Confessions of an eBiz Junkie

It's back! The EMC World 2010 Bloggers Lounge

EMC World 2010 is right around the corner. Haven't signed up to attend yet? No problem, there's still plenty of time to get in on the goods. Last years show was a blast, with music from the Gin Blossoms, piles of cool technology, a night at Universal Orlando and so much more! Just look at last years video wrap up and you'll get a sense of the whirlwind of activity during this event.

This years show looks to be bigger and better than ever, and that includes the return of the Bloggers Lounge. I suspect last years blogging attendees will attest - there is no better place to relax weary feet, connect with like-minded folks, enjoy a nice espresso and blog about your EMCWorld experience than the lounge.

2009 EMC World Bloggers in front of the Lounge

Partnering with this years lounge sponsor Razorfish, we're looking to raise the bar a few pegs in 2010. We have plenty in store for you, and will be sharing some of the cool as we get closer to the event. In the meantime, folks have been asking for a way to ensure access to this 'members only' area of the show.

Here's the key to get in:

You must be a registered attendee of EMC World, manage a blog and have added your name to this sign up wiki. Adding your name to the wiki = Access to the lounge - so be sure to do it. Trust me, you'll be happy you did...

I'm looking forward to seeing our friends from last year and making some new ones too! See you there!

New FTC Guidelines and Social Marketing

On Monday, the Federal Trade Commission approved revisions to the guidelines it gives advertisers on appropriate use of endorsement and testimonial ads.

The update includes new examples to reinforce the notion that connections between advertisers and endorsers (connections that may not be obvious to consumers) must be disclosed. These are timely updates with the continued emergence of word of mouth marketing via the social web. 

From my point of view, this is a welcomed update. We continually work to understand the online behaviors of our audience. Peer to peer content continues to be among the most trusted sources of information during the buying cycle, regardless of size of purchase. Before purchasing just about any product, I always turn to opinions of others for perspective.

The notion of paid blogging (and micro-blogging) has been an emerging and heavily debated trend for some time. To me, exploiting consumer trust by seeding fictitious or paid 'peer reviews' is simply bad business, and runs the risk of truly damaging the credibility of user-generated content and the social web in general.

There's much more detail in the entire update for those interested.  I look forward to digesting a bit more, but in the meantime, will continue to take the approach of transparency rules... It's the safe and proper approach.

Welcome New EMC Bloggers

But a little housekeeping first. Friends, May was a tough month. If I could only monetize the frequent flyer miles and hotel award points, I'd be blogging from my own private island in the Pacific.

With all of the activity last month, I'm taking a much needed week off next week and will be completely unplugged... Assuming I can actually handle being disconnected for any period of time. Let's see if I can do it.

On to more important topics...

I'm thrilled to introduce to you the latest additions to our EMC Blogging Corps. You can find the whole lot of us over at the Community Section on EMC.com.

Specifically, let me introduce you to Kathrin Winkler, Sr. Director, Corporate Sustainability at EMC. Her blog, Interconnected World, shares her experiences putting sustainability front and center at EMC.

Natalie Corridan-Gregg falls in the 'nicest people in the world' camp. She's a lead contributor to the Working Mother Experience Blog / Book and also manages her own blog, Natalie's Corner, discussing how she balances the demand of wife, mother and employee. She also has one heck of a cute kid...

Lastly, I'm so happy to introduce you to the nice folks over at Conchango, EMC's UK-based consulting practice. I've been on a few calls with the folks from this team, and they're thinking way ahead of the curve. It's a team blog and is simply chock full of rich and interesting content.

You'll want to bookmark all of these... There's a wealth of good information and conversation.

Enjoy our new blogging friends and we'll see you in a week... Or sooner ;)

EMC World Bloggers Lounge

I've been neglecting my blogging duties of late - Blame it on road trips. Fortunately, travel was for two great events - the Razorfish Client Summit and the Inbound Marketing Summit - Both were excellent. Of course I also managed to pick up the obligatory nasty cold during many hours at airports.

Down to business... Man am I getting excited for EMC World this year. It's not to late to grab a spot if you haven't already.

I'm most looking forward to the EMC World Blogger's Lounge, sponsored by our friends at ZDNet. It's a bit of an experiment, and we're very much open to hearing how we can tailor it to your needs. It's open to anyone who blogs (or microblogs)... All you have to do to get in is sign up in the comments section below... Tell us who you are and give a link to your blog, if you would.

Here are the folks who have been added to our 'members only' list:

Sam Diaz (Blog - Between The Lines)
Jason Hiner (Blog - TechRepublic)
Dennis Martin (Blog - Wikibon Blog)
Andrew Conry-Murray (Blog - InformationWeek)
Rich Bocchinfuso (Blog - GotITSolutions.org)
Jeff Jedras (Blog - varbose)
Apoorv Durga (Blog - PCM Blog)
Laurence Hart (Blog - Word of Pie)
Bas Raayman (Blog - Renegade's Tech. Diatribe)
Greg White (Blog - Inside Enterprise IT)
Vincent Santo
Chris Evans (Blog - The Storage Architect)
Eric Kiel (Blog - Network0)
Ed Saipetch (Blog - Gestalt IT)
Natalie Corridan-Gregg (Blog - Working Mother Experience)
Marty Glover (Marty - the 'bouncers' are going to be looking for a url before they let you in ;)
Inna Gordin (Blog - SharePoint Reviews)
Denny Cherry (Blog - IT Knowledge Exchange)
Marsha Glassner (Blog - WebSerf)
Charles Hood
Bob Muenster
Greg Schulz (Blog -The Green and Virtual Data Center & Storage IO Blog)
Devang Panchigar (Blog - Storage Nerve)
C Skornicka
Nabeel
Jeff Adam
Jon Tabar (Blog)
Han Solo (So far, no word from Chewbacca)
Nada Wheelock
Karl Owen
Charles Kronauer
Mike Fishman
Kelly Lavin
James Lally
Butch McCrackin

From the EMC Blogging Corps
Chuck Hollis (Blog - Chuck's Blog)
Barry Burke (Blog - The Storage Anarchist)
Mark Twomey (Blog - StorageZilla)
Dave Spencer (Blog - Dave Talks Shop)
Dave Graham (Blog - Dave Graham's Weblog)
Stu Miniman (Blog - NoHype)
Andrew Chapman (Blog - Never Talk When You Can Nod)
Ed Newman (Blog - Mr. Infrastructure)
Brian Henderson (Blog - Power Windows)
Steve Kenniston (Blog - Backup and Beyond)
Me (Blog - Confessions of an eBiz Junkie)

We'll have some special badge bling on day one... Stop by to pick it up as it's your 'key' to access the lounge throughout the event. Okay - we won't make you have it blinking ALL the time...

We'll be giving away a few Flip cameras with hopes that winners capture their EMC World experience and share it with us. Winners will be announced first thing Monday at EMC World and posted here as well (No employees on this one - sorry). Stop by, say hi and see if you are the proudowner of a shiny new Flip camera.

I said this was an experiment, right? Well, we're going to try crowdsourcing the weeks' activities. We'll have a white board in play - and if there are people, topics, etc that you'd like to discuss or meet, simply add it to the board and we'll do our best. So far you've expressed interest in meeting some of the EMC Bloggers - and we'll make that happen.

Lastly, we'd ask you folks to tag your world content with EMCWorld. At the end of the day, we look at this as an opportunity to better get to know one another... And how better than to ensure we're aware of the conversations?

Sign up if you haven't... Truly looking forward to meeting all of you!

Let's Get Social @ EMC World

EMC World... It's right around the corner. I'm going... How about you??

I sure hope you are, as EMC and ZDNet are teaming up to do something pretty cool this year. If you're reading this post, you'll probably want in.

How about a 'members only' lounge designed exclusively for our blogging (and micro-blogging) friends? You know, a place just for you... Comfortable chairs, some spare laptops if you need them, wireless access, plenty of plugs for charging up - that sort of thing.

Sounds cool, huh?

How about if we throw in exclusive access to some of the EMC leadership team?? Nothing like chatting tech with industry leaders in a private and comfortable setting.

Wow, that sounds really cool...

How about taking some time to chat with EMC'ers around how we can better engage in the 2.0 world... What would you like to see EMC doing? How can we better communicate and collaborate with one another?

Heck, I'm getting giddy just thinking about it.

Still not enough? Man, you're a tough sell...

How about we raffle off a handful of Flip cameras to club members during the first day with hopes that you 2.0 folks capture your EMC World experience on video and share it with the world?

Yeah, I thought that might do it.

You want in? Easy... All you have to do is add a comment below and you'll have access to our special Bloggers Lounge. Let us know who you are and provide a link to your blog or Twitter account so we can get to know you better before the event.

Also, if there are special things you'd be interested in (different topics to chat about, certain EMC'ers you'd like to meet, etc;), let us know in your comment. We truly want to make this YOUR event.

Spread the word and see you there!

EMC World 2009

My how the time flies. Seems like it was a few short months ago that we were talking about EMC World 2008. Well, here we are again - EMC World 2009 is fast approaching.

If you haven't registered yet, you can still take advantage of early registration discounts... A chance to connect with industry peers, chat technology and strategy with your favorite EMC'ers, and even take in a show with the Gin Blossoms. What could possibly be cooler? Well, I'm glad you asked!

We're considering creating a Bloggers Lounge for our bloggin', Twitterin', Yammerin, Utter'in, Friendfeedin'... crowd. A 'members only' place where passionate 2.0 types can get together, hang out in a comfortable and cool atmosphere, mix and mingle with like-minded folks and perhaps get some 'special perks' designed just for them.

The truth is, we appreciate the heck out of those who talk about the EMC brand... Those that blog about our products and services, or connect via Twitter or other tools to discuss better ways to innovate and collaborate with us. Our virtual network has exploded in the past couple of years, and we're in violent agreement that reaching out and saying thanks to these folks falls in the right thing to do category.

So, if you'll be @ World this year, and are interested in being part of our special little club, drop a line. You can leave something in the comments section or DM me on Twitter @LenDevanna.

I'll be there, and would VERY much like to connect and learn a bit more about you.

See you in Orlando!

UPDATE: More info on this... Come sing up for some cool here.

Pearls of Wisdom and New Bloggers

Still enjoying the Innovation Conference and multi tasking on other things at the same time. As a result, I hope you'll pardon the scattered nature of this post...

First off, thanks to Ron Miller and the gang at Fierce Content Management for sharing this interview with me around EMC and our approach to Web 2.0. I'm always *more than* happy to share what we're up to.

Next up on the docket - please allow me to introduce some new EMC bloggers into the 'sphere:

Partner in crime Jamie Pappas storms onto the scene with her blog Social Media Musings. It's so new it still has that new blog smell. Jamie is largely responsible for all of the cool things happening on EMC ONE. If you're trying to deploy a community offering in your company, this is a must follow.

Live and breathe all things security? So does EMC's Director of Product Security, Satchit Dokras. A 25 year veteran of the high-tech industry with focus on information security, data protection and network security - Satchit clearly has quite a bit to offer on the topic.

Lastly, if I had a nickel for every blog Bill Petro had a hand in, I'd have $0.20. In his latest blog, Techtrends, Bill discusses current and future technology trends with a slant towards his discussions with customers and partners he meets at EMC events.

(Update) Ugh... I missed a new EMC blogger... Apologies. Gina Minks, mild mannered Education Services person by day, but caped Social Media Superstar by night (and I suppose by day too) recently launched her blog "Adventures in Corporate Education". Gina is one of those folks really helping us drive E2.0 behaviors across the enterprise. She's behind much of our internal event live blogging, Tweetups, etc; - and is a true force on EMC ONE. Suffice it to say we're big fans  ;)

New Bloggers in the 'Sphere

Well, not new per se, but new to me anyways. It looks as though these guys have been part of the conversation for some time...

I recently came across Chad Sakak's blog - Virtual Geek. Chad's the Sr Director of our VMWare strategic alliance. On his blog, Chad discusses all things virtual. A good read - although in full disclosure, some of it's a bit hardcore... Trying to follow a couple of Chads posts gave me one of those 'ice cream headaches'... Man they can hurt.

Also of note, Craig Randall is sharing his thoughts over at Craig's Musings. Craig is a Software Architect within our CMA division and blogs about software services, service-oriented architecture and all sorts of neat things ECM.

Two great blogs from fellow EMC'ers. Be sure to stop by and say hello. Of course, you can check more of our provocative and awe-inspiring bloggers here.

Alltop Part II - I'm a fan

Two posts - same topic - one day... Yup, Alltop.com grabbed my interest. I've spent a bit of time exploring the different categories. I've found some amazing blogs and my NetNewsWire subscription list has doubled.

Of most recent note - a fantastic blog by author Debbie Weil called BlogWrite for CEOs. Some great content and insight.

One of Debbie's posts pointed me to something you have to check out - Searchme.com. Still in beta, Searchme.com feels like a cross between Google and Apple's Cover Flow. Excellent interface and pretty solid results at first glance... Check it out.

Alltop - All of the Top Stories

Friend and fellow blogger Adam Cohen turned me on to Guy Kawasaki's latest project, Alltop. Alltop's tag line - "We've got all of the top stories covered all the time". I'd describe the service as a user friendly aggregator of relevant blogs organized around high level topics.

A screenshot of the main page:

Getting added as a source was as simple as drafting up an email with a brief description of who I am and what my blog's all about. The folks @ Alltop are very much open to feedback as they look to evolve existing categories and build out news ones. Once identifying a category that's of interest, you can jump right to it by going to (subject).alltop.com - In my case, Socialmedia.alltop.com.

An interesting approach on aggregation. Guy has a long track record of delivering interesting and innovative thinking. Thanks to the folks @ Alltop for being so responsive and for being open to suggestions for other future categories... Alltop.com is definitely something to watch.