Tues, May 8: A look at virtual collaboration tools

On May 8, KM Chicago will look at collaboration in the virtual world with IBM's chief architect for collaboration, John Handy-Bosma.  He will continue our mini-series on collaboration frameworks with a conversation on IT architectural practices for creating online collaborative spaces. Boz will discuss architectural and spatial metaphors as design points for collaborative systems -- visibility, wayfinding, search problems, and issues typically encountered as collaboration scales to larger numbers of participants.


Boz is Chief Architect for Collaboration for the IBM CIO's office.  Boz is a Master Inventor with 35 U.S. patents and is a member of the IBM Academy of Technology. Boz has a Ph.D. in Communication Studies from the University of Texas at Austin.

Please join us in downtown Chicago or virtually. The meeting starts at 5:30. Details are at right.

Tue Apr 10: Designing space to enhance collaboration

Mandy Graham

Anne Gibson

KM Chicago’s April meeting will be the first of a two part series on designing physical and virtual space to enhance collaboration and knowledge transfer. On April 10, Anne Gibson and Mandy Graham from Gensler will explore how the physical work environment can influence how individuals and teams work together. In May, we’ll focus on virtual collaboration.  Meeting details are at left. All are welcome to attend!

Anne Gibson is a Design Director for the Gensler Chicago office. Anne’s strengths begin with strategic planning, understanding the client’s strategic vision and business goals relative to space and real estate. Her strengths in programming, space planning, conceptual development and design development are paramount to her role in leading project teams. Her ability to connect with the client have led to strong, trusting relationships which have resulted in repeat projects with multiple clients. Always seeking to further her professional development, Anne is committed to sharing her knowledge with others outside of Gensler.

Mandy Graham is the Workplace Practice Area Leader for the Chicago office of Gensler and a leader in the Consulting Practice Area. She works with clients and teams to navigate front-end complexity as they seek to create better work environments. She uses her skills to conduct user-research, engage stakeholders, and identify the business rationale for design. Mandy then works with design teams to ensure that the design Gensler delivers is informed by strategy.

Tues Mar 13: Ron Shulkin on KM's role in innovation

KM Chicago’s March meeting will feature Ron Shulkin presenting on the role of knowledge management in innovation, especially regarding the management of ideas. All are invited to attend in person at Gensler in the old Carson's building, or virtually. Meetings start at 5:30. More details are on the right.

Ron is Vice President for CogniStreamer, a leading manufacturer of Enterprise 2.0 collaboration software. For companies embracing innovation, the CogniStreamer® Innovation Portal framework uniquely provides a social network for innovation.

Ron Shulkin has a 25 year history helping organizations use enterprise software to overcome business challenges. He has helped companies acquire very large computer hardware systems (the data warehouse division of IBM), CRM software, Web 2.0 On Line Real Time Video software and now innovation ecosystem software. He writes extensively on idea management and innovation ecosystems. Ron has served as a speaker on enterprise social media, collaboration tools and idea management at conferences; on the radio; and on the web. 

For more information:

• Ron blogs at Front End of Innovation. Search on his name to bring up all of his posts.
• He recently guest blogged on the Innovation Excellence web site on some of the human frailties that should be taken into consideration when inviting collaborative ideation:  http://bit.ly/wMoORE
• He’s be speaking at an on line webinar this coming Thursday at 11:30AM Central on the topic of "The Top Ten Ways to get Everyone At Your Company on the Innovation Bandwagon".  You can learn more about it or register here:  http://cognistreamer.com/en/webinar_20120223.html  After the event an on demand video of the webinar will be made available.
• His white paper on Innovation Ecosystems is here:  http://cognistreamer.com/en/whitepaper1.html

Feb 7 meeting: What makes KM work in your industry

KM Chicago will meet on Tuesday, February 7 at 5:30, to learn about recent research findings on critical success factors for KM success. Note that the meeting will be at a new site. Please see location details and dial-in information in the sidebar. Meetings are free to all and no registration is required.

Curtis Conley will discuss the results of his doctoral research on the critical success factors (CSFs) for knowledge management. Curtis will present a summary of current thinking around the most critical factors for KM, the results of his study, what differences do (and don't) exist between different industries, organizations of different sizes, different geographic regions, etc., and ultimately share a new framework of CSFs for KM developed as a result of the study.

The goal of the discussion will be to share what factors may be most applicable to your organization, and to see if the experience of KM Chicago members line up with the results of this study. 

Curtis earned his doctorate in Adult Education with a cognate in Knowledge Management from Northern Illinois University.  His research interests include knowledge management, organizational learning, social media, and enterprise collaboration. Curtis also works as a Community Coordinator within the Global Consulting Knowledge Management group at Deloitte. There he works with community moderators to launch and maintain successful communities of practice.

Feb 7 KM Chicago’s first meeting of 2012, at new location

Mark your calendars for KM Chicago’s first meeting of the new year Tuesday, Feb 7.

With the second Tues being Valentine’s Day, we’re switching to the first Tuesday just this one time. But as usual, the program will start at 5:30 and be available on site and virtually via LiveMeeting.

What is not usual is that we will meet at the offices of Gensler, an architect and design firm with offices in the old Carson Pirie Scott at 11 East Madison. 

Watch this space and the KM Chicago LinkedIn group for more details.

We look forward to seeing you on Tues Feb 7 at 5:30.