Dr. Neil Hair

You may have noticed a few updates from me recently on the Cisco project via Twitter and Facebook feeds. I have been thoroughly impressed with the quality at which participants have spoken (sometimes candidly) about their use of social media for innovation and collaboration. The list of local, national, and truly global organizations include a pretty impressive 90 companies so far (and no I cant share specific details or contacts with you until the project is complete); the big such as - Xerox, Kodak, 3M, Bank of America, Seagate, KBC Banking and Insurance, BAE, Corus, Telstra, the nimble - Carrot Creative, Logicalis, Tipping Point, Earthscribe, Clearspring Technologies - and the just plain beautiful - Mac Village Productions, Blue Fountain Media, Fixitology, iwritemarketing, Accession Media, Girls in Tech amongst many many others.

The project is soon to come to a close with only a few thought leaders left to interview. Then begins the process of coding and analysis to draw together common themes. Once that is complete I get to represent a great team of researchers in announcing the findings of this study at Cisco's CIO summit event in October in San Diego - a huge privilege!

Ive learned a great deal from my conversations with experts in this area and look forward to crunching over 100 hours of data in the pursuit of a theory of innovation and collaboration in social media. One thing is for certain, passions run very high for this area, there is most certainly a huge competitive advantage to be had by organizations using these tools effectively, metrics ARE available for ensuring successful outcomes, and caveats, of which there are many, have to be avoided. It is proving to be a really exciting project.

I am increasingly bemused by the comments I hear of local people and students alike saying there is nothing to do in Rochester. It’s about time there was a grass roots review of the cool factor in Rochachacha and I’d like to offer a few of my own suggestions as a fresh off the plane immigrant. Have you for instance seen the tree house city in Henrietta? Since a small boy I have been fascinated by tree houses. You can imagine my surprise when I rode down Casa Drive in Henrietta and saw a mini city of tree houses in one back garden. We are not talking one little house up in the sky. No sir, Americans do things BIG. There are several of them connected by rope ladders, an elaborate network of pulleys and the like. Even the creators name is cool. Maurice Barkley. Check out the youtube video for more details BUT go ahead and take a look in person, you wont be disappointed. Please add your additional cool factors for Rochester in this post. I’m always looking for other things to do and truly believe that there are PLENTY of cool things to do in the area.

Check out a short video of it here.

With much adulation I am happy to announce an upcoming event that I will be headlining for VisitRochester on social media, July 30th 2009 from 1pm to 5pm at the Holiday Inn Hotel and Suites 800 Jefferson Road. My presentation will explore the means by which the local tourism industry can take advantage of social media tools, highlight future trends that will affect the industry and discuss strategies and tactics for organizations working in this important space. I'm very much looking forward to the days other speakers as well. Mike Johansson from Fixitology, Eric Miltsch from Auction Direct and Eliza Kozlowski from the George Eastman House will also be lending their expertise in the field to delegates. Register here for the event.

I cant believe it - after 5 years together our best friends Vic and Millie have finally hooked up formally with Vic proposing over the weekend in PR whilst on holiday. Congratulations you two - our love, best wishes, and mean Mexican-Tinis be with you!! Whoa MILLEH MILLEH MILLEH MILLEH. Are we going to have some fun when you guys get back to Rochester