Another excellent KMWorld & Intranets Conference and Exhibition was held at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center on September 22-25, 2008. This worldwide gathering of information professionals and vendors examined many topics related to KM, including content management, intranets, portals, taxonomies and enterprise search. There were special programs provided by both an Enterprise Search Summit and a Taxonomy Boot Camp. All were superbly planned and executed, providing numerous multilevel learning opportunities.
The key coordinators were KMWorld & Intranet Program Chair Jane Dysart of Dysart & Jones Associates; KMWorld Co-Chair Hugh McKellar, Editor of KMWorld magazine; and Meeting Organizer Thomas H. Hogan, President of Information Today, Inc. In addition, Michelle Manafy coordinated the Enterprise Search Summit and Rebecca Jones coordinated the Taxonomy Boot Camp. These experienced professionals did an outstanding job. Some attendees even suggested that this conference should be considered among the best-managed multi-conferences of 2008.
Along with pre-conference workshops, there were many networking opportunities. Exhibits demonstrating products and new features represented the top players in the KM, CM, search, taxonomy and intranets marketplace. In addition, both attendees and exhibit visitors had an opportunity to explore the latest products and services solutions. Conference announcements clearly suggested that these sessions would also offer attendees multiple opportunities to learn or add to their knowledge and skills on topics such as
• Driving enterprise innovation and achievement through user-focused tools
• Learning about leading edge KM practices
• Gaining insights for enterprise innovation
• Collaborating with colleagues
• Exploring social media in the Web 2.0 age
• Discovering ways to streamline information and knowledge flows
• Improving content and intranet management know-how
The kick-off session held on Monday evening was hosted by Dave Snowden, Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Cognitive Edge Pte Ltd. This networking event was a "worst practice session" where participants shared their knowledge and experiences about KM initiatives that had failed. The focus was on what could be learned from these failures. Snowden skillfully managed the discussion so that participants learned how to achieve positive results in organizational knowledge sharing.
The opening keynote on Tuesday morning, "Innovation and Knowledge Management," was presented by John Kao, widely acknowledged as the world’s leading authority on the future of business. The Economist has called him both "Mr. Creativity" and "a serial innovator." His latest book, Innovation Nation: How America Is Losing Its Innovation Edge, Why It Matters, and What We Can Do to Get It Back, was published in 2007. A new book is planned for early 2009. Readers may remember his previous best seller, Jamming: The Art and Discipline of Business Creativity, which was published in 1996 by Harper Collins (ISBN: 08873077469). Kao is also considered a leading authority on innovation, organization change, and digital media. He taught innovation and entrepreneurship at Harvard Business School from 1982 to 1996.
