Greater IBM Virtual Bloc Party, October 12

IBMer, Jack Mason, IBM Strategic Communications & The Greater IBM Connection Executive Producer

Kevin Aires, Greater IBM's new project manager, has just showed me around the skyPOD, above, where next week we're going to host Big Blue's first-ever virtual social networking collaboration for current and former IBMers.

The Greater IBM Virtual Bloc Party will build on two recent successes:

• The Sept. 12 3D Jam that brought 150 "avatars" together to brainstorm in Second Life on the future of virtual markets, alongside IBM's globlal InnovationJam, which included virtual markets as one of its discussion topics.

• The Sept 21 Greater IBM Bloc Party in New York City, the pilot for a global series of in-person collaborations with 500+ "core connectors" who are currently kicking the tires on the Greater IBM portal under development.

As I mentioned, the Virtual Bloc Party, will be held for about about 30 guests, in a "skyPOD," a sort of floating lounge that hovers above Almaden Island, one of several IBM outposts in virtual worlds.

We'll have a couple of speakers, including:

• Our colleague Ian Hughes, from IBM's Hursley Lab, one of the leaders of IBM's rapidly expanding Virtual Universe Community.

Matthew Georghiou, an IBM alumni and Greater IBM member, CEO of MediaSpark, a software company developing educational games and simulation environments.

• Yours truly will give a quick synopsis of the Greater IBM program.

But the ultimate aim of this virtual event is, like the real life Bloc Parties, to spur collaboration between current and former IBMers on the development and evolution of Greater IBM (the purpose of this blog as well.)

To that end, we'll focus on three practical questions or topics:

1. What will make Greater IBM an indispensable asset for alumni IBMers?  That Greater IBM must be of practical and material benefit to alumni is a no-brainer. But the interests and needs of former and retired IBMers are as diverse as the people themselves, so we are asking all current and future members to tell us what they would like to get from a business social network, so we can deliver on that demand.
2. How can we ignite Greater IBM's growth through our Core Connectors?  For Greater IBM to grow into the kind of large, dynamic pool that will benefit all participants, we must motivate and reward a nucleus of a few hundred very active, energetic and zealous social networkers who will not just invite their personal networks into Greater IBM, but make strategic introductions with business stimulating potential, as well as lead and propose projects that can harness the collective capabilities of our community.
3. How can Greater IBM become a new kind of engine for collaborative innovation? A large business social ecosystem like the one we are trying to create promises to have lots of obvious benefits for people, such as finding a job or filling a position, or generating new business leads. But Greater IBM can, and will, aim even higher. How can we become something like an "innovation network" that can, like open source communities or other new models of productive collaboration, actually do deep work together with great societal and business value.

Holding this event in a virtual environment is both a practical, as well as emblematic, matter....a blend of realtime interaction that digitally transcends the limits of time and space.

We will also enable those who aren't yet ready to make the Second Life plunge to participate via a conference call.

If you are a current or former IBMer and would like to join Greater IBM (as well as the Virtual Bloc Party), visit www.greateribm.com now. You'll be prompted to create a profile of yourself before we can confirm you into the group. Once in, you can RSVP for the event.

Of course, the three big questions were asking here are open ones that you can also offer your thoughts on right here in comments, or as a full post that we'd be glad to put up for you on this blog.

Greater IBM alumni Second Life Social Networking