Some friends on this picture to the left nudged me to present at the SAP Inside Track Silicon Valley #sitSV happening on the 12th of September at the Hana House in Palo Alto. It is a Saturday, which guarantees that only really dedicated people will come, which makes the discussions and hallway conversations much more engaging. For work/life balance take …
Is Gamification the Fast Food of Community Engagement?
In a tweet last week, my old boss at SAP, Mark Yolton, who is now leading Digital at Cisco, challenged the SAP Mentors and me to analyze Cisco’s gamification efforts. What they have done looks very promising. Before I get into it, I would like to first share what I learned when I stumbled into gamification years before that term …
Broomsters to the Chalk Art?
This weekend there is an amazing Italian Street Painting Art festival going on in San Rafael. They started yesterday evening and I talked to one of the artists. She recommended to come on Sunday evening before 10 PM as then the art will be the best. Why before 10 PM? Because then the street sweeper will drive through and take …
My Notes: 2015 State of Community Management Research by Community Roundtable
A couple of notes on the excellent 2015 State of Community Management research results by the good folks of the Community Roundtable. They collected input earlier this year from 206 of their member company communities. If you are running a community external or internal and want to have the finger on the pulse of the latest community management developments you owe …
Playful @ Work: Business Cards
When I tell people that I am bringing playfulness to enterprises, their faces light up. They ask me to come to their workplace to make it more enjoyable. I feel honored and on the right track, alas I can’t be everywhere. You can be where you are though. Who is stopping you from being more playful at work? Today, I …
Playfulness and Trust go Hand in Hand
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” – Arthur C. Clarke “Any sufficiently advanced work is indistinguishable from play.” – Seb Paquet Having a bit of distance from the SAP Mentors, I realize how much of the strong connection and bond between us was created through an environment of trust and play. They go hand in hand. Let me …
June 19th Playcamp Keynote: Playfulness Connects the Enterprise
The other day I met Luke Hohmann the CEO of Conteneo. They are developing collaboration tools that use play elements to lead to a better outcomes for example for the San Jose city budget. I shard with him what I have been doing with the SAP Mentors and my thoughts around what difference playfulness can make in the enterprise. He liked it my …
Hero for a Day at the Maker Faire
Surgeon General’s Warning: This post contains light bragging proceed proread at your own risk. The Mecca for Makers, and a highlight of every May, is the Maker Faire at the San Mateo Convention Center. I love the tinkerer energy, the eclectic exhibitions of blinking lights, bicycle powered music, and the opportunity to try things out and geek out around all …
Good-Bye and Thank You for the …
Good-Bye and thank you for the fish Ukulele. As many of you know, I recently left SAP and, with it, the management of the SAP Mentors. I should quit more often, looking at the heart warming response I got from the community. I was floored when, a week ago, the friendly package delivery guy dropped off a beautiful ukulele. Thank you …
Asteroid on Collision Course with Earth discovered by [your name here] Space Telescope
Asteroids are nature’s way of asking: “How is your space program coming along.” Ed Lu One of the best Long Now talks ever was given by Ed Lu last year in June: Anthropocene Astronomy: Thwarting Dangerous Asteroids Begins with Finding Them There are Asteroids hurling towards us, some of them are as big as the one that wiped out the …