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• A high-profile online event
  • 16 weeks of event preparation (based on IBM's Jam experience)
  • Requires support of senior business executives (e.g., CEO, Board-level, Business Unit leader)
  • Requires client to marshall support from across the enterprise
• Specific in duration, typically ranging from 72+ consecutive hours
• A defined agenda, focused on strategic & critical enterprise issues
• A real-time discussion database with ideas, best practices & employee sentiment
• A disciplined "behind the scenes" human planning and orchestration effort
• Real-time text mining & analysis to surface and steer live discussion trends
• Robust event hosting infrastructure (same as US open, Wimbledon)
• 2-3 weeks post-event research & analysis
• An event report with key conclusions and an action plan

Jams have been strategic to IBM in multiple ways

• • Enabling culture change: catalyze a culture of individual empowerment, trust and innovation; strengthen employees' feelings of opportunity and connection to the company; route around middle-management territoriality and controls; unleash the employee population.
  • Improving operations: socialize best practices; lower the center of gravity; change policies and processes, aligning them with our values.
  • Shaping and operationalizing core values: ValuesJam, WorldJam 2004 (Recent update on WJ2004 results ; Recent update on ValuesJam outcome )
  • Introducing a new level of collaborative innovation: new approach to EBO/new business creation - InnovationJam.
  • Laying the path - culturally, operationally and strategically - for IBM's strong move into Web 2.0 and virtual worlds: Show IBMers how safe and easy it is to collaborate more openly; IBM went from perceived irrelevance to perceived leadership in Web 2.0 over five months in 2005
  • Differentiate IBM from competition: Unique, home-grown brand and expertise in Web 2.0 and social software/social networking.

Another great example is what the IBM Lotus team launched exciting, innovative and new "Lotus Knows" marketing initiative targeting the influential end-user audience to broaden and deepen enthusiasm for Lotus collaboration technology. (You can follow the campaign at #LotusKnows).

The goal of the campaign is to reach a key audience -- the pacesetter users -- key influencers in collaboration. On August 19th, in order to see what the tippers and key clients and partners had to say, they held an IdeaJam. It was an opportunity for all to share their thoughts, ideas and experiences to help shape our strategy and communications around the Lotus Knows campaign.

The Jam was divided into four core themes:

1. “Lotus knows working smarter depends on great technology…” - Cool features of Lotus technology that you cannot live without, or that people do not know about

2. “Lotus knows marketing is key to technology adoption…” - Ideas on how you would build awareness and evangelism in our market

3. “Lotus knows technology is only great with client success…” Customer success stories (roll out strategy, communications, education, etc.)

4. “Lotus knows the world is getting smaller, flatter and smarter...” Ideas about how end-users have benefitted from Lotus offerings around the world

Jammers were able to vote and promote ideas so that hot topics would bubble to the top. Jammers were able to vote and promote ideas so that hot topicbubble to the top. After the Jam, the top ideas in each theme will be collected and evaluated for potential use during the campaign.

I love Jams and the power they bring in helping crowdsourcing innovative ideas!!