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Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Hungry to Connect

Nancy Devine has been really helping me recently with comments on my blog on posts Topic Hubs, Good Writing, Search, Corporate Training.  But it was a twitter comment (side note: Twitter Forces us to Transmit the Big Idea) that really made me pause and go – wow, I need to think about that:

@tonykarrer people are hungry to connect w/others, to talk about things that matter to them, to learn.

This is so very true.  Look at the speakers in SharePoint Update who came and willingly pitched in and helped.  And most thanked me for the opportunity to spend 3 hours plus preparation and time in discussions.  Why – because it's a topic that matters to them and they could connect with others to learn.  Nancy nailed it!

As Learning Professionals, we should be constantly thinking about creating opportunities for people to connect and learn. 

When I think about the SharePoint Micro Virtual Conference, that's what it was all about.  Creating connection points for myself.  Inviting others to join.  It was really a set of conversations that I wanted to have on my own.  I just included others.  And they wanted to have that same discussion.

I'm hoping I can get the total effort down a bit to continue to put these things on.  It was a huge help to have Kim Caise, Steve Tuffill and Scott Skibell.  If we get this figured out, I think we are onto something.

Give them opportunities to connect – as Nancy says – they are Hungry to Connect.

5 comments:

Nancy Devine said...

Thanks, Tony for the mention. I'm glad to have helped.
-Nancy

Latifa AlMansouri said...

Wonderful Mr. Tony, that exactly what professionals are missing. Creating opportunities for them to connect regularly and learn from each other will enrich their experiences, and will add up some new discussions that you’ve never thought about.
Learning is on-going process that improves individuals as long we (IT professionals) give opportunities and make the connection easier. With the powerful present of technology tools that we are using, we should give it a try and invite others to do as well.
Being in contact with professionals surly will widen our knowledge. and yes I am hungry to connect & learn from all of you.
I appreciate this invitation to your twitter & blog.

All the best all the way Mr. Tony ,,
Your student ,,
Latifa AlMansouri

The upsycho said...

People are keen to connect and talk about the things that matter to them. The trouble is, many of them simply don't have a space within their KPIs to allocate time to this kind of meeting of minds. Most KPIs are so results focused that managers wind up not even having the time to properly manage their teams.

Of course, this has the initial effect of increasing that hunger for connection. But, let that hunger go unsated for long enough, and it will harden into cynicism.

Sreya Dutta said...

Tony, how true... i'm one of them. :)

Sreya

Scott Skibell said...

Tony,

First, it's my pleasure to help out.

All too often we're caught up in the day-to-day grind of process and politics. It's nice to keep perspective and contribute to something bigger.

Thanks for organizing all this and allowing us to help.

Scott