KM Chicago will reconvene in May

The April meeting has been cancelled, but please stay tuned for May's topic. We'll see you next month!

Analytics and Economic Evaluation

Wes LeBlanc

Please join KM Chicago on Tuesday, March 12th at 5:30pm in the Loop for a conversation about Analytics and Economic Evaluation. Wes LeBlanc, Analytics Director at Gensler, will focus his presentation on working with and organizing psychographic, demographic and geographic data. He'll explore the depth of these types of user profiles and the tools used for gathering and visualizing data.

Wes has extensive financial and economic experience across real estate types and uses. His specialty is in unusually large, complex, and/or multidisciplinary projects. The focus areas that encompass his experience include:  Economic Analysis and Advisory, Real Estate Market Advisory, Financial Due Diligence, Market Assessments and Modeling.  

Wes has worked nationally and abroad, specifically in Asia and the Middle East for real estate developers, landowners and conglomerates with ancillary landholdings and investments. He performed advisory work prior to Gensler at Economics Research Associates (ERA) and AECOM’s Real Estate Strategy Group. At Gensler he manages the Analytics Group –  a quantitatively-focused team of professionals that specialize in utilization of structured data and information to inform project direction. The team is comprised of economists, market analysts, business planning professionals, urban planning professionals, economic development specialists, and statisticians, among others.

Connecting In An Open World - Feb. 12, 2013

Howard B. Schechter, Ed.D. 

Dr. Schechter, a scholar practitioner in Online Learning (OL) and Knowledge Management (KM) has distinguished himself as a Corporate Learning Executive for 22 years and excelled as a Researcher and Educator at Walden University since 2001.  Additionally, he consults, speaks and writes on OL and KM and has received several awards.

His experience with social media, cloud computing, mobile devices and related frameworks is extensive and well aligned with KM Chicago’s focus on “Connecting in an open world.”   Dr. Schechter will be sharing with KM Chicago his perspectives on social media, their impact on organizations, as well as the latest research on the “effects of intergenerational knowledge sharing” at large during the February 12^th, KM Chicago session.

Dr. Schechter received his Doctorate from UMASS and his Masters from North Adams State College.

Dow Jones is looking for an Account Development Executive in the Chicago office to manage and build relationships with Midwest clients for Factiva, Dow Jones Newswires and the entire suite of Dow Jones products. The position requires excellent communication skills, flexibility, resourcefulness, and technical aptitude. Some travel in the Midwest required. Respond to ann.lee@dowjones.com.

KM Chicago's Topics For 2013

KM Chicago kicked off the year with a roundtable discussion on how to be a connect organization. Many topics were gleaned from this conversation like generational aspects of KM, mentoring, engaging employees virtually, creating a culture of curation and more. Below is an outline for our KM Chicago program for the rest of the year. If you have any topics you'd like to discuss or have a speaker in mind, please let me know. Thanks to those who shared their experiences and wisdom last night! It was much appreciated.

KM Chicago 2013

Jan – Mar - How To Be A Connected Organization

Jan – What does it take to be a connected organization? People, data, information, knowledge and insight – what else? Let's explore.
Feb – Discussion around process, tools and people – how do these converge in your organization?
Mar – Marketing and Research – how are you connecting your organization and innovating by utilizing the resources in your own backyard? Who are your KM partners?

Apr – June - The Impact of A Good KM Process: Aligning Process and Approaches

April – Are you successful sharing your information? If not, it's time to change your KM course. Discuss how your capture, store and share your knowledge. 
May – Do you want to change behaviors in your own organization, how do you begin? Lessons learned from Gensler and others.
June – Knowledge Analytics:  measurement, analysis, reporting that combines information from KM approaches to guide data output and make decisions. 

July - Sept - If Only We Knew What We Know 

(title of the famous book, but in real life, too)

July – How do you bring new hires up to speed – quickly? And, on the flip side, how do you prevent the loss of critical knowledge when employees retire or leave the firm?
Aug – Summer outing
Sept – Peer mentoring programs – creating a culture of curation and sharing. 

Oct – Dec - Connecting the KM Dots                                                                     

Oct – Continuously improving KM practices and positioning KM for the future. Technology is important, but people interaction and connection are key. 
Nov – Creating an enterprise KM Strategy – make best practices your practice.  
Dec – Holiday Party and a summation of the 4 topics shared throughout the year. Win, success stories and lessons learned from our own perspectives will be shared.