Entrepreneur Coffee Break- Welcome to IBM Entrepreneur Week
Happy Monday! This Monday begins our IBM Entrepreneur Coffee Break- Welcome to IBM Entrepreneur Week!!
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Social Business Myth Busters!
Happy today in Orlando at IBM's Connect 2014, one of the largest social conferences in the industry!
Today is a fun Myth Buster day! Enjoy!
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Social Business Live Stream from IBM Connect! Please join us!!!
I'm excited to tell you about my three live webcasts in the coming week from IBM CONNECT 2014. Tune in for CONNECTING THE ECOSYSTEM: Conversations from IBM Connect 2014 with Sandy Carter. We'll be streaming live from the CONNECT Solutions Expo on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday at the times listed below. I'll be joined by key ecosystem luminaries for discussions on driving social adoption, proving business value through social intelligence, and creating a smarter workforce. In addition to the interviews, we'll have summary thoughts each day on key announcements and initiatives. And, we'll take your questions submitted through Twitter, just use #asksocialsandy on your tweets!
I really hope you'll join us for one or all of the live webcasts.
Our schedule:
Sunday, Jan. 26: Driving social adoption, 6:30-7:00 PM (Eastern US) / 23:30-24:00 (GMT)
Monday, Jan 27: Proving business value through social intelligence, 6:45-7:15 PM (Eastern US) / 23:45-00:15 (GMT)
Tuesday, Jan 28: Creating a Smarter Workforce, 5:30-6:30 PM (Eastern US) / 22:30-23:30 (GMT)
Register today and add the shows to your calendar: http://bit.ly/1hOwoxY
A VC Speaks out to Entrepreneurs: What's most important!
In the spirit of our upcoming IBM Entrepreneur Week -- here is our Interview with Connie Wright, Principal Commonwealth Pacific Ventures. She dishes with us on keys for entrepreneurs!
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I am AquaWoman!
Crazy title I know. But did you know since I had my accident in Brazil, I have swam everyday consistently for 3 months in my quest for total recovery. And have earned my new nickname --- Aquawoman!
Given that I go to the same pool daily ( except for the 2 weeks at Christmas where I went to another location and pool!), I have learned the names of the lifeguards, their shifts, who swims when and what injury they have sustained, where kids are heading to college and the list goes on. Given the lifeguards had to help me into and out of the pool for a while, I gave them each a small present of my appreciation at Christmas. I have developed a new small family of swimmers!!!
I thought about how amazing this was! And it was all SOCIAL! I learned a lot of lessons in that pool for my Social World!
- Consistency earns Trust. In Social or any relationship, you can not come in and out. You must remain consistent in your interactions. Plan time to interact and develop relationships.
- It is P2P - People 2 People. People are not robots. And they are not just all business. They have lives and their lives extend far beyond their business side. Get to know things that matter to them -- their families, hopes, dreams, and injuries! This helps you to know them as a full person.
- Reward those that help you. Yes, the small token I gave each lifeguard (22 in total!) was a way I could express how appreciative I was of their help. Everyday I thanked them. And they responded in kind. I get so much help and great attitudes every time I come in. The same is true in Social. Re tweet others, interview them and spotlight them. Thank them for their help and assistance!
As I have said many times, Social is not magic. It is simply something people have been doing throughout the ages --- forming relationships!
You don't have to be as smart as Watson just have the social skills!!!!
Fluid at NRF! Check out their Watson Retail Solution!
At NRF, Ginni Rometty discussed the use of cognitive for Retailers. On the Main Event, she talked about an application that our IBM Partner Fluid has built to take advantage of this use of cognitive in the retail space. I had the great pleasure of meeting with them on Monday!
Fluid, which builds online shopping experiences for retail businesses to drive customer engagement and conversion, is developing the Fluid Expert Personal Shopper(sm) powered by IBM Watson. The app calls upon Watson's ability to understand the nuances of human language and uncover answers from Big Data. Consumers who use Fluid's app will interact with rich media and dialogue with Watson, as their newfound “cognitive, expert personal shopper.” The Fluid app incorporates the information users share and questions they ask to help them make smart, satisfying purchases by putting a knowledgeable sales associate in the hands of consumers, on demand!
On stage, she mentioned David Jones leveraging this new paradigm!
See how cognitive can assist Retail in this use of data in a cognitive way!
Answering some of your WATSON questions! Summary of Watson Announcements
Happy Monday! Yes I am at NRF today but see the breadth of questions coming in from IBM's announcements last week on Watson so I would like to summarize in a blog post!
With the introduction of the new Watson group comes a host of supporting activity including a new headquarters in Silicon Alley section of New York, over 2500 professionals staffing and over a Billion dollars in funding.
1. The IBM Watson Discovery Advisor will discover connections within Big Data to help organizations speed up research and bring new innovations to market.
2. IBM Watson Analytics will revolutionize how business users—from C-level to front-line—discover, visualize and share Big Data insights.
