System iNetwork

There's nothing special about a "Big Brother" style Video being played for the Attendees. Its primarily intended to get press coverage for COMMON, which is fine by me, but also to make people think IBM is vested in COMMON.

If IBM wanted us to believe that, then like Lou Gerstner, Sam P would show up at COMMON in person.

It would be nice if Sam Palmisano shows up at COMMON in person but the chances are quite slim -- unless he happens to be in Orlando that week. If COMMON were able to attract the CEOs and CIOs of major IBM clients and multi-million dollar contracts were signed every year at COMMON, Sam would probably make it a point to attend COMMON every year.



Time has changed and COMMON needs to change too. Spending a few thousand dollars for a junior employee to attend COMMON for a week so that s/he can be more knowledgeable is no longer the best alternative available to a CIO -- particularly when the economy is bad. With Internet and WWW, online education is much much cheaper. In fact, many of the materials that are presented at COMMON are also available online. Most of us rarely go to the library anymore because information is now available at our finger tips.



That does not mean COMMON is doomed to go the way of the dinosaurs. Nevertheless, it is also true that COMMON can become obsolete quickly unless changes are made. To maintain the same standard of “living” (i.e., good venues, expensive hotels, huge presentation rooms, etc.), it needs to attract more participants and also “wealthier” participants. A CIO may question the wisdom of sending an entry level programmer to a 5-star hotel for a week to attend COMMON, s/he will question the wisdom of COMMON organizers if s/he were to attend COMMON and it were held in a motel-like venue.



COMMON should evolve to be not only a place for training and education, but, more importantly, also a place where business deals are hatched and contracts are inked. COMMON is celebrating its 50th anniversary next year. Principles, procedures, and formulas that work 20-30 years ago are probably dated now. New perspectives and new ways of doing things should be explored and instituted.

COMMON would do well to find a venue with more affordable hotels. $250 a night is ridiculous. I come as a vendor and try to find less expensive lodging nearby. Not because I am cheap, but simply because I need to work within my VERY limited marketing budget! I don't need mints on the pillow or $6 bottles of water in the room. Ironically, most of these expensive hotels also stick you up another $10 a day for internet service! Most of the cheaper hotels I stay at will include free WiFi and breakfast! I have NEVER seen that at a COMMON hotel. I wonder how many others out there would like to come to COMMON but get scared off by the $1,000+ hotel stay coupled with the airfare, meals, Bus ride, cab or car from airport to hotel and other expenses.

I am not trying to say there is not value in the trip to COMMON. Quite the contrary. I think there is plenty of value even at the high hotel rates. But, how much can you demonstrate to your manager upon return from COMMON after you hand in the $3000+ expense report? This is a barrier to entry when it comes to education, folks. Break down the barrier!

COMMON, please rethink what you are doing with regard to the venue! If the focus is the education then why are we staying at 5 star hotels?
Interestingly enough, I am running around so much at COMMON I spend very little time in the hotel room. All the more reason to pay less for it!



My $.02!



Mike

Similar to Mike Pavlak, I don't place much value on facades. I'd be more interested in a conference that was held on a university campus, provided housing in dorms, and cafeteria dining, during summer breaks.

At $250 per night, they might be better off holding the conference on a cruise ship. Now that would be an effective setting to attract power brokers, and facilitate personal networking, as Keng suggests.

Nathan.

Even though COMMON is smaller than before, it is still a sizable conference. Motels and university campuses can only accommodate a conference with about 100-200 participants. COMMON is much larger than that. Some very nice and cheaper places would be like Las Vegas -- especially at this time.


My suggestions have been (from several postings):


(i) Expand COMMON's scope and move it beyond being a purely educational conference. The educational path works well in the past but may be difficult to sell currently with Internet and online education. Even for normal networking, we have LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc.


(ii) Work on the audience base to attract senior business and IT executives. COMMON should be a place for CIOs and CEOs of major companies to meet and have face-to-face discussions. COMMON should be a place where top IBM executives make it a point to attend every year. At this point in time, CIOs and CEOs still prefer face-to-face networking (especially for business dealing) rather than through online social networking sites.


(iii) Make COMMON a place for business discussions, a place for senior business and IT executives, a place to negotiate deals, a place to enter into contracts, a place for power brokers, etc. In short, in addition to making COMMON a place for education, make COMMON a venue for business.