progress, with more ideas and projects in the pipeline. We need good people to volunteer their time and talent to advance the profession and grow the organization. Think about it. Do it!

To nominate yourself or someone else who you believe would make a great candidate, contact the Elections Oversight Committee at elections@cmprofessionals.org before November 26th or just use the website after nominations open.

Search for a new Executive Director
In addition to board elections, there is another exciting opportunity-the next CM Pros' Executive Director. The current ED, Scott Abel, will not be continuing in this role. As the organization matures, the board will refocus the tasks and responsibilities of the Executive Director to running a non-profit volunteer association and bringing stability to the organization as it grows. The board is seeking candidates who will initially work part time and can grow into a 'Chief Administrative Officer'.

A search committee for the ED position has been formed, and a job description is being defined. The job posting will be available no later than November 12th. If you are interested in the position or know someone you'd like to recommend, please contact the search committee lead, Joan Lasselle, at secretary@cmprofessionals.org.

The board, on behalf of themselves and all CM Pros members, wants to thank Scott for his considerable contributions to CM Pros' success in 2007.

CM Pros Board of Directors
email: board@cmprofessionals.org
web: http://www.cmprofessionals.org

It seems hard to believe that we've been too busy to blog about our annual upcoming conference in Boston. Fortunately it has a life of its own and doesn't depend on our blogging activity. This year's event is our largest yet, and we'll be blogging more regularly about it to help make sure you don't miss some of the nuggets.

Today, I just want to note that (one of the reasons we've been so busy is) because have a number of research projects and studies underway, and the results of some of these will be discussed at the conference, as well as on some of our track-specific blogs. For example, Geoff blogged yesterday about the research we are doing on collaboration, social computing, and "Web 2.0" technology use in the enterprise. Geoff will be leading a panel on this and other research at the conference. Stay tuned both here and on our topic area blogs for more info on this and other research.

Activity for our 4th Gilbane Boston conference at the Westin Copley November 27 -29 is ramping up quickly. The conference schedule and session descriptions have been posted. The early list of exhibitors and sponsors is also available. And, online registration is open. We'll be updating the site on a regular basis from now on, usually daily, so bookmark the pages that interest you to keep up-to-date.