Keynote in Abu Dhabi: The future of the Gulf region

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Next Monday I do the closing keynote at the MegaTrends conference in Abu Dhabi. The opening keynote will be by Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman, while I will close speaking on ‘Profiting from Accelerating Change in a Downturn’.

While I will be speaking from a global perspective, I will also be addressing some of the specific issues of the Gulf region and particularly United Arab Emirates

These issues include:

* Reinvesting oil wealth with a limited lifetime into the long-term growth sectors

* A very strong construction component in the Dubai and Abu Dhabi economies among a global real-estate and credit downturn

* Strong divergence in the last six months between the Dubai economy which has slumped dramatically and the Abu Dhabi economy which is still strong

* A highly polarized labor force, with a large very low-cost employment sector populated from the region, and also many global professionals

* Taking advantage of the location between Europe and Asia

Yesterday’s Dubai Chronicle did an article titled GCC Economy could reflect strong over-performance in next economic boom, based on a pre-conference interview with me, as below.

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Keynote: Transforming Aged Care with Technology

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Tomorrow morning I am doing the second day opening keynote at ITAC09 – Information Technology in Aged Care conference.

Here is my presentation – as always these are intended to accompany my speech, not as stand-alone slides.

Keynote: Transforming Aged Care with Technology

View more presentations from rossdawson.

I hope to write some more on this blog on this topic before long, though it depends what I can fit in…

Implementing Enterprise 2.0: Free Chapter 7 – Governance

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Continuing our series of free chapters from Implementing Enterprise 2.0, here is Chapter 7 on Governance. For full details on the report and all the sample chapters go to the Implementing Enterprise 2.0 website.

e2impl_framework_500w.jpg

Within the Enterprise 2.0 Implementation Framework above, governance is an absolutely critical and central issue, as I have written about many times before. I have included the chapter on governance because it is so central both to implementing Enterprise 2.0, and to generating business value in a fast-paced environment. Change entails risk and opportunity – governance provides a structure to enable this.

Chapter 4 on Key Risks and Benefits , also available as a free download, examines the risks and benefits that must be considered in the governance process.

The Governance chapter contains:

* Conceptual illustration of social networks in the enterprise (see as a standalone image)

* The importance of the governance

* Six steps in a typical governance process

* Worksheet on stakeholder interests

* Professional service firm case study

You can also just download the pdf of Chapter 7.

Implementing Enterprise 2.0: Chapter 7 – Governance Implementing Enterprise 2.0: Chapter 7 – Governance Ross Dawson Chapter 2 of Implementing Enterprise 2.0 (www.ImplementingEnterprise2.com) on Governance

ABC Radio National: Beth Etling on the future of conferences – where is it going?

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Yesterday ABC Radio National’s Future Tense program did a special feature on the future of conferences.

Beth Etling, CEO of The Insight Exchange, was one of the three panelists interviewed, along with Matt Moore of Innotecture and Katie Chatfield of Jack Morton Worldwide.

You can listen to the future of conference program here as a podcast.

It provides a great overview of where the events industry is heading, with some excellent insights from Beth and the other panelists, particularly on the specific things that The Insight Exchange will be doing to push the boundaries on the industry, making events that are far more valuable to participants than traditional models.

In particular there was a great discussion on the role of blogging and Twittering at events. This is something that event organizers must understand and work with effectively to add value to conferences. Beth also spoke about the role of online community building before, during and after events. This is about combining the rich value of face-to-face interaction with the potential of online discussions.

If you want to experience real innovation and value-creation in events, attend The Insight Exchange’s inaugural event, The Power of Influence luncheon, in Sydney next Tuesday!

Keynote: Future of Global Business – Implications and Opportunities

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Tomorrow I am doing the closing keynote for the CPA Week Conference in Perth, on the topic of The Future of Global Business: Implications and Opportunities.

The slides from my presentation are here – as always these are intended for people who are attending my session as they are not designed to be meaningful on their own.

The Future of Global Business: Implications and Opportunities

View more presentations from rossdawson.

I’ll write a few additional thoughts on my speech topic soon – on the run right now.

An overview of my keynote is here .

(Finally!) Relaunching Advanced Human Technologies

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At last!!! It is literally over five years now that I have been wanting to revamp the website for my core company Advanced Human Technologies. In the meantime we have created many new websites, but the size of the task of reworking my original website, combined with the reality of an always-overfull list of pressing priorities, meant that it never quite made it to the top of the agenda. Click on the image to see the new website.

AHTwebsite_500w.jpg

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Quick review of TEDxAdvance on Future of the Enterprise

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On Tuesday I spoke at the TEDxAdvance event in San Francisco on Future of the Enterprise.

Photo credit: Andrew Mager, magerleagues

In short, it was a great event, with close to 80 very interesting people in attendance, and excellent energy during the presentations and ensuing conversation over drinks.

I won’t replicate the fantastic write up of the event by Andrew Mager on ZDNet’s The Web Life blog – check it out for a great overview of the proceedings and some of the ideas that flowed through the evening.

A video of my presentation was taken – I hope to post it up here soon.

A busy May and even more exciting June…

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May is going to be a very busy month for me – lots of interesting things on. In a few hours I fly to San Francisco where among other things I will be presenting at the Future of the Enterprise TEDxAdvance event and generating momentum for our Future of Influence Summit to be held August 31.

Next week I will be in Perth to do the keynote at CPA Week on The Future of Global Business: Implications and Opportunities, a speaking topic which I am experiencing a lot of demand for at the moment.

The following week is a packed week in Sydney, including launching The Insight Exchange Lunch Series with The Power of Influence on 19 May, which promises to be a very exciting event, and the keynote at Information Technology in Aged Care conference.

At the end of that week I fly to Abu Dhabi to do the closing keynote at the MegaTrends conference, with Paul Krugman doing the honors for the opening keynote. My speech will take similar themes on opportunities in the global economy in the next months and years, tailored to a Gulf States audience.

A lot happening in between all this – announcements coming soon.

And my second child is due on 13 June (!), so there will be a slowdown from travel for a bit, though we’re planning to all go to Fiji or somewhere equally nice for a bit of a relax a few weeks after… It’s quite a year!

Which would you prefer to do your work without: email or ERP?

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I caught up with Laurie Lock Lee yesterday and we compared notes on our recent launched books – my Implementing Enterprise 2.0 and his IT Governance in a Networked World. I haven’t read his book yet but it looks great and I’ll report on it soon.

In our discussion of Enterprise 2.0 and the networked organization, Laurie observed that a minority of people inside organizations actually touch an ERP system. While it runs the basic business processes of a firm, it is essentially linear and doesn’t facilitate the networked connections and communication that support the everyday work of a knowledge-based organization.

Laurie proposed that it would be interesting to ask people in an organization which they would prefer to do without in doing their work: ERP or email. While finance types might immediately opt for the ERP system, the majority of people depend far more on email to do their jobs.

As I wrote back in 2007, we can consider that ERP is about automating processes while Enterprise 2.0 is about enabling knowledge work. While both are essential, as we shift into an increasingly networked world, facilitating connections matters more.

Which would you prefer to do without – email or ERP?

TEDxAdvance on Future of the Enterprise – San Francisco – May 5

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To further the TED conference’s mission of promoting ideas worth spreading, it has established the TEDx program of independently organized TED events.

The global Advance network is running its first TEDx event on May 5 in San Francisco, where I will speak on the future of the enterprise.

See the full invitation and registration details here.

I will be drawing on the content and ideas from my recently launched book Implementing Enterprise 2.0, but also putting this in a far broader frame of what lies ahead for organizations of all kinds.

Melissa Vaarzon-Morel of Advance Global Professionals San Francisco Committee and TEDxAdvance creator will speak about the background of the event and global networks.

Following these presentation we will have a discussion, bringing to bear the fantastic insights of:

* Verna Allee, CEO, ValueNetworks.com and author, The Future of Knowledge

* Sam Diaz, Senior Editor, CBS Interactive

The event will be held courtesy of CBS Interactive at their San Francisco offices on Second Street, with Atlassian kindly sponsoring wine and appetizers.

Click here for more information and to register. I hope to see you there!

If you can’t make it the event will be streamed live here.

About TEDxAdvance

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TED has created a program called TEDx.

TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. This event is call TEDxAdvance, where x=independently organized TED event. At the TEDxAdvance event, live speakers will spark deep discussion and connection. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events, including this one, are self-organized.