Join KM Chicago for Our Annual Summer Social Gathering

Each July KM Chicago takes a break from our regular meeting schedule to get together socially. We work to keep the event at about the same day and time as our regular meeting. We also try to keep the cost manageable.

This year we will be meeting on Tue, 10 Jul at 5:30 PM at 224 S. Michigan Ave.  This is the current location for the Chicago Architecture Foundation Shop and Tour Center.  From here, we will take a guided tour of Millennium Park.  The title of the tour is Millennium Park Revealed.  The tour is a walking tour, lasts 2 hours and the cost is $17.  Please arrive 10-15 minutes prior to 5:30 so the tour can begin on time.

You buy your tickets in advance, online at www.architecture.org.  Be sure you are buying the right tour on the right day.

We did a similar tour in Jul 2010 and had a good turnout.  Everyone really liked the tour and all said they learned many new things about the Park.

Dinner will be at the Park Grill at 7:45 PM.  This is a nice but reasonably priced restaurant that is essentially the end point for the tour.

In case of inclement weather (and the tour is cancelled) we will meet for dinner at 6 PM.

I suggest purchasing your ticket for the tour as soon as you know you will be coming.  It is not necessary to RSVP to me for the tour.  I do need to know how many people plan to join us for dinner so I can make the appropriate reservations.  Please send an email to randyrussell1@aol.com to tell me if you plan to attend the dinner and how many people are coming.

Human Capital Institute courses coming up. Act fast for discounts.

There is a Human Capital Strategist (HCS) Certification course taking place in Chicago IL, August 6-7. and another certification course on Engagement, Collaboration and Retention (ECR) being offered August 8.

 The HCS & ECR Certification can be completed either on-line or on-site.

 Upcoming schedule link: http://www.hci.org/events/schedule

Contact Niall O'Grady by June 14 for a $750 discount. He can be reached at 1-866-538-1909 ext.

 1914. Further discounts for bundle packages (HCS + ECR) are also avaialable.

Niall is  Director - Strategic Relationships, Human Capital Institute

Email: niall.ogrady@hci.org

Tues, 6/12, Jeff Willinger on SharePoint creatively deployed

On Tues, June 12 at 5:30, Jeff Willinger, a SharePoint deployment expert and technology evangelist, will be presenting a Webinar on creative SharePoint deployments. We are so pleased that Jeff will lead KM Chicago's first all virtual meeting.

He is the Director of Social Computing and Intranets at Rightpoint. Jeff was recently named the top SharePoint person to watch in 2012. He specializes in advising clients on social computing strategies, social intranets and portals and increasing employee engagement. With experience spanning more than two decades, Jeff possesses specific expertise in social computing inside an organization’s four walls and social media outside their four walls.

Jeff has the ability to link IT solutions to business value by creating transformational value propositions using social media best practices. He has worked across a variety of industries, including retail, consumer products, manufacturing, and professional services. Jeff works with his team to apply emerging and innovation solutions to enhance internal and external communications. Jeff has helped develop Web sites, intranets and other online communities for some of the world’s most prestigious and respected companies, including Whirlpool, Abbott, Humana and New Balance Athletic Shoe. 

Jeff is an internationally recognized speaker and expert in Microsoft SharePoint and is a technology and business evangelist with deep expertise in information architecture, enterprise content management, and web 2.0 technology strategy. A character with character, as he is known, he is the President and Founder of the Social Media Club of Chicago. 

So Why Didn't We Know That? Lunch & Learn at Willis Tower

All are invited to a Lunch & Learn program on Thursday, June 7^th, 11:30-1PM at the Metropolitan Club in the Willis Tower, 233 S. Wacker Drive, 67^th floor.

Topic:  So Why Didn’t We Know That? Avoid surprises by licensing strategic business information and using it for competitive advantage.

The conversation will focus on how to identify and access information sources that can prepare your organization to anticipate and react swiftly to changes in market conditions and competitor activities. We will provide tips on how to evaluate the quality of information you are using, present brief case studies on how secondary or published information can help to solve business problems, and we’ll entertain questions related to your particular business intelligence challenges.

Presenters:  Cynthia Lesky, President, Threshold Information (www.threshinfo.com) and Jan Sykes, President, Information Management Services (www.4Info-Management.com).

Fee: $20.00 for a cup of soup, entree salad, and assorted desserts with coffee service. Water, regular ice tea, and sodas are included. To register, call the Metropolitan Club at 312-876-3200 or email Maureen Fishback at Maureen.Fishback@ourclub.com. Advance registration is required for building security. You will be asked for a credit card to cover the luncheon fee when you register.

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.