Gary Vaughan's Collaboration Times

"Collaboration TechTalk" Episodes

Listen to internet radio with Gary Vaughan on Blog Talk Radio

The CIO’s Quandary: Whither the Social Media Revolution? - Interview

The following is a summary of my November 15, 2013 BlogTalkRadio interview with AIIM President John Mancini– see this link for the  podcast recording.  Johnis a well-known speaker and leader of the AIIM global community of information professionals. He is also the author of the controversial e-book, ‘Occupy IT’ Manifesto.  

As John noted in a 2012 Forbes article, thanks to the consumer technology and social media revolutions, we live in a world of engagement. But many public and private sector organizations are caught “between a rock and a hard place.”  On the one hand, CEOs want to embrace this new world of engagement.  On the other, IT departments are reluctant to give up the control they enjoyed in the “old world.” They understand that unless ways can be found to bridge the gaps between the new Systems of Engagement and the old Systems of Record, brand new information silos will be created. Yet they worry about the new transparency.

In Mr. Mancini’s view, these challenges require that business executives reassert leadership over 5 key IT initiatives: (1) commit to the cloud; (2) mobilize everything; (3) make the business social; (4) digitize anything that moves; and (5) prepare for extreme information management. While addressing this kind of challenge requires technical skills, he also feels that it requires process and customer acumen more often found in the business than in our IT departments.

See this SlideShare link for the full transcript of my interview with John Mancini.

See also the following for my past related BlogTalkRadio interviews with noted experts on CIP Certification and SharePoint 2013:

·         For a more detailed discussion of the CIP certification, see  my past May BlogTalkRadio podcast interview with Steve Weissman, leader of the Holly Group and respected consultant, trainer and creator of the  introductory videos for CIP preparation on the AIIM web site, as well as comments by Jesse Wilkins, Director for Research and Development of AIIM International. Developed in accordance with ISO Standard 17024, CIP candidates must demonstrate knowledge of six domain areas across the spectrum of content and information management. Points discussed in the show addressed how the CIP compares with other IT and project management credentials, its value in helping professionals bridge IT and business needs, and specific test-taking strategies and materials.

·         For more of a technical and SharePoint perspective on this platform, see also my BlogTalkRadio podcast last June with Joel Oleson, a social media strategist, Intranets guru and SharePoint evangelist. Joel is currently working with ViewDo Labs as Director of Technical Evangelism.  In this interview, Joel talked about the recent release of SharePoint 2013, and what developers, end users and managers can expect. We discussed most interesting SharePoint 2013 features, including new developer tools, and exciting social media and mobile functionality. Joining us for the discussion was Mack Sigman, SharePoint Architect and Practice Leader at CSC, and President of the Federal SharePoint Users Group (FEDSPUG) in Washington D.C.

 

Check Out Opportunities at Buchanan + Edwards

While I continue my role as a Senior IT and Knowledge Management Advisor with eDiplomacy at the State Department, two months ago I started with a new contracting company, Buchanan + Edwards (B+E). 

I am impressed with the firm - B+E is a young, entrepreneurial company, and they are growing rapidly, having recently won two big contracts at the State Department.  B+E also works at other federal agencies such as DOJ and DOD.  For more information about the firm, please check out their website.
 
B+E  is currently recruiting for  positions in various technical, business analysis and project management areas.  Most of these jobs require a security clearance and are located in the Washington D.C. area.  Check out this link for full job listings.
 
If any of my connections is interested in one of these positions, please feel free to contact me for more information and a possible referral.

Since new opportunities are constantly emerging, B+E is always on the lookout for talented professionals. It primarily seeks to hire individuals to fit core capabilities in Business Intelligence, Collaboration Software, Custom Application Development, Mobile Apps/Web Design & Modeling, Creative Solutions, Systems Engineering and Enterprise Resource Planning.  B+E is also interested in people who want to grow careers as consultants and in business support roles. 

FYI, B+E holds quarterly open houses and technology events in the D.C. area which may provide you with a chance to get to know the company and possible opportunities.
 

How to Apply Social Media for Career Development

Following are notes and key resource links from my BlogTalkRadio Show on “How to Apply Social MediaTools for Career Development” which aired last Friday, July 26, and is available as a podcast at this link.

The purpose of this program was to explore how to best use free or low cost social media applications to advance learning in your field, sharpen your "market niche," and network for future job opportunities. While we focused on using your LinkedIn profile, connections and search, other tools included Twitter, Facebook, Google+, various Google apps, and video/podcasting. 

I was delighted to be able to interview the following two experts in this field...
 
- Lindsay Kelley, a partner at the Alignment Group in Baltimore. Lindsay's company focuses on creating alignment between an organization's sales and marketing teams through proper communication, lead generation, and working sales deals through the pipeline to closing utilizing sales 2.0 tools. 

- Colleen McKenna, a LinkedIn trainer and speaker, also in Baltimore. The mission of Colleen's company, Intero Advisory, is to connect insight, opportunities and talent to professionals and businesses as they navigate ever-changing career and business landscapes. She has trained and coached over 3,000 business professionals since 2011. 

 Key General Take-Aways:

- Value of Digital vs. Real Relationships:  Digital reinforces traditional, inter-personal relationships, and digital is a great way to stay in touch.  One’s goal is to not only establish relationships but to build and manage them.

- Message Consistency and Variety:  Keep online and real behaviors consistent, but also try to differentiate:  e.g. your Twitter profile, while still professional, can be a bit more playful, while your LinkedIn profile might be more formal.

- Personal branding:  differentiate yourself; find your “digital voice”.  You are your own brand – this takes some getting used to after many years as being typed with the company or agency you work for.  You need to build some personality into your profile, stand out, avoid a “cookie cutter” profile summary.

Your Social Media Strategy: 

- Many of us (especially over 40) are not digital natives, so we need to learn in a different way, and to implement our social media strategy step-by-step.  But we should not wait to get started since the technology is always changing, and one just builds up a greater learning curve.  

- In using LinkedIn, be strategic and selective in connecting with others.   “Don’t just connect with everybody”…although your openness to new connections may vary depending on whether you are in a stable position, looking for a new job, or making a significant career transition. 

- A goal is to be coming up 1st, 2nd or 3rd in Google Search results (your activity online helps boost these results). 

- Make a decision on what suite of social media tools makes sense for you.  Gary, for example, has decided to use LinkedIn (a big focus), a Blog (TypePad), Twitter, and occasional BlogTalkRadio podcasts.  But your own choice of tools may vary depending on your goals. 

- Be mindful that these tool choices may change given the fast pace of social media technology.  Over the past three months, for example, LinkedIn has made more changes than occurred over the preceding year!

Social Media Applications:

*LinkedIn:  useful for both indirect networking and direct job hunting.  A good quality photo is essential, and your profile should tell “your professional story”.  Take some time to develop a good “headline”, using a few key words – especially important if you are in career transition.  Recruiters scan LinkedIn sites to get a quick impression, and a good photo, headline and profile summary help get a recruiter’s attention.

*Google +:  This app has been on a “roller coaster” in terms of usage and acceptance, but it is now emerging as the “informal business social network”.  Since it is on the Google platform, Google+ is very good for search results.  You need to “dive into” using Google+, create “circles” for target audiences, or share more broadly on public spaces.  Check out YouTube videos on how to use Google+.

*Blogging:  Periodic blog articles show off your expertise and “give you a leg up.”  WordPress is currently the most popular and powerful blogging platform that is freely available.

*Facebook:  another big platform.  Be careful what you post (“would you share that with your mother?!”).  Be mindful as you post info on Facebook.  Consider how this might look to a potential employer.

*Twitter:  useful, but if your number of followers grows to say 1,000, you will need another tool to better manage it.  A tool such as Hootsuite, for example, allows you to check key hashtags, streams and “chunk down data.” 

*Foursquare:  a handy app to locate a user’s whereabouts.  Colleen used it to follow up a colleague who was late to an appointment because he arrived at another coffee shop address.  She used Foursquare to locate in real time where he was and apprise him of her own location!

*Simple Google Search!:  This can be a great way to find relevant contacts and content.  For example, Gary came across Lindsay and Colleen during a general social media search.  He stumbled upon their lively MPT-PBS televised interview last fall (another great example of how traditional and online media can intersect and be mutually reinforcing!)

Mobile Technology: 

- Smartphones (whether Android or iPhone) are key and ubiquitous tools.  Today there are more cell phones than toothbrushes, and many of us have grown accustomed to using our laptops and smartphones simultaneously! 

- The Flipboard app is very helpful in aggregating links and allowing the user to more efficiently scan through web info on your phone or iPad.

Resources:

Online blog and other tips:

- See Lindsay’s Alignment Group blog for sales and marketing insights - also check out their podcast, The Funnel, available via i-Tunes.

- Check out Colleen’s blog on Intero Advisory for some specific LinkedIn tips

- This fall Colleen will also be presenting in person at the Recruit Baltimore event before a corporate recruiter audience 

Books:

- The Start-Up of You:  Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, Transform Your Career, by LinkedIn CEO Reid Hoffman, as suggested by Colleen

- Youtility:  Why Smart Marketing is about Help not Hype, by Jay Baer, as suggested by Lindsay

Gary closed the show with thanks to his guests (including our Twitter facilitators: Ali Lemon Bojanowski of Zest Social Media Solutions, and Lindsey Stemann with Intero Advisory in South Carolina), plus a future program note…

Gary’s next BlogTalkRadio interview will be on the subject of “Is Knowledge Management still Relevant”, featuring two well-known experts in the field from the D.C. area, Madelyn Blair and Mark Addleson,

This show will take place on Friday, August 16 at 12:00 Noon ET, with program details to be announced in the near future on at the Collaboration Tech Talk site.

 

 

 

KM Expo at USAID

Last February 26 I joined other State Department colleagues in staffing the exhibit table for our Program and Project Management Community of Practice (PPMCOP) at USAID's KM Expo in the Ronald Reagan Building.  Another table was hosted by State's Office of eDiplomacy where I work as a contract Senior SharePoint Advisor.  I enjoyed interacting with old colleagues at the USAID Expo, and handing out information on upcoming seminars and best practice resources by the PPMCOP.

I am on the PPMCOP Steering Committee at the Department and presently chair our ongoing mentoring program for State and USAID staff.  My prior role with the group was to coordinate our successful launch of the PPMCOP last January at Main State with a keynote on project management in the federal government by author and expert Jonathan Weinstein, as well as opening remarks by Under-Secretary for Management Patrick Kennedy.

Tech@State at Wikimania 2012 in D.C.

Tech@State: Wiki.Gov is going to be part of Wikimania 2012, scheduled for July 12-13 in Washington, DC. The State Department will be hosting the Wikis and the Public Sector track of the Wikimania 2012 Conference at George Washington University.

Please join us to hear discussions that center on how wikis and their associated technologies can be used:

• In the federal government to collaborate internally, and share information across agencies;
• At the local level to engage citizens and provide greater access to a variety of information; and
• By research institutions and civil society organizations to improve collaboration.

Like all Tech@State events, registration is free.  If you want to attend more of the Wikimania 2012 conference sessions, there is a small fee. 

See this link for further information on the Tech@State program within Wikimania 2012, and I hope to see some of you there!

"Five Top Add-ons for SharePoint" Podcast Interview

Our thanks to Terry Simpson, Solutions Architect, SusQTech, for an excellent interview on April 19 on the subject of "Five Top Add-ons for SharePoint". Here is a podcast link to this BlogTalkRadio show.
 
Key topics covered were the benefits of selectively applying add-on software even with the built-in power of SP 2010, a case example on their application, and recommendation of three specific tools (plus shorter comments on tools for migration and analytics):

-http://www.nintex.com (work flow)

-http://www.shareplusapp.com/ (site management in-house)

-http://store.bamboosolutions.com/bamboomainweb/ (project management and other applications).

In terms of cost, Nintex was at the higher end, Bamboo in the middle, while SharePlus is either free or $20 for a premier download.

Feel free to consult these links for further info, as well as Terry at his Twitter feed @TerryDSimpson for further questions or a trial download of the work flow app.
 
Also covered was SusQtech's upcoming Sharepoint.org conference in Reston, Va. April 29-May 2. See this link (www.sharepointconference.org) for conference details and a last chance to register (listeners may apply this promotional code to get a 15% discount:  ShareCon15).

My thanks to all those tuning in to this episode of Collaboration TechTalk. Any questions on the Show in general are welcome at my email address at [email protected], or Twitter @glvaughan.

Upcoming Tech@State

Looks like another interesting Tech@State event to be held at the George Washington University early next month.  The topic is Real Time Awareness, and the keynote speaker will be Craig Fugate, FEMA Administrator.  The event is divided into a conference on February 3 and an unconference on February 4.

Judging from past such events, this should be very worthwhile - I also plan to attend.  The events are free and open to the public, but seats tend to go fast.  Check out the Tech@State site for further details on the agenda, other speakers and how to register.

 

"How to Manage Social Media" Presentations

My thanks to Joel Sarfati, Director of 40 Plus of Greater Washington D.C. and Professor Ray Kimball of Montgomery College's TechLeap Program for inviting me to give presentations on "How to Manage Social Media for Busy Professionals" last week.  Both events had great audiences, and I appreciated the vigorous question-and-answer sessions.

Two slide decks share my "system" for organizing various social media tools (LinkedIn, Twitter, TypePad Blog, Govloop and BlogTalkRadio) in pursuit of my professional career development and networking goals in the IT field.  I also discuss and demo the use of Facebook, Skype, YouTube, Delicious bookmarking, and Hootsuite.  I manage all these social media apps through a mix of hotmail alerts (esp. for discussion group postings), cross-site postings, and a Tweetdeck dashboard.  A centerpiece of my approach is to use LinkedIn as my main home page (see my profile), with links to other tools.  LinkedIn is also a repository for key work samples and presentations on Box, an integrated document-sharing application.

The main goal in using these tools is to establish a "living professional presence" on the Web, which is nurtured by occasional BlogTalkRadio interviews with D.C. area SharePoint, open source and other IT experts; narrative blog posts and discussion entries; and more frequent, short Twitter messages.  It is helpful to think of this as a "marketing" exercise in two senses:  first, one is marketing one's skills and capabilities on the web; second, one is tapping market intelligence on new technology trends, career opportunities and resources. 

I assume basically three roles in the personal professional application of social media:  (a) as a publisher of content, whether sharing a resume, presentation, or a narrative blog post; (b) as a reader or consumer of others' content; and (c) as a participant interacting with peers via group discussions, status updates, and tweets.  In my experience, the key to successfully applying this system is tight management of the sites or data streams that one monitors and interacts with.  Ideally, I try to track my Twitter stream and discussion groups daily for about an hour (with a family break on weekends!), plus the option of monitoring this traffic while commuting or otherwise "on the go" via 4G Smart phone.

The presentations contain real examples in applying these tools, explore how to measure social media "traffic", and assess security, privacy and other issues.  Also discussed is the need to build a social media presence on a solid prior foundation of traditional personal networking, clear job goals, and a detailed resume.  Another concept that may be useful in shaping both your personal and online presence is that of "branding."  In closing, the slide decks list a number of articles, how-to examples, books and other resources to help expand your use of social media for professional development, plus a few tips on how to get started.

I have enjoyed populating and experimenting with this social media system over the past year, and hope that these presentation decks will be of general interest, not only to IT specialists, but to any professionals who hope to harness social media for career development:

• 40 Plus Presentation (longer, and with more narrative detail)
• TechLeap Presentation (shorter, with more focus on tool demos)

  Please address any comments or questions to me either via LinkedIn messages, or via Twitter @glvaughan.

Web Radio and Podast Options Summary

My thanks again to Jeff Porter for sharing his insights on our June 30 Collaboration TechTalk Show “Web Radio and Podcast Options” (available as a podcast via this BlogTalkRadio link). Jeff is owner of Ausmerica Business Development Network www.ausmerica.com and Management Analyst with the USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service.  He also helps independent authors publish Audiobooks and assists bloggers in creating podcasts from their existing content. Writers often aren’t interested in narrating their work, and he helps find the right narrator or host. You can find him at www.Audiblize.com

Below is a listing of the web resource links that Jeff mentioned during the Show, followed by my own experience and tips on how to best use BlogTalkRadio. 

First, here is a list of Jeff’s links on podcasting, audio and other collaboration resources :

-       Skype – Voice Comm’s / IM          

                            
-       PrettyMay Recorder   - Skype call recorder              

-       FreeConferenceCall.com – Conference Bridge         

·         Mikogo – Screen Sharing                                           

-         Google  - Apps / Email / Documents / Sites /

·        Tungle  Calendaring/Scheduling                                   

·         Box.Net          - File Sharing

·         Talkshoe.com – (podcast hosting) Conference Bridge, Chat Board, Call Screening 

·         Evernote          Screen Clipping / Notes

·         Snagit / Camtasia        Screen Capture            

·         Audible.com – Audiobooks – Sanity saver to overcome the isolation factor of working alone.

·         Cliff Ravenscraft (Podcast Answerman) a great resource for new and experienced podcasters:   

Second, here are my impressions and tips on BlogTalkRadio based on roughly a year’s experience:

PROs:

-          Easy to use web interface

-          Both live and podcast renditions of your Show

-          Part of a larger BlogTalkRadio Community, and with their tech support which is fairly prompt

-          Built in feedback to Shows through live chat, telephone or  comments

-          Convenience in that guests can participate via landline, cell phone or Skype.

-          The maximum, free 30 minute show time seems about right for a professional interview

CONs:

-          Very occasionally a call will drop during an interview, but this is solvable by having the guest call back in.

-          Sound quality is adequate, but not as good as more professional audio options.

-          While there are many business and professional shows on BlogTalkRadio, there are also a lot of off-beat shows and opinion.

-          BlogTalkRadio has obligatory advance advertising clips before a listener can hear your show.

TIPS:

-          Draft and go over a rough script by phone with your guest before the Show.  It will help the interview go more smoothly.  Also ask the guest to review your BTR Show description before posting.

-          Start inviting as guests colleagues you know, and later branch out to other experts you may only know virtually

-          Some advance rehearsal of your Show opening and script is helpful.  The cleaner delivery the better.

-          If possible, promote the Show widely on social media, and ideally with the help of blogs, distribution lists, and online discussion groups in which the expert guest is involved.

-          I saw no need for my own audio clip at the beginning of the Show, but a customized image for the Show is desirable:  perhaps just your photo edited with the Show title and logo.

-          Ideally, a summary of the Show and any reference links and resources should be posted to your blog soon after the Show airs.

-          Try and maintain a strict discipline of airing shows in a set pattern (mine is every 2-3 weeks), and stick with the exact Show time and date once you announce and promote it.  Ideally, line up guests and shows at least a couple in advance so that you can always announce the next show at any given broadcast.

-          With a lively guest, a one-on-one interview is best given time available, but two guests is also doable.  I would not go with more than two guests.

 

SharePoint Conference... and Podcast Alerts!

Attention SharePoint and Podcast Enthusiasts!...

Two alerts today to sign up for the following:

-  Tune into my BlogTalkRadio Show on "Web Radio and Podcast Options".  You can either catch this live at 6:00 PM ET later today, or listen to it subsequently as a podcast - see this link for further info and access. 

-  SharePoint Saturday the Conference in Washington D.C. August 11-13.  A great buy at $39 (the early bird rate until COB today!), register for what looks to be an outstanding event.  I plan to attend, and hope to see many of my SharePoint colleagues there.